A federally funded project run by Oregon Health and Science University is placing sensor monitors in 300 homes around Portland, Oregon.
Why ?
To see if round-the-clock tracking of older person’s activities can provide clues to impeding Alzheimer’s disease.
As Dr Jeffery Kaye explained at the recent Alzheimer’s Association International Conference on Prevention of Dementia, “measuring how people fare at home – on bad days as well as good ones, not just when they’re doing their best for the doctor – may spot changes that signal someone’s at high risk long before they’re actually demented…If you only assess them once-in-a-blue-moon, you really …read more

A 2004 study found a link between low testosterone and Alzheimer’s Disease in older men. The study analysed the testosterone levels of 574 men between the ages of 32 and 87. Examining both ‘total’ and ‘free’ testosterone levels over an average of nineteen years in relationship to subsequent diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, this longitudinal study discovered that testosterone levels are lowere in men suffering from Alzheimer’s disease than in their peers without the disease.
The study found that ‘…men who were diagnosed with AD, on average, had about 1/2 the levels of circulating free testosterone as men who didn’t develop the …read more

I came across an interesting article in the local paper the other day about how Playstation 3 owners are being offered the chance to participate in a supercomputer project.
So I did a little research and discovered that gamers can connect their Playstation 3 into the Stanford University’s supercomputer which is working to unfold complext protein molecules associated with Alzheimer’s Disease.
Apparently this is not a new concept. Since October 2000, over one million computers throughout the world have been working on similar projects (read more)
But the PS3 system allows the computer simulations to occur 10 times faster than personal computers.
Sounds like …read more

Another study, this one conducted by researchers from the University of Washington, indicates there may be a connection between lung function of persons in the 65+ age range and the liklihood of developing dementia. This is summarized in OT Practice (Aug. 14, 2006 issue) as reported at the International Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders (www.alz.org ).
After doing lung capacity tests on these patients, the researchers followed up 5 years later and conclude there may be a possibility of using lung funciton as a predictor for dementia risk.  They also indicate that prevention of lung disease might be a factor in decreasing this …read more