dementia / en When caring for relatives with dementia, develop a good relationship: 茄子直播 expert /news/when-caring-relatives-dementia-develop-good-relationship-u-t-expert <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">When caring for relatives with dementia, develop a good relationship: 茄子直播 expert</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2018-01-23-dementia-caregiving-getty.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=kGMgt4a9 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2018-01-23-dementia-caregiving-getty.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=sl8NoETi 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2018-01-23-dementia-caregiving-getty.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=H9kA1M9A 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2018-01-23-dementia-caregiving-getty.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=kGMgt4a9" alt="caregiver and loved one"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>ullahnor</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2018-01-23T12:56:49-05:00" title="Tuesday, January 23, 2018 - 12:56" class="datetime">Tue, 01/23/2018 - 12:56</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Dr. Michael Gordon talks about caring for loved ones who develop dementia (photo by Adam Berry/Getty Images)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/city-culture" hreflang="en">City &amp; Culture</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/dementia" hreflang="en">dementia</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/doctors-notes-0" hreflang="en">Doctors' Notes</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-medicine" hreflang="en">Faculty of Medicine</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>With more Canadian families becoming&nbsp;caregivers for people living with dementia, it's important to establish positive relationships with loved ones who will be receiving the care, says Dr. <strong>Michael Gordon</strong>,&nbsp;a professor of medicine at the University of Toronto and a geriatric specialist at Baycrest Health Sciences.</p> <p>Over the next 15 years the number of Canadians living with dementia will almost double, <a href="https://www.thestar.com/life/2018/01/22/a-strong-relationship-can-make-caring-for-a-loved-one-with-dementia-easier-doctors-notes.html">Gordon writes in this week's edition of Doctors' Notes</a>,<em> the Toronto Star</em>'s weekly column created by 茄子直播 Medical experts.&nbsp;He writes that&nbsp;having the perfect relationship should not be a prerequisite for being a caregiver,&nbsp;but he found with his&nbsp;late parents, his&nbsp;positive relationship with them, as well as his&nbsp;sister鈥檚, helped them navigate difficult next steps.</p> <h3><a href="/news/find-a-story?query=doctors%20notes&amp;field_topic_tid=All&amp;date_filter%5Bmin%5D%5Bdate%5D=&amp;date_filter%5Bmax%5D%5Bdate%5D=">Read previous Doctors' Notes columns from 茄子直播 medical experts</a></h3> <p>As people with dementia experience a progressive decline in their ability to remember, understand, communicate and complete day-to-day tasks, being overprotective can be a common source of conflict, he writes.</p> <p>鈥淭hough dementia hampers a person鈥檚 capacities, their independence still matters a great deal," Gordon writes. 鈥淐aregivers can overstep boundaries when they take over ordering at a restaurant, criticize clothing choices and arrange activities the person being cared for doesn鈥檛 enjoy.鈥</p> <h3><a href="https://www.thestar.com/life/2018/01/22/a-strong-relationship-can-make-caring-for-a-loved-one-with-dementia-easier-doctors-notes.html">Read the full Doctors' Notes column in <em>the&nbsp;Toronto Star</em></a></h3> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Tue, 23 Jan 2018 17:56:49 +0000 ullahnor 127892 at Study shows dementia-related brain changes are identifiable even before problems are noticeable /news/study-shows-dementia-related-brain-changes-are-identifiable-even-memory-or-thinking-problems <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Study shows dementia-related brain changes are identifiable even before problems are noticeable</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/17-05-10%20baycrest%20dementia%201140%20x%20760.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=sH6cImOl 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/17-05-10%20baycrest%20dementia%201140%20x%20760.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=U062fXA5 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/17-05-10%20baycrest%20dementia%201140%20x%20760.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=PHUs5Kq8 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/17-05-10%20baycrest%20dementia%201140%20x%20760.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=sH6cImOl" alt="Morgan Barense "> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>Romi Levine</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2017-05-10T14:22:03-04:00" title="Wednesday, May 10, 2017 - 14:22" class="datetime">Wed, 05/10/2017 - 14:22</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">茄子直播's Morgan Barense is a senior author of a study that found a potential predictor for dementia (photo by Diana Tyszko)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/arts-science-news-staff" hreflang="en">Arts &amp; Science news staff</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/baycrest-rotman-research-institute" hreflang="en">Baycrest Rotman Research Institute</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Arts &amp; Science news staff and Baycrest Rotman Research Institute</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/breaking-research" hreflang="en">Breaking Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research-innovation" hreflang="en">Research &amp; Innovation</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/health" hreflang="en">Health</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/dementia" hreflang="en">dementia</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">Discovery could inform development of therapies to treat or slow the disease</div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Researchers at the University of Toronto&nbsp;and Baycrest Rotman Research Institute (RRI) have discovered a potential brain imaging predictor for dementia, which illustrates that changes to the brain鈥檚 structure may occur years prior to a diagnosis, even before individuals notice their own memory problems.