Category Archives: Announcements

New Links in Alzheimer’s Caregivers & Coping

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In Alzheimers > Caregivers:

When his father had Alzheimer’s, Jonathan Kozol learned how bleak gerontological care can be     “Good god, what happens to people who don’t have the advantages we had?”

In Alzheimers > Coping Stories:

My Mother, Lost and Found     Mom’s private caregiver, Ellen Knapp, has a term for this type of behavioral change: disinhibition

People Living With Alzheimer’s Can Still Enjoy Life     Almost all people with dementia, even those in the later stages of the disease, can enjoy life if they have the right support and environment.

Alzheimer’s Epidemiology: Two New Links

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Two New Links relating to Alzheimer’s epidemiology have been added in
Alzheimers > Epidemiology

The links are:

People are developing dementia earlier and dying of it more, a study shows     People are developing dementia a decade before they were 20 years ago…

Alzheimer’s is on the rise     [US Map]Projected Rise in Alzheimer’s Cases by 2025 [by state]

Five New Links on Risk Factors for Alzheimer’s

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Five links were added in:

Alzheimers > Risk Factors

Here are the new links:
Type 2 diabetes linked with reduced cognitive function     …shown that people with diabetes have abnormal blood flow regulation in the brain, namely impaired ability to increase blood flow and deliver sugar and oxygen to the brain during episodes of increased mental activity

High Blood Sugar May Boost Alzheimer’s Risk     Insulin resistance can inhibit signaling between brain cells and affect memory…

Too much TV could raise the risk of Alzheimer’s, study suggests     It turns out that too much TV might damage your brain and also raise the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease…

Survey: Risk Factors     The most important risk factors—age, family history and heredity—can’t be changed, but emerging evidence suggests there may be other factors we can influence.

Infection Inflicts A Persistent Decrease In IQ: A Danish Study With 180,000 Participants     A recent danish study … showed that infections can impair cognitive ability

Coffee On A Roll: 2 New Links

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We’ve added two more links reporting positive studies concerning coffee and cognitive function, in:

Alzheimers > Amelioration > Caffine

Here are the new links:

Coffee Consumption Habits Impact the Risk of Mild Cognitive Impairment: The Italian Longitudinal Study on Aging     A new study… estimates the association between change or constant habits in coffee consumption and the incidence of mild cognitive impairment (MCI)…

Drinking Coffee May Delay Alzheimer’s Disease     Study Adds to Growing List of Health Benefits Associated With Coffee

New links for multilingualism benefits

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We’ve added new links to Speaking Two Languages, together with a new subsection

Alzheimers > Amelioration > Speaking Two Languages >
      Sites for Learning Languages

Here are the new links:

For a Better Brain, Learn Another Language     The cognitive benefits of multilingualism

Variety makes you (mentally) fit      Young bilingual pupils did a better job answering tricky questions with a noisy voice in the background than a monolingual control group did

Being bilingual ‘boosts brain power’     Learning a second language can boost brain power

From brain to language to accent     The language you speak does change the way your brain processes language

Category: Announcements

New Neuroscience Links

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Here are the newest links in Neuroscience:

Important Link between the Brain and Immune System Found     New anatomical structures have been identified which form a network of lymphatic vessels in the meninges — the membranes that surround the brain and spinal cord — that shuttle fluid and immune cells from the cerebrospinal fluid to a group of lymph nodes in the neck

The Benefits of Nature Experience: Improved Affect and Cognition     
This study extends previous research by demonstrating additional benefits of nature experience on affect and cognition through assessments of anxiety, rumination, and a complex measure of working memory (operation span task).

Nature experience reduces rumination and subgenual prefrontal cortex activation     
This study reveals a pathway by which nature experience may improve mental well-being and suggests that accessible natural areas within urban contexts may be a critical resource for mental health in our rapidly urbanizing world.

The Brain: Our Strange, Important, Subconscious Light Detectors     
Sightless cells hidden within the eye may set our circadian rhythms, trigger migraines, and explain the seasonal ebb and flow of our moods.

‘I’m bad with names’ is a real thing     
Names are arbitrary and that meaninglessness makes it harder to hold the memory of it.

Blood turned into nerve cells by Canadian researchers     
Stem cells extracted from blood are converted into neural stem cells using patented technique

The Man Who Saw Time Stand Still     
One day, a man saw time itself stop, and as David Robson discovers, unpicking what happened is revealing that we can all experience temporal trickery too.

How to Use Light to Control the Brain     
Using “optogenetics,” researchers are able to trigger a memory

New Links for Physical Exercise, Diet & ChemoBrain

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New links added today:

Health > Diet

Short-term fasting may improve health      …a new study suggests that a diet that replicates some effects of milder deprivation may not only lower your weight but also confer other benefits … following the diet for just 5 days a month improves several measures of health, including reducing the risk of developing cardiovascular disease.

High-Sugar Diet Can Impair Learning And Memory By Altering Gut Bacteria      New research … finds a high-sugar, high-fat diet causes changes in gut bacteria that seem to lead to significant losses in cognitive flexibility…

Health > Physical Exercise

Physical Activity May Help Treat Dementia     New research shows that being physically active not only reduces cognitive decline and improves neuropsychiatric symptoms in patients with dementia but may actually reduce Alzheimer’s disease (AD) biomarkers, including amyloid and tau protein in the brain.

Exercise and Mental Health: Many Reasons to Move     In this review, the potential effects of exercise on the aging process and on mental health are discussed, concerning some of the recent findings on animal and human research. The overwhelming evidence present in the literature today suggests that exercise ensures successful brain functioning.

ChemoBrain

Rheumatoid Arthritis and Brain Health     Studies show that about 30% of people with RA experience thinking problems such as difficulty paying attention, making decisions, and concentrating.

New: Brain Exercises & Driving

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We’ve added a new subsection under Mental Agility:

Mental Agility > Brain Exercises & Driving

Here are the initial research reports:

Brain gym helps elderly drivers avoid crashes
Elderly people who did 10 sessions of brain training had half as many crashes on the road as untrained counterparts – even though the training didn’t directly relate to driving itself.

Cognitive Training Decreases Motor Vehicle Collision Involvement Among Older Drivers
Full research report: To test the effects of cognitive training on subsequent motor vehicle collision (MVC) involvement of older drivers.

Cognitive Speed of Processing Training Delays Driving Cessation
Full research report: Older drivers with cognitive speed of processing difficulties who completed speed of processing training were 40% less likely to cease driving over the subsequent 3 years

Research Papers for Mental Exercises

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We’ve added a new section

http://blog.strong-brain.com/mental-agility/research/

which contains links to original scientific research papers concerning mental exercises and brain fitness.  Initially this section contains links to 17 papers.  We will be adding additional links in the future.

New Links for Aging

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New links added today:

Aging

Scientists reverse aging in human cell lines and give theory of aging a new lease of life     Research has shown that, in human cell lines at least, the process of aging be delayed or even reversed.

Ageing rates vary widely, says study     A study of people born within a year of each other has uncovered a huge gulf in the speed at which their bodies age.

Higher Education May Increase Life Expectancy     New findings … suggest that getting a college degree could actually reduce the risk of early mortality.

Aging > Organizations

National Council on Aging     Top level menu includes:

  • Economic Security
  • Healthy Aging
  • Public Policy & Action
  • Resources

USF School of Aging Studies      Major research areas:

  • Aging and Health
  • Cognitive Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease
  • Mental Health and Disparities
  • Public Policy and Long-Term Care