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By Joyce Lee

Incorporating long-term prognosis, or the estimated amount of time one is expected to live, into conversations between older adults and primary care physicians may be beneficial, a study in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society recently reported.

Placing one’s life expectancy in the context of one’s own narrative is particularly important for older patients, the study found, and physicians might be able to help with this process.

In the past, physicians have often shied away from discussing long-term prognoses with patients, for reasons such as fear of negative reactions or fear of taking away hope. However, the study, which examined patients’ reactions to calculated life expectancies, actually found little evidence for sadness or anxiety in patients.

By Chloe Elmer

Using a PET scan, researchers can detect amyloid buildup in the brain, but a Penn Memory Center study published in JAMA Neurology found that research participants can be frustrated with how their result is described, as either “elevated” or “not elevated” amyloid.

They want a number that explains how much amyloid, but such a number isn’t available. Study authors call for those describing these biomarkers to research participants to anticipate this need and explain why, at present, a personalized number isn’t available.

The study, known as the Study of Knowledge and Reactions to Amyloid Testing (SOKRATES), interviewed 50 participants in the A4 Study (Anti-Amyloid Treatment in Asymptomatic Alzheimer’s Study). The A4 Study is a clinical trial testing whether a drug (solanezumab) can slow decline seen in cognitively unimpaired older adults with elevated amyloid. A buildup of amyloid is common in the brains of older adults with Alzheimer’s disease dementia, but it can also be present in adults experiencing no loss in cognition. Memory problems might not surface for years, or even not at all.

By Joyce Lee

The rapidly aging population of the U.S. – which includes more than 76 million ‘Baby Boomers’ approaching their 60s and 70s – has increased national organization’s efforts to tackle problems associated with age-related cognitive impairment and dementia, the Journal of the American Medical Association recently reported.

One of these organizations, the Gerontological Society of America (GSA), recently released a toolkit centered around detecting and diagnosing cognitive impairments. The focus of this initiative is to start the conversation around cognitive decline earlier and connect patients to the appropriate resources faster than before.

Editor’s Note: David Ney was a Penn Memory Center communications intern from 2016 to 2017. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2017 with a degree in biological basis of behavior. He plans to attend medical school next year. This is his reflection on a year with PMC.

By David Ney

When I joined the Penn Memory Center as an editorial assistant, I assumed I would be tracking pharmaceutical companies and research labs to learn about the drugs designed to treat and cure Alzheimer’s disease.

I quickly learned that there is so much more to treating Alzheimer’s disease than can be found on a prescription pad.

The National Research Summit on Dementia Care is set to take place October 16-17, 2017 in Bethesda, Maryland.

While previous summits have discussed how best to care for patients with dementia, this summit is unique in making the primary focus the research needed to provide and improve services for both patients and caregivers.

“As all of us in aging research know, the issue of taking care of older people – with and without dementia – is becoming more urgent,” Dr. Elena Fazio from the NIH/NIA Division of Behavioral and Social Research wrote in her blog. “New generation research can help us move forward with evidence-based programs, practices, and policies to meet these challenges today and in the future.”

Mentors Dr. Dawn Mechanic-Hamilton (left) and Dr. Roy Hamilton (back center) pose with Maria Florence Aquina Nabong (front left) and Catherine Norise.

By Joyce Lee

Medical students Catherine Norise and Maria Florence Aquino Nabong recently celebrated completion of the new Penn Minority Scholars in Aging Research program. 

Norise and Nabong, the program’s first two scholars, contributed to research on neurodegenerative diseases under the guidance of faculty mentors Roy Hamilton, assistant professor of neurology and co-director of the laboratory for cognition and neural stimulation, and Dawn Mechanic-Hamilton, assistant professor of neurology and director of cognitive fitness programs and neuropsychological services at PMC.

Join the Penn Memory Center on October 19 for a workshop with Philadelphia artist Patricia Moss-Vreeland exploring memory “as a meditation on who we are.”

3 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Thursday, October 19, 2017
Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine
Second Floor, South Pavilion
Philadelphia, PA 19104

RSVP before October 13 by contacting Felicia Greenfield at felicia.greenfield@uphs.upenn.edu.

The evidence for “brain games” benefitting long-term brain health is rather weak, according to a new statement from the Global Council on Brain Health (GCBH). While brain games can be entertaining, their benefits are often exaggerated by the companies that promote them.

Instead, the GCBH recommends engaging in mentally stimulating activities to help support and maintain memory, attention, and reasoning skills. Activities might include ones that challenge the way you think (e.g. learning a new language), boost your social engagement (e.g. mentoring in your community), or train your body along with your brain (e.g. playing tennis).

The benefits to maintaining a healthy schedule of physical activity for brain health are well known, but randomized control trials in the NIA study were inconsistent.

By Chloe Elmer

As drug trials for treating Alzheimer’s disease have repeatedly yielded negative results, the focus shifts to early-stage prevention. And one report said inconclusive evidence should not discourage adults from the healthy-brain strategies investigated.