THURSDAY, May 13 (HealthDay News) — A new U.S. government report
says a gap has developed between minority and white asthma patients when
it comes to taking daily medication to prevent asthma attacks.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality said that black and
white asthma patients used daily asthma medication at about the same rate
in 2003 — 29 percent to 30 percent. But by 2006, only 25 percent of black
patients were taking the medicine, compared to about 34 percent of white
patients.

A similar gap appeared between Hispanics and whites. Their medicine
usage rate was about the same (28 percent to 31 percent) in 2003, but by
2006, just 23 percent of Hispanic asthma patients were using the
medications, while about 35 percent of white patients were.

But the report also stated that the medication usage gap between
higher-income people and lower-income people actually shrank between 2003
and 2006.

More information

The U.S. National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute has details on asthma.

THURSDAY, May 13 (HealthDay News) — Slight changes in the expression
of two common genes trigger cellular changes that can lead to breast
cancer, a new study finds.

The researchers adjusted the expression of the genes — estrogen
receptor alpha and p53 — in mice but said the tweaks they made in the
rodents likely mimic natural variations of the two genes in women.

“It was believed that both of these genes only act once breast cancer
had developed,” lead investigator Dr. Priscilla A. Furth, a professor of
oncology and medicine at Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at
Georgetown University Medical Center, said in a news release. She added
that p53 mutations are found in many cancers, including breast cancer, and
that a majority of breast cancer patients have over-expression of this
common estrogen receptor.

“What wasn’t known is that different levels of expression of these
genes can help launch the cellular changes that lead to breast cancer.
That suggests that testing women for their own variations in these genes
might potentially give us a clue as to which women are at higher risk for
development of breast cancer,” she said.

In this study, Furth and colleagues developed mice that lacked one copy
of the p53 gene (mice and humans have two copies of this gene, one from
each parent). This gene regulates cell growth and is a powerful tumor
suppressor. Changes in p53 are seen in 30 percent to 40 percent of breast
cancer cases.

In another group of mice, the researchers boosted expression of
estrogen receptor alpha by twofold, a level of increase sometimes seen in
women. Nearly 70 percent of breast cancer patients have estrogen
receptor-positive breast cancer, they noted.

Both groups of mice showed significant precancerous changes in breast
tissue. Those changes were even more evident in mice that had one p53 gene
as well as twice as much estrogen receptor expression.

“Normal breast tissue functioning requires a balance of cell growth and
cell death, and in this study we found that both deregulated estrogen
receptor function and p53 expression independently, and in combination,
altering this balance and transforming cells,” Furth said.

“These are not the only two molecules that are responsible for breast
cancer development, but they are important and they can potentially
provide us with an early warning or even with prevention strategies,” she
added.

The study was published online May 13 in the journal Cancer
Research.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about breast
cancer.

GENEVA – Cell phone users worried about getting brain cancer aren’t off the hook yet.

A major international study into the link between cell phone use and two types of brain cancer has proved inconclusive, according to a report due to be published in a medical journal Tuesday.

A 10-year survey of almost 13,000 participants found most cell phone use didn’t increase the risk of developing meningioma — a common and frequently benign tumor — or glioma — a rarer but deadlier form of cancer.

There were “suggestions” that using cell phones for more than 30 minutes each day could increase the risk of glioma, according to the study by the World Health Organization‘s International Agency for Research on Cancer. But the authors added that “biases and error prevent a causal interpretation” that would directly blame radiation for the tumor.

Longer call times appeared to pose a greater risk than the number of calls made, the study found.

Among the factors that weren’t examined were the effects of using handsfree devices during calls or the risk of having cell phones close by while not making calls — such as in a pocket, or next to the bed at night.

The authors acknowledged possible inaccuracies in the survey from the fact that participants were asked to remember how much and on which ear they used their mobiles over the past decade. Results for some groups showed cell phone use actually appeared to lessen the risk of developing cancers, something the researchers described as “implausible.”

The authors said further investigation is necessary before they can conclude with certainty that there is no link between cell phone radiation and brain cancer, partly because people’s use of the devices has changed considerably since the start of the study in 2000.

Scientists are also planning to examine whether cell phone use increases the risk of tumors in the ear’s acoustic nerve and the parotid gland, where saliva is produced. A separate study will look into the effects of cell phone use on children, who are believed to be more susceptible to the effects of radiation.

