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Dr. Jason Karlawish, Penn Memory Center Co-Director, testifies before the Elder Justice Coordinating Council Wednesday, April 27, 2016. (Screenshot of livestream.)

The United States has taken long strides towards treating and preventing the medical issues associated with Alzheimer’s disease, but now is the time to include the nation’s banks and financial services industries in a national plan.

Testifying before the Elder Justice Coordinating Council (EJCC) Wednesday morning, Penn Memory Center Co-Director Dr. Jason Karlawish introduced “a new model to assure the financial security of aging Americans” he calls whealthcare.

“Among the first signs of cognitive changes caused by diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, and cognitive aging as well, are changes in our capacity to manage our finances,” putting the banking and financial services industries on the front lines of screening for cognitive impairment, Karlawish said.

The Elder Justice Coordinating Council (EJCC) is bringing together leaders in government and research Wednesday morning, and a live stream of the meeting will be available here from 9 a.m. to noon: http://acl.gov/ejcc

The video was originally available here on www.pennadc.org, but it has since moved.

Dr. Jason Karlawish, co-director of the Penn Memory Center, presents “The House of Alzheimer’s Disease” at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin this week.

Over the weekend, Dr. Jason Karlawish, co-director of the Penn Memory Center, joined colleagues from the University of Cambridge at Fondation Brocher in Hermance, Switzerland, for “The redefinition of Alzheimer’s disease and its social and ethical consequences. His co-organizers included Research Associate Milne Richard and Senior Research Associate Badger Shirlene.

The event brought together social scientists and ethicists to “explore the boundary between the clinical and research uses of biomarkers and how, as this boundary shifts, it changes how we study, care for and, as a society, approach Alzheimer’s disease,” according to the event’s website.

The Penn Memory Center is proud to present “Alzheimer’s: The New Normal” in collaboration with Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church.

Date: Saturday, May 14, 2016

Talk: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. (lunch provided by Penn Memory Center to follow)

Location: Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church, 230 West Coulter Street, Philadelphia, Pa. 19144

RSVP: Contact Rev. Leroy Miles, associate pastor, at lmiles@enontab.org or 215-276-7200 by May 9.

Members of the public are invited to this free conversation on cognitive aging, Alzheimer’s disease, research, and caregiving.

Patients in the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s disease, weakened by a lack of nutrition, often die from pneumonia, said Penn Memory Center Co-Director Dr. Jason Karlawish.

Responding to a New York Times reader question, Karlawish said these Alzheimer’s patients may stop eating and increase their risk of infection.

“You see a general decline in the contribution the brain makes, not just in thinking, but in maintaining the body’s homeostasis,” Karlawish said, adding that feeding tubes are discouraged, as they only prolong the patient’s suffering.

 
Alzheimer’s disease strikes at the core of what makes us human: our capacity to think, to love, and to remember. The disease ravages the minds of over 40 million victims worldwide, and it is one of the greatest medical mysteries of our time.

Join investigators as they gather clues and attempt to reconstruct the molecular chain of events that ultimately leads to dementia, and follow key researchers in the field who have helped to develop the leading theories of the disease.

Along the way, meet individuals from all walks of life who will reveal what it’s like to struggle with Alzheimer’s. Among them, members of a unique Colombian family who have learned that their genetic predisposition all but guarantees early onset Alzheimer’s.

Yet there may be hope. Join these courageous patients participating in clinical trials, and then go behind the scenes of the major drug trials to see how researchers target and test therapies that may slow and even prevent Alzheimer’s.

“Can Alzheimer’s Be Stopped?” will air 9 p.m. April 13 on PBS.

Could wearable technology replace a glass of wine or a cup of coffee as a relaxation tool? Several companies think so, but one Penn Memory Center researcher said he has not yet worn the tech.

Manoush Zomorodi, host of WNYC’s “Note To Self,” tried a combination of wearable technology and an app called Thync as a relaxation tool.

The idea is that by pairing software and headphones, “you can make your brain better,” Zomorodi said.

Dr. Roy Hamilton, who in addition to his work at the Penn Memory Center directs the University of Pennsylvania’s Laboratory for Cognition and Neural Stimulation, said there is no evidence that products like Thync could have longterm adverse effects, but he still hasn’t personally tested the app.

“Your brain is not just one cognitive function. Your brain is circuits modulating, circuits interacting with networks that interact with other networks,” Hamilton said. “It’s the most complex instrument in the known universe, and we’re hitting it with current in these pretty crude ways.”

You can hear the complete Note to Self episode at www.wnyc.org.

Theatre of Witness, an innovative story-telling group, focusing on deep listening and creative expression, is preparing for a six-week workshop at Ralston House.

Theatre of Witness is “a form of theater in which the true stories of people whose voices haven’t been heard are performed by the people themselves as a way for audiences to bear witness and humanize the other,” explained founder Teya Sepinuck.

Partnering with the Penn Memory Center and ARTZ Philadelphia, Sepinuck plans to bring together caregivers and loved ones living with dementia for six workshops 5:30 to 7 p.m. on Wednesdays from April 6 to May 11.