THURSDAY, June 14 (HealthDay News) -- Seniors who regard themselves as "older" are five times more likely to meet the criteria for dementia than those who see themselves as "younger," a small new study suggests.

The study included 68 people, aged 60 to 70, who were divided into two groups. One group was told that the study participants ranged in age from 40 to 70 and that they were at the upper end of the age range. The other group was told that the participants ranged in age from 60 to 90 and that they were at the lower end of the age range.

All of the participants were then given one of two articles to read, which either described how aging affected memory or how aging affected general thinking ability.

The participants then underwent a standard dementia screening test.

Seventy percent of the people who were encouraged to see themselves as older and read the article that said aging was associated with a general decline in thinking ability met the criteria for dementia, compared with 14 percent of those in the other groups.

"Our research shows that the effect of age perceptions on performance can be dramatic, and that seeing oneself as 'older' significantly increases a person's risk of being diagnosed with dementia on such tests. It highlights the importance of taking a person's attitude towards their age into account when assessing for dementia," study lead author Dr. Catherine Haslam, of the University of Exeter, in England, said in a university news release.

The study was scheduled for presentation Tuesday at the International Conference on Social Identity and Health, hosted by the University of Exeter. The data and conclusions should be viewed as preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

-- Robert Preidt

Copyright 2012 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

SOURCE: University of Exeter, news release, June 11, 2012

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Seniors' Attitude on Age May Affect Dementia Test Results: Study

irishtimes.com - Last Updated: Saturday, July 7, 2012, 16:02

The celebrated Nobel prize winning author Gabriel Garcia Marquez is suffering from dementia and is no longer able to write, his family have announced.

The brother of the Colombian author who won the Noble prize in 1982 said the family had tried to keep the secret, not because there is anything people should not know "but because it's his life and he's always tried to protect it."

"The fact is there are lots of comments. Some are true but they're always filled with morbid (details). Sometimes you get the sense they'd rather he were dead, as if his death were some great news," Jaime Garcia Marquez said.

Addressing students at a lecture in Cartagena he said his 84-year-old brother frequently phones him to ask simple questions.

"He has problems with his memory. Sometimes I cry because I feel like I'm losing him," he said, adding that he had now stopped writing altogether.

Jaime Garcia Marquez, his younger brother, is the first family member to speak publicly about it. "He is doing well physically, but he has been suffering from dementia for a long time," he said. "From a physical standpoint he's doing well, although he now has some memory lapse.

"But he still has the humour, joy and enthusiasm that he has always had."

Best known for One Hundred Years of Solitude, which has sold more than 30 million copies, Marquez lives in Mexico. His novels include Love in the Time of Cholera, Chronicle of a Death Foretold and The General in His Labyrinth.

He has not published anything since the novel, Memoirs of My Melancholy Whores, which was published five years ago to mixed reviews.

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Garcia Marquez has dementia, brother says

PORTERS and cleaners at Bristol hospitals are helping to ensure patients with dementia get the best possible care.

Dozens of staff at the city's major hospitals have been encouraged to become dementia champions to help lead the care of dementia patients across the trusts.

Deputy director of nursing Gareth Howells and nurse manager Nirma Phillips are improving dementia care Picture: Barbara Evripidou

But it is not just clinical staff who have volunteered for the challenge of improving the standards of care for people with Alzheimer's and other similar illnesses.

It is part of a series of projects that have been brought in at the trust to ensure the rising numbers of patients with dementia receive the most appropriate care when they are in hospital.

North Bristol NHS Trust (NBT), which runs Frenchay and Southmead hospitals is working with volunteers and charity work organisation WRVS to learn more about how it could use volunteers to support the care of people with dementia. The trust is looking to use them to befriend and talk to patients.

The trust has lowered the number of times patients with dementia are moved between wards to help prevent them getting more confused. And some staff are writing the date and time on a whiteboard when they speak to people with dementia to help them understand where they are.

