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Vegan vs American diet Researchers in Finland have discovered what could be an important clue to what drives Parkinson’s disease (PD). Their new study has shown a reduced abundance of the Pre…
Source: Gut Bacteria Influence Parkinson’s Risk , Vegan vs American diet
Vegan vs American diet Researchers in Finland have discovered what could be an important clue to what drives Parkinson’s disease (PD). Their new study has shown a reduced abundance of the Pre…
Source: Gut Bacteria Influence Parkinson’s Risk , Vegan vs American diet
Researchers in Finland have discovered what could be an important clue to what drives Parkinson’s disease (PD). Their new study has shown a reduced abundance of the Prevotellaceae bacteria fa…
Omega-3 fatty acids in cancer The study concluded that the combination of chemotherapy and omega-3 supplementation appears an effective strategy to enhance the clinical outcome of cancer patients i…
Source: Omega-3 fatty acids in cancer, cardiac arrhythmias, adipose tissue inflammation and oxidative stress
Resources and references Overviews Guide to Choosing a Nursing Home – Provides information to help individuals, family members, caregivers, and those who assist them find and compare nursing homes,…
Guide to Choosing a Nursing Home – Provides information to help individuals, family members, caregivers, and those who assist them find and compare nursing homes, and make informed decisions about nursing home care. (Medicare.gov)
How to Choose the Right Nursing Home, Step by Step – Overview on whether a nursing home is necessary, doing the legwork to find the right home, and a checklist of questions to ask. (US News)
Nursing Home Compare – Searchable database that helps you compare and rate Medicare- and Medicaid-certified nursing homes in the U.S., including staffing, health inspections and quality measures. (Medicare.gov)
Search Senior Housing Facilities – US News and World Report provides a searchable database of nursing homes, organizing data provided by Medicare. (US News and World Report)
Citizen Advocacy Groups – Provides information about citizen advocacy groups in your area, as well as contact information for all state ombudsmen. (National Citizens’ Coalition for Nursing Home Reform).
Choosing a Nursing Home – Tips on finding and evaluating facilities, and details on financing this type of care. (The Health Pages)
Nursing Home Checklist – A comprehensive list of issues to consider while selecting an appropriate facility, under categories: First Impression, Living Area and Accommodations, Moving In/Contracts/Finances, Health/Personal Care/Services, Social & Recreational, Staff, Food, Licensure & Certification. (CarePathways.com)
Transition to Care – Helps both residents and family members ease the adjustment to Nursing Home living. (CareConversations.org)
Medicare Coverage of Skilled Nursing Facility Care – Detailed information about Medicare coverage of skilled nursing care, including examples, as well as ways to get help paying for skilled care. (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services)
Guide to Long Term Care Insurance – Information about policies, how to evaluate them, and questions to ask. (America’s Health Insurance Plans)
Medicaid Rules – A general overview of what assets are considered in qualification for Medicaid, and what protections there are for a spouse. (ElderLaw)
Authors: Joanna Saison M.A., Doug Russell, L.C.S.W., and Monika White, Ph.D. Last updated: May 2016.
Out of pocket costs without insurance ranges from $250 to $350 per 24hr care and at times a combo of long term care, worker’s comp,pension,one or more health insurance carriers and real estate sale can help with nursing home costs.
Prepare early and contact Connie 408-854-1883 for free referrals to senior care homes (6 clients per home) for 24/7 care in a home setting.
Calcium signals balance the body’s response to infection against potential for self-attack A key cellular signal provides a vital balance between the body’s ability to destroy invading…
Source: Calcium signals balance the body’s response to infection against potential for self-attack
Calcium signals balance the body’s response to infection against potential for self-attackA key cellular signal provides a vital balance between the body’s ability to destroy invading microbes and its need to prevent autoimmune disease, in which immune cells attack the body’s own tissues. That is the finding of a study led by researchers from NYU Langone Medical Center and published May 31 in the journal Immunity.
