FDA To Consider How Important Tests Are for Alzheimer’s, A Disease With No Cure

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Posted on 20th January 2011 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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Depending on who you believe in the media, we are coming closer to having methods to determine if someone has Alzheimer’s disease — or federal regulators are unimpressed with at least one of the potential solutions.

The New York Times Wednesday ran an upbeat story with the headline “Two Tests Could Aid In Risk Assessment And Early Diagnosis of Alzheimer’s.”    

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/19/health/research/19alzheimers.html?_r=1&ref=us

The Times noted that one new study had evaluated a new kind of brain scan that detects the plaques in the brain that are characteristic of Alzheimers’. On Thursday a Food and Drug Administration committee is scheduled to review that study and recommend whether that test should get the go-ahead to be marketed.

The new brain scan involves what The Times described as a dye created by Avid Radiopharmaceuticals, which is part of Eli Lilly & Co. That dye is supposed to attach to the plaque in the brain, beta amyloid, “lighting” it up so that it becomes visible in PET scans.

In contrast to the upbeat report in The Times, The Wall Street Journal said the dye that finds plaque, which it named as the drug Amyvid, was being given a dim eye by the FDA committee. The Journal, in a story headlined “FDA Skeptical About Detecting Alzheimer’s,” reported that two FDA reviewers are recommending that Amyvid not be approved.     

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704678004576090320296403228.html?KEYWORDS=alzheimer%27s

At least two FDA reviewers questioned the need for the new scan since there isn’t even a cure for Alzheimer’s yet. And according to The Journal, the first question the FDA will be asked to address Thursday is “whether knowledge of brain amyloid plaque would have ‘clinical usefulness.'” 

 

A second study investigated whether a blood test can detect the presence of the protein that comprises Alzheimer’s plaque, beta amyloid, according to The Times. 

The studies were reported Wednesday in The Journal of the American Medical Association.     

http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/305/3/261.full

 

 

China Tries To Cope With Its Elderly With Alzheimer’s Disease

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Posted on 17th January 2011 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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 With America’s Baby Boomers aging, maybe we should pay attention to what China is doing to care for its “exploding elderly population,” according to The New York Times. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/13/world/asia/13shanghai.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=alzheimer’s%20disease&st=cse

In cities such as Shanghai, China has begun building nursing homes with multitudes of amenities — such as movies houses, beauty salons, game rooms and karaoke suites — for those with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.

In its Page One story last Thursday, headlined “China, In A Shift To Acceptance, Takes On Its Alzheimer’s Problem,” says that China within 30 years will likely have almost 400 million people older than 60.

Instead of being ashamed when a family member has Alzheimer’s, or putting them in hospital psychiatric wards, China is starting to construct more nursing homes to deal with its elders suffering from dementia. In Shanghai, which has an estimated 120,000 residents with dementia or Alzheimer’s, there are plans to build a nursing home in each of the city’s districts. Shanghai will need 5,000 more beds each year, according to The Times.

China’s problems dealing with its aged have been exacerbated by its policy limiting couples to having only one child. That means that a single Chinese person will be expected to support and care for two parents and four grandparents, The Times reported.    

FX Show ‘Lights Out’ Takes On The Issue Of Boxing And Brain Injury

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Posted on 12th January 2011 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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It looks like popular culture, namely American television, has finally gotten the message about the long-term effects of concussions on the brain. And that is apparently going to be one of the dramatic elements of FX network’s new boxing drama, “Lights Out.”

The series, which debuted Tuesday, is about a one-time champ boxer, Patrick “Lights” Leary, who has been retired from the ring for several years. In the opening scene we find out why: His wife told him she couldn’t take seeing him get hurt anymore and she wanted him to quit.

We learn this during a flashback scene, when we see the wife Theresa tending to Lights’ bloody face, stitching up his split eyelid after a fight where he has lost his title. 

“You blacked out,” she tells him. “You have a concussion.”

Flash forward about five years. We see that Lights is having problems with his memory. At one point, he is asked his Social Security number and he can’t remember it.

Lights goes to the doctor, and we see him reciting the “Hail Mary” as he glides into the MRI chamber. Next we see him standing with his physician, looking at a scan of his brain. 

Apparently, Lights didn’t quit boxing quite soon enough.

His doctor gives him the grim diagnosis, saying, “It’s called chronic traumatic encephalopathy, otherwise known as pugilistic….”

“…dementia,” Lights finishes the sentence, adding, “I know what it’s called.” 

CTE is the progressive brain disease that recent research has shown is afflicting NFL players, young and old, now. Concussions take their toll over the years, for not only boxers but football players.

“Now in this case, we’re looking at symptoms that could eventually lead to Alzheimer’s,” the doctor tells Lights.

“How long?”  Lights asks.

“There is so little we understand about the brain that’s impossible to predict,” the doctor says.

“Just give me a ballpark,” Lights says.

“It could be two years. It could be 10. It could be never,” the doctor replies.

