06-19-2024 Primetime - Flipbook - Page 4
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A Special Advertising Section of Baltimore Sun Media Group | Wednesday, June 19, 2024
MENTAL HEALTH
Alzheimer’s today
Significant developments
provide hope
By Margit B. Weisgal, Contributing Writer
Milap
Nowrangi
I
f there’s one label that terrifies each of us, it’s Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). Of
course, dementia has the same effect. Although AD is a specific disease, it has
become the catch-all term, shorthand, for any form of dementia, although it is
the most prevalent. We don’t talk about the others as much, but they are there.
And any time we forget why we entered a room, when we can’t find the right word
or search for someone’s name, we tend to panic.
It’s not about losing the
keys. It’s forgetting what
the keys are for.
– Unknown
“Despite years of studies, we are still discovering more about the causes of AD,” says
Dr. Milap Nowrangi, M.D., M.B.E., assistant
professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at The Johns Hopkins University
School of Medicine. “We do know that
age is the primary risk factor; indeed, even
though we have looked at Tau and Amyloid,
both present in those diagnosed, these two
proteins can be present in others who don’t
have problems with cognition. Now we are
moving forward from there.”
For years, the only way to diagnose
AD was by doing autopsies; they still play
a key role in shedding light on dementia.
That said, PET scans (positron emission
tomography) with dyes and analysis of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), can identify changes in
the brain’s structure for an early diagnosis.
However, the problem is that people with
and without AD have these substances.
Nowrangi chose dementia research as
his focus because he really enjoyed the
patient population. “So often, people with
dementia are dismissed, stigmatized, with
those around them focusing only on the disease. There’s so much more. On one hand, I
still learn from them, appreciate the wisdom
they impart, and the ability to pass it on,
their storytelling, if you will. That could be
cultural. Then there’s the science side, how
the brain changes over time.”
Nowrangi is working on a new study that
looks at the good and bad days of memory
loss and lucidity. “We’re gathering data
about the intervals and the possibility of predicting them and, maybe, making them last
longer. The information, the knowledge and
memories are there; now we need to retrieve
it, access it more efficiently.”
One of Nowrangi’s colleagues is involved
with a study that is looking at brain circuits and what enables learning. Using that
information with AD patients, he’s asking,
“could a familiar context – a special location,
for instance or a specific situation – trig-
ger lucidity even when patients are deep
in cognitive decline.” And can knowledge
that was inaccessible be “unlocked.” If this
works, it could potentially lead to a therapy
to improve cognition.
As mentioned above, newer information
suggests that Mixed Dementia is prevalent.
Ilene Rosenthal, program director of the
Alzheimer’s Association Greater Maryland
Chapter (www.alz.org/maryland), says,
“Researchers don’t know exactly how many
older adults currently diagnosed with a specific type of dementia actually have mixed
dementia, but autopsies indicate that the
condition may be significantly more common than previously realized. We also know
that by age 85, one in three will have some
sort of dementia.”
It is that particular statistic that we
should examine. If, at age 85, one in three
has a form of dementia, that also means two
out of three are mentally together.
Prevention
What can you do to prevent or at least
stave off dementia? The same activities and
lifestyle modifications that prevent heart disease will also help prevent dementia: lower
