|
This online
book outlines the public service project

dedicated
to ending Alzheimer’s by the end of 2012
The Trustees
of the Internet Broadcasting Association – iBA –
www.ibaglobal.com
Offer the
population information and a call to action regarding:
- The new understanding of how Alzheimer’s disease can
be prevented.
- Easy population memory fitness testing at
The Memory
Fitness Testing Center -
the population can
establish their normal memory
fitness, and monitor for decrement (reduction) in their ability to form
short
term memories.
- The FDA approved treatments that slow the disease
process if administered properly and in the earliest possible stages of
memory loss detection.
- The technologies that allow doctors and researchers
to image the living brain and detect any disease
progress or treatment
response.
- The clinical documented reversal/alteration of the
disease process – the first in a 100 year research
and treatment
development effort – recorded from the autopsy of a participant from the
Alzheimer’s
Vaccine Treatment development effort.
About the Author and
the Alzheimer’s LifePlan
Whatever your concerns regarding the Alzheimer’s
disease process, I congratulate you on reading this
book and pursuing a
personal Alzheimer’s prevention program. I’m about to introduce you to my
family,
dating back to my earliest collection of memories – captured on 8mm
movie film – the
movie
will show you
are farm, my grandparents living on their farm, and America as I first experienced it.
The Alzheimer’s disease
process ravaged through my mother's and father's
families. We were just individuals amongst the millions
of people being
affected by it, and there wasn’t one effective treatment or
an understanding of what the disease
really is.
Through a series of career and personal life
adventures, I was called upon to head up a new industry, Internet
Broadcasting and one of the first networks of operation,
was an electronic medical record management
service for Psychiatrists
clinics and neurological research projects. While building a custom studio
for the
2000 WYSIWYG Film Festival in San Francisco, I met Dr. Ted Langley,
PhD. Ted has become an icon role
model of mine, as he is the picture of
physical mental and spiritual health. One of his many achievements was
to
co-develop an alertness testing platform - which he mentioned could be
programmed to function as a
short-term memory performance test and/or a mild
cognitive impairment screening test. "What is mild cognitive impairment?", I
asked. It wasn't too long, and Ted introduced me to his partner, Henry
Bowles and a brilliant
research Psychiatrist Wesson Ashford - the team that
produced clinical short term memory and learning
performance test systems. I
forged a relationship with Bowles-Langley technologies and had another
brilliant
cognitive scientist - Tim Galigan - develop the online short term
memory and learning performance testing
platform currently used at the
Alzheimer's LifePlan memory fitness testing
center.
The testing platform allows
individuals and/or a doctor to administer a short, video game like test and establish
an individual’s memory fitness. The same test could be used to monitor and
track an individual’s recovery from
stroke, head trauma or ailment
development. In the clinical environment, it provides an effective mild cognitive impairment (MCI)
screening platform – the early signature of the Alzheimer’s disease process.
Dr. Ashford has
also expanded the controls and features of the test to a
degree, that he is now able to detect the pre-mild
cognitive impairment
stage of the disease - years before the patient (or their family) may notice
memory fitness reduction.
This whole memory testing platform fascinated me, both because the Internet
Broadcasting aspect of it
promised to give the population access to an easy
way to monitor this vital health sign – but also because it
looked like the first method of helping the population monitor for Alzheimer’s in it’s early
stages.
I petitioned the Internet Broadcasting Board of
Trustees to fund a population and mental health Internet
Broadcasting
network channel – and operate a population testing center for ten years – as
a part of a task
force project to end Alzheimer’s. The
End Alzheimer’s 2012 Task Force was organized and to this day
operates as
the steering committee's online resource center for the
Alzheimer’s LifePlan public
service project.
This book is an overview collection
of recollections, interviews and introduction to the resulting public
service
project that is now in position to usher in new understanding and
the eventual ending of Alzheimer’s as we
know it. All of the individual’s
involved in this project now truly believe that the human brain and body can
be
nurtured to the extent that most of Alzheimer’s can be prevented.
That alone is reason to promote
personal Alzheimer’s lifestyle programs to the populations. The Alzheimer’s
LifePlan, as an online service, can assist the millions of senior citizens
who are uncomfortable with surfing
the Internet – but have access to care
centers, community centers, or family members who are affiliated
into the
iBHealth Network’s Alzheimer’s LifePlan web page spaces. And that education,
access and service
delivery - in a nutshell is the driving force behind the
Alzheimer’s LifePlan.
You, and your family members are welcome here, and I
know I am speaking on behalf of all the dedicated
doctors, researchers and
care givers who work daily on ending the Alzheimer’s disease phenomena – we
face a disease of the mind, and the mind has enough intelligence to win the
confrontation. Read on in good
health.
Paul D. Costa
Executive Director
Alzheimer’s LifePlan
Chairman, Internet Broadcasting Association
Before The
Alzheimer’s LifePlan

Youth is usually a collection of memories. These
memories are formed by our brains in a seamless manner –
meaning we don’t
“think” about it – it just happens. Throughout our lives, our brain matures
and continues the
memory forming process. When we get old, we assume that
forgetting memories or it being more difficult to
form memories is “normal”. Such was the case in my family’s background. Our family
lived on an 18 acre farm,
on the outskirts of Roseville California. My
father was a Veterinarian and there was never a shortage of things,
animals,
fantasy activity going around my sister, mother and father.

In the day-to-day living, we were quite content and
self-contained. Dad’s veterinary hospital was along side the
main highway
that ran between Roseville and Sacramento – also on the edge of our property
– so all he had for
a commute was a quarter mile walk up or down the hill.
I felt like a prince, living with my King Tony, my
Queen Edith and my sister the necessary princess, Carmela.

My first memories of leaving the farm are of summer
time trips to Wisconsin aboard the California Zephyr,
what a ride! On one
very special trip, my mother, sister and I rode the Zephyr to Detroit and
watched a brand
new Plymouth Cranbrook four door sedan roll of the assembly
line – I learned to drive a stick shift and have my
first accident in that
car years later. We drove the car to Whitehall Wisconsin to visit my mom’s
parents, brothers
and sisters.
Visiting the farm that my mother grew up on, was an
adventure into the past. The massive farm house never had running water,
electricity was added in the late 1930’s, and everywhere I would go, I would
see remains of a past dynasty. The family land at one time was a whole
valley, a thriving dairy, and agriculture and farm equipment maintenance
center – now falling into ruin and completely obsolete.

Another stark difference was the crowd. My mother’s
family was large and had grown bigger over the years.
There were layers of
cousins and networks of aunts and uncles that were exciting just to come in
contact with.
Grandma and Grandpa had a rich life, raising a large
family of wonderful people and running the family
enterprise successfully.
They lived on the family’s farm until they were in their eighties, then sold
the farm and
bought a duplex in town, closer to their children.
Grandma Ann died when she was eight two. She had lost
most of her ability to form recent memories. They didn’t
call it Alzheimer’s
in those days, and there is no way of knowing if Alzheimer’s was the cause
of her dementia.
When she died, she could not recall the day this picture
was taken or who the people were in the picture were.
She had even forgotten
taking a drive in a 1953 Plymouth with a grandson on her lap.
The drives home would take us to Dad’s side of the
family. This brought a whole new set of experiences, as some
of Dad’s
brothers and sisters lived in metropolitan areas like Denver, others lived
very close to the land in
Colorado, New Mexico and Southern California.