Specifically, the study in mice and human patients found that a certain type of calcium-based signal regulated the production of two immune cell types: T follicular helper cells that drive the body’s massive reaction to invading organisms; and T follicular regulatory cells, which ramp that reaction down as soon as infection is finished. Immune cells create chemicals that kill microbes and cause inflammation, which can destroy tissues at too-high levels.
“We found that calcium signals play a vital role in keeping the immune system finely balanced, ramping responses up and down at the appropriate time,” says senior author Stefan Feske, MD, an associate professor of pathology at NYU Langone. “Future applications of our findings may include fine-tuning calcium signals to enhance immune responses to influenza vaccines for the elderly, or the design of new options for patients with chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.
“Our results also are timely because the field is currently exploring whether a drug class called CRAC calcium channel inhibitors can be useful in the treatment of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases,” Feske adds. “Researchers will need to weigh carefully the potential benefits against the possibility that these drugs interfere with our ability to fight infections.”
The study results revolve around the fact that every human cell pumps charged particles like calcium in and out through channels, building up imbalances along cell membranes. Upon receiving the right signal, cells open the channels, enabling particles to rush back under electrical force, with the charge flow acting like an electric switch that kicks on cell processes.
In the current study, the research team found that one type of calcium influx – store-operated calcium entry (SOCE) – ramps immune responses up and down by controlling the “decision” by immune cells to become either T follicular helper, or T follicular regulatory, cells. SOCE governs follicular T cell lineage by interacting with transcription factors like NFAT, IRF4 and BATF, proteins that attach to the DNA chain and turn on sets of genes, say the authors.
The research team has also shown for the first time how this type of calcium entry, through its regulation of follicular T cells, governs the formation and breakdown of germinal centers. Within such centers, the workhorses of the immune system – T and B cells – partner to churn out vast numbers of slightly different antibodies, immune proteins that glom onto and remove from the system the invading microbe at hand.
Though vital to effective immune responses, T helper follicular cells can also inappropriately help B cells produce “auto” antibodies that recognize the body’s own cells as foreign and attack them. This is the case in the kidneys of lupus patients and the joints of patients with rheumatoid arthritis. The current study found that SOCE balances the immune system, producing antibodies and inhibiting auto-antibodies as needed.
Going into the study, it was well established that calcium entry into T cells happens through channels called calcium release-activated (CRAC) channels, and that such signaling was regulated by proteins called STIM1 and STIM2. The new study found that mice genetically engineered to lack genes for these proteins are much less able to mount antibody responses to viral infection.
At the same time, aging mice were found to be more susceptible to developing autoimmune disease because of an increasing imbalance between T follicular helper and regulatory cells.
“The function of SOCE via CRAC channels is two-fold: it regulates the transcriptional programming of T regulatory cells to prevent auto-antibodies from targeting the body’s own proteins in between infections,” says first author Martin Vaeth, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in Feske’s laboratory. “SOCE is also essential for the maturation of T follicular helper cells and production of antibodies in response to invasion by viruses.”
Along with the mouse results, the study team looked at the experience of human patients with a rare disease (30 patients worldwide) called CRAC-channelopathy, which is caused by genetic mutations in the CRAC channel. These patients are extremely susceptible to infections early in life and to autoimmunity as well. Among the goals of the research effort is to help these patients along with all those who suffer from more common, immune-related diseases.
Explore further: Rare immune cells could hold key to treating immune disorders
Journal reference: Immunity search and more info website
Provided by: New York University School of Medicine
The formation of type 2 diabetes is directly related to how our muscles convert sugar, a landmark new study has found. Researchers at the University of Melbourne’s Medical School at the Austin Hosp…
The formation of type 2 diabetes is directly related to how our muscles convert sugar, a landmark new study has found.
Researchers at the University of Melbourne’s Medical School at the Austin Hospital have used elegant gene splicing technology to prove this popular theory about the biological cause of Type 2 diabetes.
This is the first strong evidence that when muscles fail to convert glucose into a substance called glycogen, it leads to the hallmarks of type 2 diabetes.
They hope the research will lead to development of a drug to that could convert glucose into glycogen when muscle metabolism fails.