All staff joining North Bristol NHS Trust (NBT), which runs Frenchay and Southmead hospitals, also now have to undergo training in dealing with dementia, regardless of whether the deal with patients

NBT, in partnership with the city centre hospital trust started focusing on dementia last year, concentrating on setting up a training programme for staff across the city.

The training has been set up to give staff an overview of good practice for caring for people with dementia and has become mandatory for all new employees starting at the trust, even if they don't work in clinical roles.

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The Post published Dementia support role for porters and cleaners

Newswise U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced today that UCLA's new Alzheimer's and Dementia Care program has been awarded $3,208,540 as part of the agency's Health Care Innovation awards program.

The awards, made by possible through the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, support innovative projects nationwide aimed at saving money, delivering high-quality medical care and enhancing the health care workforce. The 26 awardees announced today are expected to help reduce health care spending costs by $254 million over the next three years.

"We can't wait to support innovative projects that will save money and make our health care system stronger," Sebelius said. "It's yet another way we are supporting local communities now in their efforts to provide better care and lower cost."

The new projects include collaborations among leading hospitals, doctors, nurses, pharmacists, technology innovators, community-based organizations, patient advocacy groups and other organizations located in urban and rural areas. The Health and Human Services awards initiative allows applicants to come up with their best ideas to test how the quality and affordability of health care can be improved quickly and efficiently. The awarded projects will begin work this year to address health care issues in their local communities.

UCLA's Alzheimer's and Dementia Care program, which launched in March, provides comprehensive care, as well as resources and support, to patients and their caregivers.

"UCLA already provides outstanding geriatrics, neurology, psychiatry and primary care clinical services," said Dr. David Reuben, chief of UCLA's geriatrics division and leader of the program. "With the launch of this new program, we now have a comprehensive, coordinated dementia care program that spans across UCLA clinical centers and reaches into the community to meet the needs of these patients and their families. We are honored to receive this award, which will help us further our mission of caring for this ever-growing population."

The Health Care Innovation award will allow UCLA to expand the new program to provide efficient patient- and family-centered care for approximately 1,000 Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries with Alzheimer's disease or other forms of dementia in Los Angeles County. By training and deploying professional and non-professional workers and unpaid volunteers, expanding a dementia registry, conducting patient-needs assessments, and creating individualized dementia care plans, the program will reduce and shorten hospital stays, reduce emergency room visits and improve patient health, caregiver health and quality of care, with an estimated savings of approximately $6.9 million.

Over the three-year award period, the UCLA Alzheimer's and Dementia Care program will train an estimated 2,500 workers. These workers will include nurse practitioners, who will be trained as dementia care managers; they, in turn, will help train primary care providers and patient caregivers in dementia care.

The awardees were chosen for their innovative solutions to the health care challenges facing their communities and for their focus on creating a well-trained health care workforce equipped to meet the need for new jobs in the 21st-century health system. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that the health care and social assistance sector will gain the most jobs between now and 2020.

The 26 Health Care Innovation awards announced today total $122.6 million. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation within the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services at HHS administers the awards through cooperative agreements.

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UCLA Alzheimer's and Dementia Care Program Gets $3.2m HHS Award

NZACA Welcomes $7 million Increase for Dementia

NZACA Press Release 24 May 2012

NZACA welcomes the governments $7 million p.a. increase for dementia care announced today.

The budget announcement of $40 million for dementia is arrived at by adding together, over a four year period, yearly increases along with the additional funding required to cover demand growth.

This represents a 5.8% increase in the daily subsidy rate and taking into inflationary pressures of 1.8% this represents a 4% overall gain for dementia care operators.

The average amount paid for dementia care per day is $149 depending on where you live in New Zealand.

This is another good increase in the dementia rate and means the underfunding of this service has reduced from about 36% to 20% in the last two years based on the independent 2010 Aged Residential Care Review paid for by the Government, the Chief Executive of NZACA, Martin Taylor, said today.

Everyone in the aged-care sector and the health sector understands the demand for dementia care will increase dramatically and that it is one of the hardest services to deliver. As such this increase will be of great assistance to the 150 operators delivering dementia care to 3100 elderly each and every day in New Zealand.

