Healthcare News and Research

[*Anya*]

Dementia rates drop sharply, as predicted

By Gina Kolata

A new study has found that dementia rates among people 65 and older in England and Wales have plummeted by 25 percent over the past two decades, to 6.2 percent from 8.3 percent, a trend that researchers say is probably occurring across developed countries and that could have major social and economic implications for families and societies.

Another recent study, conducted in Denmark, found that people in their 90s who were given a standard test of mental ability in 2010 scored substantially better than people who had reached their 90s a decade earlier. Nearly one-quarter of those assessed in 2010 scored at the highest level, a rate twice that of those tested in 1998. The percentage of subjects severely impaired fell to 17 percent from 22 percent.

The British study, published on Tuesday in The Lancet, and the Danish one, which was released last week, also in The Lancet, soften alarms sounded by advocacy groups and some public health officials who have forecast a rapid rise in the number of people with dementia, as well as in the costs of caring for them. The projections assumed the odds of getting dementia would be unchanged.

Yet experts on aging said the studies also confirmed something they had suspected but had had difficulty proving: that dementia rates would fall and mental acuity improve as the population grew healthier and better educated. The incidence of dementia is lower among those better educated, as well as among those who control their blood pressure and cholesterol, possibly because some dementia is caused by ministrokes and other vascular damage. So as populations controlled cardiovascular risk factors better and had more years of schooling, it made sense that the risk of dementia might decrease. A half-dozen previous studies had hinted that the rate was falling, but they had flaws that led some to doubt the conclusions.

Researchers said the two new studies were the strongest, most credible evidence yet that their hunch had been right. Dallas Anderson, an expert on the epidemiology of dementia at the National Institute on Aging, the principal financer of dementia research in the United States, said the new studies were “rigorous and are strong evidence.” He added that he expected that the same trends were occurring in the United States but that studies were necessary to confirm them.

“It’s terrific news,” said Dr. P. Murali Doraiswamy, an Alzheimer’s researcher at Duke University, who was not involved in the new studies. It means, he said, that the common assumption that every successive generation will have the same risk for dementia does not hold true.

The new studies offer hope amid a cascade of bad news about Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. Major clinical trials of drugs to treat Alzheimer’s have failed. And a recent analysis by the RAND Corporation — based on an assumption that dementia rates would remain steady — concluded that the number of people with dementia would double in the next 30 years as the baby boom generation aged, as would the costs of caring for them. But its lead author, Michael D. Hurd, a principal senior researcher at RAND, said in an interview that his projections of future cases and costs could be off if the falling dementia rates found in Britain held true in the United States.

Dr. Marcel Olde Rikkert of Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center in the Netherlands, who wrote an editorial to accompany the Danish study, said estimates of the risk of dementia in older people “urgently need a reset.”

But Maria Carrillo, vice president of medical and scientific relations at the Alzheimer’s Association, an advocacy group, was not convinced that the trends were real or that they held for the United States.

The studies assessed dementia, which includes Alzheimer’s disease but also other conditions that can make mental functioning deteriorate. Richard Suzman, the director of the division of behavioral and social research at the National Institute on Aging, said it was not possible to know from the new studies whether Alzheimer’s was becoming more or less prevalent.

The British researchers, led by Dr. Carol Brayne of the Cambridge Institute of Public Health, took advantage of a large study that tested 7,635 randomly selected people, ages 65 and older, for dementia between 1984 and 1994. The subjects lived in Cambridgeshire, Newcastle and Nottingham. Then, between 2008 and 2011, the researchers assessed a similar randomly selected group living in the same areas.

“We had the same population, the same geographic area, the same methods,” Dr. Brayne said. “That was one of the appeals.”

But Dr. Carrillo questioned the data because many subjects had declined to be assessed: the researchers assessed 80 percent of the group it approached in the first round and 56 percent of those approached in the second. Her concern is reasonable, Dr. Brayne said, but the researchers addressed it by analyzing the data to see if the refusals might have skewed the results. They did not.

In the Danish study, Dr. Kaare Christensen of the University of Southern Denmark in Odense and his colleagues compared the physical health and mental functioning of two groups of elderly Danish people. The first consisted of 2,262 people born in 1905 who were assessed at age 93. The second was composed of 1,584 people born in 1915 and assessed at age 95. In addition to examining the subjects for physical strength and robustness, the investigators gave them a standard dementia screening test, the mini-mental exam and a series of cognitive tests.

The investigators asked how many subjects scored high, had scores indicating dementia and were in between. The entire curve was shifted upward among the people born in 1915, they discovered.

Dr. Anderson, of the National Institute on Aging, said the news was good.

