Bilinguals Have Healthier Brains

According to neuroscientist Ellen Bialystok, people who are fluent in two languages have healthier brains.

Ellen Bialystok, an eminent research professor of psychology at York University in Toronto, Canada, says speaking 2 or more languages regularly from an early age has a positive impact on the brain.

Apart from enhancing cognitive abilities, bilingualism could also delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.

It appears that something as simple as being able to communicate in 2 or more languages tends to reconfigure the brain network in such a way as to positively affect certain things the brain does.

The Canadian study conducted at the Baycrest Geriatric Centre,Toronto, identified 200 patients with Alzheimer’s disease & examined their backgrounds to find out whether they were monolingual or bilingual.

The researchers looked at the age of the patients when their family first detected something was wrong & when they were officially diagnosed. In both the cases, bilingual patients were much older, by about 4 years.

Bialystok believes that bilingualism protects the brain & people don’t develop Alzheimer’s disease earlier. Besides, bilinguals coped with Alzheimer’s better.

Learning another language late in life is probably beneficial, because it helps stimulate mental activity & it’s a great way to exercise the brain. For that matter, any kind of intellectually engaged activity that requires intense involvement would keep the brain healthy.

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A 15-mins Online Test to Ease the Fear of Alzheimer’s

Scientists at Oxford Universityhave developed a 15-mins online test to detect early signs of Alzheimer’s in people in their 50’s.

This computer-based interactive test can be taken at home and provides on the spot results, facilitating early treatment in order to keep it under control.

Experts say that slowing down by 5 years the onset of Alzheimer’s could reduce by half the number of patients dying, which at present is 1/3^rd of people above 65 years.

The recently set up ‘Cognitive Function Test’ is absolutely free & endeavors to help people who are scared of losing their memory but find it extremely embarrassing to see a doctor.

Alzheimer’s is certainly a preventable disease and isn’t an inevitable part of growing old. Identifying early any deterioration in memory functions & taking necessary prevention measures is very important.

Failure to Discern Lies, Sarcasm Is A Telltale Sign of Dementia

Research shows that the failure to perceive sarcasm or lies is an early indicator of dementia.

In a study, scientists found out which areas of the human brain control an individual’s ability to identify sarcasm & lies. While a few participants were healthy, most of the subjects suffered from neurodegenerative diseases that caused deterioration in certain parts of their brain.

Researchers used MRI (magnetic resonance imaging), to map their brains which revealed associations between the declines in particular parts of their brain & the failure to detect lies.

The ability to discern sarcasm resides in the frontal lobe of the brain. In diseases such as frontotemporal dementia, this area degenerates progressively due to the buildup of damaged proteins called tau & the dying of neurons in the frontal areas.

As the frontal lobes have a significant role to play in complex, higher-order behaviors, not being able to discern lies is just one of many ways this disease could manifest.

The earliest signs of dementia could be a number of striking behavioral changes. Ironically, such signs are often overlooked because they’re wrongly attributed to depression, Alzheimer’s or midlife crisis.

Scientists believe that early detection of this disease will provide patients the optimum chance for intervention when medications become available.

Pain Relievers Counteract Effectiveness of Antidepressants

Anti-inflammatory drugs lower the effectiveness of antidepressants, also called as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).

These drugs taken for obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety disorders and depression include aspirin, ibuprofen, and naproxen.

This startling discovery, to a certain extent, explains why a number of depressed patients who take SSRIs don’t respond to antidepressants.

The study by Rockefeller researchers has shown that 54% of the total patients assessed responded to antidepressants in the absence of any pain relievers compared to 40% of patients who had taken anti-inflammatories.

The study holds true when it comes to Alzheimer’s disease. Patients having Alzheimer’s commonly experience depression & unless this is successfully treated, the illness may possibly worsen.

The study further reveals that depression in elderly individuals increases the risk of Alzheimer’s and prompt treatment may lower Alzheimer’s risk.

A number of elderly persons who suffer from depression also are afflicted with arthritis or other such diseases and therefore are on antidepressants as well as anti-inflammatory drugs. Physicians must carefully balance the pros and cons of continuing to prescribe anti-inflammatory drugs to patients taking antidepressant medications.

It’s not clear why NSAIDs limits the effectiveness of SSRIs – possibly it’s an interaction between both drugs where NSAIDs stop SSRIs from getting to the brain.

The findings have clinical implications for persons suffering from depression and chronic pain and consuming both types of drugs.

However, patients on these medicines should not stop taking them of their own accord, but consult their doctor in case they have any concerns.

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Bank Your Wisdom Tooth and Save Lives

If you feel you’ve lost out on regenerative medicine benefits by not banking your umbilical cord, rest easy. For, you could now make up for that oversight by donating your teeth to a dental stem cell bank – it could help in treating a variety of diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s in adults.

It’s now possible to store dental stem cells for use in the future.

There are 2 types of adult stem cells – hematopoietic stem cells which form blood cells & mesenchymal stem cells which form connective tissues. The dental cells are mesenchymal cells that could possibly treat diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Dental stem cells, due to their site of origin, are more versatile than the hematopoetic cells.

The biggest plus point in favor of dental stem cell banking is that it’s a non-invasive procedure & the teeth wouldn’t be of any use to the individual who would, in any case throw them away. Moreover it’s an excellent opportunity for people who’ve passed up the chance of storing their cord blood cells to freeze their dental stem cells, since it’s possible to extract dental stem cells at any stage.

In contrast to umbilical cord cells that are used in treating blood-related diseases such as thalassemia, and leukemia, dental stem cells are capable of treating certain types of cancer, periodontal diseases, heart disease, and could also be used in growing replacement teeth & bone.

The dental cell extraction procedure needs to be carried out while the wisdom teeth are about to be removed or the milk teeth are about to fall. The source of stem cells is the dental pulp of teeth and the pulp tends to be more usable when there’s a blood supply. The dental cells are highly regenerative & multiply fast.

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