The independent 2010 Aged Residential Care Review also established the rest home care subsidy was 40% underfunded and the hospital rate 17% underfunded. Unfortunately, these underfunding levels have increased over the last two years as inflationary pressures for these services have not been met.

In 2011, about 3100 people were in dementia care, 11,000 in hospital level care and 16,700 in rest home level care.

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NZACA Welcomes $7 million Increase for Dementia

26 March 2012 Last updated at 03:20 ET

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Care Services Minister Paul Burstow: "Making dementia a national priority... is the way we can tackle this"

Funding for research into dementia is to be doubled to 66m by 2015 to try to make the UK a world leader in the field, David Cameron will announce.

The prime minister is expected to say in a speech that the level of diagnosis, understanding and awareness of dementia is "shockingly low".

Dementia is thought to affect around 800,000 people in the UK, with the cost to society estimated at 23bn.

In the next decade, the number with the disease is expected to top one million.

Mr Cameron will set out plans to step up research into cures and treatments and to ensure that the health and social care systems are equipped to deal with the problem.

Mr Cameron will say: "One of the greatest challenges of our time is what I'd call the quiet crisis, one that steals lives and tears at the hearts of families, but that relative to its impact is hardly acknowledged.

"Dementia is simply a terrible disease. And it is a scandal that we as a country haven't kept pace with it.

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£66m pledge for dementia research

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

(Health.com) -- People who have symptoms of depression in middle age may be at increased risk of dementia decades later, a new study suggests.

Using medical records, researchers tracked more than 13,000 people in a large northern California health plan from roughly their 40s and 50s into their 80s. Compared to people who had never been depressed, those who experienced symptoms of depression in middle age -- but not later in life -- were about 20% more likely to go on to develop dementia.

Those who received a depression diagnosis later in life only were at even greater risk. That group had about a 70% increased risk of dementia compared to their depression-free peers, according to the study, which was published this week in the Archives of General Psychiatry.

Health.com: 25 signs and symptoms of Alzheimer's disease

In a first, the researchers also found that the timing of the depression seemed to predict which type of dementia an individual would develop. Late-life depression was linked with Alzheimer's disease, while mid-life depression was mostly connected with a related condition known as vascular dementia.

Although Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia share many of the same outward symptoms, they're associated with different processes in the brain. In Alzheimer's, memory loss and other symptoms are believed to be caused by protein deposits that interfere with brain function. Vascular dementia, on the other hand, appears to occur when blood flow to certain areas of the brain is interrupted, such as during strokes and so-called mini-strokes.

The study participants were 3.5 times more likely to develop vascular dementia if they'd experienced depression symptoms in both middle age and later in life, which suggests that "recurring depression over the life course seems to be triggering vascular changes that puts [people] at risk for vascular dementia," says lead author Deborah E. Barnes, Ph.D., an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco.

By contrast, depression that appears for the first time in old age may simply be an early symptom of Alzheimer's rather than a stand-alone condition, Barnes says.

Health.com: Depression in the elderly: 7 ways to help

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Depression in middle age linked to dementia

Public release date: 14-Feb-2012
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Wiley-Blackwell

Cognitive stimulation therapies have beneficial effects on memory and thinking in people with dementia, according to a systematic review by Cochrane researchers. Despite concerns that cognitive improvements may not be matched by improvements in quality of life, the review also found positive effects for well-being.

There is a general belief that activities that stimulate the mind help to slow its decline in people with dementia. Cognitive stimulation provides people with dementia with activities intended to stimulate thinking, memory and social interaction, in order to delay the worsening of dementia symptoms. In 2011, the World Alzheimer's Report recommended that cognitive stimulation should be routinely offered to people with early stage dementia. However, increased interest in its use in dementia in recent years has provoked concern about its effectiveness and potential negative effects on well-being.

The review, published in The Cochrane Library, included 15 randomised controlled trials involving 718 people with mild to moderate dementia, mainly in the form of Alzheimer's disease or vascular dementia. Participants were treated in small groups and involved in different activities, from discussions and word games to music and baking. All activities were designed to stimulate thinking and memory. Improvements were weighed against those seen without treatment, with "standard treatments", which could include medicine, day care or visits from community mental health workers, or in some cases alternative activities such as watching TV and physical therapy.