“If it’s not never, what happens?” Lights asks.

“Symptomatically,  disorientation, loss of memory, anxiety, loss of body control,” the doctor says. “You do understand, this is all speculation.”   

“Yeah,” Lights says. But you don’t believe that Lights thinks it is just speculation.

This new TV show has the potential to teach Americans a lot about the impact of concussions. Perhaps some parents will stop their kids from boxing, rather than have them risk brain damage. After all, the whole point of boxing is to give your opponent a concussion.  

Music, Sex — It’s All Pretty Much The Same To The Brain

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Posted on 10th January 2011 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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 Here’s a perhaps not-so-surprising discovery: Listening to music releases the same chemicals in the brain that having sex or eating do. No wonder music is popular around the world.  

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iGKsfXug2k7AwAbag9hj4wBfg0DQ?docId=f3e1478353ea434090287cb732c2ea8d

The just-released study revolved around dopamine, a substance that once released in the brain sparks pleasure from chowing down or making love, and produces the high from drugs.

Researchers at McGill University in Montreal found that instrumental music alone, without singing voices, will prompt the release of dopamine. An article on the study was posted online by the journal Nature Neuroscience. 

http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nn.2726.html

In the study eight volunteers were picked because they felt chills during certain points in their favorite music, according to the Associated Press. But even those who don’t feel such chills during music still feel the effects of the release of dopamine.

PET scans found that participants in the study released more dopamine in the part of the brain called the striatum when they were listening to a favorite song than when they heard other musical pieces, according to AP.

Dopamine levels rose in one part of the striatum during the 15 seconds that led to a person’s favorite moment in a song, and in another part of it when that favorite moment arrived.

According to researchers, that makes sense.

“The area linked to anticipation connects with parts of the brain involved with making predictions and responding to the environment, while the area reacting to the peak moment itself is linked to the brain’s limbic system, which is involved in emotion,” AP said. 

 

How Many Warnings Does The Army Need Before Preventing A Suicide?

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Posted on 5th January 2011 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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How many soldiers have to die at their own hand, despite their pleadings for help and warnings to others, before the military takes them seriously?

The New York Times Sunday did a Page One story on yet another apparent military suicide, in a story headlined “Several Warnings, Then a Soldier’s Lonely Death.” It is the story of Staff Sgt. David Senft, 27, who was found dead Nov. 15 with a single bullet wound to his head, sitting in an SUV parked at an American air base in Afghanistan.   

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/02/world/asia/02suicide.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper

The Army characterized Senft’s death as resulting from “injuries sustained in a non-combat related incident,” according to The Times. The paper then went on to chronicle the tragedy of Senft’s case, and how the Army may have prevented his death.

First, the Army sent Senft to Afghanistan after he had tried to commit suicide twice at Fort Campbell, Ky. When he got to Afghanistan, Senft was having so many mental difficulties that the Army took away his weapon and made him get counseling. Senft killed himself with a weapon he stole from his roommate.

Senft’s father asks some pointed, and logical, questions about the Army and his son. Why did the Army deploy Senft to combat when he was suicidal? Why did the Army leave him there when he was obviously still having mental problems?

Senft had come from a troubled family life. And the horror of his his experience as crew chief for a Black Hawk helicopter during a tour in Iraq haunted him, according to The Times. 

The Army told The Times that it is still investigating Senft’s death and how the Army handled his case. It’s too bad the military had not given his case that kind of scrutiny before he put a bullet in his brain.       

  

Sen. Udall Asks FTC To Investigate Safety Claims On Football Helmets

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Posted on 4th January 2011 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., has asked the Federal Trade Commission to look into the “misleading safety claims” he alleges are being made by helmet makers and refurbishers, according to The New York Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/04/sports/football/04helmets.html?ref=todayspaper

The Times reported Tuesday that Udall had written a letter to FTC chairman Jon Leibowitz that charged that ads from the two main helmet manufacturers are deceptive, particularly making false safety claims about helmets for children.

In particular, Udall singled out the National Football League’s official helmet maker, Riddell, for its claim that its Revolver helmets cut concussion risk by 31 perent, The Times reported.

The senator also griped about the sketchy test standards used for new and old helmets.

“Athletes who have already suffered a concussion — as well as their coaches and parents — may be particuarly susceptioble to misleading marketing claims about helmet safety,” Udell said in his letter calling for the FTC to launch an investigation into the matter.

A Riddell executive told The Times that he welcomed the FTC’s scrutiny, while Riddell’s competitor Schutt said that it had never claimed that its helmets were “concussion proof.”

The Times said that 1 million new helmets, priced from $150 to $400 each, are sold each season for the 4.4 million students under 18 who play organized football.

Sen. Udall’s  call for an FTC investigation is well-founded, and could end up in the production of safer helmets for our kids as well as pro-football players.  

