Parkinson’s disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous systems.  Early symptoms are movement related but as the disease progresses cognitive and behavioral problems may develop.  While the disease has no known cause there is ongoing research into factors that may contribute to the disease and treatments of the disease.

Topics of the presentation will include:

Theories on what contributes to Parkinson’s disease including environmental and genetic factors, the effects of normal aging and the combination of these factors.  A review of the symptoms of the Parkinson’s disease and their effects on depression and dementia.  How Deep Brain Stimulation can be used to address the symptoms and how Parkinson’s disease can affect behavioral issues.

This presentation will take place at 3 PM on Thursday, October 6, at:

Village of East Harbor
33875 Kiely Dr.
Chesterfield, MI 48047

Kathryn Bartz MA, CTRS, ACC-I has worked in the clinical field for 25 years in the areas of physical medicine & rehabilitation, mental health and chemical dependency. She currently the Director of Strategic Growth and Development for Optimal Care Inc. and is an adjunct professor at Wayne State University and Eastern Michigan University. She is currently teaching in the areas of Pharmacology, Health Care Administration and Quality & Clinical Outcomes and is involved in numerous community groups including the Alzheimer’s Association, the Dementia Coalition and Oakland Family Services.

A team of Canadian and Spanish researchers examined the autopsies given by a Canadian hospital between 2002 and 2006. From these, they selected 243 autopsies of “individuals <40 years old who had died suddenly” and determined how many of these sudden deaths were caused by or related to CAD. The results are surprising: “37% of deaths in the group of 21 to 30 years old, and up to 80% of deaths in the group of 31 to 40 years old” were due to CAD. It was also determined that hypercholesterolemia and a high BMI were both to blame for “an increased risk of SD [sudden death] from CAD”.

While it’s nigh impossible to completely eliminate your chances of obtaining CAD, there are a number of things you can do to greatly decrease them. The advice we gave for diabetes and obesity applies here – exercise daily, and avoid calorie-rich foods – but there are additional preventative strategies as well, such as avoiding excess cholesterol, trans fats and sodium, shunning smoking and practicing stress-relieving activities daily. You might wince at the thought of working up a daily sweat and saying ‘no’ to a second slice of cake, but isn’t living a full life worth it?

Work Cited:

Arzamendi, Dabit, Begoña Benito, Helena Tizon-Marcos, Jose Flores, Jean François Tanguay, Hung Ly, Serge Doucet, Louis Leduc, Tack Ki Leung, Oscar Campuzano, Anna Iglesias, Mario Talajic and Ramon Brugada. “Increase in sudden death from coronary artery disease in young adults.” American Heart Journal. 161.3 (2011): 574-580. Print.

A team of CDC scientists analyzed the data of 397,783 adults who participated in a specific survey and “had valid data on diabetes and cancer”. Their findings, released this year, reveal that diabetic men have a higher chance of contracting prostate, colon, pancreatic, rectal, bladder and kidney cancers than normal men. Additionally, diabetic women have an increased risk of contracting leukemia, as well as breast and endometrial cancers. The most significant increases in cancer risks are for rectal cancer (120%), endometrial cancer (130%), and, most of all, pancreatic cancer (360%).

Much of the advice we gave for avoiding obesity also applies to type 2 diabetes. Healthy eating and regular exercise can help to prevent this form of diabetes by preventing excessive weight gain. However, the protection offered by this behavior is limited at best; there is no known way to prevent type 1 diabetes, and type 2 diabetes frequently affects adults over the age of 45, regardless of their BMI. More research must be done to determine how to address this issue – if you have any money to spare, give some money to further diabetes research, and help a worthy cause!

Work Cited:

Li, Chaoyang, Lina S. Balluz, Earl S. Ford, Catherine A. Okoro, James Tsai, and Guixiang Zhao. “Association Between Diagnosed Diabetes and Self-Reported Cancer Among U.S. Adults.” Diabetes Care. 34.6 (2011): 1365-1368. Print.

Thanks to a wealth of media exposure, it’s no secret that obesity is one of the most significant medical problems facing the world today. Obesity causes a cornucopia of health issues, some of them lethal, and the population of people with obesity is increasing rapidly – according to the WHO, obesity has “more than doubled” since 1980, and the same source estimates that in 2008 “more than one in ten” adults worldwide was obese. Today, however, our focus is not on epidemiology, but on a specific facet of this disease: obesity’s relationship to lung function.

A study published in this month’s issue of Obesity examines exactly that. Pulmonary function tests were administered to “188 nonsmoking subjects with primary obesity”, and the results of these tests were compared to the length of time each subject was obese. A definite correlation emerged: “lung function was significantly lower in subjects with greater years of obesity”. This observation was especially apparent when comparing “subjects who had been obese for ≤5 years” with “patients who had been obese for >15 years”. There is a misconception held by many that obesity is a cosmetic problem alone, but data like this prove that obesity affects far more than just appearance.

The main culprits of obesity, genetic factors aside, are calorie-rich foods (frequently containing large amounts of fructose) and sedentary lifestyles, both of which have become all but intrinsic parts of our world today. The best way to avoid obesity, though far from easy, is to avoid both things to as great of an extent as possible. It may be challenging to do, but if you enjoy the lung function you already have, you really ought to do it anyway.

Work Cited:

Santamaria, Francesca, Silvia Montella, Luigi Greco, Giuliana Valerio, Adriana Franzese, Mauro Maniscalco, Giuseppe Fiorentino, Diego Peroni, Angelo Pietrobelli, Sara De Stefano, Francesco Sperlì, and Attilio L. Boner. “Obesity Duration Is Associated to Pulmonary Function Impairment in Obese Subjects”. Obesity. 19 (2011): 1623-1628. Print.

