Assisted Living Community Guide

Abstract: Background: This work sought to determine the effects of hypothalamic proline-rich peptide (PRP)-1 in a rat model of Alzheimer’s disease.Methods: Complex histochemical, electrophysiologic, and behavioral analyses were performed on intact or diseased Wistar rats (n = 28). Pathologic conditions were induced by bilateral intracerebroventricular injection of amyloid peptide A?25–35. The diseased rats received systemic administration of PRP-1 or placebo control.Results: A?25–35 caused cellular neurodegeneration with marked glial reaction in the hippocampal complex and almost full destruction of the dentate fascia, which was not observed in conditions of PRP-1 administration after A?25–35 injection. Hippocampal neurons of intact animals responded to high-frequency (tetanic) stimulation of entorhinal cortex of ipsilateral cerebral hemisphere by tetanic and posttetanic potentiation of a different intensity and duration, which was accompanied by posttetanic depression. A?25–35 led to significant changes in the level and pattern of hippocampal neuronal activity, indicating the absence of both tetanic and posttetanic activity. Poststimulus activity manifestations rarely occurred and rapidly decreased after repeated trials. This indicated the focal character of lesion. Regular administration of PRP-1 for 4 weeks resulted in optimal restoration of electrophysiologic parameters. PRP-1 maintained the initial learning level achieved in a behavioral study in a Morris water maze.Conclusions: Systemic administration of PRP-1 possesses neuroprotective effects and can prevent the neurodegeneration in hippocampus induced by A?25–35. This suggests that PRP-1 could be a potential therapeutic agent for specific neurodegenerative diseases.

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National grants totalling more than $6 million dollars have been awarded to the State’s premier medical research facility, the Western Australian Institute for Medical Research (WAIMR), in support of a range of ground-breaking, world-first research projects.

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Family Memories Are PreciousDo you have Halloween memories connected with your Alzheimer’s family member?  Memories you can share with your children and grandchildren?  Perhaps memories your Alzheimer’s patient will still understand.Share these memories with your family so they see a side of the Alzheimer’s member not evident today.  They will realize he/she was not always a forgetful, non-functioning person.My Mom and HalloweenMy mom enjoyed Halloween with us four children.  She helped us make jack-o-lanterns, draw pictures, dunk for apples.  Mother assisted us with making costumes and drove us trick-or-treating. (In our farming community, the houses were fairly far apart.)One year, when there was a town Halloween party at the community hall, Mother made hers…

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More than 35 million people in Bangladesh, around a quarter of its population, face acute poverty and hunger. Dowry payments of more than 200 times the daily wage and costly medical expenses are major causes of this chronic poverty says research from the University of Bath.

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Closet DiseaseKeeping one’s illness, when it involved mental or emotional conditions, “in the closet” was common when I was growing up.  You only whispered about someone’s mental disorders.  Families tried to keep that person at home, while not literally “in a closet,” figuratively so.You tried not to talk about Aunt Mollie who laughed at inappropriate times, wore her clothes backward, took walks in the middle of the night, or held conversations with people of the past.  Perhaps she even had to spend some time in a mental institution and have “shock” treatment, the common way of dealing with mental and emotional conditions then.Is Alzheimer’s in “the closet?”Although we’re able to talk more openly about dementia…

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Tadalafil (Cialis) may be an effective adjunct therapy for patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension, a condition that is increasingly affecting older and female Americans, according to research presented this week at CHEST 2008, the annual meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians, in Philadelphia.

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The first family-based genome-wide association study in Alzheimer’s disease has identified the sites of four novel genes that may significantly influence risk for the most common late-onset form of the devastating neurological disorder.

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Postmenopausal, normal-weight women who undertake regular vigorous exercise such as heavy housework or strenuous sports have a lower risk of developing breast cancer, according to a study published online Oct. 31 in Breast Cancer Research.

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Consumption of phytochemicals from powdered table grapes reduces salt-sensitive hypertension and diastolic dysfunction in rats, according to research published in the October Journal of Gerontology: Biological Sciences.

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Researchers combing the human gene map have found four more areasthat affect the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and believe the studiesare starting to point to new and better treatments.

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