"6 Ways to keep the brain young"

Here’s a link to a recent CNN article by Jayatri Das entitled “Six ways to keep the brain young” - http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/24/health/improve-memory-brain/

The forward notes that “Jayatri Das is chief bioscientist and lead developer of "Your Brain," the nation's largest permanent museum exhibit dedicated to the brain, which opened at The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia this month.”

Here’s his six ways:

1. Exercise
2. Eat right
3. Watch your levels
4. Ease stress
5. Stay social
6. Learn

 Yes this is just a tantalizing tease. For the stories behind the list, go read the article: - http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/24/health/improve-memory-brain/

How to hold off Alzheimer’s Disease 8+ Years

Ever walk into the kitchen and wonder why you walked into the kitchen? Did you started thinking, “Gee, is this the beginning of Alzheimer’s? Or, do you have a friend or relative that has Alzheimer’s and they no longer recognize their friends or relatives?

Maybe, you’re just a worrywart and don’t know what Alzheimer’s is, but it sounds terrible and you want to know how to avoid it?

First, according to the Alzheimer’s Association, “Alzheimer's is the most common form of dementia, a general term for memory loss and other intellectual abilities serious enough to interfere with daily life. Alzheimer's disease accounts for 60 to 80 percent of dementia cases.”

Scarred? If you’re not, you haven’t thought about this enough.

Here’s the good news, an article by Nicole Ostrow in Bloomberg reports that “People genetically prone to Alzheimer’s who went to college, worked in complex fields and stayed engaged intellectually held off the disease almost a decade longer than others, a study found.

Lifelong intellectual activities such as playing music or reading kept the mind fit as people aged and also delayed Alzheimer’s by years for those at risk of the disease who weren’t college educated or worked at challenging jobs, the researchers said in the study published today in JAMA Neurology.

More than 5 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia, and the number is expected to triple by 2050, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. Today’s findings show that intellectual enrichment pursued over a lifetime may help reduce the number of people who will develop the disease...”

My net takeaway? Keep doing Lumosity.

I originally read about this on the SharpBrains website: http://sharpbrains.com/blog/2014/06/25/mental-stimulation-over-genetics-how-to-hold-off-alzheimers-disease-8-years-even-apoe4-carriers/

They picked it up from Bloomberg: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-06-23/feeding-the-brain-s-curiousity-helps-delay-alzheimer-s.html

I haven’t found the JAMA Neurology article that they reference. If you find it, please send me a link to the abstract.

Copyright: <a href='http://www.123rf.com/profile_upixel123'>upixel123 / 123RF Stock Photo</a>

Curcumin/Turmeric as a supplement

Here’s a link to a good discussion on taking curcumin/turmeric as a supplement on the Inspire website: http://www.inspire.com/groups/american-brain-tumor-association/discussion/curcumin-turmeric-as-a-supplement/?ref=as&asat=175924059

Copyright: <a href='http://www.123rf.com/profile_andrelix'>andrelix / 123RF Stock Photo</a>

Seven-year journey from husband to cancer patient to improbable father

I just read a father’s day story written by Kevin Kunzmann of The Star-Ledger in New Jersey that made me believe in real life happy endings. It’s a great story and I needed to read a happy brain tumor story ending because so many of them don’t end in happy endings. 

Here’s the core of the issue:

“Not quite two months after he and Walton were engaged, Davis, a boat salesman from Brick Township, was at work when he suffered a sudden seizure. He would later call that moment ‘the most bizarre type of event’ he’d ever experienced.

"It caused me to go see my regular doctor, and I wasn’t one of those people who went to the doctor very often," Davis recounted last week. "So I went, you know, just to be cautious, to get an MRI."

He had developed a brain tumor. A neurologist immediately referred him to Joseph Landolfi, the director of neurology at the John F. Kennedy Medical Center in Edison. He and Walton were there within a week.

More tests revealed that surgery was risky since some of the tumor had grown within the brain’s visual nerve pathways, Landolfi said. Removing it could leave Davis, an avid golfer, partially blind.

Interested? Here’s a link to the rest of the story: http://www.nj.com/ocean/index.ssf/2014/06/brick_township_couple_overcomes_brain_tumor_to_celebrate_first_fathers_day.html

novel brain tumor vaccine trial

For those of you eager for news on the cancer-fighting agent front, Elizabeth Hayes Staff Reporter, Portland Business Journal writes that “Brain and cancer experts at Providence Health & Services have begun a research trial that will use immunotherapy to target adult brain tumors.”

According to her article, “Providence researcher Keith Bahjat came up with the idea, after working with Listeria monocytogenes, a bacterium that can cause serious illness in people with compromised immune systems. He collaborated with scientists at Aduro BioTech who engineered a version of the Listeria bacterium for use as a cancer vaccine.”

Importantly, “The bacteria is not going to go near the tumor, but be recognized by the immune system and the same immune response is going to hit the cancer cells,” Bahjat said.

Interested? Here’s a link: http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/blog/health-care-inc/2014/05/providence-begins-novel-brain-tumor-vaccine-trail.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+bizj_portland+%28Portland+Business+Journal%29