"The most striking findings in this review are those related to the positive effects of cognitive stimulation on performance in cognitive tests," said lead author, Bob Woods, of the Dementia Services Development Centre Wales, at Bangor University in Bangor, UK. "These findings are perhaps the most consistent yet for psychological interventions in people with dementia."

Those who received cognitive stimulation interventions scored significantly higher in cognitive function tests, which measure improvements in memory and thinking. These benefits were still being seen one to three months after treatment. In addition, positive effects on social interaction, communication and quality of life or well-being were observed in a smaller number of the trials, based on self-reported or carer-reported measures.

In one trial, family members were trained to deliver cognitive stimulation on a one-to-one basis, with no additional strain on burden on caregivers reported. "Involving family caregivers in the delivery of cognitive stimulation is an interesting development and deserving of further attention," said Woods.

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Keystone Villa at Douglassville held its third of a four-part, free educational series, Caregiver Techniques in Helping with Dementia Care on Wednesday, Feb. 22. Attendees learned different caregiver techniques that would help a person with dementia complete tasks with declining physical, mental and verbal abilities. Alison Sprankle, training specialist and care manager of Good News Consulting, Inc., discussed different life skill methods that can be used to help your loved one.

Sprankle said that no matter what level of dementia, people want to maintain their independence as much as possible. She said it becomes too easy to do too much for them and then it becomes a battle of the wills. To make daily routines easier, she recommends giving options for them to decide for themselves. Sprankle said it does not matter if the outfit they choose clashes, what counts is that they feel self-sufficient.

Because of frustration and declining abilities, a person with dementia might not cooperate and become difficult when asked to do something like eat or brush his or her teeth. The Hand Under Hand technique allows them to feel like they are still doing the task themselves while being guided along.

If he or she is right handed, you sit or stand to the right, slide your hand under their hand palm up and clasp their hand as though you are about to arm wrestle. You get a little behind them and tuck your arm under their arm. In this position, you now have full use of your fingers to hold an object and move their arm up or down or in or out.

In this position, you can hold a utensil, get food and bring it up to their mouth to eat. You can accomplish things like comb their hair or brush their teeth. With this non-invasive help, they feel like they are successfully participating and will cooperate. If the person is left handed, you stand to their left side and do the same thing with your left hand.

Being stubborn and refusing to eat can become a huge challenge for the caregiver. Other methods that help with dining are simplifying utensils, cups and food presentation by using contrasting colors in table settings to help with attention span, minimizing distracting noise, playing calming instrumental music, and having one-on-one conversations.

If you notice sputtering, coughing or chewing problems while eating, contact your doctor and ask for a speech evaluation to determine if a change is needed in food texture and/or liquid consistency.

Bathing can also be difficult to accomplish as the disease progresses. A few simple techniques could defuse a situation from becoming a behavioral trigger. Dont make a person take a shower when they have been a bath taker all their life. Determine what time of day they prefer personal hygiene. Collect all of the supplies you need in advance before you begin. Let them get bathed in a loose fitting cover-up so their dignity is maintained. Warm the room and towels. Minimize noise, distractions and clutter. If they really dont like water on their body anymore, try a waterless shampoo or soap product. They can be found online or at many stores that sell camping products like Cabelas or Dicks Sporting Goods.

No matter what you are trying to accomplish as the caregiver, keep the activity positive. Start carefully and slowly, go step-by-step and provide encouraging feedback all the way.

Keystone Villa at Douglassville invites the community to attend the conclusion of this series on Wednesday, March 21, 6 to 7:30 p.m., with Successful Engagement with Those Who Have Dementia. Continued...

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Keystone Villa at Douglassville holds Dementia seminar

02-03-2011 07:26 The Early Signs and Symptoms campaign aims to help people recognise dementia symptoms in themselves or their loved ones.