Dad’s mother had passed away when he was a boy. But, I
did get to see my Dad’s father on these trips.
Unfortunately I didn’t get to
know him very well. My earliest childhood memory of my father’s father
visiting us
includes his wandering off; going to sleep in the back seat of a
car he thought was ours. No one called it
Alzheimer’s in those days, but,
I’m sure it was. Grandpa passed when he was eight-two, leaving a large
family of wonderful people.

Mom and Dad always made sure my sister and I were aware
of the world around us. Even when we lived in
those years of isolation on
the farm, we would drive to the mountains or San Francisco and experiences
everything from wildlife to night life.
When I was a boy, this was my family and we didn’t
worry about Alzheimer’s disease.
We left the farm and moved to the city, each of us
growing to maturity. The family changed as we kids went to
school, the
military, then into careers and growing families of our own. The years were
kind to mom and dad;
they are still in love and spend their mornings, noon's
and nights together.
The Family 2002

Mom and Dad have both outlived all of their brothers and
sisters, and both lived longer than any of their parents.
They are in their
mid eighties and in relatively good health. As their age group has a fifty
per cent chance of
developing the Alzheimer’s disease process, and those
odds increase each year they live – they are obviously concerned that they
could be developing the early signs of Alzheimer’s – each time one of them
forgets a name
or misplaces their keys.

Mom starts everyday with Bible study and inspirational
reading. She still does the household chores and cooking.
She exercises
everyday, takes multi-vitamins and a blood pressure control drug. Her diet
is low-fat, high fiber and moderate carbohydrate. Her weight has been stable
for the past five years and overall she is in good health. Mom
is 84 and
still very active. She drives, shops, walks, exercises, prays and meditates
her days away, also taking
care of Dad.

Dad is also in overall good health. He gets a lot of
exercise gardening, walking, shopping, and maintains a busy schedule of
meetings and social functions. Dad’s diet is low-fat, high fiber, lots of
fruits and vegetables and an occasional chunk of filet minion. Dad used to
do daily exercises, but has stopped that in the past few years. His
blood
pressure was high several years ago, and he has been on a regulatory program
which seems to be working. Dad also takes multi-vitamins, some supplements
and feels that they are essential.

My sister now lives within a mile of where our original
farm was in a retirement community. Mom and Dad enjoy
having them nearby.
View the Windows
Media Video of "The Family 2002", Click Here.
While my family was aging and collecting back in the
Roseville area, I was working around the world in the
television, motion
picture and finally the Internet Broadcasting Network industries.

In 2000, I became the Chairman of
the Internet Broadcasting Association and was determined to use Internet
Broadcasting anyway I could to assist the population in ending Alzheimer's.
I never suspected then, that any of my family’s
concerns about Alzheimer’s disease would play a part in my
career –
certainly not to the degree and manner to which it has.
Enter the Internet
Broadcasting Health Network

One of the sub network operations I manage,
iBHealth.net, is an online service platform – a system that clinics,
doctor’s offices, hospitals and research projects all utilize for a number
of functions. The overall operation is
managed by Mr. Ron C. Peck, who has
an extensive career history in Nuclear Medicine. Ron does not hold
back his
enthusiasm for integrating powerful enterprise like platforms in the service
of clinics, hospitals,
research projects or mass communications.
One group utilizes an online business administration
service where each of their employees has their personal Personnel payroll
and employee records, another uses online scheduling, marketing and sales
force automation/selling – basically interactive business. Another group uses computers
and hand held devices to gather
medical information about patients and/or
participants in from clinics or medical research projects. The group
that specifically services psychiatrists, mental health clinics and neurological
disease research projects would
introduce me to the leading alertness and
short-term memory testing group – Bowles-Langley technologies (www.bowles-langley.com)
of Alameda California.

The first time Dr. Ted Langley and Henry Bowles
presented their short-term memory testing platform to the
Cognitive
Engineers at the Internet Broadcasting Network – it was presented as a
clinical tool that doctors
were using in Alzheimer’s diagnosis and treatment
development research projects. The test was designed
in part by Dr. J.
Wesson Ashford, MD, PhD. who also manages a popular Alzheimer’s resource
center
www.Medafile.com.

I remember questioning the accuracy and value of
testing the short term memory and Dr. Ashford
convincing me that the
clinical version of the test was not only an effective screening test for
mild cognitive
impairment (MCI – the early signature of the Alzheimer’s
Disease process), he had evidence that if
administered in advance of any MCI
symptoms, he could with high probability now project the likelihood of
the
disease developing in the tested individual’s future.

Then I took my first test. I put the cursor over the
“Take the Test” text, depressed the left tab on the mouse, to
tell the
computer to load in 26 images into a pre-programmed presentation. The
presentation would present
26 images, some repeating within the
presentation. If I had not seen the image in this test, I was to do nothing.
If the image was a repeat – I was to depress the space bar.

After the test is loaded into the computer, the system
displays an “OK”, and all I have to do is depress the
spacebar to start the
test.
The computer based test has specifically been designed
so a nurse, family member or friend who is comfortable
with online
environments or Internet browsers. As most of the baby boomer and over 70
generation are not yet connected to the Internet (although as of 2002, they
are the fastest growing group of Internet Browser new-users).

As soon as I depressed the spacebar, the first image
popped unto the screen.

As 26 images appeared, I did the best I could to
identify if I had seen each of them after the first time the image
would
have appeared. After the past image fades, a few moments later, a screen
with my score and data fields appears.

What just happened here?
My interaction with the testing system, allowed the
machines to document my time of reaction, my ability to
remember a sequence
of recent events, and accurately access if my brain was functioning on a
“normal”
level of memory fitness. All and all, somewhere between 200,000 and
300,000 pieces of information –
specifically evaluating the memory portions
of my brain – were recorded.
The individual test results are indeed a form of
“snapshot” of my brain’s memory fitness at the precise moments
I was taking
the test.
Not bad for the first test. 100% is
a great score. It means that whenever an image appeared on the screen -
I
could determine if the image had been shown before within the test I was
taking - if it was I successfully
depressed the space bar. A single score has little clinical value. So it is recommended that
I take the test a
half a dozen times over the next month or so.
In order to document the history of an individual’s
test scores, an area of the Internet Broadcasting Network
that would keep
the data and present it in a graphic form was designed presenting a bar
graph that displays
the most resent test taken at the end of a row of
results. The intention being that an individual would take the
test a number
of times, establishing their baseline memory fitness, then return regularly
to re-test. Each time
they re-tested themselves, they could complete the
test and return to their historical record and see how the
test they just
completed compared to their normal rating. If there was a reduction, or
lower score, they should take
the test a gain. If scoring was consistently
lower than the baseline, they should consult with Dr. Ashford, or their
care giver (doctor).

