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Latest News

New definition of Alzheimer’s disease based on biomarkers, but questions remain

By Joyce Lee

A new way of defining Alzheimer’s disease looks to frame it around the presence of “biomarkers,” or biological markers. Based on new guidelines from the National Institute on Aging and the Alzheimer’s Association, these biomarkers include amyloid protein buildup, tau protein buildup, and neurodegeneration in the brain.

“The new definition is an attempt to better explain why you might have cognitive problems, number one,” Penn Memory Center Co-Director Dr. Jason Karlawish told Healthline. “And number two, to give physicians the opportunity to prescribe treatments that might slow down or even prevent you from developing those cognitive problems.”

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Laws removing voting rights can impact those with Alzheimer’s disease

By Joyce Lee

In 39 states and Washington, D.C., laws can strip the right to vote for people with mental disabilities, a Seattle Times article reported. But problematically, these laws are indiscriminately applied to those with Alzheimer’s disease, Down syndrome, schizophrenia, and more, which makes for a confusing legal landscape where people who might not yet have lost the capacity to choose their preferred candidates are restricted from voting for them.

According to the Spectrum Institute, an advocacy group for people with disabilities, tens of thousands every year lose the right to vote through guardianship proceedings. If they are judged “incapacitated” or “incompetent,” judges may take away voting rights in several states. The only states that don’t have similar laws are Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Vermont.

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Karlawish: ‘Bio-age’ changes who we are, how society views us

 

By Erin Alessandroni

We’re living longer, but are we living better? That is, have our 20th century advances in biomedical technology simply extended the period of sickness, or are we in fact healthier than we used to be?

This is the question posed in the latest Forbes column published by Dr. Jason Karlawish, co-director of the Penn Memory Center. Dr. Karlawish examines whether using the number of times the Earth takes to travel around the sun to determine someone’s age is the best way to answer the question, “How old am I, and therefore, what should I do?”

The answer to this question leads to social policies that determine things such as when someone retires or when someone receives social security insurance. Dr. Karlawish points out that age also determines how someone feels about themselves, their behaviors, and how society views them.

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Shaping Copper, Making Meaning: An Art of the Mind exhibition by Carl Duzen

Carl Duzen: Shaping Copper, Making Meaning from Penn Memory Center on Vimeo.

By Joyce Lee

Framed copper artwork hangs in the hall outside the Penn Memory Center clinic. Some, like “Family Circle,” evoke memories of love and devotion. Others, like “Chalices,” awe viewers with vibrant, playful shapes, and colors, shades of copper pulled from the inside of an abandoned television or other electronics.

“Carl Duzen: Shaping Copper, Making Meaning” is the Penn Memory Center’s latest ‘Art of the Mind’ exhibition and a celebration of creativity from PMC patient Carl Duzen and his wife, Susan Jewett. Their extraordinary story, from Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis to copper art creation, was featured in 2017 on Making Sense of Alzheimer’s. 

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Join Penn Memory Center at Memory Café on June 1

Join the Penn Memory Center at our June 1 Memory Café in Christ Church Neighborhood House, Old City. Come for coffee, treats, and conversations with other members of the PMC community, as well as a special activity with PMC social worker Cynthia Clyburn.

Friday, June 1 | 10:30 a.m. to noon
Christ Church Neighborhood House
20 N. American Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106

To RSVP, contact Alison Lynn at 215-360-0257 or alison.lynn@uphs.upenn.edu.

Curtis Institute of Music student playing at PMC’s May Memory Café.

 

 

Study: Biomarker measurements make for more accurate risk assessment in MCI patients

by Erin Alessandroni

The use of multiple biomarkers — physiological indicators of disease or another bodily state — may be more effective than single diagnostic tests or clinical assessment alone in assessing risk of future cognitive decline in patients with mild cognitive impairment.

Dr. David Wolk, co-director of Penn Memory Center, authored a paper on these findings published in JAMA Neurology.

Through a four-year, multicenter cohort study involving 232 patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment, Dr. Wolk and colleagues used biomarkers to determine a patient’s risk of progressing to probable Alzheimer’s disease.

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Upcoming webinar: The role of financial institutions in a dementia-friendly America

Unpaid expenses, squandered resources, avoidable guardianship, and financial abuse, neglect, or exploitation are all issues facing members of the aging American population.