The paper, which will be published in the International Journal of Epidemiology, was compiled by researchers in 13 countries including Britain, Canada, France, Germany and Japan, but not the U.S. Scientists interviewed 12,848 participants, of which 5,150 had either meningioma or glioma tumors.

Almost a quarter of the euro19.2 million ($24 million) required to fund the study was provided by the cell phone industry, though WHO said measures were taken to ensure the scientists’ independence was protected.

Network operators and handset companies had keenly anticipated the results, which could have threatened the rapid development of their business. There were an estimated 4.6 billion mobile phone subscriptions at the end of last year, compared with about 1 billion in 2002, according to the International Telecommunication Union.

In a statement Sunday, the Mobile Manufacturers Forum welcomed the study.

“The mobile phone industry takes all questions regarding the safety of mobile phones seriously and has a strong commitment to supporting ongoing scientific research,” the industry group said.

The study’s lead authors are due to present their findings to the media in Geneva on Monday.

___

Online:

International Journal of Epidemiology: http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/

International Agency for Research on Cancer: http://www.iarc.fr/

BEIJING (AFP) –
The latest deadly school rampage shows China is paying the price for focusing on economic growth for decades while ignoring mental health problems linked to the nation’s rapid social change, experts say.

A 48-year-old man apparently angry over a property dispute killed seven children and two adults with a kitchen cleaver at a kindergarten in northern China Wednesday — the fifth assault on schoolchildren in less than two months.

For decades, China had been relatively free of the sort of multiple killings by deranged assailants that regularly seize headlines in the West.

But while cautioning that the causes of the attacks remain unclear, experts said that even as economic reforms have lifted millions from poverty in China, insufficient attention has been paid to psychological health.

“We have focused on economic progress but have most certainly lost sight of psychological improvements,” said Ma Ai, a criminal psychologist with the China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing.

“This is because the changes of the past 30 years have been too fast.”

Seventeen people, mostly young children, have died in the attacks, and more than 50 children have been hurt. Two attackers, including the man who carried out Wednesday’s assault, committed suicide while another has been executed.

Why children were targeted is unclear, but Ma said the attackers may be seeking to shock the public in copycat attacks carried out in revenge against a more complicated society that they feel has wronged them.

Despite rising living standards and greater freedoms, Chinese today face new pressures unknown 30 years ago when China began opening again to the world — particularly the struggle to keep up in a dog-eat-dog capitalist landscape.

Numerous studies have chronicled rising stress and mental illness levels.

Michael Phillips, a mental health expert at Shanghai’s Tongji University, said many doctors outside major cities “don’t know anything about mental illness.”

A strong social stigma also prevents many from coming forth for treatment, he said.

“The stigma issue is really quite strong, but there really are a whole range of issues impinging on a lack of treatment as well,” he said.

Phillips conducted a study last year that found 173 million Chinese suffered some sort of mental problem ranging from schizophrenia to alcohol abuse, and that 91 percent had never been treated.

China’s national health system is widely pilloried as too costly, badly funded and marked by shoddy or indifferent treatment.

The government indicated its concern last year by announcing an ambitious plan to pump in more than 100 billion dollars to create a system ensuring basic care for all by 2020.

But China faces a huge task laying a proper mental health foundation for its 1.3 billion-strong population, Phillips said.

“In China, we know we need to go in that direction, but how to get there remains a big problem,” he said.

The latest attack in the city of Hanzhong in Shaanxi province came despite a push to boost security at schools nationwide following the earlier rampages.

Chinese reporters have claimed in blog entries they have been barred by the government from independently reporting on the killings and that all media must use only versions published by official Xinhua news agency.

Han Han, an outspoken novelist who writes China’s most popular blog, said in an entry last week such measures prevent a full investigation of why such attacks occur.

He said the order was aimed at avoiding embarrassment in the six-month spotlight of the Shanghai World Expo, which opened May 1.

“I just want to tell everybody, right here, that when the story of a person breaking into a kindergarten to slash up 32 children can’t become news, you have all been slashed as well,” he wrote.

China sees tens of thousands of protests, clashes and other outbursts each year related to property disputes, official corruption and a range of other growing pains, and the government has vowed to maintain security.