Looking at the test results from “guests” who have
taken the test in its public area, one can see that results can
and will
vary. Because these are quite often the first efforts, individuals can
easily make a mistake or be getting
used to the actual conducting of the
test. These are additional reasons why the test should be taken several
times, usually disregarding the first few tests, before the results can be
considered part of the individual’s “normal”.
The test was completed in its online
formats and made available to a number of clinics, care centers and
individuals through the networks memory fitness, psychiatric clinic and
neurological research support center.
Since 2001, the system has proven itself to be
consistent and reliable, giving those who use if a most affordable means to
establish a baseline rating of their memory fitness and monitor memory
fitness going forward.
The Population Needed To Think of
Memory Fitness Like A Vital Sign
Millions of people are monitoring
their vital signs - like blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, weight,
cardio-vascular capacities and others. In an ideal situation they create a
record over a period of time. When
one looks at the longitudinal baseline
vital sign records of an individual - the normal healthy ratings provide
historic information. When a doctor has access to this, swift identification
can be made if something changes, improving the chances of early detection
and rapid treatment.
Well, I was determined to produce an
online service which made it easy for the population to record their vital
signs, fitness program results, and their memory fitness testing results in
one easy to manage personal record
keeping system.
It made sense to organize an online
personal data record center, that also served as an individual's personal
memory fitness testing center. Today, visitors to the Alzheimer's LifePlan
can create their personal memory
fitness and vital sign record keeping
account and become members of the Alzheimer's LifePlan online community.
Individuals can open an account where their
personal testing records are stored in a secure online account.
Younger
family members can "throttle" a version of the test for older family members
and assist the elders in maintaining their data and testing. Printing our
the vital sign/memory testing records and presenting them to your doctor at
examination could prove invaluable. What started out as an experiment in Internet
Broadcasting evolved
into a unique and highly valued medical examination
toolbox, in this case allowing the patient and the care giver to
interactively monitor a patient’s memory fitness.
Work is now being done that will
open the world’s first interactive memory gym. That’s right! The Alzheimer's
LifePlan online community members will have access to a variety of memory
tests - eventually competing in
global online memory fitness Olympics as well as
operating a 24 hour 7 day a week memory building and
exercising programs.
There is all ready a growing competitive activity called "Mind Sports", where
the world
champion can recall the order of 18 shuffled decks of playing
cards - without
error – now that is memory fitness!
Dr. Ashford and
Alzheimer's Prevention