“With these two studies, we are beginning to see that more and more of us will have a chance to reach old age cognitively intact, postponing dementia or avoiding it altogether,” he said. “That is a happy prospect.”

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: July 16, 2013

An earlier version of this article misspelled the name of the medical center where Dr. Marcel Olde Rikkert works. It is the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center in the Netherlands, not Nigmegen.

Published in the NYTimes.

[Greyson]

Jul 15, 8:28 PM EDT

STUDY: LATER RETIREMENT MAY HELP PREVENT DEMENTIA

BY MARILYNN MARCHIONE
AP CHIEF MEDICAL WRITER

BOSTON (AP) -- New research boosts the "use it or lose it" theory about brainpower and staying mentally sharp. People who delay retirement have less risk of developing Alzheimer's disease or other types of dementia, a study of nearly half a million people in France found.

It's by far the largest study to look at this, and researchers say the conclusion makes sense. Working tends to keep people physically active, socially connected and mentally challenged - all things known to help prevent mental decline.

"For each additional year of work, the risk of getting dementia is reduced by 3.2 percent," said Carole Dufouil, a scientist at INSERM, the French government's health research agency.


Read more:
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...07-15-20-28-50

[Kobi]

Originally Posted by Greyson

Jul 15, 8:28 PM EDT

STUDY: LATER RETIREMENT MAY HELP PREVENT DEMENTIA

BY MARILYNN MARCHIONE
AP CHIEF MEDICAL WRITER

BOSTON (AP) -- New research boosts the "use it or lose it" theory about brainpower and staying mentally sharp. People who delay retirement have less risk of developing Alzheimer's disease or other types of dementia, a study of nearly half a million people in France found.

It's by far the largest study to look at this, and researchers say the conclusion makes sense. Working tends to keep people physically active, socially connected and mentally challenged - all things known to help prevent mental decline.

"For each additional year of work, the risk of getting dementia is reduced by 3.2 percent," said Carole Dufouil, a scientist at INSERM, the French government's health research agency.


Read more:
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...07-15-20-28-50

I don't know that the researchers proved working in ones later years influences dementia related diseases. I'm not fond of studies that use records (as opposed to interviewing people) as the source of their data. There are too many unknown and unaccounted for variables.

What they have reproven (ad nauseum) is that "being physically active, socially connected and mentally challenged - all things known to help prevent mental decline."

Baby boomers are proving one doesn't have to work to stay physically active, socially connected, and mentally challenged.

[Greyson]

Originally Posted by Kobi

What they have reproven (ad nauseum) is that "being physically active, socially connected and mentally challenged - all things known to help prevent mental decline."

Baby boomers are proving one doesn't have to work to stay physically active, socially connected, and mentally challenged.

Kobi, I tend to agree with you. There was another article posted at the same site that talked about retirees can stay active physically and mentally. Many are doing it through volunteer work, social activism, part-time employment, etc.

Reading many of your posts, I don't think you have to worry about dementia. You still got it.

[Kobi]

Originally Posted by Greyson

Kobi, I tend to agree with you. There was another article posted at the same site that talked about retirees can stay active physically and mentally. Many are doing it through volunteer work, social activism, part-time employment, etc.

Reading many of your posts, I don't think you have to worry about dementia. You still got it.

Greyson, you are always the gentleman. My giant, invisible bunny friend Harvey and I thank.......oooo look a squirrel.

Disclaimer: It is 2:30am. The mind goes weird places.

[*Anya*]

11 Reasons You Should Be Having More Orgasms

The Huffington Post | By Renee Jacques

Posted: 11/05/2013 1:54 pm EST | Updated: 11/05/2013 3:05 pm EST

Orgasm Health Benefits

Clearly, we don't need to convince you to have sex. It's hard-wired into our brains to propagate the species. And anyway, it feels pretty awesome. But here's more good news: Having an orgasm could help improve your health.

One of the main reasons orgasm feels so good is because your brain releases the pleasure hormone oxytocin when you climax. Oxytocin is also called the "love hormone" because of its important role in facilitating social bonding between humans. Most of the following points revolve around the release of oxytocin. Read on to discover eleven ways achieving an orgasm can make your life so much better...

1. Orgasms relieve stress.

In sexologist Beverly Whipple's book, "The Orgasms Answer Guide," she cites a study done by Carol Rinkleib Ellison in 2000, in which Ellison interviewed 2,632 women between the ages of 23 and 90 and found that 39 percent of those who masturbate reported that they do it in order to relax. Whipple says this is all because of oxytocin. When someone orgasms, she explains in her book, "the hormone oxytocin is released from nerve cells in the hypothalamus (a region of the brain) into the bloodstream."

