Latest News

Tobi Akindoju stands outside First Corinthian Baptist Church, the focal point of his research. (Terrence Casey / Penn Memory Center)

An elderly person’s cognitive health is largely dependent on his or her environment, and West Philadelphia is several large steps away from being an age-friendly neighborhood, according to recent research.

The neighborhood’s necessary improvements — including a decrease in crime and an increase in age-friendly transportation options — were highlighted in a community health mapping project recently presented at the University of Pennsylvania by Tobi Akindoju.

A patient’s medical future is a greater cause of stigma than an actual diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, according to a study.

The negative beliefs associated with Alzheimer’s — that patients will become unruly in social situations or abandon personal hygiene, for example — are related to the prognosis rather than the diagnosis, researchers said.

“Alzheimer’s disease label was generally not associated with more stigmatizing reactions,” the study’s authors wrote. “In contrast, expecting the symptoms to get worse…resulted in higher levels of perceived structural discrimination, higher pity, and greater social distance.”

Jason Karlawish, co-director of the Penn Memory Center, recently spoke of his work and the center’s mission during an interview with the Alliance for Aging Research.

“My research goal is to help not just patients but society to live with a new vision of Alzheimer’s disease,” he said. “Many more people will have it, and the simple fact is we are going to have to learn to live with Alzheimer’s. It’s going to be a part of the human condition for the foreseeable future.”

Read the complete interview at AgingResearch.org.

When facing their own mortality, people tend to reevaluate their top priority in life. Is it enough simply to exist? Or is a life without happiness or comfort worth the pain and suffering that comes with terminal illness?

This was one issue tackled by a panel of University of Pennsylvania medical experts during “Reimagining the End of Life,” moderated by health journalist Jackie Judd Wednesday afternoon.

Credit: Military Health

Conventional wisdom tells us that exercise can help strengthen all of our muscles — including our brains. Study after study has reinforced this wisdom.

So Dr. Kaycee Sink was understandably surprised when her recent study found no connection between physical activity and cognitive health.

Dr. Julie Schneider presents her study results August 25, 2015.

Vascular health could play a major role in diagnosing and preventing dementia, according to a study presented recently at the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Julie Schneider, Professor of Pathology and Neurological Sciences and Associate Director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Center at Rush University in Chicago, declared that the scientific community needs to reevaluate its approach when it comes to studying neurodegenerative diseases.

“We have to think more broadly about dementia and aging,” she said during her August 25 presentation. “We need to start thinking about other targets.”

Credit: wallyg/Flickr

A bill calling for a $2 billion boost to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) budget was approved by a Senate panel last month, setting the stage for the organization’s largest raise in 12 years.

President Barack Obama had asked Congress to add $1 billion, and the House of Representatives has already voted to add an additional $100 million on top of that.

Additionally, the Senate bill is calling for a dramatic increase in Alzheimer’s research funding, via a 25 percent increase for the National Institute on Aging, according to a report in Science Magazine.

The final bill, approved by both the House and Senate, will likely include a budget increase between $1.1 billion and $2 billion.

Credit: KOMU News

Any amount of exercise is good for both body and mind, but harder workouts don’t necessarily lead to a sharper mind.

A recent study out of the University of Kansas Alzheimer’s Disease Center found that its senior research participants scored better on both physical endurance and memory tests after 26 weeks of regular brisk walking. But whether participants spent 75 minutes or 225 minutes per week on the treadmill, scores on the memory tests were largely the same. Participants who changed nothing about their lifestyle showed no improvement.

Don’t use that to excuse an easy workout routine, researchers warn, as general physical fitness has many health benefits.

Read more in The New York Times.