Dr. Ashford continued to refine the testing with an eye
towards the clinical usages and the potential values
the memory testing
would have in Alzheimer’s treatment development monitoring – where actual
Alzheimer’s
patients (some who could have had brain scans) would take
throttled tests (adjusted in image number, time of
image exposure, and
assistance level if needed).
Turns Out Dr.
Ashford Wrote the Book on Alzheimer’s Prevention
I also found that Dr. Ashford was professing
Alzheimer’s disease prevention – even publishing papers which
outlined his
“Top Ten Alzheimer’s Prevention Treatments”, to hundreds of thousands of
people who visited his
web page –
www.medafile.com. So, almost by accident, I became associated with the
leading short-term
memory and learning performance testing specialists, one
of the leading researchers and medical doctors
(J. Wesson Ashford is an MD
and a Ph.D.) who stands firmly behind his treatment programs of healthy
lifestyle
habits. Dr. Ashford professes that following his top ten treatment
programs can reduce an individual’s chances
of developing the Alzheimer’s
disease process between 60-90%. To my ears, anything that will cut 10% of
this disease out is worth pursuing – so I did.
I interrogated Dr. Ashford at great length, regarding
each point of his “Top Ten Treatment” program. He readily
gave me
substantial scientific research which supported his summary claims. While we
were talking, we mutually arrived at the conclusion that an aggressive mass
communication program, aimed at informing the population
about these simple
lifestyle habit treatments, accompanied by an equally aggressive program to
introduce
individuals to the values of memory fitness testing – could be the
foundation of a public service project – that
ultimately supported the end
of Alzheimer’s disease.
There is a complete and detailed description of Dr.
Ashford’s treatment program at his online Alzheimer’s
resource center,
www.medafile.com but here, I will include the unedited condensed
discussion that Dr. Ashford presents at medafile.com.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
From www.medafile.com
Top10alz.doc 2/13/02
THE TOP TEN
TREATMENTS
(under
development)
FOR
PREVENTING ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE
J. Wesson
Ashford, M.D., Ph.D.
DISCUSSION
The field of Alzheimer’s disease is rapidly uncovering
information for the treatment and prevention of
Alzheimer’s disease. While
much discussion about cause is still speculative, there is mounting evidence
to
support several ideas about how Alzheimer’s disease develops. Though
there is never enough evidence to
prove any scientific theory, there is
frequently enough evidence to discuss a particular idea with patients and
to
make practical recommendations. In the field of Alzheimer’s disease, there
are several such issues that
can now be brought to the clinic setting.
There are some recommendations based on current experience with
treating
Alzheimer patients or the associations between Alzheimer’s disease and other dementing disorders.
Other suggestions are based on scientific hypotheses
with only preliminary evidence.
1)
Take your blood pressure regularly and be sure that the systolic
pressure is always less than 130.
This recommendation is based on the
association between stroke and Alzheimer’s disease and
several articles
relating high blood pressure to poor memory and a higher incidence of
Alzheimer’s
disease, particularly in association with certain genes. There
is also some evidence that patients
taking diuretics for their elevated
blood pressure get less Alzheimer’s disease. So keep track of your
blood
pressure and, if necessary, make sure that it is well treated.
2)
Watch your cholesterol; if your cholesterol is elevated, get treated
with “statin” drugs and be sure your cholesterol is fully controlled.
First, cholesterol levels are related to arteriosclerotic vascular disease,
which is in turn related to heart disease and stroke. So, this is a good
idea in any case. There is recent evidence that that cholesterol plays an
important role in memory in the brain and is controlled by
Apolipoprotein E,
which may be associated with 50% of the Alzheimer risk. Two recent studies
have suggested that individuals taking “statin” drugs are less likely to get
Alzheimer’s disease. While these
findings cannot be considered to warrant
prescription without cholesterol elevation, clearly these data
give
individuals with elevated cholesterol have another reason to take their
prescribed medications.
There has been one epidemiological study
associating animal fat intake with Alzheimer risk across
many different
countries, but this study is not convincing enough to ask everyone to take
all animal fat
out of their diet. But, if the fatty chemicals in your blood
are not good, you should discuss modification
of your diet with your
physician.
3)
Exercise your body and mind regularly. There are many studies
extolling the virtues of exercise. While
there are no specific links
between exercise and Alzheimer’s disease, there are links between exercise
and health and cognition. People can get smarter by exercising. So, there
is a logical recommendation
to exercise to reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s
disease. But, beyond this, there are recent theories linking
insulin to
Alzheimer’s disease. The blood insulin level peaks about an hour after you
eat. If you exercise
about 30 minutes after you eat, even if just walking
for about 15 minutes (that’s after each meal), you might reduce your peak
insulin level and leave the insulin-degrading enzyme to do its other task of
breaking
down the harmful beta-amyloid that forms fibrils in the brains of
Alzheimer patients. There are also several studies linking education to
delayed onset of Alzheimer’s disease and some recent evidence suggesting
that keeping your mind active can also delay onset. Though all of these
studies can be criticized in various ways, it makes sense to stay in school
as long as possible and continue seeking intellectual stimulation throughout
your life.
4)
Wear your seat belt; wear a helmet when you are riding a bicycle or
participating in any activity where
you might hit your head. There have
been many reports of a relationship between head injury and
Alzheimer’s
disease. While head trauma probably accounts for less than 5% of the cases
of Alzheimer’s disease, safety can help to reduce this factor.
5)
If you have diabetes, make sure that your blood sugar is optimally
controlled. One of the greatest
advances in medicine has been the ability
to control diabetes. Patients with diabetes have a tendency to
get vascular
disease, and this disease can injure the brain. While there is not clear
relation between
diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease, patients who have had
blood sugars that have gone too high or too low
may lose memory and be at
greater risk for suffering from dementia.
6) Consult your doctor about treatment for your arthritis pain. There
have been several studies indicating
that arthritis patients who take NSAIDs
(non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) have a reduced risk of Alzheimer’s
disease. A recent study (t’Veldt et al., 2001, New England Journal of
Medicine) suggested
that arthritis patients who had taken NSAIDs for over 3
years had an 80% reduction in their risk of getting Alzheimer’s disease.
Because the risks of these drugs (especially internal bleeding) are so
great, they
cannot be recommended for routine prevention. However, if you
have arthritis, you should seek the advice
of your doctor for treatment. Of
additional great interest is another suggestion (from the lab of E. Koo),
that
only certain NSAIDs may prevent the development of a toxic protein in
the brain that may be a specific
cause of Alzheimer’s disease
(beta-amyloid-1-42). The particular NSAIDs identified with this benefit so
far are ibuprofen (Motrin, Advil), sulindac (Clinoril), and indomethacin
(Indocin). Indomethacin may be the
most potent, and one study suggested
that this drug does slow down the course of Alzheimer’s disease. Ibuprofen
is most readily available. However, a good recommendation for pain patients
at this time is for sulindac because it is the most easily administered and
has the least side effects.
7)
Take your vitamins. There is little reason not to take supplemental
vitamins after you turn 50 years of age,
and they might even help if you
have some transient deficiency in your diet (see Willett & Stampfer, 2001,
New England Journal of Medicine). There is general support to take extra
supplements of Vitamin E (400 international units) and Vitamin C (500
milligrams) together (once per day for prevention, twice per day if memory
problems are present, and three times per day if Alzheimer’s disease is
diagnosed). These recommendations are based on the oxidation/free-radical
theory of aging and Alzheimer’s disease and
one large study which suggested
that Vitamin E delayed specific end-points for Alzheimer patients by as
much
as 6 months. Though the free-radical theory of Alzheimer’s disease has not
been shown to be causal
and the Vitamin E study has not been replicated,
this “neuroprotective regimen” has become a common treatment of Alzheimer’s
disease and taken by many as a preventive.
B12 and folate have also
been advocated as brain protective agents. B12 recommendations are
complicated by the issue of intestinal uptake by intrinsic factor. The RDA
for folate is 400 mcg per day,
but this dose can be increased to 1 mg per
day if memory difficulty is a concern and B12 levels are not low. Recent
correlation between elevated homocysteine levels and Alzheimer’s disease (Sheshadri
et al.,
2002, New England Journal of Medicine) brings a focus on this
substance and the associated intake of
B12 (which is inadequate with a
“vegan” diet) and folate. B12 and folate supplementation can keep
homocysteine levels in check. Alcohol and caffeine intake and tobacco use
increase homocysteine.
8)
Discuss sex-hormone replacement therapy with your physician. There
are general recommendations to
post-menopausal women to take hormone
replacement therapy to reduce the risk of heart disease and
improve life in
a variety of ways. There is also some evidence that these hormones might
reduce the risk
of Alzheimer’s disease. However, one study has suggested
that the treatment of female Alzheimer patients
with hormone replacement
therapy may have more risk than benefit. The issue of sex-hormones is of
interest because these chemicals seem to enhance the function of many brain
cells. This leads to another question, which is, would sex-hormone
replacement help elderly males as well?
9)
If you have difficulty getting to sleep, consider trying 6 milligrams
of melatonin at bedtime. Melatonin is
a natural substance produced by the
pineal gland in the brain. This substance is produced only in the dark
and
may help to initiate and sustain sleep. As you get older, the brain
produces less melatonin, and older people sleep less. Sleep is good for the
body and brain in any case and may help to keep Alzheimer
pathology from
developing. There is only scant scientific evidence that melatonin helps
sleep, but there
are many patients and their family members that claim that
it helps a great deal. A big problem is that melatonin is a health food,
not regulated by the FDA, so potency is not monitored. Also, it may help
sleep
only in those individuals with a significant melatonin deficiency.
However, melatonin is an excellent
anti-oxidant and some recent laboratory
evidence has suggested that melatonin may prevent the formation
of toxic
amyloid fibrils in the brain, and these fibrils may be the primary cause of
Alzheimer’s disease.
10)
If you have significant difficulty with your memory, talk to your
doctor about cholinesterase inhibitors.
Several drugs from this class,
including tacrine (Cognex), donepezil (Aricept), rivastigmine (Exelon), and
galantamine (Reminyl), have been approved by the FDA for treating Alzheimer
patients with mild dementia. While the primary evidence suggests that these
drugs have only a modest benefit on cognition, there have
been several
studies that have suggested that these drugs may slow down the progression
of Alzheimer’s disease. Note that these studies are only suggestive, not
conclusive, but many physicians agree with this suggestion based on their
own observations. Importantly, if these drugs can slow Alzheimer
progression,
then they may have their biggest advantage very early in the
disease course. While doctors are not
prescribing these drugs for
preventing Alzheimer’s disease, many physicians are prescribing these
drugs
beneficially for patients with mild memory problems. It is possible that
these drugs may become
a central part of preventive therapy for Alzheimer’s
disease in the future.
There are several treatments in addition to those
listed above that have been recommended for Alzheimer’s
disease as treatment
or preventive agents. At this point, there is not enough data to make more
explicit recommendations. For example, a recent review of Ginkgo Biloba
suggested that the recommendations for
this substance “remain ambiguous” (Sommer
& shatzberg, 2002, Psychiatric Annals). Co-enzyme Q-10 has
also been
recommended without wide support. There is not enough evidence that
aluminum is associated with Alzheimer’s disease to recommend throwing out
your aluminum pots, but you probably shouldn’t cook tomato
sauce in them.
Tobacco was shown in some studies to protect against Alzheimer’s disease,
but later analyses
have suggested that it is not preventive. Alcohol in
very low quantities may protect against heart disease and
has been suggested
to protect against Alzheimer’s disease as well, but anything more than
minimal use is not
wise.
Several studies are exploring potential new preventions
and treatments for Alzheimer’s disease. The “amyloid vaccine” is one of the
most interesting, but the development of this treatment has suffered a
recent setback
because some of the volunteers trying the treatment developed
brain inflammation. Also, there may be specific
drugs now available that
might slow Alzheimer pathology. For example, lithium and valproic acid, two
drugs
used to treat manic-depression, may inhibit a brain enzyme
(glycogen-synthase-kinase-3-beta), which could
prevent the development of neurofibrillary tangles, a late Alzheimer pathology.
Many patients with Alzheimer’s disease, including those
in very early phases, have problems with depression
and paranoid ideas.
These symptoms can and should be treated.
Another critical question in Alzheimer’s disease,
especially if early treatment can slow progression and delay dementia, is
early recognition. Screening tests to be used routinely in doctors’ offices
for patients over 60
years of age are now being developed and may help many
patients to get help sooner.
At this time, there are many genes being uncovered that
appear to be associated with Alzheimer’s disease.
In the future, it is
likely that specific individuals will be told not only what their risk is
for developing Alzheimer’s
disease, but also how they can modify their life
to prevent it completely. There are so many indications that Alzheimer’s
disease might be prevented that there is hope mounting that we may be able
to end this disease
in the near future.
At first glance, these “treatments” seemed to echo many
of the basic lifestyle habits suggested by doctors and
anti-disease
programs. None of them seem to be difficult to assimilate into a normal
lifestyle routine. Dr. Ashford
is adamant that there is enough evidence in
each area to merit adopting these lifestyle habits. In the near future,
he
is certain, researchers will complete reviewing the substantial data being
accumulated and issue treatment
bulletins which qualify the amount of good
these treatments do. But, there isn’t much argument against adopting
the
healthy lifestyle habits right now.
Continuing with the Alzheimer's LifePlan
Book
Dr. Ashford’s
Treatment Program Matched My Parent’s Lifestyle Habits
As there had been dementia and I suspected Alzheimer’s
in my family lines, I spoke with my parents and asked
what their thoughts
and concerns were regarding their personal Alzheimer’s or dementia
conditions. I spoke
with them individually first. Both had serious concerns
about the other’s memory fitness, and suspected that
there had all ready
been memory loss – perhaps the beginning of Alzheimer’s.
As individuals they both worried a little about
themselves, but each believed they had lived a live of general
disease
prevention. Mutually, they felt their lifestyles were nurturing their body’s
health, not a disease process.
That made sense to me, as I have many
memories of my mother reading articles on health and nutrition as the
family
would drive in the car. I remembered mom and dad doing exercises – even
remembering them doing
exercises with Jack LaLanne’s television program.
I asked my parents if they would mind volunteering in a
public service project, one that would track people in
their age group, who
lived by the lifestyle recommendations of Dr. Ashford. They were not
interested at first,
but agreed to meet with Dr. Ashford and hear what he
had to say. I knew they would at least be interested in that.

