THURSDAY, March 8 (HealthDay News) — Caring for people with Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia will cost the United States about $200 billion this year, a total that includes $140 billion paid by Medicare and Medicaid, new statistics released Thursday show.

Medicaid payments are 19 times higher for seniors with Alzheimer’s and other dementias and Medicare payments for the conditions are nearly three times higher, compared to payments for other patients, according to the “2012 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures” report from the Alzheimer’s Association.

Nearly 30 percent of people with Alzheimer’s and other dementias are covered by both Medicare and Medicaid, compared to 11 percent of people without the conditions. This means that Medicare and Medicaid costs associated with Alzheimer’s and other dementias will continue to rise as baby boomers age, the report said.

“Alzheimer’s is already a crisis, and it’s growing worse with every year,” Harry Johns, president and CEO of the Alzheimer’s Association, said in an association news release.

“While lives affected and care costs soar, the cost of doing nothing is far greater than acting now. Alzheimer’s is a tremendous cost-driver for families and for Medicare and Medicaid. This crisis simply cannot be allowed to reach its maximum scale because it will overwhelm an already overburdened system,” Johns added.

Most people with Alzheimer’s and other dementias have at least one other serious chronic health problem, and Alzheimer’s acts as a “cost multiplier” on these other diseases, according to the report.

For example, the statistics showed a senior with diabetes and Alzheimer’s costs Medicare 81 percent more than a senior with diabetes alone. And a senior with cancer and Alzheimer’s costs Medicare 53 percent more than a senior with cancer alone.

Mental impairment in patients with Alzheimer’s and other dementias complicates the management of care, resulting in more and longer hospital stays, the authors noted in the news release.

“This disease must be addressed on parallel tracks: supporting research to find treatments that cure, delay or prevent the disease, and offering assistance and support to the more than 5 million Americans now living with Alzheimer’s and their more than 15 million caregivers,” Johns said.

“This is what the National Alzheimer’s Plan is all about. Caring for people with Alzheimer’s and other dementias costs America $200 billion in just one year. By committing just 1 percent of that cost, $2 billion, to research, it could begin to put the nation on a path to effective treatments and, ultimately, a cure,” he noted.

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Alzheimer's, Dementia Care to Cost U.S. $200 Billion This Year

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The bill for taking care of people with Alzheimer’s and other dementias will reach $200 billion this year in the United States, including $140 billion paid by Medicare and Medicaid, the Alzheimers Association said on Thursday.

The group estimated that 800,000 Americans have Alzheimer’s and live alone, and as many as half dont have any set person to help care for them.

“Alzheimer’s is already a crisis and it’s growing worse with every year,” Harry Johns, president and CEO of the Alzheimer’s Association, said in a statement. Health officials and policymakers already dread the coming crisis from the disease, which has no cure and no effective treatment.

In its annual report, the Alzheimers Association said Medicare payments for a dementia patient than for seniors without Alzheimer’s or another dementia. lzheimer’s and other dementias are nearly three times higher and Medicaid payments 19 times higher The price tag is 19 times higher for Medicaid patients with dementia.

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7 March 2012 Last updated at 19:23 ET

The use of a tracking device to help people with dementia maintain a degree of independence is to be trialled by NHS Dumfries and Galloway.

The Buddi system allows those wearing the GPS-linked equipment to stay active without fear of getting lost.

The tracker can also be activated to call for emergency help, and to alert carers and relatives to a fall.

The health board’s nurse director, Hazel Boreland, said it could help to keep people “in a safe environment”.

She described it as an “innovative system” which could give added peace of mind to carers and families.

“Anything that can help patients with dementia maintain an increased level of safe independence has to be something that we test,” she said.

“So that is why we are giving it a go.”

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Public release date: 7-Mar-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Michael Bernstein m_bernstein@acs.org 202-872-6042 American Chemical Society

With the “Refrigerator Mother” notion about the cause of autism a distant and discredited memory, scientists are making remarkable progress in untangling the genetic roots of the condition, which affects millions of children and adults, according to an article in the current edition of Chemical & Engineering News. C&EN is the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society.

In the story, C&EN Associate Editor Lauren K. Wolf points out that most people in the 1960s believed autism resulted from a lack of maternal warmth and emotional attachment. It was a hypothesis popularized by Austrian-born American child psychologist and writer Bruno Bettelheim. Now scientists around the globe are focusing on genes that have been implicated in autism and related conditions, collectively termed “autism spectrum disorders.” That research may solve mysteries about autism, which affects 1 in 110 children in the U.S. Among them: what causes autism, why does it affect more boys than girls and what can be done to prevent and treat it?

C&EN explains that scientists now have solidly implicated certain genes as being involved in autism. Most of those genes play a role in the transmission of signals through the junctions or “synapses” between nerve cells. Synapses are the territory where one nerve releases a chemical signal that hands off messages to an adjoining nerve. The human brain has an estimated 1,000 trillion synapses, and they are hot spots for miscommunications that underpin neurological disorders like autism. Scientists now are gleaning information on what those genes do, what brain circuits they affect and how the proteins they produce function. In doing so, they are paving the way for future medications for autism spectrum disorders.

