Word: dementia
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Although the mechanism is not clear, it appears that in this type of dementia, language is not required for--and may even inhibit--certain types of visual creativity. "We typically don't think that something could be getting better," says Miller. Chang's experience underscores the fact that dementia is rarely a simple, one-dimensional disease. It also reminds us to treasure what is spared. --By David Bjerklie
...developing heart disease and breast cancer. The news seemed to sound the death knell for long-term hormone-replacement therapy (HRT). Yet even at the time, scientists recognized that there was a chance for a reprieve: the estrogen-progestin mix might still delay or even prevent various kinds of dementia, including Alzheimer's disease. To find out, researchers began a careful analysis of a subset of data from the same Women's Health Initiative that had stirred up such a fuss in the first place...
...analysis is complete, and even that last hope has been extinguished. Not only does Prempro not protect against dementia, but older women who take it for long periods of time also double their risk of developing Alzheimer's and other cognitive problems. The news, published in last week's Journal of the American Medical Association, comes as a surprise, says principal investigator Sally Shumaker, a public-health expert at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C. Earlier studies had suggested that female hormones might be good for the brain...
...other hand, you're more concerned about preventing dementia or heart disease, you will have to go back to the basics: exercise, eat right and watch your weight. You should also find out if you have high blood pressure or diabetes and get treated if you do; both conditions are known to increase one's risk of heart disease or stroke, and there is growing evidence that they may have more subtle effects on thinking and memory as well. Adopting a healthy lifestyle may not be as easy as popping a pill, but the effects are much longer lasting...
Jancy Chang was a talented artist and teacher, and only in her 40s, when the symptoms of dementia began to appear. She had a rare form of progressive aphasia that would sap her language skills and force her to retire from teaching at 52. But even as she was losing the ability to make lesson plans, grade homework or remember the names of her students, her artistic vision seemed to be expanding (see right). "Her painting became wilder and freer and more original as her language declined," says Dr. Bruce Miller, a neurologist at the University of California...