My parents are quite used to being involved in my
professional work. They have appeared in countless of my
amateur movies,
commercials and corporate films. As a Producer, I live in fear that my
family will all join the
Screen Actor’s Guild and charge me for back wages!
After the interview, Dr. Ashford and my parents agreed
that they were both doing a good job of self-administering
their personal
anti-Alzheimer’s prevention programs and they would consider enrolling in
the Alzheimer's LifePlan memory fitness testing program. So, by default, my parents
became the first members of the Alzheimer’s LifePlan Public Service Project
– only we weren’t calling it that at the time.
Moving From the
Clinical Memory Fitness Testing To My Sister’s House
Both of my parents are well educated and proficient in
the technologies of their times, dad a Veterinarian and
mom a school
teacher. But their times did not include the computer or online
connections. Our goal was to assist people like my parents who lived without
computers and/or connection to online services, and the solution was
closer
to home than we could have imagined.

My sister and brother-in-law are both very competent
computer and online browser users. They also have mom
and dad over
regularly. So, the stage was set for younger, online family members to
assist older, non-computer
literate family members into the online memory
fitness testing center.
We programmed the memory fitness testing center to work
like an online club. We took a section of the Memory Fitness Testing Center online short term
memory and learning performance electronic medical record platform –
the one
used in research projects and mental health clinics – and made it function
as an individual’s personal
testing account. The plan was to create personal
accounts where an individual could access the test through any
online
browser, opening access to millions of people who are visiting public
libraries or Internet Cafes.
A short and easy to follow tutorial was programmed into
a lobby area of the Alzheimer's LifePlan online workshop programs. My brother-in-law has had a
career of working for IBM in the area of system integration; he was very
helpful in “smoothing” the tutorial’s flow and understanding. In the end,
the tutorial became an online documentary
video and web page channel,
showing him “train” my mother and father to take their own memory tests and
establish their personal testing accounts – empowering them to monitor their
memory fitness going forward.

It worked! Both mom and dad were situated in front of
the computer that had a test loaded into it. There was the
“OK” on the
screen, and my brother-in-law instructed them to depress the spacebar when
they wanted to start the
test. He repeated the instructions, “When you want
to start, depress the space bar. An image will appear, don’t do anything. If
you see an image repeat – show again – depress the space bar. If the image
is not a repeat, don’t do anything and a new image will appear in three
seconds.”
They understood the first time through, both scoring
96.15%, meaning they missed one image, on their first tests.
They each took
three more tests in their first session and that introduced them to the
concept of establishing their personal baseline or test result history.

