FotoFest 2012 What is memory? Photo exhibit focuses on everyday objects as tools for recall in fight against Alzheimer's

http://houston.culturemap.com/newsdetail/04-01-12-fotofest-show-asks-what-is-memory/

Text by Cameron Dezen Hammon

Photo by Anna Sneed

04.01.12 | 3:43 pm

When I was in Chicago a few weeks ago I met a woman, Mira Bartok, whose memoir, The Memory Palace, just won the prestigious National Book Critics Circle Award. Bartok's book chronicles her life as the child of a mother with schizophrenia, a mental illness that robs its victim not only of a grasp of the present, but also of the past. Bartok suffers a a brain injury at 40 and takes her reader on the often painful journey of reconstructing the memories from her life. Her book centers on the idea that memory is fluid. Everytime we retrieve a memory  it changes, even for those who don't suffer from a memory debilitating illness.

The 10p-a-day vitamin supplement that tackles dementia: So why is the drug industry spending billions?

[From The Article]
Modern medicine has let us cheat death. We can replace organs, take pills to stave off heart disease, cure many cancers, and control previously fatal conditions such as diabetes. As a result, the average life expectancy is 80, whereas 100 years ago it was 52. Yet now, if these other illnesses don’t get us, it seems that dementia will.
More than 800,000 Britons suffer from some form of the disease, with 75 per cent of them having Alzheimer’s. All lead to mental decline, memory loss, speech and movement problems, and death.

[SNIP]

I am the founding director of the Oxford Project to Investigate Memory and Ageing (OPTIMA), which studies the causes of dementia. Last year  we recruited 270 elderly people with memory problems and gave them Vitamin B tablets – folic acid (800 micrograms), B12 (500 micrograms) and B6 (20 milligrams).

[SNIP]
Large-scale studies are needed to see if nutrition and exercise can slow the conversion of memory impairment to Alzheimer’s disease. We also need to know if they improve the response to drugs such as donepezil.  
For OPTIMA, the next step is a trial of 1,000 people with MCI to see if  B vitamins prevent the conversion to dementia over a two-year period. Can AD be beaten? I am optimistic.
The author is Emeritus Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Oxford and co-founder of OPTIMA.

Read the entire article HERE  <click]

This-Old-Age-Pooch-deaf-doddery-uses-pram--theres-life-old-dog-yet

 This is a heartwarming story found in the UK Mail online

Pushing my pram down Hampstead High Street like a proud mum, a passer-by grimaces at me and says: ‘What an ugly baby!’
‘That’s a bit harsh,’ says his companion, smiling at my little passenger. ‘I think he’s gorgeous! Just look at those long floppy ears!’
I’m not too insulted because my ‘pram’ is a specially designed pushchair, and strapped into it is George, my Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. And far from 

SNIP

His memory isn’t what it was. He often walks into a room, stands there looking confused as if he’s forgotten what he’s come in for, then plods out again. That sounds like someone else I know, but I can’t remember who

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2106966/This-Old-Age-Pooch-deaf-doddery-uses-pram--theres-life-old-dog-yet.html#ixzz1naZi6av5

Or click anywhere in the article to read the entire heart warming story

Memorial to my dad. [Harold Eugene Blanck -- (1919-2012)]

"I Hope You Dance"

'I Hope You Dance... '

This was written by an 83-year-old woman to her friend.

*The last line says it all. *

Dear Bertha,

I'm reading more and dusting less. I'm sitting in the yard and admiring the view without fussing about the weeds in the garden. I'm spending more time with my family and friends and less time working.

Whenever possible, life should be a pattern of experiences to savor, not to endure. I'm trying to recognize these moments now and cherish them.

I'm not "saving" anything; we use our good china and crystal for every special event such as losing a pound, getting the sink unstopped, or the first Amaryllis blossom.

I wear my good blazer to the market. My theory is if I look prosperous, I can shell out $28.49 for one small bag of groceries. I'm not saving my good perfume for special parties, but wearing it for clerks in the hardware store and tellers at the bank.

"Someday" and "one of these days" are losing their grip on my vocabulary. If it's worth seeing or hearing or doing, I want to see and hear and do it now

I'm not sure what others would've done had they known they wouldn't be here for the tomorrow that we all take for granted. I think they would have called family members and a few close friends. They might have called a few former friends to apologize and mend fences for past squabbles. I like to think they would have gone out for a Chinese dinner or for whatever their favorite food was.

I'm guessing; I'll never know.

It's those little things left undone that would make me angry if I knew my hours were limited. Angry because I hadn't written certain letters that I intended to write one of these days. Angry and sorry that I didn't tell my husband and parents often enough how much I truly love them. I'm trying very hard not to put off, hold back, or save anything that would add laughter and luster to our lives. And every morning when I open my eyes, tell myself that it is special.

Every day, every minute, every breath truly is a gift from God.

If you received this, it is because someone cares for you. If you're too busy to take the few minutes that it takes right now to forward this, would it be the first time you didn't do the little thing that would make a difference in your relationships? I can tell you it certainly won't be the last.

Take a few minutes to send this to a few people you care about, just to let them know that you're thinking of them.

"People say true friends must always hold hands, but true friends don't need to hold hands because they know the other hand will always be there."

Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here we might as well dance

JUST A REMINDER

REMEMBER THIS IS NOVEMBER.

The per person Medicare insurance premium will increase from the present monthly fee of $96.40, rising to: $104.20 in 2012; $120.20 in 2013; And $247.00 in 2014. These are provisions incorporated in the Obamacare legislation, purposely delayed so as not to 'confuse' the 2012 re-election campaigns. Send this to all seniors that you know, so they will know who's throwing them under the bus.

PILL TO BEAT ALZHEIMER’S ~~~???~~~

This article from a British newspaper

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/271140
___________________________________________________________________________

A DAILY 10p vitamin pill could prevent millions of people being struck down by Alzheimer’s disease.

Research has found that vitamin B can help protect the brain from dementia.

A large daily dose of a combination of three types of vitamin B has been shown to slow mental decline in the elderly who suffer from mild memory problems.

The breakthrough could lead to a simple new treatment for people at risk of dementia which would be the “holy grail” of research into Alzheimer’s.

The finding is seen as so significant that yesterday researchers announced a major new study into how effective the vitamins are at protecting against the disease.

The trial, involving around 1,000 older people in Britain, will build on previous findings that B vitamins can help prevent brain shrinkage with age.

They will be given carefully measured doses of vitamin B12, B6 and B9 – folic acid – with the aim of finding out whether boosting levels of the vitamins can delay the onset of Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia.

A large daily dose of a combination of three types of vitamin B has been shown to slow mental decline in the elderly who suffer from mild memory problems

And another article!! This one from the LA Times:

Insulin may slow Alzheimer's, study finds inhaling it through the nose twice daily seems to slow symptoms of memory loss. More study is needed, but researchers are encouraged.

http://www.latimes.com/health/la-he-insulin-alzheimers-20110913,0,6983680.story