An Alzheimer's Disease Research Center
Penn Memory Center scholar Shana Stites, PsyD, MA, MS recently joined the Alzheimer’s Association on WPHL-TV 17’s “In Focus” to discuss Alzheimer’s disease and the state of research at PMC.
Dr. Stites and Fredericka Waugh, associate director, diversity and inclusion of the Alzheimer’s Association’s Delaware Valley chapter, were joined by Tom Brophy, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease at age 61.
Is the risk for Alzheimer’s disease and dementia declining? Kenneth Langa, MD, PhD addressed this question using epidemiological evidence from around the world during a recent keynote presentation at a conference held by the University of Pennsylvania’s Institute on Aging (IOA).
Dr. Langa, Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine and Health Management and Policy in the School of Public Health at University of Michigan, spoke about recent trends in brain health and dementia prevalence within the United States and around the world.
During the presentation, Dr. Langa referenced data collected from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) between the years 2000 and 2012. Despite the prevalence of diabetes, heart disease, hypertension and obesity increasing, findings showed a significant decrease in dementia in ages 65 and older, with the most drastic being in ages 85 and older.
Dr. Langa partly attributes this trend to the rapid increase in levels of education, which is protective against Alzheimer’s disease. In 1990, 53 percent of people over 65 finished high school, while by 2010, that number increased to 80 percent. Similarly, in 1990 only 11 percent of people age 65 and older finished college, with that number growing to 23 percent by 2010, Dr. Langa said.
This event held by the IOA was the 2018 Sylvan M. Cohen Annual Retreat and Poster Session in partnership with Penn’s Population Aging Research Center (PARC). Dr. Langa’s presentation followed the theme of this year’s event, “Impact of Life Course Exposures on Aging: Longevity reflects our experiences from day to day.” To learn more about Dr. Langa’s research or see full lectures from the conference, click here.
Join Penn Memory Center neurologist, Sanjeev Vaishnavi, MD, PhD on Thursday, June 14 for a special presentation hosted by Atria Center City, a senior living and memory care center. Dr. Vaishnavi’s talk, “Dementia: Getting a Proper Diagnosis,” will be held in the William Penn Room of Atria Center City starting at 4 p.m.
To RSVP, please contact Ms. Jacqueline Pireaux of Atria Center City at 215-564-5455.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