It was incredible to watch my parents learn something
that was so technical. The mere fact that they were
successful in working
with a computer gave them a certain exuberance that I hadn’t seen in them
for years.
Another interesting thing to note was that they had fun taking
the test and challenged each other. And the thing
I can’t put a value on was
the look of relief they had after scoring 100% three times in a row – a
clear indication
that they have strong cognitive reasoning and short term
memory functions.
So, in their mid-eighties, my parents finally had a new
peace of mind regarding their personal health. They had
really been testing
their lifestyle habits against the statistical odds that face them. Their
age group is developing Alzheimer’s at a rate of 50% a year. Doctors like J
Wesson Ashford, are telling them that their group – the group
living an
anti-disease lifestyle, are developing Alzheimer’s at a much lower rate. The
question is immediately
raised – are my parents the living and scientific
proof that Alzheimer’s can be prevented through healthy lifestyle habits?
And that takes us to the Alzheimer’s LifePlan.
The Concept of
Ending Alzheimer’s
After this first round of Alzheimer’s research and
development of the memory testing services, it seemed
possible to organize a
mass communication campaign that would educate people while introducing them
to tools they could use to develop their personal Alzheimer’s management
programs.
Doctors and researchers have evidence that simple
treatments and healthy lifestyle habits will greatly
reduce the incident of
Alzheimer’s in our society. We also know that memory fitness testing is an
effective
way to establish an individual’s normal ability to form short term
memories. How hard would it be to develop
a population based public service
project that would promote prevention and memory testing?
Next to impossible.
Why?
Because the project would be starting at ground zero.
There would be no access to the population and no
archive of historical
evidence/promotion to attract credibility or attention to the new findings
or memory testing services.
That realization prompted me to approach those
organizations providing the most support and information
regarding
Alzheimer’s disease. I was amazed to see they had no comfort in mentioning
that healthy lifestyles
could prevent the disease from developing, or, that
they could even prolong the health of the individuals.
The reasons they gave
for this was that the research community had not posted conclusive evidence
that
healthy diet, nutritional, physical and mental exercise would be
effective as an Alzheimer’s prevention
platform. They agreed there was
mounting evidence, but were hesitant to even mention the research that
was
going on.
The medical doctors in their clinics were even more
doubtful regarding any “natural” treatment being effective
against
Alzheimer’s. This was sad but understandable. For over 100 years, the
doctors have had to deal with
the patients of this disease – and they have
not had one drug or “cure” to assist them that altered the pathology
of the
disease in any way. Instead, they have had to fend off a thousand “hopes” or
“cures” that proved to be
false, and that has made them suspicious of all
promise.
In fact, there are now three or four FDA drugs that do
slow the disease process – prolonging the victim’s
memory fitness for a
time. These drugs are not universally understood by the medical doctors, and
the
symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease are very hard to diagnose (especially if
the patient has no memory fitness
testing record). Another cold truth about
these drugs is that they are most effective if they are administered
in the
earliest stages of the disease – the precise time that usually goes
undetected by doctors.
So, we became a small band of renegade crusaders. Our
investigation disclosed valuable information that
was not well circulated
within the Alzheimer’s family. We wanted to make a difference and decided
our efforts
would at least bring new hope and enthusiasm to the very
individuals who need to know about Alzheimer’s.

The members of the original End Alzheimer’s 2012 Task
Force convened in late 2001 and reviewed all of
what was known about the
disease process, the medical and care giving industries, the research and
treatment development efforts, and the estimated amounts of money that would
be needed to end Alzheimer’s; developing what is now the Alzheimer’s
LifePlan Public Service Project.
The Alzheimer’s LifePlan Public Service Project is
really a mass communication campaign. Information
about the disease process,
the technologies used to diagnoses or analyze and treat, as well as the
development of treatment platforms must all be presentable to the
population. I promoted that if prevention
was the best and most valid of
treatment platforms for the disease process – the best “cure” would be well
a
well informed population. Of equal importance was that the population will
not adopt something into their
personal lifestyle habits if it doesn’t make
sense to them or they don’t understand the alternatives of not adopting
healthy lifestyles. And lastly, the research and effective treatments being
developed need funding as well as
promotion. The populations and doctors
need to move in harmony towards applying the best treatments to the
patient
in the best of timing.
The three pillars of the Alzheimer’s LifePlan were
formulated to be:
- Prevention – Healthy lifestyle habits are the most
effective treatment an individual can self-administer
to reduce their
chances of developing Alzheimer’s disease.
- Memory Fitness Monitoring – Establishing the normal
memory fitness of an individual can be an
effective way to monitor for any
decrement of short term memory formation.
- Treatment – Effective detection and aggressive
adoption of lifestyle habits and the FDA approved drugs
will slow the
disease process. As more effective treatments are developed they must be
rushed to those
who show the early stages of the disease. There is
evidence that treatment will be greatly improved in the
next three to five
years, and any individual that can prolong their health for that period of
time may have
access to treatment that arrests or reverses the disease
altogether.
With these pillars defined, it became a matter of
researching for the most advanced neurological
technology and Alzheimer’s
treatment development laboratories available; and, gathering from them the
current information regarding progress towards the ending of Alzheimer’s.
Alzheimer's and
Technology
Being Able To
Document Absolute Developments of Brain Conditions
Dr. Alzheimer used a technological marvel of his day,
the microscope, to document that the plaques and
tangles of the disease
process polluted the memory sections of the brain.
In another area of the Internet Broadcasting Network
operations, high quality microscopic imaging, from MRI,
CAT, and resonant
imaging was being shared by doctors and research specialists who needed to
view brain
scans – some in real time, as operations, or treatment strategies
were being developed by doctors.
Some of the transmissions and imaging I was monitoring
were coming from the UCLA School of Medicine Neuroscience Imaging
Laboratory, headed by Dr. Paul Thompson, PhD. Dr. Thompson, has pushed the
envelop
in brain imaging as he captures hundreds of living brain snapshots –
in exquisite detail. It is possible to track a
brain’s functions, as well as
any response it has to a treatment or ailment. Such was the case when I
visited Dr. Thompson at the UCLA Neuroscience Imaging Laboratory.
Dr. Thompson had just finished producing hundreds of
brain scan images from a group of Alzheimer’s patients –
over an eighteen
month period. With the help of sgi Silicon Graphic SuperComputer platforms
– composites of sequential brain images could be produced as animations. In
this case the resulting production has become the
first documentary of the
Alzheimer’s disease process, showing at the cellular level, how the disease
process selectively destroys the areas of the brain where short term memory,
then progressing into other related areas,
in a wave of destruction.

Putting works like that of Dr. Thompson’s and Dr.
Ashford’s together, it soon becomes apparent that the
technology and skills
to identify or monitor the health of a brain is within grasp. Dr. Ashford,
can in the clinic,
administer a simple set of memory tests, similar to
playing a simple video-game, and capture over 200,000
pieces of information
about a patient’s ability to form memories – memory fitness.
While the 200,000 pieces of information are miniscule
compared to the millions of pieces of data captured
and formed into a brain
image by Dr. Thompson’s sgi Supercomputers – they are capable of
illustrating the
same things. There is also a very high probability that
both mental exploration methods are accurate.
If the patient is healthy, and has no problem forming
memories, there is a high probability that their brain’s
short-term memory
making areas – if they were scanned and imaged – would appear as normal and
healthy.
The AlzheimersLifePlan.com test can be conducted in a person’s home, or at a
public computer with an
Internet browser. Dr. Thompson’s imaging process is
expensive and to date only available at a few centers.
The effective
integration of the two technologies would make it possible for the
population to “screen”
themselves for memory problems, then making the brain
imaging a precise diagnosis tool. Consequentially
in the Alzheimer’s
process, once scanned, memory testing can give an accurate assessment
regarding disease progress or treatment response. This is true because the
disease process is relentless and consistent with
itself – only being
altered by treatment.
In the clinical environment, there is a dilemma
concerning the early detection of Alzheimer’s disease. Almost
everyone over
the age of 60 experiences brief memory lapses, perhaps even substantial
reduction in memory
forming capacity. This doesn’t mean they are developing
mild cognitive impairment – the early signature of the Alzheimer’s disease
process. Far from it. Reduction in memory fitness can occur from a variety
of reasons.
If an individual is under a lot of stress or depressed;
or suffering from an allergic reaction to medication
or drugs – their memory
performance can be greatly reduced. Fatigue and sleep deprivation are also
quite capable of reducing an individual’s memory fitness. Individuals
undergoing bypass surgery, where
their blood is circulated through an
artificial pump – can loose 30-40% of their short-term memory in recovery
–
raising the issue if their short term memory fitness testing shouldn’t be
part of their dismissal qualifications
from the hospital.

