Power Up Your Brain

Alzheimer’s Prevention: Reducing Your Risk

puyb — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 21:19:41 +0000

Alzheimer’s disease might well be considered an epidemic in our country. With more than 5.3 million Americans diagnosed with the disease and that number expected to double by 2030, it makes sense to ask ourselves what can be done to prevent this devastating disease. According to a recent Medscape report, the costs associated with Alzheimer’s disease globally are staggering at an estimated $604 billion, or a full one percent of the world’s gross domestic product.
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Vitamin D: The Multiple Sclerosis Connection

puyb — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 04:44:08 +0000

Current estimates report that about 300,000 Americans have been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) with an incredible 10,000 new cases being diagnosed each year. While there is a small hereditary component, by and large, most cases seem to just happen without an identifiable cause. Over the past few decades, the medical literature has focused on the possibility of some infectious agent playing a causal role and candidates have included the bacterium Chlamydia pneumoniae, as well as various viruses including Epstein-Barr and human herpes virus type six.
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Alzheimer’s And Herpes Simplex Virus: A Link?

puyb — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 04:47:47 +0000

Last week an advisory committee to the Food and Drug Administration unanimously recommended the approval of a diagnostic brain scan for Alzheimer’s disease. The new technology is based upon imaging and quantifying the amount of a specific protein, beta amyloid, in the brains of patients suspected of having the disease. Research has demonstrated a striking correlation between the amount of beta amyloid in the brain and the degree of cognitive impairment in Alzheimer’s patients.
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Free Radicals: How They Speed the Aging Process

puyb — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 04:54:54 +0000

Turn on the television, open a magazine or listen to the radio and in short order you will no doubt be exposed to an advertisement extolling the virtues of some newly discovered exotic fruit juice that has the highest antioxidant content on the face of the earth. You may wonder — why all the hype? What is the benefit of an antioxidant?
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Human Memory: Why Bad Memories Stick

puyb — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 04:56:45 +0000

“I’m incredibly stressed out, and this Arizona thing has really put me over the top,” complained my patient, just this week, a woman in her mid fifties. “I just can’t seem to let it go. It’s like I’m always on edge,” she lamented. Looking at her intake paperwork, I noted that her stated reason for the appointment with me was “trouble with memory.” Right at that moment, I wondered if she had any idea how deeply connected were her verbal and written complaints.
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Gluten Sensitivity and the Impact on the Brain

puyb — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 04:58:52 +0000

Several years ago, parents of a lovely nine-year-old girl, Karen, brought her to see me because she had poor memory. They indicated that she had difficulty in thinking and focusing, and because of these issues she was falling further and further behind in her school work. Interestingly, they stated that at times she was fine, while clearly at other times her brain function seemed to be different. They indicated that she had difficulty keeping her thoughts together and that she became profoundly frustrated when this would occur.
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Neurogenesis: How to Change Your Brain

puyb — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 05:00:51 +0000

“In adult centers the nerve paths are something fixed, ended, immutable. Everything may die, nothing may be regenerated.”
– Santiago Ramon Y Cajal, “Degeneration and Regeneration in the Nervous System,” 1928
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