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The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 164,000 members, ACS is the world’s largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

To automatically receive news releases from the American Chemical Society contact newsroom@acs.org.

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

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From 'Refrigerator Mothers' to untangling the genetic roots of autism

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LONDON (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.

While donepezil is commonly prescribed for patients in the early stages of the disease, doctors in some countries, including Britain, are advised to stop prescribing the drug to patients once their disease has progressed to become more severe.

“As patients progress to more severe forms of Alzheimer’s disease, clinicians are faced with a difficult decision as to whether to continue or not with dementia drugs and, until now, there has been little evidence to guide that decision,” Howard told reporters at a briefing abut his findings.

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In the Broadway musical Fame, Carmen sings about wanting to live forever. Unfortunately, that's not possible: According to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the average life expectancy of the world's population is 67.59 years; it's approximately 78 in the United States. But there's a group of people who surpass that average by leaps and bounds. While thousands of folks live to 100, only a handful--so-called"supercentenarians"--can look back on more than 110 years of life. Even more impressive, a few hit the supercentenarian milestone and just keep going.

The U.S.-based Gerontology Research Group (GRG) maintains a list of the world's current supercentenarians. As of March 6, 2012, 71 people (65 women and six men) were listed, the youngest being 110-year-old Jeanne Rannou of France (born on Sept. 14, 1901). Each person on the GRG's list must produce documents proving their longevity, which are then verified by GRG claims investigators. Using this data, U.S. News pays tribute to the world's oldest living citizens.

[See: 10 Hotspots for Human Longevity]

10. Hina Shikawatari and Tome Takaoka (Born Jan. 1, 1899--Tied)

These women share the No. 10 spot. Both have spent their entire lives in Japan, a country with above-average life expectancy. As of September 2010, Shikawatari was living on Japan's western coast, while Takaoka resided on the opposite coast of Japan's main island. Not much else is known about these two supercentenarians, other than that they both turned 113 in January.

9. Hatsue Ono (Born Oct. 31, 1898)

Hatsue Ono was born in 1898 in Iwate Prefecture along Japan's northeast coast. Sometime in the past century, this woman moved further north to Hokkaido prefecture, Japan's second-largest island. This is where she will spend her 114th birthday in October. Hokkaido is also known for its seafood-heavy diet, rich in omega-3 fatty acids that help reduce blood pressure and may lower the risk of cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and dementia. Hokkaido is also known for its lush natural landscape (home to several national parks) and chilly climate. It seems that Hokkaido has been good to Ono: She is the forth-oldest living person in Japan, trumping Hina Shikawatari and Tome Takaoka by just two months.

[See: 8 Healthy Ways to Load Up on Healthy Omega-3 Fats]

8. Mamie Rearden (Born Sept. 7, 1898)

Mamie Rearden (ne Mamie Julia Lewis) is the oldest living black person in the world. She was born in Edgefield County, S.C., in 1898, where she still lives today. After earning her teaching certificate in 1918, Rearden married her husband, Ocay, and they 11 children. She resides with two of her kids--her son, David, and her daughter, Martha--and remains in good health, having celebrated her 113th birthday in September. Her longevity secret? "Always treat others as you want to be treated. Tend to your own business and live a good, clean life and the Lord will bless you," Rearden told the Augusta Chronicle last year.

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San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) March 10, 2012

Holistic medicine experts, San Francisco Preventive Medical Group, is announcing that its medical practitioners, Dr. Paul Lynn and Daniel Dunphy PA-C, will join Dr Mehmet Oz on a panel at the Body, Mind and Spirit Women's Symposium on March 10 from 8:30 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. at the Oracle Auditorium in Redwood City. Renowned cardiothoracic surgeon, author and TV host, Dr. Mehmet Oz, will keynote the symposium.

This first-ever womens symposium is being held to raise awareness of the various health services Lions Club offers to members of the community, Dr. Paul Lynn of San Francisco Preventive Medical Group said. A limited number of tickets are on sale now.

Other high-profile speakers will include Eydie Miskel, missionary and executive director of Raining Hope; Jane Scarbrough, registered investment advisor; and Syndi Seid, recognized as the world's leading authority on business protocol and etiquette. The conference is being hosted by Lions Club of District 4-C4.

"We welcome Dr. Oz and our distinguished panel of speakers in helping to spread the message of our community services," Eleanor Lindquist-Britter, board member of the PSI Lions Club and Guiding Lion, said. "The Bay Area has seen an increase in demand for health services--especially those for women--and too often, those in need are underserved or neglected. It is our mission to serve our community."

At the conference, Dr. Oz, Dr. Lynn and Mr. Dunphy will speak about keeping families fit, and the body, mind and spirit. In the interest of keeping the community informed and empowered, Dr. Lynn would also like to take this opportunity to discuss the changes occurring with double blind studies behind the headlines" that must be taken into account by doctors and health community leaders alike.