The National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) and Dementia Friendly America are jointly hosting a free webinar focusing on the steps banks and financial institutions can take to foster a dementia-friendly community and provide services to those affected by memory loss and their caregivers.

Dr. Jason Karlawish, co-director of the Penn Memory Center, will present during the webinar, Banking and Financial Services for a Dementia Friendly America, held 2-3:30 p.m. EST on May 30.

Other speakers include experts from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and NCRC, which is organizing the event.

Click here to register or for more information.

Carpe Dia, Or My Treatment For Alzheimer’s Disease

By Joyce Lee

Stories give voice to the experience of Alzheimer’s disease – the experience of patients and families struggling with the disease. Carpe Kilimanjaro is one such story, a film unveiling the challenges Zach Jordan faces as his father is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. This is what Penn Memory Center Co-Director Jason Karlawish, MD, writes about in his latest Forbes column.

Carpe Kilimanjaro is, according to Dr. Karlawish, “a blend of documentary, biography, and autobiography into what I will call a natural history of life as a human.” In it, Zach scales two mountains: the mountain of Alzheimer’s disease that his father faces, and the mountain of Kilimanjaro that he himself faces, with his other father – his girlfriend’s father – by his side. It is a tale of two mountains and a tale of three men: one suffering from Alzheimer’s disease (Zach’s father), another one of similar age still thriving (Zach’s girlfriend’s father), and a third (Zach) coming into his own adult life. And in facing these challenges, Zach ultimately comes away with the message to “seize the mountain, seize the day.”

Stories like Zach’s help us understand the experience of Alzheimer’s disease as is felt by those affected by the disease. It engages us in conversation that is “meant to comfort, reduce the stigma, and [provide] a sense of hope,” Dr. Karlawish writes.

Most of all, it teaches us. “As Alzheimer’s kills, it teaches us how to live,” the column concludes.

To read Dr. Karlawish’s full column in Forbes, click here.

‘Diversity and Disparity: Remembering Communities of Color in the Fight Against Memory Disorders’ with PMC neurologist Dr. Hamilton

Join Penn Memory Center neurologist Roy Hamilton, MD, at a lecture on May 11 in Bala Cynwyd, PA hosted by the Jewish Family and Children’s Service of Greater Philadelphia (JFCS).

The Fran and Elliot Kane Memorial Lecture
Sage-ing: Finding the Wisdoms of Aging Across Communities and Cultures
May 11, 2018 | 8:30 a.m. to noon
The Barbara and Harvey Brodsky Enrichment Center of JFCS
345 Montgomery Avenue
Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004

 

The lecture addresses the strengths and challenges of aging in diverse cultures and communities. Attendees will learn about “age culture” and how they can help enhance the aging process and offer support for those with age-associated cognitive problems.

A clinician at Penn Memory Center, Dr. Hamilton is an Associate Professor in Neurology and Dean of the Laboratory for Cognition and Neural Stimulation at the University of Pennsylvania. He is also the Assistant Dean of Diversity and Inclusion at the Perelman School of Medicine. Dr. Hamilton will be presenting his talk on “Diversity and Disparity: Remembering Communities of Color in the Fight Against Memory Disorders.” For more about Dr. Hamilton and his work, please click here.

For more information about the talk and to register, click here.

 

May Memory Café to feature students from Curtis Institute of Music

Penn Memory Center’s May Memory Café will feature music students from the Curtis Institute of Music. Join the Penn Memory Center in welcoming them on:

Friday, May 4 | 10:30 a.m. to noon
Christ Church Neighborhood House
20 N. American Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106

To RSVP, contact Alison Lynn at 215-360-0257 or alison.lynn@uphs.upenn.edu.

Curtis Institute of Music students Ying Li, Jiacheng Xiong, and Bolai Cao answer questions from the audience at October’s Memory Café.

 

The Curtis Institute of Music is a conservatory in Center City, Philadelphia that educates gifted students from all around the world in the study of music. The Curtis Institute’s aim is to train their students, selected on the basis of their talent and artistic promise, to be world performers and musical leaders who will make a profound impact within their local and global communities. Penn Memory Center and the Curtis Institute have worked closely together in the past to bring classical music to the homes of patients with memory problems and their families, and students from the Curtis Institute have also performed for the Penn Memory Center at past Memory Cafés and Caregiver Retreats. Penn Memory Center is proud to be welcoming back these talented young musicians from Curtis at the upcoming May Memory Café.

 

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