"Orgasm relives tension as oxytocin stimulates feelings of warmth and relaxation," Ellison herself wrote in an informational report compiled by Planned Parenthood.

Additionally, research gathered in a study by scientists at Groningen University in the Netherlands found that when women experience an orgasm, the amygdala, the part of the brain associated with fear and anxiety, shows little to no activity.

2. An orgasm could make your significant other less likely to cheat.

Researchers in Germany decided to conduct an experiment in 2012 testing the power of oxytocin. They believed that high doses of the "love hormone" would cause men to consider going outside of their relationships, so they gave oxycotin to a group of (heterosexual) men and introduced them to a very attractive woman. The subjects were asked to determine when the attractive woman was at an "ideal distance" or an "uncomfortable distance."

Those who took oxycotin and were in monogamous relationships ended up distancing themselves about four to six inches farther than those who took oxytocin and were single. The researchers hypothesized that instead of oxytocin causing coupled men to cheat, it instead compelled them to hold on tighter to the bond they have already formed with their girlfriends.

3. The female orgasm could make men focus better.

There is so much power in the orgasm that an organization in San Francisco, called One Taste, is devoted to the practice of "orgasmic meditation," in which two partners focus on achieving the female orgasm. Recently, actress and former Playmate, Karen Lorre, revealed to HuffPost Live that she has 11 orgasms a day due to One Taste's new meditation practices. Even men have claimed that they receive health benefits by just pleasuring a woman. In a New York Times article on One Taste, a man confessed that "fixing his attention on a tiny spot of a woman's body improves his concentration at work."

4. Orgasms could help with insomnia.

Would you rather take a sleeping pill or have a mind-blowing orgasm to help you catch some Zzs? We think we know the answer. In her book, Whipple cites another study done by Ellison in which she reported that 32 percent of 1,866 U.S. women said they masturbate in order to facilitate falling asleep.

Why? No one knows for sure, though some researchers and sex therapists theorize that the release of other neurochemicals, like endorphins, can have a sedative effect, reported Self.

5. A man's orgasm could (maybe) make a woman less depressed.

A controversial study of college students in relationships at the State University of New York in Albany showed that women who had sex without condoms had fewer signs of depression than women who used condoms or refrained from sex, even when researchers controlled for relationship status and other personal factors.

What does this mean? Semen, resulting from the male orgasm, could be an effective antidepressant for women. That said, unprotected sex is NOT something we'd recommend -- after all, an STD or unplanned pregnancy can surely also contribute to depression, along with other medical and social risks.

The lead psychologist of the study, Gordon Gallup, told New Scientist that he believes the reason semen has the potential to lift a woman's mood is because of the several mood-altering hormones found in it. Gallup said that most of these hormones were found in the women's blood shortly after ejaculation.

6. Orgasms help alleviate pain.

“There is some evidence that orgasms can relieve all kinds of pain -- including pain from arthritis, pain after surgery and even pain during childbirth,” Lisa Stern, a nurse practitioner who works with Planned Parenthood, told Woman's Day. That's thanks to pain-relieving oxytocin and endorphins, reported MSNBC contributor Brian Alexander. Alexander cited research from Beverly Whipple, who found that women's pain tolerance and pain detection increased by 74.6 percent and 106.7 percent respectively, when those women masturbated to orgasm.

7. They could help men get over their colds faster.

A study at a German university studied 11 men who were asked to masturbate until completion. Blood was drawn continuously throughout the process, and it was discovered that sexual arousal and orgasm increased the number of "killer" cells called leukocytes. This means that when men are sick, an orgasm could initiate components of their immune system that could help them get over that bug sooner.

8. Steady orgasms could help you live longer.

In 1997, a group of researchers in Wales decided to look into the relationship between orgasms and mortality. They studied the sexual frequency of 918 men between the ages of 45 and 59. They evaluated those who died from coronary heart disease and discovered that those who had two or more orgasms a week died at a rate half of those who had orgasms less than once a month. The researchers concluded that "sexual activity seems to have a protective effect on men's health."

While women's orgasms have not been studied as extensively, Howard S. Friedman, PhD, and author of "The Longevity Project: Surprising Discoveries for Health and Long Life," decided to look into research conducted on couples. He cited a marital satisfaction study conducted by Stanford psychologist Lewis Terman in 1941, looking at the sex lives of 1,500 Californian couples. Terman recorded the frequency of orgasms these women had. Twenty years later, Friedman and his colleagues studied the death certificates of each of the women in Terman's study. What they discovered was that the women who reported a frequency of orgasm during intercourse tended to live longer than those who reported being less sexually fulfilled.