Double blind studies were created to give modern medical culture a much needed source of unbiased conclusions about the effects of medical treatments. Early on, it provided clarity in areas that needed it. In other words, the double blind study was originally designed to uncover the true benefits (and risks) of a treatment, which were not obviously apparent upon simple observation.

Sadly, my conclusion is that double blind studies are now more likely than not to be well-planned marketing devices, Dr. Lynn said. Most are now conducted in a specific manner to introduce bias instead of eliminating it. The bias is to raise the odds that the data collected will allow a new product to pass the FDA or enhance sales of a patented product already on the market. The original single intent to discover the truth has been subordinated in the large majority of studies to an attempt to get people, including volunteer groups, to believe one newly patented expensive medication is of more value than one that has lost its patent protection and is available generically at a much lower cost.

This change of intent over the past 20 years from an unbiased search for the facts represents a total corruption of a system that initially offered a great service and gained the respect of doctors and patients alike.

The purpose of discussing this is to alert and remind doctors, informed consumers and community leaders to read the fine print carefully. Everyone has to adjust to to this new reality, Dr. Lynn said. Learn what an overseas Contract Research Organization [CRO] is. Too many doctors and community health leaders are still in the dark about these changes and accept the new studies and findings as if this now present and growing level of bias does not exist.

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A four-day congress on healthy ageing in Kuala Lumpur next week will see a broad interdisciplinary discussion on ageing.

ORGANISED by the Malaysian Healthy Ageing Society (MHAS) and co-sponsored by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the 1st World Congress on Healthy Ageing 2012 (WCHA 2012) will be held at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre from March 19-22.

According to Associate Professor Dr Nathan Vytialingam, president of MHAS and WCHA 2012 organising chairman, healthy ageing is one of the major challenges for the world, and hence the need for experts and policymakers to work together to come up with an all-encompassing policy and approach towards tackling the impending scenario.

Malaysia is on its way to becoming an ageing society, though the percentage of the elderly is not as high as Japan or Singapore, said Assoc Prof Nathan in a recent interview.

WHO projections show that the proportion of the worlds population who are over 60 years old will double from less than 11% to 22% from 2000 to 2050, and the total number of people aged 60 years and above is expected to increase from 605 million to almost two billion.

On how WCHA 2012 is different from other meetings on ageing, Assoc Prof Nathan said that other gatherings had tended to focus on the various bits and pieces related to mainstream (medical) approaches, such as on loss of vision, bone loss and so on. WCHA intends to be holistic in its approach, and we will bring together experts from various fields, including those from the complementary medicine and alternative therapies.

With the theme Evolution: Holistic Ageing in an Age of Change, this international congress will have presentations from WHO (Dr John Beard, Director of Ageing & Life Course), Tony Buzan (inventor of Mind Mapping, United Kingdom), Prof Makoto Suzuki (Director of Okinawa Research Centre for Longevity Science, Professor of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of the Ryukyus, Department of Community Medicine, University of the Ryukus Hospital, Japan), Prof Suresh Rattan (Professor of Biogerontology, Aarhus University, Denmark), just to name a few.

The scientific programme will be robust, with Dr Wong Teck Wee, consultant cardiologist and senior lecturer at Hospital Serdang, Selangor, acting as scientific chairman to oversee around 400 paper presenters from all over the world.

When we talk about living longer and healthier, its about creating the best environment, and that has a lot to do with keeping the environment safe and clean, said Assoc Prof Nathan, who is intrigued with the factors that lead to longevity and health of the elderly in the worlds blue zones, a term popularised by Dan Buettners book titled The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer From The People Whove Lived The Longest.

A blue zone is concept used to identify a demographic groups and/or geographic area of the world where people live measurably longer lives (like in Okinawa, Japan, or Sardinia, Italy).

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Public release date: 6-Mar-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Gillian Shasby gshasby@thejns.org 434-924-5555 Journal of Neurosurgery Publishing Group

Charlottesville, VA (March 6, 2012). Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have demonstrated that aggressive treatment of severe traumatic brain injury, which includes invasive monitoring of intracranial pressure (ICP) and decompressive craniectomy, produces better patient outcomes than less aggressive measures and is cost-effective in patients no matter their ageeven in patients 80 years of age. These important findings can be found in the article "Is aggressive treatment of traumatic brain injury cost-effective? Clinical article," by Robert Whitmore and colleagues, published online March 6 in the Journal of Neurosurgery.

The authors set out to determine whether aggressive treatment of severe traumatic brain injury is cost-effective compared to less aggressive therapeutic approaches. "Severe traumatic brain injury" in this study is defined by a Glasgow Coma Scale score of 8 or less in which the motor component is 5 or less. These researchers created a decisionanalysis model with which they could compare outcomes, costs, and cost-effectiveness of three treatment strategies: 1) comfort care consisting of one day in the intensive care unit followed by continued care in a medical-surgical unit; 2) routine care in which Brain Trauma Foundation guidelines were followed less than 50 percent of the time; and 3) aggressive management in which Brain Trauma Foundation guidelines were followed the majority of the time, with ICP monitored invasively and decompressive craniotomy performed. A review of the literature provided probabilities of Glasgow Outcome Scale scores (1 [death] through 5 [good outcome]) for each treatment group. The researchers took these Glasgow Outcome Scale scores and converted them into quality-adjusted life years in accordance with expectations of patient longevity and quality of life associated with the various Glasgow Outcome Scale scores. They also calculated estimates of direct costs (acute and long-term medical care) and indirect costs (loss of productivity) for patients 20, 40, 60, and 80 years old.