Highlights
Thus, muscle-specific gys1 deletion in adult mice results in glucose intolerance due to insulin resistance and reduced muscle glucose uptake as well as impaired exercise and endurance capacity.
Molecular Metabolism – Impaired glucose metabolism and exercise capacity with muscle-specific glycogen synthase 1 (gys1) deletion in adult mice
Chronic high glucose levels are associated with stroke, kidney failure, blindness and leg amputations. Most patients with diabetes die from heart attack or stroke. Yet researchers still know very little about the biological processes that lead to this condition.
Lead researcher on the project, University of Melbourne Associate Professor Sof Andrikopoulos, said the finding gives researchers a much better idea of where to target treatments for type 2 diabetes.
“We’ve known for decades the inability of muscle and fat to respond to insulin (known as insulin resistance) is a major mechanism that leads to high glucose levels in type 2 diabetes,” Assoc Prof Andrikopoulos said.
The researchers tested the theory with sophisticated gene technology. They effectively deleted the enzyme that makes glycogen from glucose from the muscle and watched what occurred.
“None of the drugs available at the moment treat the underlying cause of the disease.
“This provides us with more information about which pathways we should target to treat diabetes. Currently, we don’t have any drugs that target this pathway.
“The study also explains why one of the reasons patients with diabetes don’t exercise properly is that they may not have glycogen – if you improve your glycogen stores, you improve the ability to exercise.”
Diabetes is linked to cardiovascular disease, hypertension, stroke, mental illnesses and blindness. Currently, 1.7 million people live with diabetes. At the Austin, about one in three patients over 55 have diabetes.
SOURCES – University of Melbourne, Molecular Metabolism
From Wiki:
In the past, postprandial hyperglycemia has been considered a risk factor associated mainly with diabetes. However, more recent evidence shows that it also presents an increased risk for atherosclerosis in the non-diabetic population[31] and that high GI diets,[32] high blood-sugar levels more generally,[33] and diabetes[34] are related to kidney disease as well.
Conversely, there are areas such as Peru and Asia where people eat high-glycemic index foods such as potatoes and high-GI rice without a high level of obesity or diabetes.[19] The high consumption of legumes in South America and fresh fruit and vegetables in Asia likely lowers the glycemic effect in these individuals. The mixing of high- and low-GI carbohydrates produces moderate GI values.
A study from the University of Sydney in Australia suggests that having a breakfast of white bread and sugar-rich cereals, over time, may make a person susceptible to diabetes, heart disease, and even cancer.[35]
A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that age-related adult macular degeneration (AMD), which leads to blindness, is 42% higher among people with a high-GI diet, and concluded that eating a lower-GI diet would eliminate 20% of AMD cases.[36]
The American Diabetes Association supports glycemic index but warns that the total amount of carbohydrate in the food is still the strongest and most important indicator, and that everyone should make their own custom method that works best for them.[37][38]
The International Life Sciences Institute concluded in 2011 that because there are many different ways of lowering glycemic response, not all of which have the same effects on health, “It is becoming evident that modifying the glycemic response of the diet should not be seen as a stand-alone strategy but rather as an element of an overall balanced diet and lifestyle.”[39]
A systematic review of few human trials examined the potential of low GI diet to improve pregnancy outcomes. Potential benefits were still seen despite no ground breaking findings in maternal glycemia or pregnancy outcomes. In this regard, more women under low GI diet achieved the target treatment goal for the postprandial glycemic level and reduced their need for insulin treatment. A low GI diet may also provide greater benefits to overweight and obese women. Interestingly, intervention at an early stage of pregnancy has shown a tendency to lower birth weight and birth centile in infants born to women with GDM.[40]
The number of grams of carbohydrate can have a bigger impact than glycemic index on blood sugar levels, depending on quantities. Consuming less dietary energy, losing weight, and carbohydrate counting can be better for lowering the blood sugar level.[6] Carbohydrates impact glucose levels most profoundly,[41] and two foods with the same carbohydrate content are, in general, comparable in their effects on blood sugar.[41] A food with a low glycemic index may have a high carbohydrate content or vice versa; this can be accounted for with the glycemic load (GL). Consuming carbohydrates with a low glycemic index and calculating carbohydrate intake would produce the most stable blood sugar levels.
