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New Blood Test Appears Promising In Diagnosing Alzheimer’s Disease Before Onset of Symptoms

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the staff of the Ridgewood blog

A new blood test is showing “high accuracy” in screening for Alzheimer’s Disease markers, before the onset of symptoms according to a study published in JAMA Neurology this week. The study involved testing blood for a key biomarker of Alzheimer’s, a protein called phosphorylated tau or p-tau21, which increases at the same time as other damaging proteins — beta amyloid and tau — build up in the brains of people with the disease.

Continue reading New Blood Test Appears Promising In Diagnosing Alzheimer’s Disease Before Onset of Symptoms

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New Cookbook: The Brain Health Kitchen Helps Prevent Alzheimer’s Through Food

the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, the foods we choose to eat (or not) sit at the core of the Alzheimer’s epidemic. They are also at the heart of the solution.  Annie Fenn, doctor, and chef, presents a new way to think about brain health: it begins in the kitchen.  With her new cookbook, The Brain Health Kitchen, home cooks will learn exactly how making the right choices about the foods we select and cook, and how we eat them, can keep our brains younger, sharper, more vibrant, and much less prone to dementia.

Continue reading New Cookbook: The Brain Health Kitchen Helps Prevent Alzheimer’s Through Food

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Why a Midland Park Family are donating their brains in honor of their Dad to Science

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the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Midland Park NJ, ever wonder what happens if you donate your brain to science? Whether you have a disease or disorder like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, autism, traumatic brain injuries, depression, or you have no brain disorder, human brain tissue can be used to help researchers better understand neurological conditions and potentially lead to new diagnoses, treatments, and hopefully cures and prevention.

Continue reading Why a Midland Park Family are donating their brains in honor of their Dad to Science

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The Ultimate Guide to Powerful Nootropics Like Peptides

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Have you ever struggled to focus or retain important information during a crucial project or exam? Or perhaps you’re looking for an edge in your cognitive performance to stay ahead of the competition in your profession or academic pursuits? Whatever the reason, the world of nootropics offers a range of powerful compounds that can help you enhance your mental performance and achieve your goals.

Continue reading The Ultimate Guide to Powerful Nootropics Like Peptides

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Alzheimer’s Research Fraud

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the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, the journal Science exposed what appears to be another massive scientific/academic/government fraud — the key hypothesis behind most Alzheimer’s research for the past 16 years was founded on doctored images.

Continue reading Alzheimer’s Research Fraud

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Alzheimer’s Association Greater New Jersey Chapter : 10 Warning Signs of Alzheimer’s!

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the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, on Tuesday, April 19, 2022, the Alzheimer’s Association Greater New Jersey Chapter will be facilitating, 10 Warning Signs of Alzheimer’s! This presentation is being held at the Annie Zusy Youth Lounge in Village Hall from 10:30 AM to 12 PM! Free giveaways and lunch will be provided to participants as well as transportation, if needed.
Questions can be directed to Deanna Schablik at dschablik@ridgewoodnj.net or by phone at 201-670-5500 ext. 301.
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NJ Medical Marijuana Patients Face Long Lines and Shortages During Coronavirus Outbreak

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the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Cranbury Township NJ  , While we talk about the shortages people are experiencing in trying to obtain home, health and medical supplies, there is another population of people who are facing long lines and serious shortages.

Medical marijuana patients who are suffering from Cancer, Alzheimer’s, Chron’s Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Epilepsy and more, are facing 4 hour waits at dispensaries in New Jersey and upon getting to the front of the line are turned away due to a shortage of product. Many dispensaries had to close their doors due to the shortage earlier in the week, while others sell out of their supplies within just a few hours, leaving many patients without the medicine they need.

Continue reading NJ Medical Marijuana Patients Face Long Lines and Shortages During Coronavirus Outbreak

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Software Offers Alzheimer’s and Dementia Prevention During Alzheimer’s Awareness Month

Ridgewood Police Alzheimer's patient was found

Ridgewood Police Alzheimer’s patient was found

September 24,2016

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, Yesterday marked Alzheimer’s Action Day and with September being World Alzheimer’s Month, it comes as no surprise that millions of people are joining together in the global fight to raise awareness and end stigma surrounding the disease. With Alzheimer’s being the 6th leading cause of death in the United States and 5.4 million Americans currently battling the disease, volunteers and advocates alike are tirelessly pushing for the critical medical support, research, and developments needed to prevent and cure Alzheimer’s. One company working towards achieving these much-needed neurological breakthroughs is Posit Science with its flagship brain-training program BrainHQ.