In every age group aggressive care resulted in better outcomes (more quality-adjusted years) than routine care, and routine care resulted in better outcomes than comfort care. (Comfort care was included in the analysis to broaden the comparison of outcomes and costs, but it is not suggested as a treatment choice.) In the case of an average 20-year-old patient, aggressive care produced 11.7 1.6 quality-adjusted life years, whereas routine care only yielded 10.0 1.5 quality-adjusted life years. The difference between these two numbers is highly significant (p < 0.0001). At older patient ages, the effectiveness of aggressive care was not as great as that in the 20-year-old patient, but it remained better than routine care at all ages. Aggressive care also proved to be less costly for most patients. Taking into account both direct and indirect costs, the researchers found that aggressive care was significantly less costly than routine care in the average 20-year-old patient ($1,264,000 $118,000 for aggressive care and $1,361,000 $107,000 for routine care). Aggressive care continued to be less costly until one looked at the 80-year-old patient, at which point it became more costly than routine care. To determine the cost-effectiveness of aggressive care in the average 80-year-old patient, the authors divided the difference in costs between aggressive care and routine care ($170,978 $128,432 = $42,546) by the difference in effectiveness between these two groups (3.2758 2.7951 = 0.4807). They found that each quality-adjusted life year that is gained by implementing aggressive care, rather than routine care, costs society approximately $88,000. The authors point out that cost-effectiveness depends on the willingness of a society to pay for improved outcomes. Recent numbers posited have exceeded $100,000 for each quality-adjusted life year. Using that number as a threshold, the researchers found that aggressive care is the most cost-effective strategy for all age groups.

The authors point out that this is the first time that long-term societal benefits of aggressive treatment of traumatic brain injury have been demonstrated. Although initially aggressive treatment may appear more expensive than routine or comfort care, over time improvements in patient outcome shift the balance and aggressive treatment proves to be the most cost-effective of the three treatment paradigms. Comfort care, on the other hand, is related to poor outcomes and high costs. It should only be used after aggressive treatment has failed or tests show that it will fail.

Speaking of the study, Dr. Whitmore mentioned his initial surprise that "even for an 80-year-old patient, higher upfront costs of aggressive TBI [traumatic brain injury] management (surgery and invasive monitoring) would still be cost-effective when the benefits (outcomes) of aggressive treatment are factored in." He continued, "We hope that physicians will consider the results of this study when faced with the decision of how aggressive to be in the elderly TBI patient."

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Whitmore RG, Thawani JP, Grady S, Levine JM, Sanborn MR, Stein SC. Is aggressive treatment of traumatic brain injury cost-effective? Clinical article." Journal of Neurosurgery, published ahead of print March 6, 2012; DOI: 10.3171/2012.1.JNS11962.

Disclosure: The study was funded by the National Institutes of Healths National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (5T32NS4312608). The authors report no conflict of interest concerning the materials or methods used in this study or the findings specified in this paper.

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Is aggressive treatment of severe traumatic brain injury cost effective?

By Dr. Carlos Wolf The Miami Herald

Q. I am having trouble picking a surgeon for my surgery. I often hear you should pick your surgeon based on skill, reputation and results. What are your thoughts about picking a surgeon?

Your question is a very good one in this day of the Internet. The days of building a solid practice built on the 3 As is over: Affability, availability and ability were the cornerstones to developing an honest practice with longevity.

With the advent of marketing and the Internet, you can buy yourself to the top of the list with a great ranking. Doctors are hiring people to write recommendations and reviews on their behalf on doctor-ratings websites.

The most important quality your surgeon must have is ethics. If a surgeon is ethically challenged, no matter how technically good he or she is, they will ultimately make the wrong decision based on greed and therefore risk injuring patients.

Because physicians see patients at vulnerable times, helping you choose the right procedure is equally as important as the technical skills.

With the advent of minimally invasive procedures, I have seen the advent of minimally trained physicians. Companies are hiring cosmetic expert doctors to unleash their product lines on unwary consumers.

If they were experts, then these doctors would be board certified. They would also be board certified in fields that pertain to aesthetic medicine: facial plastic surgery, plastic surgery, dermatology and oculo-plastic surgery (having to do with the eyes).

When choosing a doctor, ask several people about the surgeon. In addition, interview several physicians about your procedure and conduct an internet search to make sure there are no glaring problems with your possible doctor.

Finally, I would recommend picking a surgeon who is board certified in what you want to have done, is not recommending more surgery than you want to have done and is not afraid to say no to something you want to have done.