From a practical point of view, there may be 10% of
people over the age of 60 that are developing the
Alzheimer’s disease
process. With the average brain scan costing $800 to perform – there would
be an
expense of $800,000 to scan 1000 patients. Meaning the cost of
diagnosis for the 100 individuals having
any form of memory issue would be
$8,000 an incident.
Work is now being done to calibrate the results of the
memory fitness test to those of universal brain scans.
We hope to develop an
inexpensive brain imaging technology where consistent patterns of memory
loss –
resulting from consistent disease process pathology – would produce a
consistent pattern of short term
memory loss. Such a system w9ould allow
researchers to monitor treatment response in an individual on a
daily basis
– saving thousands of dollars of detailed imaging expense. Conversely, brain
imaging can confirm
there has been treatment response or disease progress
and supply exquisite documentation of what is
happening within a living
brain.
Dr. Thompson’s work presents the population with the
first animation – captured from living brains of
Alzheimer’s victims over an
18 month period – and, vividly illustrates the pathological wave of
destruction
that is hallmark to the Alzheimer’s disease process. In a way,
Dr. Thompson’s research has updated
Dr. Alzheimer’s original notebook and
microscope slides holding the first documented diagnosis of the
disease
holding his monarch.
18 months later

In Doctor Thompson’s world there are cells arranged
within the body. Healthy organs and tissues appear
one way, unhealthy in
another.
The SGI super computers have an endless capacity to
capture, sort and process information about single
cells of the body.
Imaging can be of a single cell, or complete tissue structures. Imaging can
be in live video,
still capture or data formats.
When a sequence of images are taken, over a period of
time, something like the physical changes that
occur as a disease progresses
are recorded in vivid detail.
The above brain image is a composite produced from 271
patients – all having the very early stages of
Alzheimer’s. The below is a
composite of the same brains fifteen months later – clearly showing the
physical destruction that has taken place.
Evidence of
Effective Treatment Development – The Alzheimer’s Vaccine
It took researchers eighty years to isolate and
identify that a beta amyloid was the protein building block
of the plaques
polluting the brain’s memory regions in Alzheimer’s. It has taken an
additional fifteen years
for a group of dedicated neuroscientists to develop
compounds that alter formation process of the plaque
and also trigger the
body’s immune system’s anti-body mechanisms.

By the mid 1990’s, researchers had developed a
genetically altered mouse that developed the same
a beta amyloid plaques
that humans with Alzheimer’s did. Dr. Dale Schenk, suggested that a
vaccine,
containing parts of the a beta amyloid, be injected into this group
of mice when they were young – prior
to when they would have developed the
disease or plaques.
At first, Dr. Schenk’s colleagues refused to conduct
the experiments because it was commonly assumed
there was a blood-brain
barrier, and that the body’s immunity system – specifically the antibody
mechanism
– was not functional in the brain. Because of previous work, Dr.
Schenk knew that there would be a small
penetration of the vaccine that
would reach the brains of the mice. He calculated what the dosages would
be
and suggested that a small number of mice be given the vaccine and
monitored. They injected the mice
for a year, long enough to know that the
plaques would have been fully formed in untreated mice. Upon
examination of
the injected mice, there were no plaques.
Encouraged by the animal results, Dr. Schenk’s team
moved on to patients and FDA clinical trials of a
compound they named
AN-1792. In the second stage of an international trial, the dosage was
stopped
because five percent of those receiving the vaccine compound were
developing brain inflammation –
not an uncommon side effect in brain
treatment – but a valid reason to halt dosage of an unproven
compound. The
dosage was halted immediately, but the gathering of research and data
continues.
Now it was interesting to note that the individuals in
the clinical trials were all at least middle stage Alzheimer’s
victims. They
were also brain imaged and the disease process was visible when they were
admitted to the trials.
One participant, who had received the vaccine for over
a year, died of an unrelated ailment and was
autopsied by a leading
neurologist, Dr. James Nichols. Dr. Nichols has performed hundreds of
autopsies
on Alzheimer’s victims and has now published the first clinical
documentation that the plaque process of
Alzheimer’s has been reversed. Dr.
Nichols claims that the plaques, imaged prior to the victim taking the
vaccine, were removed from the brain by treatment.
In other words, the compound injected into the patient
placed a beta amyloid substance into the brain,
allowing the body to
dispatch antibodies that engulfed the injected compound AND the beta amyloid
plaque of the disease process – triggering the body’s scavenger cells to
remove the now neutralized
plaque substances. That is the theory and the
image/autopsy evidence supports the conclusion that a
beta immune therapy
approach has produced the first documented reversal of at least one
fundamental
element of the disease process.
One hundred years after Dr. Alzheimer first documented
the plaques of the degenerative disease
process, an innovative concept of
treatment has produced the first evidence that the pathology of the
disease
can be altered.

Realistically, it is just a matter of time and money
before some form of the beta amyloid compound will
be available for
treatment.
Dr. Schenk speculates that immune therapy is opening
new avenues of treatment development, and soon
there will be a variety of
compounds going into clinical trials. Each of these efforts brings the
population
closer to the day when people will no longer die with
Alzheimer’s, but, live with it.
Now we really had something new to say to the
Alzheimer’s family.
The new information, technology and treatment
developments paint a picture of hope for the population.
As recently as five
years ago, it was true when a doctor or researcher would say, “You can’t do
anything about Alzheimer’s”. Today we can say, “There is a lot you can do to
prevent it, detect it and treat it”. Everything is
different and calls for a
new population based action plan.
And that again, brings us back to the Alzheimer’s
LifePlan.

Putting It All
Together……..Going To The Population
The Alzheimer's LifePlan is now
offering:
-
The best and most comprehensive
library of information about Alzheimer's prevention
and treatment development.
-
Free access to a Memory
Fitness Testing Center "GUEST" testing account.
-
Personal Memory Fitness as a
Vital Sign Baseline Record Accounts - $10/year.
-
Free monitoring of news and research
progress in treatment development.
-
Television, radio, newspaper
programs to increase public awareness and promote the free
services of the
Alzheimer's LifePlan.
-
Support to local senior community
centers, clinics, community centers of Alzheimer's
LifePlan Workshop Network.
-
Free Affiliation for Doctors
and Clinics into the Alzheimer's LifePlan In-Clinic Support
Service Network.
-
News and information - Call
for Participants in research projects.
So here is how the
whole program should work.