Created by world-renowned scientist, Dr. Michael Merzenich – a UCSF professor emeritus in neurophysiology, member of the National Academy of Sciences, co-inventor of the cochlear implant, and Kavli Prize laureate – and an international team of top neuroscientists, Posit Science’s plasticity-based software is being used to treat people with a multitude of severe neurological disorders, mental illnesses, and brain injuries, changing the way we think about medicine in the process. Dr. Merzenich is one of the few scientists who, in the past 30 years, has dedicated his life to transforming the field of neurology through disproving the conception that the brain is fixed and unmalleable. Cognitive impairments and neurological maladies – dementia, schizophrenia, strokes, autism, and traumatic brain injury – are commonly seen as untreatable, however, Dr. Merzenich’s comprehensive and long-term studies have proven otherwise.

In fact, just this summer, the Alzheimer’s Association highlighted a landmark study on cognitive training that used a brain-training exercise developed by Dr. Merzenich – the longitudinal study tracked older adults over 10 years and showed a 50% decrease in risk of dementia among those who used a particular type ofcognitive exercise that trains visual processing speed. The study additionally showed several other cognitive benefits of speed training, including improved cognitive function, better health and mood, more self-confidence, and even fewer car accidents. It’s worth noting that this is the very first time that any intervention – brain-training program, physical exercise, diet, or drug – has been shown to reduce the risk of dementia.

We’re transforming neuroscience-based software into medicine. Drugs are an extremely primitive method to treat the neurology. [With drugs] We’re manipulating machinery that is controlled by dozens of variables, by powerfully distorting one particular chemical. What we’re doing instead is replacing that chemical approach with strategies that actually correct the neurological underpinnings of these problems. And the only way is to have the brain correct itself. — Dr. Michael Merzenich

If you are interested in discussing the developments and breakthroughs being made in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease, the future of medicine, and how technology is creating new medical breakthroughs, please let me know – I would be happy to arrange an interview with Dr. Merzenich or provide you with written commentary and additional information.

Best,

Laura Viglione

More About Dr. Michael M. Merzenich (Full Bio Here)
Dr. Merzenich has published more than 150 articles in leading peer-reviewed journals (such as Science and Nature), received numerous awards and prizes (including the Russ Prize, Ipsen Prize, Zülch Prize, Thomas Alva Edison Patent Award and Purkinje Medal), and been granted nearly 100 patents for his work. He and his work have been highlighted in hundreds of books about the brain, learning, rehabilitation, and plasticity. Dr. Merzenich’s work is also often covered in the popular press, including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Time, Wired, Forbes, Discover, and Newsweek. He has appeared extensively on television and is the scientific consultant for the Discovery Channel show “Hack My Brain.” His work has also been featured on four PBS specials: “The Brain Fitness Program,” “Brain Fitness 2: Sight and Sound,” “The New Science of Learning,” and “Brain Fitness Frontiers.”

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Study Shows Unique Brain Exercise Lowers Risk of Dementia

Ridgewood Police Alzheimer's patient was found
file photo by Boyd Loving  Ridgewood PD searching for Dementia patient
August 10th 2016

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

SAN FRANCISCO, CA , A unique brain exercise cut the long-term risk of dementia nearly in half in a large study of older adults that was presented today at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Toronto. Researchers from the ACTIVE Study (Advanced Cognitive Training in Vital Elderly) tracked 2,802 cognitively healthy, community-dwelling, older adults for 10 years, as the average study participant aged from 74 to 84.
The randomized, controlled trial compared three different types of cognitive training – speed, memory and reasoning – against a control group, to determine if brain training might help with healthier aging. The speed training was found to cut long-term dementia risk by 33 percent among those asked to complete 10 hours of training in the first year of the study. The other types of training had no significant effect. Sub-groups of participants were asked to complete an additional four hours of training in months 11 and 35 of the study. Those who were asked to complete 11 or more hours of speed training were found to reduce their dementia risk by 48 percent over the 10-year study. Memory and reasoning training were found not to have any significant effect on dementia risk.
Previously published results from the ACTIVE Study showed participants in speed training also improved at measures of brain processing speed and at measures of tasks related to independent living. They also did better than the control group at measures of mood, confidence, health, and driving. “Clearly, the time spent on effective brain training has potential long lasting benefits for many aspects of older adults’ lives” said Dr. Jerri Edwards of the University of South Florida, who announced these latest ACTIVE study results.
The computerized speed training pushes a user to progressively improve visual speed of processing, with attentional demands at both the center of gaze and periphery. It was developed by Dr. Karlene Ball of the University of Alabama Birmingham and Dr. Dan Roenker of Western Kentucky University. It is now exclusively licensed to Posit Science Corporation, and a web version is available as the “Double Decision” exercise of the BrainHQ.com brain training program. “This type of exercise has been shown to improve various measures of speed, attention, and memory, as well as quality of life, across many different studies,” said Dr. Mahncke, CEO of Posit Science. “It targets elemental sensory systems of the brain, where a split second improvement can serve you well during every waking hour of every day
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Worried About Alzheimer’s? These Tips Can Help Keep Your Brain Healthy

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file photo by ArtChick

August 1,2016

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, Alzheimer’s disease is one of the most frightening, yet least understood ailments we face as human beings.