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Public release date: 8-Mar-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: R. Curtis Ellison ellison@bu.edu 617-638-8080 Boston University Medical Center

A research team from the Netherlands assessed the impact of wine and resveratrol (a natural polyphenol found in high quantities in red wine) on lung function. It also looked at genetic factors and mechanisms by which resveratrol might be absorbed by the body and its possible effect on longevity of life. The authors report that pure resveratrol intake was associated with higher lung volumes and that white wine intake (but not red wine intake) and was associated with lower risk of airway obstruction. They report that the genetic factors studied did not relate to the associations found.

While several previous studies (as does this one) have reported that wine intake improves lung function, Forum reviewers were concerned about several aspects of the paper, and especially with the conclusions of the authors that resveratrol was the key factor in improved lung function. A reviewer stated: "Resveratrol may well be just the bystander of something else present in wine." The beneficial effects on lung function are probably related to many compounds present in wine, and not just resveratrol'.

Based on a number of scientific studies, moderate wine intake appears to have a favorable effect on lung function. The doses of resveratrol seen in these epidemiologic studies are at levels that could be expected from moderate wine consumption, unlike the huge doses of resveratrol, which we doubt are capable of being metabolized, being evaluated as a potential life-extending drug in pharmaceutical studies.

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Reference: Siedlinski M, Boer JMA, Smit HA, Postma DS, Boezen HM. Dietary factors and lung function in the general population: wine and resveratrol intake. Eur Respir J 2012; 39: 385-391 DOI: 10.1183/09031936.00184110

Comments on this critique by the International Scientific Forum on Alcohol Research were provided by the following members:

Fulvio Ursini, MD, Dept. of Biological Chemistry, University of Padova, Padova, Italy

Ulrich Keil, MD, PhD, Institute of Epidemiology and Social Medicine, University of Mnster, Mnster, Germany

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Does moderate wine consumption improve lung function?

05-12-2011 08:43 Longevity HGH - link to online store rxdrughost.com Growth Hormone 250mg Natural Growth Factor Formulated. The highest quality of Growth Hormone longevity hgh problems longevity hgh releaser longevity hgh specifications hgh longevity dosage longevity hgh order longevity hgh releaser benefits...

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With an investment of millions of dollars, MDPrevent, led by Steven Charlap, MD, MBA, custom develops and launches an innovative approach to lifestyle modification and weight loss. The LEAN (Lifestyle Education And Nutrition) Weight Loss Program, using a team of medical and educational professionals, combines private consultations with group sessions to achieve sustainable lifestyle modification and weight loss results. For eligible seniors, Medicare covers the entire cost of the program.

Delray Beach, FL (PRWEB) March 06, 2012

Working within Medicares guidelines for IBTO, in 2012, MDPrevent, a preventive medicine, primary care, and education center launched its custom-developed and innovative LEAN (Lifestyle Education And Nutrition) Weight Loss Program. The LEAN program does not include pills, injections, or surgery. It is a medically supervised lifestyle modification program that includes private consultations with primary care practitioners combined with group sessions with dietitians, psychologists, fitness and yoga instructors, and health educators. The program aims for slow, but steady and sustainable weight loss. Most importantly, it focuses on healthy living and improved well-being. Participating patients are already losing weight in a sustainable manner by changing their relationships with food, their patterns of physical activity, their handling of stress, and how they sleep. The best part of the program is that it is free to eligible seniors. MDPrevent knows of no other program, locally or nationally, offering such a comprehensive weight loss program subject to Medicares new guidelines.

MDPrevent is led by Steven Charlap, a pioneering physician with an MD from NYU Medical School, an MBA from Harvard, and surgical residency training. In 1989, he founded HealthDrive and then grew it to be the largest U.S. medical and dental practice serving the extended care industry. Over twenty years, HealthDrive cared for over 5 million seniors and Dr. Charlap witnessed first-hand what happens to people who dont take adequate care of their health, end up being institutionalized and dependent on the kindness of strangers. According to Dr. Charlap, It is really sad to see people end their lives in a nursing home. What was disappointing was coming to the realization that there may be very little one could do about improving health and longevity at that stage in a persons life. Even more frustrating was that I couldnt even try because Medicare and Medicaid basically shunned preventive services. Dr. Charlap sold HealthDrive and essentially retired in 2008.

In 2010, Dr. Charlap became euphoric when he discovered that in 2011, Medicare was ready to invest in prevention, finally recognizing that a focus on primary prevention was necessary to save the Medicare Trust Fund, which was already beginning to absorb the tens of millions of baby boomers joining Medicares rolls. In response, Dr. Charlap and Michael Rose, a close friend, invested millions of dollars into MDPrevent, an innovative preventive medicine, primary care, and education center to provide these critical preventive services and change the course of the next generations lives by focusing on longevity. Dr. Charlap states, The scientific evidence supports that the longer you live, the healthier youve been. After much research and consultations with the experts in the field of prevention, Dr. Charlap assembled a dream team of Preventioneers including doctors, nurse practitioners, psychologists, nutritionists, fitness experts, and health educators.