But clamping down is only one part of the equation, said Ma, who feels China urgently needs to take a more holistic approach that takes mental health into account.

“The recent cases serve as a warning,” said Ma who called society an “ecosystem” made of several factors including both economic and mental health.

“If this ecosystem is not supported by mental health, all other things are built on a dangerous foundation.”

FRIDAY, May 14 (HealthDay News) — A new U.S. survey, touted as
the first of its kind, reveals that primary care doctors are taking over a
larger share of care for people with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

Fifty-four percent of primary care doctors surveyed said they treat
HIV-positive patients, and 43 percent said the number of HIV cases they
treat had increased over the past year.

Among primary care physicians who treat HIV-positive patients, more
than one-third said they see more than 200 cases a year.

“The state of HIV primary care is evolving rapidly, with serious
implications for the health-care system,” Brian Hujdich, executive
director of HealthHIV, the organization that commissioned the report, said
in a news release.

Hujdich called on more medical education for primary care doctors so
they can provide better care.

HealthHIV, located in Washington, D.C., is a non-profit organization
that provides education, technical assistance and health services research
to organizations, communities and professionals to advance the care and
support for people living with, or at risk for, HIV/AIDS.

The report, based on a national survey of 1,165 respondents, will be
presented in July at the International AIDS Conference in Vienna.

More information

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services provides information
about HIV/AIDS at AIDS.gov.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – The first thing Dr. Marta Valcarcel notices on a walk through a nursery full of tiny, heavily bandaged babies is the empty incubator in the corner.

She calls out to a nurse who only shakes her head. The infant who came in days earlier weighing less than 3 1/2 pounds had succumbed to illness — another child born too early to survive.

“I try to distance myself or I would cry all the time,” says Valcarcel, who runs the largest neonatal intensive care unit in this U.S. Caribbean territory. “We rejoice at the ones that survive.”

Her unit at a San Juan hospital is pivotal in the struggle to save a growing number of babies born well before their due dates. With nearly 20 percent of infants born before 37 weeks, Puerto Rico has the highest pre-term birth rate in the United States and one of the highest in the world.

Poverty in Puerto Rico, which has half the per capita income of the poorest U.S. state, can be a factor. Also, 48 percent of the island’s births are performed by Cesarean section, compared with 32 percent on the U.S. mainland. In some cases doctors opt to deliver babies by C-section before they reach term in hopes of avoiding complications.

But researchers say that’s not enough to explain why the island’s pre-term birth rate has jumped more than 50 percent over the last two decades.

The National Institutes of Health last month awarded $9.9 million for a team of university researchers to study whether contaminants in Puerto Rico’s groundwater are contributing to the problem.

The NIH-funded study will follow 900 pregnant women on the island’s north coast, collecting data on their drinking water and everyday activities to measure potential exposure to contaminants.

The densely populated island of 4 million people has a legacy of industrial contamination and several overflowing landfills along its northern coast, where the karst geology of soluble rock allows water to enter underground aquifers with little filtering.

“The only thing we are really sure of is we need to do more investigation,” said Alma Seda, executive director of Puerto Rico’s chapter of the March of Dimes.

Premature birth can lead to brain hemorrhaging, breathing problems and holes in the intestines. It is the No. 1 cause of infant mortality, and babies who survive can suffer from mental retardation or other lifelong handicaps, particularly the small minority born before 32 weeks’ gestation.

The March of Dimes has also linked a high prevalence of behavioral problems and learning disabilities in island schools to pre-term births.

Local experts say they welcome any theories because the known risk factors do not seem to explain the dramatic rise. More women are receiving prenatal care early in their pregnancies, fewer pregnant women are smoking, and there are fewer multiple births compared with the U.S. mainland, where fertility treatments are more popular.

Doctors who treat the babies say they suspect a combination of factors, including a degree of social deterioration. Edwin Soot Tapia, a neonatologist based in the north coast town of Arecibo, said he sees a growing number of premature infants born to teenagers who consume drugs and alcohol during their pregnancies.

At Valcarcel’s Puerto Rico Medical Center in San Juan, where the 50 slots in the NICU are practically always full, the doctor said she often finds herself dealing with parents’ social problems as well as infants’ medical issues. The hospital has refused to release babies to mothers who are addicted to drugs.