The loss of memory – forgetting family, friends and the most important events of our lives – is painful, tragic and heartbreaking for anyone who is close to the person suffering from the disease.

But Alzheimer’s doesn’t just arrive one day, full blown. It begins its insidious work long before the patient has a hint of what’s happening.

“Research suggests Alzheimer’s disease starts in your brain decades before you experience any symptoms,” says Daniel Amen, M.D., a clinical neuroscientist and brain imaging expert who also is the founder of Amen Clinics (www.amenclinics.com), which treat patients at six locations around the country.

He says the good news is you can find out what’s happening in your brain and, while there is no known cure for Alzheimer’s, there are things you can do to better care for your brain.

Amen, author of the New York Times bestseller “Change Your Brain, Change Your Life,” uses SPECT scans to examine his patients’ brains. SPECT stands for single-photon emission computed tomography. Amen says the brain-imaging device can show the abnormal patterns of Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia in their early stages and also can help distinguish multiple forms of dementia.

“That’s critical information,” Amen says, “because the varying types of dementia often have similar looking symptoms – at least in the early stages –  but each type has its own ‘signature’ blood flow pattern in the brain that’s revealed with SPECT imaging.

“Identifying the type of dementia a person has is important because the treatment that works best for one type may not be effective for another type.”

But Amen also says there are steps that anyone can take to keep their brains healthy long before Alzheimer’s becomes a concern. Those include:

• Maintaining a proper diet. People who focus on healthy eating often are worried about their waistline, but the brain also benefits from or is harmed by what’s on the menu. Too many Americans sustain themselves on a diet filled with sugar and processed foods, which are associated with dementia and depression, Amen says. For a healthier mind, he says, there are “super foods” that nourish the brain such as various fruits, vegetables, fish and nuts.
• Avoiding too much alcohol and tobacco. Heavy alcohol and tobacco use lowers blood flow to the brain and reduces the ability to think over time.
• Exercising the brain.  Activities such as dancing, tennis or table tennis (which Amen calls the world’s best brain sport) boost your coordination.  Mindful exercises like yoga and Tai Chi reduce anxiety, depression and increase focus.

“In spite of the natural process of aging, you actually have a choice in how fast your brain ages,” Amen says. “What you choose to do – in other words, your behavior and habits – can speed up or slow down the rate at which your brain declines with age.”

About Daniel Amen, M.D.

Daniel Amen, M.D., (www.amenclinics.com) is a clinical neuroscientist and brain imaging expert who heads Amen Clinics, which are located in Orange County, Calif., Atlanta, San Francisco, New York City, Washington, D.C., and the Seattle area. He has written numerous books, including “The Amen Solution: The Secret to Being Thinner, Smarter, Happier” and “Change Your Brain, Change Your Life.” Dr. Amen also has appeared as a guest on such TV shows as “The View” and was a consultant for the movie “Concussion.”

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Ridgewood Police Find Missing Women With Alzheimer’s

Ridgewood Police Alzheimer's patient was found

photos courtesy of Boyd Lovings Facebook page

July 20,2016

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, A 68-year old female Alzheimer’s patient was found safe more than two (2) hours after she went missing from her Ridgewood home on Tuesday afternoon, 07/19. Ridgewood PD conducted an intense search of areas surrounding the woman’s home off of Prospect Street after her husband reported her missing at approximately 2:45 PM. A tracking canine from the Bergen County Sheriff’s Office assisted in the search, along with volunteers from Ridgewood’s Emergency Services Division. The uninjured patient was located after an employee from a nearby nursery school reported to police that she saw someone lying down in a wooded area behind the school.

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New Jersey families welcome regulations of group homes for dementia patients

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NOVEMBER 16, 2015    LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2015, 12:29 AM

Group homes for patients with Alzheimer’s and dementia are expected to undergo more-rigorous scrutiny under a new law that was spurred by reports of patients wandering away or falling while unsupervised.

Under the measure signed by Governor Christie on Monday, such homes will be regulated as health care facilities by the State Department of Health, instead of as boarding homes under state housing officials. The homes, typically in residential neighborhoods, represent a relatively new niche in the elder-care market.

The law will take effect in June. One of the bill’s sponsors, Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle, said the new provisions will allow families of dementia patients in group homes to have “peace of mind knowing they’re getting the best care possible.”