The Preventioneerss first goal was to develop a new lifestyle modification program to tackle chronic disease prevention. Starting in 2010, they began studying many of the existing clinical and commercial models and theories of lifestyle modification and weight loss. In 2012, the first product of those efforts, LEAN Weight Loss, was implemented. The most important aspect of LEAN is that it focuses on healthy living and improved well-being.

Since Medicare initiated coverage for IBTO, MDPrevent has enrolled about 70 patients in its LEAN program and initial weight loss results are very promising. According to Dr. Charlap, I see the smiles on peoples faces when they complete a class for the day. They feel empowered and for the first time in a long time, in control of their health and their weight. I think we are really on to something that can change the future of healthcare.

About MDPrevent

MDPrevent is a new concept in primary care that seamlessly integrates primary care, preventive medicine, and education. The healthcare practice helps Americans prevent problems before they happen, reduce healthcare costs, stay healthy, and enjoy a life well lived through free Annual Wellness Visits (paid 100% by Medicare and most major insurances) The Annual Wellness Visit includes a comprehensive health risk assessment, biometric measurements, review and analysis of prescription, supplement and vitamin use, and development of a five- to 10-year prevention plan.

MDPrevents Preventioneers, so called because they are pioneering new approaches to prevention, include MDs, nurse practitioners, health psychologists, registered dietitians and nutritionists, exercise physiologists, fitness and yoga instructors and health educators, in addition to private consultations also provide interactive group courses, medically supervised weight loss (with no pills, injections or surgery - paid 100% by most insurances if you qualify) and other classes on health, diet and nutrition, fitness and exercise, stress management, relationship and social network building, and other key elements of a healthy life. The goal: to improve life and smooth out the effects of aging by identifying, preventing, delaying or mitigating the development of chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, stroke, dementia and some forms of cancer. Learn more at http://www.MDPrevent.net.

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MDPrevent Launches First Weight Loss Program for Seniors, Paid for by Medicare, to Rave Reviews

At the start of each new year, it's traditional for most people to make a resolution to get healthy and stay healthy. With these luxurious retreats, it's easy to keep your promise to yourself all the way through to December. Each property on our list of Top 10 Health Retreats goes beyond the usual "resort with a spa," offering programs designed to cultivate a healthy lifestyle in unique, enjoyable and permanent ways. Along with classic treatments such as massages, the spas feature regimens that fall under the heading of "wellness" and focus on overall health and longevity all the while keeping, of course, with the latest in style and luxurious comfort.

Westlake Village, California California Health & Longevity Institute

Located in Westlake Village, northwest of Los Angeles, this world-class wellness facility is a leader in what's known as science-based lifestyle rejuvenation. After a certified lifestyle consultant helps you create a personalized health strategy for accomplishing your goals, you'll be advised by a team of experts physicians, licensed dieticians, exercise physiologists, fitness trainers, stress management experts, therapists and healthy-living chefs. The institute includes a complete medical clinic with a full range of diagnostic testing and medical assessments. Adding a level of high-end luxury is the adjacent Four Seasons Hotel Westlake Village, California, which has partnered with the institute to offer combined services at its 40,000-square-foot spa. For more information, read the California Health & Longevity Institute review.

Miami Beach, Florida Canyon Ranch Miami Beach

This Miami Beach addition to the Canyon Ranch stable blends spectacular ocean views and lavish accommodations with a 70,000-square-foot health and wellness facility. The range of pampering and rejuvenating activities is seemingly unlimited, from decadent massages and facials to a European-style thermal suite with a rooftop hydro-spa, experiential rains room and herbal laconium. Energetic endeavors include Pilates and even rock climbing at the indoor fitness center overlooking the Atlantic. Wellness services range from private consultations or workshops in stress management, disease prevention, weight loss and smoking cessation to classes on healthy cooking and nutrition. If you want sun, sand and serenity while you treat yourself to a health-enhancing escape, this is definitely the place to be. For more information, read the Canyon Ranch Miami Beach review.

Bali, Indonesia Golden Rock Retreat

Bali has long been a coveted destination for seekers of rejuvenation. Beyond its tourist enclaves, its landscapes are a balm, and it offers some exceptional healthy-living sanctuaries, among the best of which is Golden Rock. Set against a backdrop of traditional Balinese life on a beach overlooking a bay, this detox and healing center offers a wealth of programs to help you cleanse your body and reenergize your spirit. The purpose-built property with just four beachfront accommodations provides a soothing environment for yoga, meditation, fasting and more. Better yet, programs are integrated with local activities you might take a sunrise outing with a fisherman or attend ceremonies in the nearby village of Amed. Along with cleanses (the retreat's specialty), guests will find infrared and herbal steam saunas, massage treatments and ozone, oxygen and bio-magnetic therapies. For more information, visit http://www.theretreatbali.com.