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Dementia pilot TV advertisement - Video

Woodhaugh Rest Home, in Dunedin, is seeking permission to develop a 16-bed dementia unit and a hospital facility.

Cressida Healthcare general manager Colleen Stairmand, of Auckland, said the rest-home was seeking permission from the Ministry of Health for the dementia unit and a 16 to 18-bed hospital facility.

A new manager, who started in January, was "making a real difference" at the home, Mrs Stairmand said. There were no major problems at the home.

Southern DHB carried out a site visit in November, after complaints the home was not carrying adequate basic supplies.

The DHB gave the home the all-clear, but has been monitoring more closely since.

Mrs Stairmand said the dementia unit and hospital facility would increase the profitability of the 70-bed rest-home.

"The rest-home has some empty beds, so we were looking at ways that we could make it profitable and offer more services."

Southern DHB funding and finance general manager Robert Mackway-Jones said capacity outstripped demand in the residential care sector in the South at present. Demand for dementia and hospital care was tipped to grow, he said.

Hospital-level care had risen in the past three years, while residential dementia care had been "reasonably flat" in recent years.

Hospital bed use grew 4.5% in 2009-10, 4.1% in 2010-11, and 2.8% so far in 2011-12.

Rest-home demand was "flat and declining" and this trend would be exacerbated by the board's plans to develop new services to keep people at home for longer.

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Dementia unit permission sought

The speed at which someone walks may predict the development of dementia later in life, according to researchers in the U.S.

The study was conducted at the Boston Medical Centre. 2,410 people, who were 62 years old, participated in the study.

Their brain scans, walking speed and grip strength were recorded. The results that were presented at the Academy of Neurology's annual meeting said 11 years later, 34 people had developed dementia and 79 had had a stroke.

The researchers said that the slow speed walkers have a higher risk of dementia and stronger grip with a lower risk of stroke.

Dr Erica Camargo, who conducted the latest study at the Boston Medical Centre, told BBC: "While frailty and lower physical performance in elderly people have been associated with an increased risk of dementia, we weren't sure until now how it impacted people of middle age."

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 "These are basic office tests which can provide insight into risk of dementia and stroke and can be easily performed by a neurologist or general practitioner," Camargo said.

He added: "Further research is needed to understand why this is happening and whether preclinical disease could cause slow walking and decreased strength."

These findings have not yet been published in an academic journal.

Experts have raised important questions. "Before people take stock in the strength of a handshake or the speed you cross the road, more research is needed to understand why and what other factors are involved," quoted BBC as Dr Anne Corbett, research manager at the Alzheimer's Society saying.

"The good news is that there are many things you can do to reduce your risk of developing dementia," Corbett said.

"We recommend you eat a healthy balanced diet, don't smoke, maintain a healthy weight, take regular exercise; and get your blood pressure and cholesterol checked regularly," he added.

The Stroke Association's Dr Sharlin Ahmed also shared his view that says: "Around a third of those who have a stroke are left with some kind of physical disability, including hand weakness and difficulty walking. However, this is the first time we have seen research that looks at the presence of related symptoms before a stroke."

"This is an interesting study, but a lot more research is needed before we can conclude that strength of grip or walking speed can determine the risk of stroke," Ahmed added.

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Pace of Walking Linked to Dementia: Study

Lord Turnull also placed Murray on the sex offenders register and told him that the sentence would have been nine years if he had not pleaded guilty.

At a hearing last month, Murray, of Larkhall in Lanarkshire, pleaded guilty to rape and sexual assault charges at a care home between December 2010 and April 2012. The Lanarkshire home cannot be named for legal reasons.

The court previously heard that a female nightshift colleague went looking for Murray and found him standing at the bottom of the bed belonging to his victim, who was naked from the waist down.

An agitated Murray told his shocked colleague that his trousers had fallen down because the zip on his fly had broken but she telephoned the homes manager, who contacted the police.

While waiting for the officers to arrive, he stabbed himself in the neck with a pair of scissors and told his colleagues: "I'm so ashamed, people will think I'm a pervert."

Murray was detained overnight in hospital and had three stitches put in the wound. The next day he was interviewed at Hamilton police station and admitted the rape.