A recent study published in the journal Alzheimer’s Disease & Associated Disorders examined “265 community residing older adults with dementia” in “randomized clinical trials”. The results are disturbing: of those people, “[t]hirty-six percent … had clinical findings indicative of undetected illness”. Bacteriuria, hyperglycemia and anemia were three of the most prevalent diseases that went unnoticed. In spite of their illness, sixty-six percent of this group of people “resist[ed] or refus[ed] care”; this percentage is significantly larger here than among dementia patients without undetected illness (47%).

This information testifies to exactly how difficult detecting illnesses “of atypical presentation” in dementia patients is, even for trained health professionals. For those who know or look after an older person with dementia, if you observe anything resembling symptoms of an unexpected disease in this person, notify your health professional immediately. As guardians to these people, we owe it to them to give them the most comfortable, healthy lives as possible, and we have the power to grant that to them through proactive efforts on our part.

Speaking of proactive efforts, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention one of our own. On a much more positive note, Optimal Care, Inc., is participating in the upcoming 2011 Walk to End Alzheimer’s at the Detroit Zoo! The walk takes place at 8:30 on August 27, and we urge you to attend as well! Visit their homepage here, and register for a wonderful cause.

Work Cited:

Hodgson, Nancy, Laura Gitlin, Laraine Winter, and Kathleen Czekanski.
“Undiagnosed illness and Neuropsychiatric Behaviors in Community
Residing Older Adults With Dementia.” Alzheimer Disease & Associated
Disorders. 25.2 (2011): 109-115. Print.

One recent research effort by a team of American and Finnish scientists establishes a startling link between smoking and dementia: these scientists found that people who smoke “more than two packs a day” in their middle ages obtain “a greater than 100% increase in the risk of dementia”. These researchers gathered the recent diagnoses of dementia, Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia of 21,213 people who were middle-aged heavy smokers “between 1978 and 1985”. After the data were gathered and analyzed, it was determined that 25.4% of these people were diagnosed as having some form of dementia.

There is a veritable host of reasons for not smoking, among them cancer and heart disease, and it now seems apparent that we can add dementia to the list. With information like this readily available, it is incredibly difficult, if not impossible, to justify indulgence in tobacco.

Work Cited:

Rusanen, Minna, Miia Kivipelto, Charles P. Quesenberry Jr., Jufen Zhou and
Rachel A. Whitmer. “Heavy Smoking in Midlife and Long-term Risk of
Alzheimer Disease and Vascular Dementia.” Archives of Internal Medicine.
171.4 (2011): 333-339. Print.

Vaccinations are, to make a colossal understatement, important. According to the Centers for Disease Contol and prevention, “[a]pproximately 45,000 adults [in the US] die each year from vaccine-preventable diseases”. To put things in perspective, this number is more than ten times as large as the number of combined US casualties of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn. More shocking still, this accounted for roughly 1.85% of all US deaths in 2009; in other words, about one in every fifty deaths was fully preventable. There’s a significant problem at hand when so many lives are capable of slipping through this nation’s collective fingers, and this problem must be addressed as soon as possible.

What can one do about this? Fortunately, a simple answer to this question exists. In addition to the above, the CDC also states that “[t]he most substantial barrier to vaccination coverage is lack of knowledge about these vaccines among adult patients and adult providers”. With the technology at our disposal, increasing vaccination awareness should be incredibly easy to do. You could send emails en masse, put up flyers around your workplace, make a couple of Facebook statuses… there are hundreds of options. Do whatever you can to further this cause – with 45,000 lives per year on the line, nothing is trivial.

A handful of adults might be somewhat surprised at these youths’ participation, but it’s not exactly a rare thing today. According to the University of Nevada, Reno, teenagers volunteer 2.4 billion hours annually – no, that’s not a typo – and their combined work is worth $34.3 billion. According to the same source, 30% of all youth volunteered “at least once a month” in 2000. Perhaps equally surprising, though, are the effects of volunteering on the youths themselves. According to a Tufts University study of participants in the 4-H program, said participants are “56% more likely” to spend longer periods of time engaged in physical activity. Additionally, the University of Nevada, Reno reports that youth who volunteer for at least one hour per week are “50% less likely to abuse alcohol, cigarettes, become pregnant, or engage [in] other destructive behavior”.

From this data, it’s clear that there is a symbiotic relationship between youth volunteers and the communities they are a part of, with almost-immeasurable benefits to both parties. What are you waiting for? If you’re the proud parent of a teenager, get him or her to start volunteering! The world will thank you, and so will your child.

Kelly was selected as one of fifteen undergraduate nursing students who earned the award by, among other things, “demonstrat[ing] a passion for psychiatric mental health nursing”. Fifteen graduate nursing students were also selected for exhibiting similar personal qualities. The scholarship itself includes registration, travel and lodging expenses to attend the APNA 25^th Annual Conference at the Disneyland® Hotel in Anaheim, California, and a one-year complimentary membership in the APNA.

Active since 1987 and recently counted among American Chronicle’s Top 10 Industry Associations in Nursing, APNA is, in its own words, “the only PMH [psychiatric-mental health] nursing organization whose membership is inclusive of all PMH  registered nurses”. APNA is 7,000 members strong, and consists of 40 state or local chapters that stretch from Hawaii to New England. Among its goals are “psychiatric mental health nursing, health and wellness promotion through identification of mental health issues, prevention of mental health problems and the care and treatment of persons with psychiatric disorders”.