Kangaroo Island, South Australia Kangaroo Island Health Retreat

The Kangaroo Island Health Retreat has been designed for no more than six people at a time. That means the utmost in personalized service from founder Sue McCarthy, whose expertise in anatomy and nutrition informs all aspects of the five-day programs on offer. Programs are labeled "Moderate" and "Dynamic," and are designed to address specific issues such as allergies, anxiety, fitness and smoking or alcohol addiction. Featuring two therapies a day, they include massages, infrared sauna sessions, culinary classes, yoga and Pilates, anatomy instruction, reflexology and much more. With its organic gardens and fresh sea breezes, this intimate health escape promises to balance your body, mind and spirit. For more information, visit http://www.kihealthretreat.com.

Martillac, Bordeaux, France Les Sources de Caudalie

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Work out long enough and hard enough, and your body will change getting leaner and stronger. Now, theres growing evidence that exercise changes your brain, too in ways that researchers can actually see.

Thanks to advances in brain-imaging technology, new research is shedding light on how exercise not only affects but physically alters the brain making the mind sharper and more resistant to the effects of aging. And some of the most exciting work is under way in Dallas.

Read on for three ways that exercise affects your brain.

Better blood flow

Until now, medical experts werent sure whether exercise increased blood flow to the brain. To test that, a three-month study tracked a group of previously sedentary women, ages 60 or older, who walked briskly for 30 to 50 minutes three or four times per week. Researchers used Doppler ultrasonography to measure blood flow to the brain at the beginning and end of the three-month period and found that blood flow increased an average of 11 percent to 15 percent.

Bottom line: Whats good for your heart is also good for your brain. Exercise is medicine, said Rong Zhang, director of the Cerebrovascular Lab at the Institute for Exercise and Environmental Medicine. When you increase blood flow, that increases the oxygen supply, glucose and other nutrients to the brain, and that makes your neurons happier.

SOURCE: Institute for Exercise and Environmental Medicine, Texas Health Presbyterian of Dallas, in conjunction with UT Southwestern Medical Center and the Center for Vital Longevity at UT Dallas

Improved memory

Researchers tracked a group of healthy adults, ages 55 to 75, who previously had been sedentary. After participants worked out for 60 minutes three times a week for 12 weeks, MRI scans compared changes in the brains of the exercisers with those of a control group that didnt exercise. The exercisers showed improved memory, caused by improved blood flow to the hippocampus, the part of the brain that controls memory.

Bottom line: Forget about miracle elixirs and quickie brain games. Physical exercise improves memory, says Sandra Chapman, founder and chief director of the Center for BrainHealth. It is one thing you can do to keep your brain healthier and help you think better.

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The key to brain health? Get moving, experts say

If you think "green design" can't be appealing, works by a group of English designers together with their Thai counterparts currently on display at the "Everything Forever Now" exhibition at TCDC will make you think again.

FROM LEFT

- Elderly on the Move by the Open Space group in Pathum Thani.

- Air Bike by EADS, a bike made of nylon.

- Plumen, an energysaving designer light bulb by Hulger.

The works, some 30 or so items, are a response of designers to the environmental crisis we are facing and they have proved that eco-design has gone beyond the "3R" concept _ reduce, reuse, recycle. Some of the designers, with concern for the increasing deficiency of resources like wood and fuels, go for something with longevity, not just resorting to alternative resources.

Pichit Virankabuta, TCDC event and exhibition director, said that "to live with the green" is the new trend to follow. Designers are challenging themselves with the most they can make out of something and the least it will impact on the world.

"The designs we chose to bring here, not only are they concerned for the environment, they are trying to present something new. They are fresh and inspiring. They are showing that eco can also be sexy," said Henrietta Thompson, the exhibition curator and the author of Remake It: Home a DIY design guide employing good design for a resourceful waste-free lifestyle.

The exhibition, a collaboration between the TCDC and the British Council, is divided into four different categories.

"Materials" features designs that search for new materials to replace deficient ones. For example, the Air Bike by EADS (European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company), a bicycle made using a unique manufacturing process that literally grows a product from a fine powder of metal, nylon or carbon-reinforced plastics. The Air Bike is made using a process called additive layer manufacturing (ALM), which builds layers upon layers of nylon until it forms a 3D model.

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Green designs show hope for future

Australia’s nursing homes will be swamped by a tidal wave of Parkinson’s sufferers unless governments act now, an expert warns.

A Sydney-based Parkinson’s disease expert says rates are expected to jump 80 per cent over the next 20 years because of Australia’s aging population.

Currently 64,000 people have the progressive brain disease that causes uncontrollable tremors, loss of movement and bowel and bladder problems.

Associate Professor Simon Lewis from the University of Sydney is expected to present new research on the benefits of community-based Parkinson’s nurses at a nursing conference on the Gold Coast on Friday.

Professor Lewis says Australia must adopt the UK approach of employing the specialist nurses or pay the price in nursing home care costs.

‘You have to have a way of addressing this tidal wave of patients who are coming over the next 20 years,’ he told AAP.

His research indicates that access to specialist nurses in the community can stave off the need for nursing home accommodation.

He compared the health of Parkinson’s sufferers and their carers in Shoalhaven, NSW, before and six months after they were placed in the care of a specialist nurse.

