Early Alzheimer's identification method discovered

This article brings me so much hope! Alzheimer's runs in the family on my mom's side with the women. My great aunts in Wisconsin are part of a major, nationwide research project going on right now to catch Alzheimer's at early onset, and treat it with numerous methods, ie, diet, exercise, vitamin treatments. One of my great-cousins has actually regressed out of her symptoms from early onset Alzheimer's!

Early Alzheimer's identification method discovered

ScienceDaily (July 9, 2010) — Abnormal brain images combined with examination of the composition of the fluid that surrounds the spine may offer the earliest signs identifying healthy older adults at risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, well before cognitive problems emerge, a study by researchers at UC Davis has found.

"Our findings indicate that a distinctive pattern of imaging and biomarker deviations from typical adults may be an early warning sign of neurobiological pathology and an early sign of Alzheimer's disease," said Laurel Beckett, a professor of public health sciences at UC Davis and the lead study author. "By the time people get diagnosed with Alzheimer's using cognitive tests, there's already a lot of brain damage. We hope that in the future methods that combine brain imaging and biomarker assessments can push the diagnosis back, while learning more about the mechanisms causing Alzheimer's disease, so we can develop better treatments."

Published in the journal Neurobiology of Aging in June, the study analysis picked out a subgroup of healthy adults who later would experience a decline in memory performance typical of early Alzheimer's disease long before other study participants.

For the study, Beckett and her team used data from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, which provides researchers with access to brain scans, clinical data and other laboratory results from spinal fluid and blood tests from more than 800 older adults. Some study participants began with a clean slate of cognitive health, some with mild cognitive impairment -- a condition that often presages Alzheimer's -- and others with mild or moderate Alzheimer's disease.
The researchers analyzed data from 220 normal older adults who had undergone structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and clinical examinations. About half also provided spinal fluid samples. Among the 96 participants, cluster analysis identified three distinct subgroups of individuals based solely on their baseline imaging and laboratory measures. During the next three years, few of these healthy people showed any cognitive change. But cognitive tests for people in one of the subgroups -- about 10 percent of the sample -- declined at nearly five times the rate as healthy older adults. The researchers believe this group, which had the most extreme MRI and spinal fluid measurements, may represent the earliest stages of subclinical cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease.

Beckett said that the finding is an important step toward discovering the constellation of imaging and fluid biomarkers that foreshadow cognitive decline, as well as a means of determining whether new treatments are effective.

"The problem with current clinical trials is that we don't know who is on the edge of experiencing dementia. And even if we did, how would we know if a treatment was working, since they haven't shown any clinical problems?" Beckett said. "This method could improve clinical trials for prevention and reduce the numbers of study participants necessary to speed drug discovery -- and eventually change how the pharmaceutical industry and National Institutes of Health conduct Alzheimer's disease clinical trials."

Other study authors include Jasmine Nettiksimmons, Danielle Harvey, Owen Carmichael and Charles DeCarli of UC Davis; James Brewer of UC San Diego; Clifford R. Jack Jr. and Ronald Petersen of the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine; and Leslie Shaw, John Trojanowski and Michael Weiner of UC San Francisco.

The study was funded by the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, the National Institutes of Health and the Dana Foundation.

just the basics

Does this look a little familiar? Yeah if you read my old blogger it probably does. So why didn't I just change my old blog, instead of making this whole new home? It's all about new beginnings, and that's kind of been my theme for the last few months. Fresh re-start! It's pretty basic right now, but I'll continue to work on this site, add fun stuff, and make it all purdy :) So keep coming back to check it out!

I'm changing the direction of this blog (maybe it will help me update more *wink*). I'm no longer going to be blogging about the personal and private things in my life. Instead, I'm going to focus on posting about things that matter to me (and I'll try to avoid politics too haha!). Issues on health, fitness, diet, exercise, and also becoming a mom. This way, it benefits me, and also maybe benefit others. Hopefully it will be more interesting :)

I am a magazine JUNKIE! I used to have a zillion magazine subscriptions. However, now that I work at a used bookstore that sells magazine on the cheap, and also with having more time on my hands these days (more about that later), I spend a lot of my days on the internet doing research on said issues above. What I do with the magazines, is I read through them, find the interesting articles, recipes, and exercises, then I cut them out and condense them in a notebook so I have all this information at my finger tips and not have to flip through all of these magazines! I also recycle them when I'm done, so no worries about all the waste *wink*. I used to do this a lot at my former job because I would sit at my desk for 8 hours a day listening to conference calls, and doing my little project was the best way for me to still be production at my job, and do something a little fun. Here are a few of my notebooks :)

People that have known me for a long time, know how much of a health freak I used to be (used to spend 2-3 hours at the gym almost every day), and getting back into it. For a few years there I fell off the bandwagon pretty hard! Picked up a drinking habit, and a pack-of-smokes-a-day habit (YUCK!) Doing these "lifestyle" journals used to really help focus me on the things I wanted, and being a healthy person. So I've been getting back into them lately (again, part of that might be is that I have A LOT of time on my hands these days!). If I find anything fun and interesting, I'll let ya'll know!

Ok, onto the pregnancy news! I will 29 weeks along as of this weekend! Can't believe "Little Bean" and I have made this far! We have stumbled onto health issues now though. As of about 3 weeks ago, I had to take a medical leave of absence. For you that don't know, I have a heart condition, non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy (in english, my left side of my heart is extremely weak, and I only get a full heart beat every third beat. My heart beats at about 30% of it's capacity. I don't have an enlarged heart or blockage). I knew I would have to go on bed rest at some point in time, but I was hoping to make it through August before it happened (I'm due September 26th)! But after consulting all my doctors (which right now is a team of 5 doctors and specialists), they feel getting a lot of rest and taking it easy is the best for both of us right now. So here we are, about 10 weeks away from the big moment, just taking it easy! She's growing more and more every day, and so am I haha! With all of this down time, I've started working on some of the art projects for her that I had planned. Making her afghans, quilts, and working on a few paintings for above her crib. Haven't settled on a name yet. I have a few in mind, and I probably won't reveal her name until she's here.

That's about it for now! Come back for some fun postings :) I'm going to keep this blog focused on health/fitness/diet, crafts, pregnancy/baby news, so I'll be posting articles, news, and fun stuff.

Much Love

XOXO