</p> <p><a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0197458017301537">The joint study, published in the <em>Neurobiology of Aging</em> journal </a>on May 8, looked at older adults who are living in the Toronto community without assistance and who were unaware of any major memory problems, but who scored below the normal benchmark on a dementia screening test.</p> <p>Within these older adults, researchers also found evidence of less brain tissue in the same subregion of the brain where Alzheimer鈥檚 disease originates (the anterolateral entorhinal cortex located in the brain鈥檚 temporal lobe).</p> <p>This 茄子直播-Baycrest study is the first to measure this particular brain subregion in older adults who do not have a dementia diagnosis or memory problems that affect their day-to-day routine. It is also the first study to demonstrate that performance on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) dementia screening test is linked to the volume (size) of this subregion, along with other brain regions affected early in the course of Alzheimer鈥檚 disease.</p> <p>鈥淭his work is an important first step in determining a procedure to identify older adults living independently at home without memory complaints who are at risk for dementia,鈥 says <strong>Morgan Barense</strong>, associate professor in the department of psychology in the Faculty of Arts &amp; Science at 茄子直播 and senior author on the study.</p> <p>The team studied 40 adults between the ages of 59 and 81 who live independently (or with a spouse) at home. All participants were tested on the MoCA. Those scoring below 26 鈥 a score that indicates a potential problem in memory and thinking skills and suggests further dementia screening is needed 鈥 were compared to those scoring 26 and above.</p> <p>鈥淭he early detection of these at-risk individuals has the potential to facilitate drug developments or other therapeutic interventions for Alzheimer鈥檚 disease,鈥 says <strong>Rosanna Olsen</strong>, first author on the study, RRI scientist and assistant professor in 茄子直播鈥檚 department of psychology.&nbsp;</p> <p>鈥淭his research also adds to our basic understanding of aging and the early mechanisms of Alzheimer鈥檚 disease.鈥</p> <p>Scientists were able to reliably measure the volume of the anterolateral entorhinal cortex by using high-resolution brain scans that were collected for each participant.</p> <p>The strongest volume differences were found in the exact regions of the brain in which Alzheimer鈥檚 disease originates. The researchers are planning a follow-up study to determine whether people&nbsp;who demonstrated poor thinking and memory abilities and smaller brain volumes indeed go on to develop dementia.</p> <p>鈥淭he MoCA is good at diagnosing mild cognitive impairment (MCI) (a condition that is likely to develop into Alzheimer鈥檚) and we are seeing that it may identify MCI in people who are not aware of a decline in their memory and thinking skills,鈥 said Barense.</p> <p>Alzheimer鈥檚 disease is a devastating neurodegenerative illness with widespread personal, societal and economic consequences. An estimated&nbsp;564,000 Canadians live with dementia and 1.1 million Canadians are affected by the disease, according to the Alzheimer Society of Canada. There are 25,000 new cases of dementia diagnosed every year in Canada and it costs $10.4 billion to care for those living with dementia.</p> <p>鈥淎 key take-away from the study is that it highlights the utility of the MoCA test in identifying individuals who are at-risk for dementia,鈥 said Olsen.</p> <p>Adults who are older than 40&nbsp;and interested in testing their memory and attention prior to raising concerns with their doctor can consult Baycrest鈥檚&nbsp;<a href="http://www.cogniciti.com">online brain health assessment tool, Cogniciti</a>.</p> <p>Research for this study was conducted with support from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Canada Research Chairs program, the James S McDonnell Foundation, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, and an Early Researcher Award from the Ontario Government.</p> <p>The research team included RRI senior scientist <strong>Jennifer Ryan</strong>, former RRI post-doctoral fellow Maria D鈥橝ngelo, graduate students <strong>Lok-Kin Yeung </strong>and Alix Noly-Gandon, and research assistants Arber Kacollja and <strong>Victoria Smith</strong>.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Wed, 10 May 2017 18:22:03 +0000 Romi Levine 107501 at 茄子直播 researchers part of study linking dementia to living near major traffic /news/u-t-researchers-part-study-linking-dementia-living-near-major-traffic <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">茄子直播 researchers part of study linking dementia to living near major traffic</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2017-01-06-traffic.jpg?h=8c4bd285&amp;itok=5q5Ngzpf 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2017-01-06-traffic.jpg?h=8c4bd285&amp;itok=2OBALKNy 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2017-01-06-traffic.jpg?h=8c4bd285&amp;itok=oIU_8rSa 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2017-01-06-traffic.jpg?h=8c4bd285&amp;itok=5q5Ngzpf" alt="Photo of Toronto traffic on Spadina Avenue"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>ullahnor</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2017-01-06T16:15:59-05:00" title="Friday, January 6, 2017 - 16:15" class="datetime">Fri, 01/06/2017 - 16:15</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Toronto