As of last December, 24 dementia-care group homes were operating in New Jersey. Such facilities typically employ nurses and aides to take care of patients, and advertise themselves as a more home-like alternative to nursing homes.

Group homes for dementia patients have been regulated by the state Department of Community Affairs, whose inspectors are trained to monitor building and safety issues. The law’s sponsors argued that the facilities should be treated more like nursing homes and subject to the same kinds of regulations and oversight, with reviews conducted by people with medical expertise.

Under the new law, each group home will be required to get a new license as a “dementia care home” through the Department of Health.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/new-jersey-families-welcome-regulations-of-group-homes-for-dementia-patients-1.1456095

 

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Ridgewood Alzheimer’s Awareness Week

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Sun, November 15, 2015 – Wed, November 18, 2015
Time: 4:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Location: Ridgewood Village All, 131 North Maple Ave, Ridgewood NJ 07451

CARE ALTERNATIVES & SOLUTIONS FOR A LOVED ONE WITH ALZHEIMER’S

(*)Sunday, Nov 15. 4-6 pm
Ridgewood Village Hall, The Council Chambers Room, 131 North Maple Avenue

LEGAL & FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS ASSOCIATED WITH CARING FOR A LOVED ONE WITH ALZHEIMER’S

(*)Monday, Nov 16. 6-8 pm
Ridgewood Village Hall, The Council Chambers Room, 131 North Maple Avenue

ALIVE INSIDE: A STORY OF MUSIC AND MEMORY
A cinematic exploration to demonstrate music’s ability to combat memory loss and restore a deep sense of self to those suffering from Alzheimer’s

(*)Wednesday, Nov 18. 1-2:30 pm
Ridgewood Warner Theater, 190 E. Ridgewood Ave.

ALZHEIMER’S & DEMENTIA CARE, THE PITFALLS TO AVOID

(*)Thursday, Nov 19. 6-8 pm
Ridgewood Village Hall, The Youth Lounge, 131 North Maple Avenue


(*) Caregivers from Unicity Eldercare will be present at each presentation in Village Hall to help care for loved ones with Alzheimer’s in the Senior Lounge. This will enable family members to attend the events.

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2015 RIDGEWOOD ALZHEIMER’S AWARENESS WEEK FROM NOVEMBER 15TH THROUGH NOVEMBER 19TH

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October 27,2015

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood’s Alzheimer Awareness Week ,Sponsored by Parks Wealth Management and Unicity Elder CarernContributions from Mayor Paul Aronsohn and the Ridgewood Chamber of Commercern Presentation: Care Alternatives & Solutions for a Loved One with Alzheimer’srnPresented by Devorah Sinensky, Director of Social Work & Care Manager specializing in Dementia Care at UnicityrnEldercare.

Mayor Paul Aronsohn will kick off the week’s events.rnNovember 15th – 4:00PM – 6:00PM at the Council Chambers in Ridgewood Village Hallrn Presentation: Legal & Financial Considerations Associated with Caring for a Loved One with Alzheimer’srnPresented by Jim Parks, CFP®, AEP®, AIF® President and Wealth Advisor at Parks Wealth Management (*) and BrianrnKeane, Esq. at Hartman & Winnicki, P.C.rn

November 16th – 6:00PM – 8:00PM at the Council Chambers in Ridgewood Village Hallrn*Securities and advisory services offered through LPL Financial, a Registered Investment Advisor, Member FINRA/SIPCrn Alive Inside: A Story of Music and MemoryrnA cinematic exploration to demonstrate music\’s ability to combat memory loss and restore a deep sense of self to thosernsuffering from Alzheimer’s.rn

November 18th – 1:00PM – 2:30PM at Ridgewood Warner Theatrern Presentation: Alzheimer’s & Dementia Care, The Pitfalls to AvoidrnPresented by Jason Grant, Careone Executive Directorrn

November 19th – 6:00PM – 8:00PM at the Youth Lounge in Ridgewood Village HallrnCaregivers from Unicity Eldercare will be present at each presentation in Village Hall to help care for loved ones withrnAlzheimer’s in the Senior Lounge. This will enable family members to attend the events.rn“Knowledge is power and our goal is to spread knowledge throughout our community for those effected by Alzheimer’s.”rn– Jimmy Cerveaux, Co-CEO & Partner of Unicity Elder Carern“The statistics are startling – for people over age 80, 1 in 2 are impacted by Alzheimer’s. We are excited to providernpractical and helpful information for these families at each event.” – Jim Parks, CFP®, AIF®, AEP® President and WealthrnAdvisor at Parks Wealth ManagementrnIf you would like more information about this topic, please contact Jonathon Allen at (201) 689-2020 or email atrnjonathon@parkswm.com.