 

  

  

 

Military Nixes Coverage For Cognitive Rehab Therapy For TBI Cases

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Posted on 4th January 2011 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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The U.S. military has put out a lot of press releases, and made a lot of noise, about its concern for the traumatic brain injuries that our troops are sustaining. Then it comes along and makes a lame-brained decision that negates all the past lip service. 

USA Today reported that military health officials are refusing to cover cognitive rehabilitation therapy (CRT) for those with TBI — despite support for the therapy among physicians and politicians. 

http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2011-01-01-brain-injury-insurer_N.htm

The military has based its decision to only cover CRT when it is part of other treatment, not stand-alone billed as a defined medical service, on a 2009 study done by the Tricare Management Agency. That study found that CRT hasn’t been scientifically proven to work.

Some doctors quoted by USA Today said that they believe the military is denying coverage for CRT because the treatment is costly, as much as $50,000 for a four-month program, to offer “one-on-one help for patiens to relearn basic life skills involving language, math and memory.”

The door isn’t totally closed on covering CRT. The policy is under review, according to USA Today, and the military has requested that the National Academy of Sciences’ Institutes of Medicine examine whether CRT is effective in treating TBI patients. 

Let’s hope the military does the right thing,     

‘Spider-Man’ Lead Actress Leaves Exits Play After Sustaining Concussion

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Posted on 31st December 2010 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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The lead actress of the troubled Broadway show “Spider-Man: Turn Off  The Dark,” who suffered a concussion during a preview, is leaving the production with a large exit package, according to several press reports Wednesday.

Natalie Mendoza, who played the spider villainess Arachne, is still recovering from the head injury she sustained Nov. 28. She was struck in the  head with a rope while standing offstage during that performance, which was the musical’s first preview.

During the past few days, she has been negotiating and nailing down an exit deal from the $65 million play, according to The New York Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/29/theater/29spider.html?ref=arts

Mendoza, 30, is one of several actors who have been injured while performing in the show.

She had returned to the stage on Dec. 15, according to The New York Post, and her last performance was Dec. 20. She was replaced by an understudy after getting nauseous and having headaches. Mendoza has also written on Facebook about her recovery from her concussion, talking about her “brilliant” neurologist and the fact that now she was only taking four painkillers and two pills for nausea a day.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/bowing_out_of_spidey_GbwMSZv1XCAoO1x41nIWCO

“Nice to be almost back to normal,” she wrote.

 

 

 

    

NFL Holds Summit On Updating Helmet Safety Standards

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Posted on 13th December 2010 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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The National Football League last week held a summit on how safety standards for football helmets can be modernized and improved, gathering equipment makers, physicists and “military biomechanists” for the discussion, according to The New York Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/09/sports/football/09helmets.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=%22NFL%22%20and%20%22helmets%22&st=cse

The problem today with helmets is that they are designed to protect a player from injuries such as skull fractures, but not to guard against more subtle and hidden brain trauma, like concussions. The Times has done several stories about the fact that the helmet-safety guides set by the National Organizing Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment haven’t changed since 1973.

There apparently was a lot of talk and little agreement during last Wednesday’s summit in Manhattan, except on one point: That the football helmets worn by youth players should have different standards than those for NFL players. While the youth helmets are lighter, their performance specs are the same as for the pros, despite their physical differences, according to The Times.

Also at the meeting, several equipment managers also demonstrated their “in-helmet accelerometers,” which can help identify the collisions that cause concussions.

The issue of helmet safety is an ongoing study. The Consumer Products Safety Commission last week said it would investigate helmet standards, which it is doing at the request of Sen. Tom Udall of New Mexico.

There is already research being done, involving hundreds of high school  and college students, by the University of North Carolina and Virginia Tech on impact levels and concussions, The Times reported. But there is no such research yet for pro players.    

 

 

Consumer Commission Vows To Press For Stricter Football Safety Standards

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Posted on 4th December 2010 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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 The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) testified in Washington last week that it plans to work toward the speedy development of new safety standards for football helmets, especially for children, The New York Times reported Friday.   

 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/03/sports/football/03helmets.html?src=twrhp&scp=1&sq=consumr%20products%20safety%20commission&st=cse

CPSC chairwoman Inez Tenenbaum made her remarks before a Senate Commerce subcommittee Thursday, which was conducting a hearing that was mainly focused on the safety of cribs and toys.

Tenenbaum testified that the CPSC was in talks now with the National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment, which regulates helmets, The Times said. That body’s safety standards have been in place for decades, and were aimed at protectng against skull fractures, not injuries such as concussions.

The CPSC will work with the standards operating committee in January “to monitor and accelerate their efforts to update the appropriate standard,” Tenenbaum said.

The CPSC has a lawmaker breathing down its neck, namely Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M. He asked the CPSC to get involved in the creation of new helmet standards. Right now, the same guidelins apply to helmets for young boys and NFL players.   

 Udall has also been back and forth with the NFL’s head, neck and spine committee, which is thinking about creating a separate helmet standard for professional football players, according to The Times.     

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