June is Alzheimer’s and Brain Awareness Month: Alzheimer’s Disease International
Glow for a Cure, July 29, Highland Golf Course. Mark your calendar for ACA’s Jr. Board nighttime golf. https://alzca.org/glow/
Positive Approach to Care (PAC) offers free dementia care events every week for care partners. Upcoming Events › Free › – Positive Approach to Care – Shop (teepasnow.com)
June Webinars from Alabama Lifespan Respite: https://alabamarespite.org/events2/
In-person and zoom Support Groups:
- ACA’s group with Miller & Vance, Tuesday, June 28, 11 – noon CT. Call (205) 871-7970 or mpiggott@alzca.org. Join us on zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86450491838
- Pell City group, first Thursdays of the month at 6:30; and the third Tuesdays of the month at 6:30. Contact Bit Thomaston, ethomason50@gmail.com
- CJFS CARES, Mondays at 3 pm, contact Pam Leonard, pam@cjfsbham.org.
- Founders Place at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Tuesday’s at 10 am, contact Betsy Smith, Smith35213@gmail.com
- West Alabama Area Agency on Aging, Caregiver Support Group, Tuesdays, contact Nikki Poe, nikki.poe@westal.org.
- The Oaks on Parkwood, 4th Tuesday’s, 10:00 am, Contact: Karen Glover, karenrglover@bellsouth.net.
- CJFS CARES, Tuesdays, 7:00 pm, contact Pam Leonard, pam@cjfsbham.org.
- United Way Area Agency on Aging of Jefferson County, 3rd Tuesday of each month 11:30-12:30, contact Valarie Lawson, vlawson@uwaaa.org
- M4A, 2nd Thursday’s, noon – 1 pm. Contact Crystal Whitehead, cwhitehead@m4a.org
- M4A, 3rd Wednesday’s 2:00 – 3:00 pm. Contact Crystal Whitehead, cwhitehead@m4a.org
- Asbury United Methodist Church1st and 3rd Thursdays at 1:00, contact Maggie Dunaway at mdunaway@asburyonline.org.
Alzheimer’s News:
Being Patient offers 2 insightful articles on aging successfully and keeping our brains healthy. It turns out we humans need socialization to keep our brains healthy. Read an interview with Dr. Claudia Kawas on her work studying people 90 years and older. She found that staying social was, in fact, the single most important determinant of people who had healthy brains at that age. Education is too! As Being Patient reports this week, scientists have identified eight key lifestyle risk factors that may cause as many as a third of all dementia cases. The top three: mid-life obesity, physical inactivity and low education.
An algorithm can determine whether an individual has Alzheimer’s based on a single MRI scan with 98% accuracy, new research suggests. Currently, no other simple and widely available methods can predict Alzheimer’s disease with this level of accuracy. To develop the algorithm, researcher divided the brain into 115 regions and allocated 660 different features, such as size, shape, and texture, to assess each region. They trained the algorithm to identify where changes to these features could accurately predict AD. In 98% of cases, the algorithm alone could accurately predict whether an individual had AD, outperforming standard hippocampal volume and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) amyloid-beta measurements. It could also distinguish between early- and late-stage AD in 79% of patients. Can a Single Brain Scan Accurately Diagnose Alzheimer’s? (medscape.com)
Early treatment with crenezumab, an investigational anti-amyloid antibody, failed to significantly slow or prevent cognitive decline in a group of people with a genetic risk for early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, data from a Phase 2 trial show. Numerical differences favoring crenezumab over a placebo were seen across several primary, secondary and exploratory goals, but none reached statistical significance, Genentech, the therapy’s developer, reported in a press release. Crenezumab was generally well tolerated. Crenezumab Fails to Preserve Cognition in At-Risk Alzheimer’s Trial (alzheimersnewstoday.com)
Onset of nightmares or distressing dreams in older adults may be a very early sign of Parkinson’s disease, new research suggests. Onset of Frequent Nightmares a Very Early Sign of Parkinson’s? (medscape.com)
While medical aid in dying helps people in Canada die with dignity, to date, it excludes people living with dementia who cannot provide consent in later stages of the disease. New legislation proposed in Quebec would change that. Quebec Bill Would Enable Medical Aid in Dying for Alzheimer’s – Being Patient
The World Health Organization has put brain and mental health at the top of their agenda as a wakeup call to all countries. Princess Tatiana of Greece and Denmark, in the midst of the global pandemic, launched BREATHE, a Mindful Mental Health Movement dedicated to raising awareness around mental health and building healthier, more resilient communities. Listen in as Princess Tatiana discusses the increase in the prevalence of anxiety and depression (one of the leading risk factors for Alzheimer’s) around the globe. Princess Tatiana of Greece and Denmark – Raising Awareness Around Mental Health | UsAgainstAlzheimer’s (usagainstalzheimers.org)
David Hyde Pierce talks about Alzheimer’s on “TODAY”. Pierce, whose father suffered from dementia and grandfather battled Alzheimer’s, says, “We owe it to ourselves and to our families to educate ourselves about it.” David Hyde Pierce opens up on his family’s battle with Alzheimer’s (today.com)
To understand more about the causes of Alzheimer’s and related dementias, NIA-funded researchers across the country are making connections between what happens while a person is alive and what can be seen in their brain after death. One such effort is the Religious Orders Study (ROS) and Rush Memory and Aging Project (MAP), referred to collectively as ROSMAP. For more than 25 years, ROSMAP has collected a combination of lifestyle and autopsy information that makes it a powerful resource for researchers around the world to study aging and dementia risk and progression. https://www.nia.nih.gov/news/inside-brain-role-neuropathology-alzheimers-disease-research?utm_source=nia-eblast&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=alzgov-20220621
Please consider taking this statewide survey about the information needs of caregivers.
https://universityofalabama.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_bKjVbbeVEXFv7ue. You will receive a $15 gift card. See attached flyer.
Support ACA by using AmazonSmile! Designate Alzheimer’s of Central Alabama and Amazon will donate 0.5% of the price of your eligible purchases. smile.amazon.com