9. Orgasms will also stimulate your brain.

Orgasms sure get your blood flowing, and that doesn't exclude blood flow to your brain. In August, Rutgers researchers Barry Komisaruk and Nan Wise, asked female subjects to masturbate while lying in a MRI machine that measured blood flow to the brain. When the females orgasmed, it increased blood flow to all parts of the brain while allowing nutrients and oxygenation to all parts of the brain.


10. Orgasms could keep you looking young.

Forget Botox, just have an orgasm. Dr. David Weeks, a British consultant clinical psychologist and former head of old age psychology at the Royal Edinburgh Hospital, spent 10 years quizzing thousands of men and women of differing ages about their sex lives. He discovered that those between the ages of 40 and 50 who reported having sex 50 percent more than other respondents looked younger. While this study does not explicitly state the specifics as to why orgasms could make you look younger, Weeks says this could be because intercourse releases the human growth hormone, which makes skin look more elastic.

11. They just get better as you age.

There's no reason to stop having sex when you get older. In fact, you are more likely to enjoy it even more as you enter old age. A study in The American Journal of Medicine found that sexual satisfaction in women increases with age. Researchers from the University of California studied 806 women living in a planned community home.

The study measured the sexual activity of these women who had a median age of 67 and were all postmenopausal. The findings reported that sexually satisfaction actually increased with age, with approximately half of the women over 80 years old reporting sexual satisfaction almost always or always.

So, never stop having orgasms!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/1...ef=mostpopular

[*Anya*]

Dog and human brain link revealed, pet dogs took part in the MRI scanning study

Last updated Feb 20, 2014, 4:52 PM PST

By Rebecca Morelle

Science reporter, BBC World Service

Devoted dog owners often claim that their pets understand them. A new study suggests they could be right.

By placing dogs in an MRI scanner, researchers from Hungary found that the canine brain reacts to voices in the same way that the human brain does.

Emotionally charged sounds, such as crying or laughter, also prompted similar responses, perhaps explaining why dogs are attuned to human emotions.

The work is published in the journal Current Biology.

Lead author Attila Andics, from the Hungarian Academy of Science's Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest, said: "We think dogs and humans have a very similar mechanism to process emotional information."

Eleven pet dogs took part in the study; training them took some time.

"We used positive reinforcement strategies - lots of praise," said Dr Andics.

"There were 12 sessions of preparatory training, then seven sessions in the scanner room, then these dogs were able to lie motionless for as long as eight minutes. Once they were trained, they were so happy, I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it."


The canine brain reacted to voices in the same way that the human brain does
For comparison, the team looked at the brains of 22 human volunteers in the same MRI scanners.

The scientists played the people and pooches 200 different sounds, ranging from environmental noises, such as car sounds and whistles, to human sounds (but not words) and dog vocalisations.

The researchers found that a similar region - the temporal pole, which is the most anterior part of the temporal lobe - was activated when both the animals and people heard human voices.

"We do know there are voice areas in humans, areas that respond more strongly to human sounds that any other types of sounds," Dr Andics explained.

"The location (of the activity) in the dog brain is very similar to where we found it in the human brain. The fact that we found these areas exist at all in the dog brain at all is a surprise - it is the first time we have seen this in a non-primate."


The team used a variety of techniques to train the dogs
Emotional sounds, such as crying and laughter also had a similar pattern of activity, with an area near the primary auditory cortex lighting up in dogs and humans.

Likewise, emotionally charged dog vocalisations - such as whimpering or angry barking - also caused a similar reaction in all volunteers,

Dr Andics said: "We know very well that dogs are very good at tuning into the feelings of their owners, and we know a good dog owner can detect emotional changes in his dog - but we now begin to understand why this can be."

However, while the dogs responded to the human voice, their reactions were far stronger when it came to canine sounds.

They also seemed less able to distinguish between environmental sounds and vocal noises compared with humans.

About half of the whole auditory cortex lit up in dogs when listening to these noises, compared with 3% of the same area in humans.

Commenting on the research, Prof Sophie Scott, from the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London, said: "Finding something like this in a primate brain isn't too surprising - but it is quite something to demonstrate it in dogs.

"Dogs are a very interesting animal to look at - we have selected for a lot of traits in dogs that have made them very amenable to humans. Some studies have show they understand a lot of words and they understand intentionality - pointing."

But she added: "It would be interesting to see the animal's response to words rather than just sounds. When we cry and laugh, they are much more like animal calls and this might be causing this response.

"A step further would be if they had gone in and shown sensitivity to words in the language their owners speech."

Dr Andics said this would be the focus of his next set of experiments.


BBC © 2014