#107: Imagery for Neurology, Installment #107 [23:08m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (444)

Imagery and images for neurology professionals.

Today’s show: Interview with Dr. Daniel Amen, MD. SPECT scanning has dramatically changed the way Dr. Amen looks at and sees (and treats) his patients.

Psychiatrists remain the only doctors who never look at the ‘organ’ they treat (the human brain). We make psychiatric diagnoses today essentially like our predecessors did back in 1840. Might SPECT scanning change that?

‘Imaging human behavior’ with SPECT is considered a new frontier for the entire field of neuropsychiatry since we can now literally see functional imbalances in the brain, and then do what we can to try to correct those imbalances.

According to Dr. Amen, SPECT neuroimaging opens the minds of doctors who employ it, and it opens many doors for possible therapeutic options for neurobehavioral disorders (not just medications). SPECT can apparently document brain changes (improvements) from treatments like acupuncture/acupressure, hyperbaric oxygen, dietary supplements and even transcranial magnetic stimulation.

For more information about SPECT scanning and the Amen Clinics: www.AmenClinics.com.

Next week’s show: Part 2 of the interview with Dr. Daniel Amen (and Dr. William Campbell Douglass). The doctors will discuss the accuracy of SPECT images of the brain, and their accuracy for diagnosing pre-clinical Alzheimer’s disease. They’ll also discuss the potential quagmire of issues related to likely discrimination by health insurance companies after people test positive for Alzheimer’s based on SPECT neuroimaging (or based on positive tests for APO E4, the Alzheimer’s risk gene).

 

 #105: Defeating Dementia, Installment #11 [32:02m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (409)

Promising news and approaches for progressive brain disorders - Part 3 of a 4-part mini series.

Hear these reports:

Omega-3 Fatty Acid Docosahexaenoic Acid Increases SorLA/LR11 - a Sorting Protein with Reduced Expression in Sporadic Alzheimer’s Disease (AD): Reduced LR-11 protein is associated with increased amyloid beta production. Increasing LR-11 levels using the docosohexaenoic acid, DHA may play an important role in preventing Alzheimer’s.

Oxidation, Inflammation and APO E4: We touch upon the importance of each.

Possible New Alzheimer’s Gene Identified: The CDC2 gene is associated with hyperphosphorylation of tau in neurons of the Alzheimer’s brain. The researchers found that the CDC2 allele was associated with a gene dose-dependent increase of total-tau levels in the CSF.

Memory Test Can Reveal Nascent Dementia: The Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test is a useful test for identifying patients at high and low risk for cognitive decline. Adding CSF values for beta amyloid (42 amino acid form) increases the ability to differentiate those who will decline - from those who will not decline. Increasing phosphorylated tau levels during cognitive decline suggests that measuring phosphorylated tau may be useful as a longitudinal marker of the early neurodegenerative process in Alzheimer’s.

Can Biomarkers for Alzheimer’s Disease Be Trusted in Clinical Trials? According to the results from this Swedish study, there’s low individual variation in amyloid and tau biomarker levels in Alzheimer’s patients over time. This information may be important for interpreting the validity of decreases in the biomarkers resulting from therapeutic interventions (DHA in the current NIH study, for example?).

New Online Diagnostic Algorithm for Mapping Different Types of Mild Cognitive Impairment: An excellent interactive diagnostic work-up of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). Check symptoms from a list of 18 symptoms while the diagnosis is being constructed for you. This is the wave of future web-based clinical tools. It’s described as the operationalization of mild cognitive impairment.

Next week’s show: It will be our 12th installment of Defeating Dementia. During the 4th part of this 4-part mini series we’ll discuss news related to Alzheimer’s treatment and prevention. We’ll also have a review of the 4-part series, with rapid fire questions and answers.

 

 #104: Defeating Dementia, Installment #10 [28:38m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (398)

Promising news and approaches for progressive brain disorders - Part 2 of a 4-part mini series.

Hear these reports:

Lipids in the brain: an important factor for Alzheimer’s disease? Researchers at VIB Switch Laboratory in Switzerland recently discovered that a certain brain fat promotes formation of Alzheimer’s peptide, the neurotoxic protofibril. Key concept: concentrations of various lipids in the brain strongly affect biological equilibriums between senile plaques of Alzheimer’s disease and toxic protofibrils.

Omega-3 supplements in mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease: effects on neuropsychiatric symptoms. The omega-3 fats used in this study helped combat depression and agitation in Alzheimer’s patients who received the supplements.

A diet enriched with the omega-3 fatty acid docosahexaenoic acid reduces amyloid burden in an aged Alzheimer mouse model: Mouse study. From Journal of Neuroscience (2005). Researchers employed the omega-3 fatty acid DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) and demonstrated that DHA-enriched diets reduce total amyloid-beta by more than 70%. Overall plaque burden was reduced by 40%, compared to mice on a low-DHA or control diet.

NIH study on DHA in Slowing Progression of Alzheimer’s Disease: Four hundred (400) Alzheimer’s patients are being studied, based on evidence that omega-3 fatty acids appear to have anti-amyloid, anti-oxidant and neuroprotective properties. This study has huge implications and may provide hope for delaying onset of Alzheimer’s, and for fending off the impending Alzheimer’s crisis, saving billions of health care dollars.

Plight of natural product therapies in US medicine: we discuss some of the underlying politics and possibilities.

Alzheimer and trans fatty acids from hydrogenation of vegetable oils: There’s a possible link. We discuss some of the evidence and current efforts by many of the States to ban trans fats, and require warnings about their damaging health effects. University of Maryland researcher Dr. Mary Enig has done extensive research in this area.

Next week’s show: It will be our 11th installment of Defeating Dementia. During the 3rd of this 3-part mini series we’ll discuss Alzheimer’s-related genetics news and some research discoveries related to diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer’s. We’ll also have more news and information on prevention of Alzheimer’s.