“They are born premature because there are many high-risk mothers,” Valcarcel said. “The government needs to do a better job of maternal care.”

The United States pre-term birth rate has also risen significantly in recent decades and stands at 12.3 percent — higher than the estimated average rates in any region of the world, according to the March of Dimes. Experts have linked the problem to such factors as maternal obesity and smoking, fertility treatments resulting in twins or triplets who tend to be delivered early and a lack of guaranteed care for pregnant women in the U.S. health care system. The U.S. government’s Healthy People 2010 initiative calls for lowering the pre-term birth rate to 7.6 percent.

For mothers of premature children, there can be feelings of guilt.

Edith Yamila Rodriguez delivered her daughter at only 29 weeks after contracting preeclampsia, a pregnancy condition causing dangerously high blood pressure. The girl, now 6, spent her first seven weeks at the hospital and continues struggles today with weak vision, motor skills and immune system.

“The doctors told me it was out of my control,” said Rodriguez, 36, who lives in the south coast town of Santa Isabel and volunteers for March of Dimes awareness campaigns. “We still wonder what happened. Was it something we ate? We have a lot of moms who are examining their lives.”

The four-year study by researchers from Northeastern and Michigan universities and two campuses of the University of Puerto Rico is targeting chemicals commonly released from plastics and Superfund cleanup sites that other researchers have linked to premature labor.

“The potential for exposure to the chemicals from these sites and its effects on public health are not well understood,” said Northeastern’s Akram Alshawabkeh, the lead investigator.

Soto, the north coast neonatologist, said it could well take multiple studies to solve the medical mystery.

“It’s a combination of factors,” he said, “but there is something else out there that we are not picking up.”

COLOGNE, Germany – Alex Ovechkin scored his fourth goal in four games to lead Russia to a 3-2 victory over Germany and remain undefeated at the ice hockey world championship on Saturday.

Two-time defending champion Russia jumped ahead 2-0 after 26 minutes on goals by Ilya Kovalchuk and forward Nikolai Kulemin. Christian Ehrhoff scored for the hosts with 1 second left in the second period.

Ovechkin, the Washington Capitals star, re-established a two-goal advantage with 10 minutes remaining. Alexander Barta got Germany back within 3-2 with six minutes to play, but Russia goalie Semyon Varlamov preserved the victory, finishing with 32 stops.

“They played us tight and they took a lot of emotion from the crowd. They have great fans and they fed off that,” said forward Pavel Datsyuk, who joined Russia on Friday after the Detroit Red Wings were eliminated from the NHL playoffs.

Russia improved to 3-0 and has nine points for first place in Group E in the second round of the tournament.

Germany remained in fourth place with three points.

Switzerland was in first place in Group F with nine points after beating the Czech Republic 3-2 to improve to 3-0. The Czechs were fifth among six teams with three points.

In the relegation group, Rangers rookie defenseman Matt Gilroy had a hat trick and the United States ended its scoring struggles with a 10-0 victory over Kazakhstan.

TJ Oshie, Kyle Okposo, Nick Foligno, Ryan Potulny, Brandon Dubinsky, Tim Kennedy and Chris Kreider also scored for the Americans, who had only tallied four goals in three first-round games. Dubinksy also had four assists.

St. Louis Blues forward Oshie opened the scoring 55 seconds into the game and assisted on a goal 18 seconds later by New York Islanders‘ forward Okposo. Gilroy added two goals by the 10:20 mark of the second and Scott Gordon’s team had the offensive boost it had been seeking.

“It was good to get some goals on that first shift. And the rest of the guys just kind of fed off it,” Oshie said. “We’re really not where we want to be. We wanted to play in the other bracket. But it’s nice to get the monkey off our back and get a win.”

The Americans next play Sunday against France.

The U.S. is in the relegation round for the first time since 2003 and must finish in the top two of the four-team Group G.

“We have to go home and get some sleep,” Gilroy said. “The start will be the key. We need to have a good start like we did today.”

France beat Italy 2-1 in the other relegation game after goals by Baptiste Amar and Laurent Gras. Michele Strazzabosco scored for Italy.

GENEVA – A major international study into the link between cell phone use and two types of brain cancer has proved inconclusive, according to a report in a medical journal due to be published later this week.