The Television Audience
People watch TV and see the Alzheimer’s LifePlan TV
shows. The program tells a family story and then
presents how the senior
family members were introduced to memory fitness testing. Then, how they
adopted a set of lifestyle habits that promoted their overall health – as
well as greatly reduce their chances
of developing the Alzheimer’s disease
process.
The program contains enough information for them to
formulate their own anti-Alzheimer’s lifestyle program.
It also illustrates
how the audience can participate in the public service project – and be
interactive with
the services offered by the program and others who share
their interest in reducing their chances of
developing Alzheimer’s.
The program will also identify the local broadcasting
affiliate, local community centers and those clinics
and care centers that
also offer workshops and memory testing services within their neighborhoods.
The broadcast affiliate will also promote the local
phone numbers of the Alzheimer’s LifePlan affiliates to
the viewers.
For those able, the web page channel
www.alzheimerslifeplan.com
will allow any online visitor access to a
free
copy of this book, free memory fitness testing, and entrance or enrollment
into the online community’s
active in memory fitness, research, or treatment
development.
The Online Audiences
Those who go online and visit the
www.alzheimerslifeplan.com
web page channel, have the opportunity to
participate in the first interactive Alzheimer’s prevention, memory testing,
neurological research project.
Many will find this a new and exciting
communal experience and learn much about the world that exists
inside an
Internet connected computer.

Through the Alzheimer’s LifePlan web page channel,
visitors can:
-
Review daily updated news/information reports.
-
Obtain free copies of books, research reports, and
archived materials.
-
Affiliate their Community Centers, Care Centers,
Clinics, or businesses into the
Alzheimer’s LifePlan Care Center Network.
-
Enroll in the Alzheimer’s LifePlan Online Memory
Fitness Demonstration Project
and actually participate/contribute valuable
information to the research community.
-
Monitor researchers, doctors and care giver’s
progress towards ending Alzheimer’s.
-
Interact with others who share a common goal of
reducing their personal chances
of developing Alzheimer’s disease.
-
Identify broadcasters, Community Centers, Care
Centers and resources in their
neighborhood.
-
Contribute in any way possible to the efforts being
put forward to overcome this disease.
-
Growth and development of online communities that
produce programs, new forms
of group activity and distribution of news,
reports, industry or social events that could
influence the health of the
participants.
-
Improved operational standards within the nursing
and care giving industry as
networked facilities and online services
streamline the business administration and
treatment support services –
improving the quality of care.
-
Open communication between research laboratories and
doctors, pharmaceutical
groups and treatment centers.
-
A growing body of statistics – comparing the health
of individuals active in the Alzheimer’s
Lifestyle habit programs to those
of the general population.
Community and Care
Centers Programs

Across the country, there are thousands of Community
Recreation Centers, Retirement Communities,
assisted living facilities, and
Alzheimer’s Nursing Homes - who need a progressive program of Alzheimer’s
awareness. The Alzheimer’s LifePlan Workshop programs have been designed to
integrate into any of
these facilities public relations and outreach
programs.
By affiliating into the Alzheimer’s LifePlan Network,
any of these facilities can instantly become current with
today’s
Alzheimer’s situation. The formation of this network allows the care givers
to function as a community,
offer consistent and reliable information to the
population while improving the overall standards of education,
care and
treatment delivery.
The affiliate must have a meeting room and access to an
online computer to provide workshop meetings to
their community. Everything
needed to inform, establish memory fitness testing accounts and enrollment
into
the national Alzheimer’s LifePlan public service projects is supplied.

Each person attending a workshop leaves with a personal
Alzheimer’s LifePlan worksheet, where they
can keep track of their diet,
nutritional supplements, mental and physical exercise activities. They can
also
use the worksheet to record the results of their free memory fitness
test – which they should be able to take
at their workshop meetings.

The Workshop program facility has to have online
computers and someone capable of assisting the visitors
with their online
experience. Tutorials and Train the Trainer manuals are supplied to the
program administrator,
giving the visitors direct support in the development
of their personal Alzheimer’s LifePlan programs.
It is conceivable to form and operate an international
network of care providers and truly cover the earth with
effective promotion
of Alzheimer’s prevention, memory fitness testing and monitoring, as well as
having direct interactive communications with the leading researchers and
doctors who are developing and administering
those treatments that
eventually will arrest the disease process, ultimately reverse the damages
caused.
The affiliated care centers and the people who become active there,
will surly be amongst those who
“Live with Alzheimer’s”, in the new day
ahead.
The care center network affiliates also become the
“local” representatives of the new nation forming.
Actually, the existing
industry supporting the four million Americans that have Alzheimer’s (2004)
is a
$125 Billion enterprise. This “industry” will need to alter its methods
of operation if the population reduces
their incident of Alzheimer’s and
effective treatments allow people to live longer within the need for
institutional care. The network we are proposing here can help the care
giving industry to keep the services
it offers relevant to the needs of the
population.
The Research,
Pharmaceutical, Care Giving Communities

The Alzheimer’s LifePlan and the Neurological Disease
Foundation (NDF,
www.n-d-f.org )
have developed
a plan to unify the research community
with the doctors and care givers. The doctors involved in diagnosing,
treatment strategy development and actual care giving, have been removed
from the Alzheimer’s research
efforts. This is unfortunate and has cost the
lives of millions. The tragic truth is that general practitioners -
doctors
– are poorly trained in diagnosing any memory related ailments.
Simply by registering into the Alzheimer’s LifePlan NDF
Research and Treatment Development forum,
a doctor or care giver can
participate or ease drop on the very active debates, research reports and
seminars occurring at the Neurological Disease Foundations online community
center – or, get involved
in changing the face of Alzheimer’s care in their
own practice.
Doctors and care givers, who affiliate into the
network, will also have personal access to the Clinical Support
Services of
the Alzheimer's LifePlan - supporting them in promoting Alzheimer's
Prevention as well as
giving them special access to vital sign and memory
fitness testing accounts for their patients. There is
also a continued
educational program being developed through the Neurological Disease
Foundation -
Memory Assessment Program (MAP) where participating
doctors, led by Doctor Ashford will bring affiliated
practices into optimized patient memory
appraisal, improved Alzheimer’s diagnosis, and effective treatment
response
monitoring. While improving their own practices, they will also be
contributing to the body of
evidence that will accumulate. Evidence that
defines these healthful lifestyle habits as effective anti-Alzheimer’s
treatment.
The Neurological Disease Foundation is leading the way
in organizing online debates, research seminars,
extended education
interactive web casts where the leading researchers and treatment
developments can
be shared with doctors in their offices. All care givers
and professionals involved in the quest to deal with
Alzheimer’s are welcome
to affiliate into the research sections of the Alzheimer’s LifePlan and
participate
at the level the desire.
The industry is not immune to improvement, and working
together is the most effective way to implement change.
And now it’s up to you…
There is a lot you can do about your
personal Alzheimer’s situation.
Protect your Health
Participate in the Alzheimer’s LifePlan.

Disclaimers,
This document is presented into public domain with the
hopes that anyone wanting to copy it, share it, or
promote may do so. The
content is factual to the extent that in interviews, conversations, or in
images,
documents, materials presented by individual's other than the author
were given freely for use without
limitation.
The only medical views
reported are those of Dr. J. Wesson Ashford, M.D., PhD., and the materials
supplied with
permission from www.medafile.com.
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