The court heard that the woman's DNA was found on Murray's underpants. He also admitted to officers sexually abusing his other two victims.

The court heard the womens severe dementia made it impossible to assess the impact of Murrays attacks, but their families were shocked, disgusted, devastated by the offences.

Murray had been employed as a carer since leaving school and had worked at the home for three years, mostly helping dementia patients.

Louise Arrol, defending, told the court that her client was a bullied loner he understood his actions were wrong and had displayed genuine remorse.

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Care home worker jailed for raping dementia sufferer

Pt 1. - From the January 2007 "Many Faces of Lewy Body Dementia" series at Coral Springs Medical Center, FL. A presentation by Dr.

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Difficulties in Diagnosing Lewy Body Dementia - pt 1 - Video

Muse performing Space Dementia at Leeds Festival, UK 26th August 2011 Fantastic background set

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Muse - Space Dementia (Live - Leeds Festival, UK Aug 2011) [HD] - Video

Ministers believe the basic training in dementia awareness is relevant to anyone working in a public environment, such as shops, transport and banks.

Speaking at the event in East London, the Prime Minister urged businesses to join his national fightback against dementia.

Mr Cameron said companies should do more to make people with dementia able to use their services.

He declared that tackling the disease, which is thought to affect 670,000 people in England, was one of his personal priorities.

Dementia is a terrible, heart breaking disease, he said. Tackling it is a personal priority of mine.

Already 20 big organisations like Lloyds Group, Tesco and E.On have signed up to become more dementia-friendly and over the coming months I want to see many more follow suit.

For the sake of millions in our country weve got to keep this spirit of energy and defiance alive.

Were going to keep searching for treatments, keep looking for ways to make life easier for those with this disease and keep taking the fight to dementia.

Mr Cameron urged young volunteers with the National Citizen Service to help sufferers in care homes.

The youngsters aged 16 and 17 are being asked to help dementia patients take part in craft activities and to take them on trips out of care homes.

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Shop staff will be trained to help dementia sufferers

Editor's Choice Main Category: Alzheimer's / Dementia Article Date: 23 May 2012 - 15:00 PDT

Current ratings for: 'Rates Of Dementia In Underdeveloped Countries Are Double Than Previously Reported'

In addition, the team found that just like in developed countries, education offers substantial protection against dementia in less developed nations. The study is published Online First in The Lancet.

Lead study author Martin Prince from King's College London said:

Our findings suggest that early life influences, education and learning to read and write, may be particularly important for reducing the risk of dementia in late life. We need to understand more about cognitive reserve, how to measure it, and how it is stimulated across cultures.

The high incidence of dementia in less developed countries remind us that we are facing a global epidemic, and there needs to be more focus on prevention."

Using conventional western diagnostic approaches, such as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) IV criteria, earlier studies have suggested that the incidence of dementia might be significantly lower in low- and middle-income countries vs. high-income nations.

However, the new 10/66 Dementia Diagnosis approach uses methods developed and validated in 25 low and middle-income countries. The new approach has been demonstrated to provide accurate diagnoses even in individuals with little or no education.

In order to the compare the incidence of dementia, and to determine whether education and literacy, among other factors are protective against the development of dementia, the team applied both the standard DSM-IV criteria and the 10/66 approach to around 12,800 individuals aged 65+, across 9 urban and rural sites in Mexico, Cuba, Peru, Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, and China.

The researchers found that the 10/66 dementia incidence is 1.5 - 2.5 times higher than the standard DSM-IV criteria calculated. In addition, 10/66 dementia incidence was consistently comparable to, or high than, dementia incidence reported by earlier studies.

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Rates Of Dementia In Underdeveloped Countries Are Double Than Previously Reported

By Kate Kelland

LONDON, March 7 (Reuters) - Pfizer's dementia drug Aricept, already commonly used to treat mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease, can also help patients with severe disease and should be used more widely and for longer, according to research published on Wednesday.

British scientists who studied the possible longer-term benefits of giving Aricept suggested that extending treatment could help twice as many Alzheimer's sufferers worldwide.