The survey of almost 13,000 participants found cell phone use didn’t increase the risk of developing meningioma — a common and frequently benign tumor — or glioma — a rarer but deadlier form of cancer.

The 10-year study, which was conducted by the World Health Organization‘s International Agency for Research on Cancer, concluded there were “suggestions” that heavy use could increase the risk of glioma but “biases and error prevent a causal interpretation” that would directly blame cell phone radiation for the tumor.

Heavy use was defined as 30 minutes or more of calls a day.

The authors acknowledged that one source of possible inaccuracies was the fact that participants were asked to remember how much and on which ear they used their mobiles over the past decade. Results for some groups showed cell phone use appeared to lessen the risk of developing cancers, something the researchers described as “implausible.”

The authors said further investigation is necessary before they can conclude there is no link between cell phone radiation and brain cancer. People’s use of the devices has changed considerably since the start of the study in 2000, they noted.

Scientists are also planning to examine the whether cell phone use increases the risk of tumors in the ear’s acoustic nerve and the parotid gland, where saliva is produced. A separate study will look into the effects of cell phone use on children, who are believed to be more susceptible to the effects of radiation.

The paper, which will be published in the International Journal of Epidemiology on Tuesday, was compiled by researchers in 13 countries including Britain, Canada, France, Germany and Japan, but not the U.S. Scientists interviewed 12,848 participants, of which 5,150 had either meningioma or glioma tumors.

Almost a quarter of the euro19.2 million (23.98 million) required to fund the study was provided by the cell phone industry.

Network operators and handset companies had keenly anticipated the results of the study, which could have threatened the rapid development of their business. There were an estimated 4.6 billion mobile phone subscriptions at the end of last year, compared with about 1 billion in 2002, according to the International Telecommunication Union.

The study’s lead authors are due to present their findings to the media in Geneva on Monday.

___

Online:

International Journal of Epidemiology: http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/

International Agency for Research on Cancer: http://www.iarc.fr/

HUNTINGTON, N.Y. – A New York animal shelter is seeking donations of Viagra to treat a pit bull with a heart condition. Staff members at the Little Shelter Animal Rescue and Adoption Center in Huntington, on Long Island, say 6-year-old Ingrid needs two of the little blue pills every day or she will risk heart failure. They said a vet suggested it.

The pills cost about $10 apiece, and the shelter has been asking Viagra users to pitch in and donate their unused pills.

Viagra was originally developed as a heart medication but is now used mainly by human males to give their sex lives a boost.

One woman donated her husband’s stash to the dog because she suspected he was having an affair.

___

Information from: Daily News, http://www.nydailynews.com

Seniors hoping to stay sharp in old age are bombarded with
recommendations, from doing brainteasers to drinking red wine. But a recent
review of research brings sobering news: Currently, there is no good evidence
that any supplement, medication, diet or behavior change actually prevents
Alzheimer’s or other age-related cognitive decline.

Such a grim verdict on a much-dreaded disease
might seem like cause for despair. It’s not, say researchers.

“The bad news is we have nothing that’s been proven to
prevent Alzheimer’s disease,” said Cynthia Carlsson, a professor and
Alzheimer’s researcher at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and
Public Health, who was not on the panel that reviewed the research. “But
the good news is we’re really at a tremendous point in understanding more about
the disease causes.”

For instance, evidence is mounting to suggest Alzheimer’s
damages the brain well before outward mental impairment shows up. So if doctors
had tools to identify
these pre-symptomatic individuals, they could start early treatments to
help at least slow the mental slide.

Ongoing research has pinpointed several biological markers,
or indicators that someone is at risk for Alzheimer’s (just as blood pressure
is a biomarker for risk for cardiovascular disease). These include proteins
called beta-amyloid and tau, found in the spinal fluid during the early stages
of the disease. In full-blown Alzheimer’s, these proteins form plaques and
tangles in the brain which seem to interfere with the functioning of neurons.
Exactly what causes the proteins to form isn’t known, but variations on a gene
called APOE seem to increase the risk.

But when it comes to behavioral risk factors, the evidence
isn’t as strong.

The panel of 15 independent scientists convened by the
National Institutes of Health reviewed 250 human research studies and 25 review
papers on Alzheimer’s prevention and found that in all cases, the correlations
were too weak to confidently point to any risk factor as a cause of Alzheimer’s
disease or cognitive decline. In most cases, the studies were too small and the
associations too limited to draw firm conclusions, said panel head Martha L.
Daviglus, a professor of preventative medicine at Northwestern University in
Chicago.