High variability in response to identical meals after monitoring week-long glucose levels in study of 800 people & 47,000 meals. Zeevi, Cell 163:1079 2015, PMID 26590418 The glycemic index does not take into account other factors besides glycemic response, such as insulin response, which is measured by the insulin index and can be more appropriate in representing the effects from some food contents other than carbohydrates.[42] In particular, since it is based on the area under the curve of the glucose response over time from ingesting a subject food, the shape of the curve has no bearing on the corresponding GI value. The glucose response can rise to a high level and fall quickly, or rise less high but remain there for a longer time, and have the same area under the curve. For subjects with type 1 diabetes who do not have an insulin response, the rate of appearance of glucose after ingestion represents the absorption of the food itself. This glycemic response has been modeled,[43] where the model parameters for the food enable prediction of the continuous effect of the food over time on glucose values, and not merely the ultimate effect that the GI represents.
Although the glycemic index provides some insights into the relative diabetic risk within specific food groups, it contains many counter-intuitive ratings. These include suggestions that bread generally has a higher glycemic ranking than sugar and that some potatoes are more glycemic than glucose. More significantly, studies such as that by Bazzano et al.[44] demonstrate a significant beneficial diabetic effect for fruit compared to a substantial detrimental impact for fruit juice despite these having similar “low GI” ratings.
From blood glucose curves presented by Brand-Miller et al.[45] the main distinguishing feature between average fruit and fruit juice blood glucose curves is the maximum slope of the leading edge of 4.38 mmol·L−1·h−1 for fruit and 6.71 mmol·L−1·h−1 for fruit juice. This raises the concept that the rate of increase in blood glucose may be a significant determinant particularly when comparing liquids to solids which release carbohydrates over time and therefore have an inherently greater area under the blood glucose curve.
A few tips from experts for interacting with Alzheimer’s patients:There is no point debating a faulty fact or memory. The person with dementia truly believes the statement, so arguing will probably cause only conflict and stress. And even if the patient acquiesces, he or she almost certainly will not recall doing so.
Embrace their reality. The disease is going to give the patient a view of the past — and even the present — that is different from yours. These people have forgotten who has passed away, they aren’t sure what year it is, etc. So if someone with dementia says, “When can we go see my mom?” and you know that the mother is dead, you would not say, “Your mother is dead.” You could instead say, “Let’s go tomorrow” and move on to another subject. The goal here is not truth but finding a way to avoid upsetting the person.
Don’t give a lot of instructions, but do ask the patient to help. Everyone wants to be helpful. The word “help” is key. Can you help me set the table? Or fold the laundry? Everyone wants to feel productive.
Reintroduce yourself every time you enter the room. You do not want to assume that the patient knows you, especially if you’re not a family member or close friend. But even relatives should expect this to be necessary as the disease progresses. You don’t want to scare someone with dementia by suddenly appearing at the person’s side. You’ll want to approach from the front so that the patient can see, hear and understand you best.
Do not quiz. Asking such things as “Do you remember what you had for breakfast?”, “When’s your birthday?” and “Don’t you remember my name?” can very upsetting for someone who cannot remember. Instead, offer gentle reminders: “The eggs you had for breakfast seemed good.” “Look who’s here: It’s your grandson James.”
Choose simple words, and use a calm voice.
Don’t act upset in front of the person if he or she doesn’t recognize you or says something that doesn’t make sense, and don’t talk as if the patient isn’t there.
The Internet of Things (IoT) has the potential to solve our biggest global challenges and bring people everywhere a better quality of life.
Minimize distractions (turn off the television or radio if that won’t upset them) to help them focus on interacting.
Make eye contact when speaking, and call the person by name, making sure you have his or her attention before you start to talk. Allow time for a response — sometimes it can take a while — and try not to interrupt when the patient is speaking.
— Susan Berger
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