‘Very clearly what we saw is that during the time they had been seeing the nurse the patient’s health had improved,’ he said.

‘More importantly, the carers themselves reported that their own health had improved.’

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Parkinson's patients to swamp homes

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Flexibility testing at a Parkinson’s clinic.

A possible breakthrough has happened in the treatment of Parkinsons disease. UCLA researchers have found a way to stop the progression of the disease in animal tests.

Parkinsons is a disease that strikes the nervous system, affecting ones movements. So far, there are no treatments to stop its progression. Medical professionals aren’t even sure what actually causes it.

But researchers do believe one particular protein in the brain plays a role. Its found in clumps in all Parkinson’s patients.

Researchers at UCLA have created a compound that prevents the protein from clumping. They call it a “molecular tweezer.” In live animal tests, the compound binds to that protein, prevents it from aggregating and even breaks up existing clumps.

Most importantly, the compound did this without appearing to harm normal brain cells.

The study was done with transparent zebrafish. Now the findings are being applied to mice. Human trials, they hope, will be next.

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UCLA researchers stop Parkinson's progression in animal tests

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Swim coach Laurie Lawrence.

APN

OLYMPIC and world champion swim coach Laurie Lawrence will add his support to a call for the establishment of a national network of community-based nurses following the publishing of new research into Parkinson’s disease.

The findings of the Australian-first Shoalhaven Project reveal the valuable role played by community-based nurses in supporting people living with this devastating, neurodegenerative disease.

This study reveals the crucial role nurses play in significantly improving the quality of life of more than 1-in-350 (64,000) Australians affected by this disease.

One of those 64,000 is Ian Findlay, the former Australian butterfly champion and life-long friend of Lawrence. Findlay was diagnosed with young onset Parkinson’s at 40 years of age in 2004.

Lawrence is now urging the Government to fund more community-based Parkinson’s nurses in support of Findlay and other sufferers.

“I coached Ian as a young athlete and I know of no one who trained harder than he did. Once he finished his competitive career, I asked Ian to become my assistant coach. We’ve been friends for 28 years.

“He is a true champion. Ian has tremendous courage and has overcome many obstacles – physical and mental – throughout his distinguished career. Since his diagnosis, he has changed from being an outgoing, bouncy fella to someone who is more introspective and cautious.

“He works incredibly hard to fight the symptoms of Parkinson’s with assistance from his hospital-based nurse and his wife, Nicole, who has given up her career as a school teacher to care for him. Both are integral to his physical and mental wellbeing. Having access to a local, community-based nurse would further complement his support network,” said Mr Lawrence.

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Lawrence dives in for Parkinson's

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Newswise Millions of people suffer from Parkinson’s disease, a disorder of the nervous system that affects movement and worsens over time. As the world’s population ages, it’s estimated that the number of people with the disease will rise sharply. Yet despite several effective therapies that treat Parkinson’s symptoms, nothing slows its progression.

While it’s not known what exactly causes the disease, evidence points to one particular culprit: a protein called -synuclein. The protein, which has been found to be common to all patients with Parkinson’s, is thought to be a pathway to the disease when it binds together in “clumps,” or aggregates, and becomes toxic, killing the brain’s neurons.

Now, scientists at UCLA have found a way to prevent these clumps from forming, prevent their toxicity and even break up existing aggregates.

UCLA professor of neurology Jeff Bronstein and UCLA associate professor of neurology Gal Bitan, along with their colleagues, report the development of a novel compound known as a “molecular tweezer,” which in a living animal model blocked -synuclein aggregates from forming, stopped the aggregates’ toxicity and, further, reversed aggregates in the brain that had already formed. And the tweezers accomplished this without interfering with normal brain function.

The research appears in the current online edition of the journal Neurotherapeutics.

There are currently more than 30 diseases with no cure that are caused by protein aggregation and the resulting toxicity to the brain or other organs, including Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and Type 2 diabetes. It is therefore critical, Bronstein said, to find a way to stop this aggregation process. Over the last two decades, researchers and pharmaceutical companies have attempted to develop drugs that would prevent abnormal protein aggregation, but so far, they have had little or no success.

While these aggregates are a natural target for a drug, finding a therapy that targets only the aggregates is a complicated process, Bronstein said. In Parkinson’s, for example, the protein implicated in the disorder, -synuclein, is naturally ubiquitous throughout the brain.

“Its normal function is not well understood, but it may play a role in aiding communication between neurons,” Bronstein said. “The trick, then, is to prevent the -synuclein protein aggregates and their toxicity without destroying -synuclein’s normal function, along with, of course, other healthy areas of the brain.

Molecular tweezer

Bronstein collaborated with Bitan, who had been working with a particular molecular tweezer he had developed called CLR01. Molecular tweezers are complex molecular compounds that are capable of binding to other proteins. Shaped like the letter “C,” these compounds wrap around chains of lysine, a basic amino acid that is a constituent of most proteins.

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Parkinson's Disease Stopped in Animal Model

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