“It doesn’t mean that if we are going to do a
well-designed study with a specific number of people included that the same
risk factors are not going to be showing some association,” Daviglus said.
“But we have to be careful.”

Reviewing the
research

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia,
affecting more than 5 million Americans, according to the Alzheimer’s
Association. The disorder is marked by memory loss, confusion and the inability
to function independently.

While the NIH-convened panel found no strong evidence for
Alzheimer’s prevention, the scientists did say some factors showed very limited
evidence of protection against Alzheimer’s, including omega-3 fatty acids and a
diet
low in saturated fat and high in vegetables.

A few studies also showed that increased cognitive
engagement and physical activity might keep older
people sharp and possibly keep their brains clear of dementia, while high
blood pressure and diabetes showed associations with cognitive decline.

None of this evidence met the panel’s criteria for
high-quality evidence, but it bears further study, say Alzheimer’s researchers.

“We certainly have evidence,” said Arthur Kramer,
a neuroscientist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who was not
on the panel. “The question is, ‘How good does it have to be to make
recommendations to the public?’”

Strengthening the
evidence

The panel recommended a commitment to large, long-term
studies with standardized measurements of cognitive function. A multi-site
Alzheimer’s disease registry, like those used in cancer research, could help
bring volunteers and researchers together, according to the report.

Studies also need to start earlier, said panel member Carl
Bell, a psychiatrist at the University of Illinois in Chicago. Alzheimer’s
starts affecting the brain in mid-adulthood, Bell said, and research that
starts on older adults won’t catch those changes.

“They’re looking to prevent it after probably a
progression of 10 to 20 years,” Bell said. “It’s too late then.”

Doctors can’t yet predict who will develop Alzheimer’s just
by peering into the individual’s genome or spinal fluid. But biomarkers like
the APOE gene variation and measurements of beta-amyloid and tau proteins can
predict a person’s risk for getting the disease, just
as high blood pressure predicts risk for cardiovascular disease.

Just as lowering blood pressure would lower one’s risk for
heart problems, lowering these biomarkers could lower the risk for Alzheimer’s.
In that way, Alzheimer’s biomarkers give researchers a benchmark to see if
their treatments are working. Instead of waiting for full-blown Alzheimer’s to
develop, researchers can measure the effect of their preventative treatments on
beta-amyloid or tau in the spinal fluid, said the University of Wisconsin‘s
Carlsson, who studies the effects of cholesterol-lowering statin drugs on
Alzheimer’s risk.

And while the plaques and tangles on the brain can’t be
seen, improved brain imaging can track blood flow in the brain, giving insights
into which parts of the brain are experiencing decline. Detailed
neuropsychological tests that measure memory and judgment are another common
research tool.

Continuing disease
research

The kinds of studies recommended by the panel are happening,
said Laurie Ryan, the Program Director of Alzheimer’s Disease Clinical Trials
at the National Institute on Aging.

“We actually have a number of trials in the works
looking at things like exercise and cognitive training,” Ryan said.

Pharmaceutical industry researchers are putting resources
into possible preventative drug treatments, she said. The NIH is also working
in partnership with a number of private firms on the Alzheimer’s Disease
Neuroimaging Initiative, a five-year study looking at changes in brain
structure and function in 400 people with cognitive impairment, 200 people with
Alzheimer’s and 200 healthy individuals. The data from that project is
available online to researchers worldwide, Ryan said.

Meanwhile, studies on preventative factors from
cholesterol-lowering drugs to the benefits of social engagement are ongoing,
and the preliminary results provide reason for hope, said Ryan. Several studies
may provide answers in as little as a few years, she said.

“There’s a lot of data that really does suggest that we
want to be looking at these lifestyle interventions to help people think about
a healthy aging brain,” Ryan said. “Diet, exercise, staying socially
active, staying engaged with people, those things are going to improve
your quality of life no matter what.”

• 10 Ways to Keep Your Mind Sharp
• 7
  Ways the Mind and Body Change With Age
• 10 Things You Didn’t Know
  About the Brain

• Original Story: Alzheimer’s Disease: Bad News and Good News

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