The study also looked at another commonly used dementia drug called memantine, which is sold in the United States under the brand Namenda by Forest Laboratories and Germany's Merz, and in Britain under the brand Ebixa by Danish group Lundbeck .

It found that keeping patients with moderate to severe Alzheimer's on Aricept, or donepezil as it is known generically, or starting them on memantine treatment, meant they had significantly better cognitive and function abilities than patients taking a placebo or dummy pill.

An estimated 18 million people worldwide suffer from Alzheimer's disease, which is the most common form of dementia. It is fatal brain disease that affects memory, thinking, behaviour and the ability to handle daily activities and is placing an increasingly heavy burden on societies and economies across the world.

According to the World Health Organisation, some 35 million people worldwide have dementia, and Alzheimer's Disease International predicts that as populations age, dementia cases will almost double every 20 years to around 66 million in 2030 and 115 million in 2050.

The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, involved 295 Alzheimer's patients in Britain who were assigned to one of four separate groups - one continuing to take donepezil, one stopping donepezil and getting a placebo, one stopping donepezil and starting memantine, and a fourth taking both drugs together.

Robert Howard, a professor at King's College London who led the trial, said it was the first to show the value of continued drug treatment for patients with moderate to severe Alzheimer's.

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Donepezil And Memantine, Key Dementia Drugs, Should Be Used More: Study

By Kay Lazar, Globe Staff

A loophole in Massachusetts law that allows nursing homes to advertise specialized Alzheimers and dementia care units, even though their workers may have no training in caring for such residents, is one step closer to being closed.

A proposal that would establish minimum standards for such units was approved by the House of Representatives Wednesday, and is headed for the state Senate.

The bill would require the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, which regulates nursing homes, to establish minimum standards for facilities with dementia care units.

Similar legislation has been proposed for the past seven years without success, supporters said. But this is the first time the measure has made it this far, this early in the year, they said.

This is certainly way overdue, said James Wessler, president and chief executive of the Alzheimers Association of Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

Often nursing home placement is done in time of crisis, and families are then not good shoppers, Wessler said. So the state has an obligation to have a minimal level of guarantees that facilities are providing the level of dementia care that they say they are giving.

Massachusetts is one of a handful of states without such requirements. A 2005 federal report noted that 44 states at that time had requirements governing training, staffing, security, and other areas for facilities that provided specialized dementia care.

The Massachusetts legislation would require all licensed nursing homes to provide dementia-specific training for all direct-care workers, activities directors, and supervisors. Supporters said it was important to mandate dementia training for staff at all licensed facilities because more than half of people in nursing homes suffer from dementia, even if they are not living in specialized dementia care units.

Additionally, the legislation stipulates that there should be activities programs in dementia special care units that provide activities geared to people with dementia.

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Proposal advances for minimum standards in nursing homes, special dementia care units

British scientists developed an iPad-based memory test that can spot dementia in its earliest stages, when treatment can be most beneficial.

Researchers from Cambridge University helped to develop the CANTABmobile test, which assesses patients' short-term memory with a series of challenges in which they have to remember symbols.

Trials show that the computer program accurately distinguishes normal age-related forgetfulness from dementia and other treatable memory problems.

Dr. John O'Loan, who tested the app at his lab in Warrington, northwestern England, said, "Not everyone with memory problems has dementia. There are a small number of medical conditions -- vitamin deficiencies or an underactive thyroid -- that we check for if patients have problems with their memory."

Doctors currently use pen-and-paper tests to screen for the condition, with patients asked a series of questions including the date and whether they can spell "world" backwards.

However, the tests can fail to pick up dementia, particularly in patients with higher academic qualifications.

The iPad app is far more sensitive, even picking up mild cognitive impairment, which can be a precursor to dementia.

Michael Hurt, Dementia Care Program Manager for NHS Walsall added, "We might find that we get people through the system more quickly and more effectively because the screening tool is more accurate, and that's better for GPs, hospital staff, as well as the people receiving the test."

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Dementia app spots early signs of condition