Author Archives: drrjv

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About drrjv

👴🏻📱🍏🧠😎 Pop Pop 👴🏻, iOS 📱 Geek, cranky 🍏 fanatic, retired neurologist 🧠 Biased against people without a sense of humor 😎

ParkinSex

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A card game from the American Parkinson Disease Association designed to help you and your partner overcome barriers to intimacy and reconnect. Get ready to play with each other.

Parkinson’s disease can make it difficult for partners to sustain a healthy relationship. They may grow apart physically and emotionally – and symptoms can reinforce the growing distance. But there is one thing that we know can help couples reconnect: intimacy. Watch the video, download the book or request further information.

ParkinSex: A Guide to Intimacy

LIVING with DEMENTIA

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Cases of dementia are rising around the world. The disease has no cure, but caregivers and families are finding innovative ways for patients to live with dignity

“Today an estimated 57 million people globally have dementia—about 12 percent live in the United States—and cases are projected to rise to 153 million by 2050. By then, medical and caregiving costs are expected to reach $16.9 trillion worldwide. Numerous factors are contributing to the increase, most notably a growing older population; a rise in risk factors like obesity and diabetes; and worsening air pollution, which, studies show, damages brain health.”

https://apple.news/ACRTM12IUTOCTLOmNu9-6Ng

Artificial Intelligence to help with anxiety and depression

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Empathetic, safe, and clinically validated chatbot for mental healthcare, using AI-based cognitive behavior therapy. Youper’s safe and clinically validated AI has supported the mental health of over two million people.

https://www.youper.ai

Delaware QuitLine

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Take your last first step toward quitting for good

Discover a new approach to nicotine cessation that starts with you. Find research-based solutions and coaching to help you stay on track.

https://quitnow.net/delaware?qnclient=delaware

Alzheimer’s Disease — Managing Stages of Dementia

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In this Double Take video from the New England Journal of Medicine, Drs. Nathaniel Chin and Stephen Salloway define the stages of dementia and the effect of each stage on the activities of daily living. They also discuss ways to support persons with Alzheimer’s disease at every stage of the disease, including available medications and potential side effects. The video also emphasizes the importance of advance care planning for persons with mild cognitive impairment and providing support to care partners.

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2310177

F.D.A. Delays Action on new Alzheimer’s Drug

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Crazy that FDA fast-tracked the first novel drug for Alzheimer’s but now the agency has decided to convene a panel of independent experts to evaluate the drug’s safety and efficacy of Eli Lilly’s donanemab.

The decision is likely to surprise many Alzheimer’s experts, doctors and patients who had expected the medication would soon be on the market. The F.D.A.’s move was startling to the company, which had been planning for the agency to greenlight the drug during the first quarter of this year.

“We were not expecting this,” Anne White, an executive vice president of Lilly and president of its neuroscience division, said in an interview. She said that while the F.D.A. often calls on such independent advisory committees when it has questions about drugs, it was unusual to do so “at the end of the review cycle and beyond the action date that the F.D.A. had given us.”

FDA approves Wegovy for lowering heart risks

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Will neurologists start ordering weight loss drugs?

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Novo Nordisk’s (NOVOb.CO), opens new tabweight-loss drug Wegovy on Friday for lowering the risk of stroke and heart attack in overweight or obese adults who do not have diabetes.

Novo’s widely used diabetes drug Ozempic and weight-loss drug Wegovy, both chemically known as semaglutide, belong to a class of drugs called GLP-1 agonists. Originally developed for type 2 diabetes, they also reduce food cravings and cause the stomach to empty more slowly.

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/fda-approves-novo-nordisks-wegovy-use-reducing-heart-attack-risks-2024-03-08

Oscars Update

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“Forget Chanel, Dior or Prada: This year, the most prominent designers on the red carpet are Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, whose injectable weight-loss drugs are the new couture.”

Hollywood trainers have clients stuck in the bathroom with nausea and vomiting, restaurants are down as no one is hungry and even plastic surgeons are losing their liposuction business, although they now are doing post-#Ozempic body sculpting.

Some men are throwing in testosterone, with added risks (maybe Jeff Bezos, Musk?)

Editors Note: Most of the stuff people are doing in Hollywood is NOT smart. Best to stay with a good diet and exercise to stay healthy!

https://theankler.com/p/how-ozempic-ate-awards-season

APOE Association with Alzheimer’s Explained

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Alzheimer’s disease, the most prevalent form of dementia, typically occurs after the age of 65. A significant genetic factor associated with this type of Alzheimer’s at a younger age is a gene called apolipoprotein E (APOE), which comes in three common variations:

APOE e2: This form is the least common and is associated with a reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease.

APOE e4: More prevalent than e2, this gene variant increases the risk of Alzheimer’s and is linked to a more severe form of the disease.

APOE e3: The most common variant, it does not seem to significantly affect the risk of developing Alzheimer’s.

It’s important to note that genes are not the sole determining factor in Alzheimer’s disease risk.

Each individual inherits one copy of the APOE gene from each parent. Having at least one APOE e4 gene doubles or triples the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. Some individuals inherit two APOE e4 genes, one from each parent, which substantially increases the risk, by about eight- to twelvefold.

You Are What You Eat

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One of my frequent admonishments to patients is to only eat what God makes (or just avoid anything with a bar code — until a patient reminded me that fruit and vegetables are bar coded 😂)

“A review of research involving almost 10 million people has found a direct association between eating too many ultra-processed foods — those breads, cereals, snacks and frozen meals that have been industrially manufactured with flavors and additives to make them more palatable — and more than 30 health conditions, including heart disease, anxiety and early death.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2024/02/29/ultraprocessed-foods-health-risk/