traffic jam on Spadina Avenue (photo by James Schwartz via Flickr)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/city-culture" hreflang="en">City &amp; Culture</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/traffic" hreflang="en">Traffic</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/research" hreflang="en">Research</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/cities" hreflang="en">Cities</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/dementia" hreflang="en">dementia</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/health" hreflang="en">Health</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/urban" hreflang="en">urban</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Researchers from&nbsp;茄子直播's Dalla Lana School of Public Health are part of an international team that has found a link between people living&nbsp;close to high-traffic roadways to&nbsp;greater&nbsp;risk of&nbsp;dementia.</p> <p>Published in <a href="http://www.thelancet.com/"><em>The Lancet</em></a>, the study found that people who lived within 50 metres of high-traffic roads like Ontario鈥檚 Highway&nbsp;401&nbsp;have&nbsp;a seven-per cent higher likelihood of developing dementia compared to those who lived more than 300 metres away from busy roads.</p> <p>Researchers from the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, Public Health Ontario (PHO) and the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) examined records of more than 6.5 million Ontario residents, ranging in age from&nbsp;20 to 85,&nbsp;to investigate the correlation between living close to major roads and dementia, Parkinson鈥檚 disease and multiple sclerosis.</p> <p><img alt class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__3067 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/ChenRoadways-embed.jpg" typeof="foaf:Image" width="750" loading="lazy"></p> <p>Scientists identified 243,611 cases of dementia, 31,577 cases of Parkinson鈥檚 disease, and 9,247 cases of multiple sclerosis in Ontario between 2001 and 2012. In addition, they mapped individuals鈥 proximity to major roadways using the postal code of their residence. The findings indicate that living close to major roads increased the risk of developing dementia&nbsp;but not Parkinson鈥檚 disease or multiple sclerosis.&nbsp;</p> <p>鈥淟ittle is known in current research about how to reduce the risk of dementia,鈥 said&nbsp;<strong>Hong Chen</strong>, assistant professor of occupational and environmental health at the&nbsp;Dalla Lana School of Public Health. 鈥淥ur findings show the closer you live to roads with heavy day-to-day traffic, the greater the risk of developing dementia.</p> <p>鈥淲ith our widespread exposure to traffic and the greater tendency for people to live in cities these days, this has serious public health implications.鈥&nbsp;</p> <p>The lead author of the paper, Chen is also scientist at Public Health Ontario and&nbsp;adjunct scientist at ICES.</p> <p>鈥淥ur study is the first in Canada to suggest that pollutants from heavy, day-to-day traffic are linked to dementia,鈥 said&nbsp;Dr.<strong> Raymond Copes</strong>, a co-author on the paper who is the associate professor of occupational and environmental health at 茄子直播&nbsp;and chief of environmental and occupational health at Public Health Ontario.</p> <p>鈥淲e know from previous research that air pollutants can get into the bloodstream and lead to inflammation, which is linked with cardiovascular disease and possibly other conditions such as diabetes,鈥 Copes said. 鈥淭his study suggests air pollutants that can get into the brain via the bloodstream can lead to neurological problems.鈥</p> <p>As urban centres become more densely populated and more congested with vehicles on major roads, Copes suggests the findings of this paper could be used to help inform municipal land use decisions as well as building design to take into account air pollution factors and the impact on residents.</p> <p>The&nbsp;research was conducted in collaboration with scientists from the University of Toronto, Carleton University, Dalhousie University, Oregon State University&nbsp;and Health Canada. The study was funded by Health Canada.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Fri, 06 Jan 2017 21:15:59 +0000 ullahnor 103023 at Declining dementia rates: 茄子直播's Carmela Tartaglia talks about a new U.S. study /news/declining-dementia-rates-u-t-s-carmela-tartaglia-talks-about-new-us-study <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Declining dementia rates: 茄子直播's Carmela Tartaglia talks about a new U.S. study</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2016-11-28-dementia-lead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=zxbKUOJ5 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/2016-11-28-dementia-lead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=hRN9n_hG 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/2016-11-28-dementia-lead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=5FqVrjl- 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/2016-11-28-dementia-lead.jpg?h=afdc3185&amp;itok=zxbKUOJ5" alt="Photo of Carmela Tartaglia"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>ullahnor</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2016-11-28T10:20:53-05:00" title="Monday, November 28, 2016 - 10:20" class="datetime">Mon, 11/28/2016 - 10:20</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Professor Carmela Tartaglia talks about what types of exercise help protect against dementia (photo by Dan Haves)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/jim-oldfield" hreflang="en">Jim Oldfield</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Jim Oldfield</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/global-lens" hreflang="en">Global Lens</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-medicine" hreflang="en">Faculty of Medicine</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/health" hreflang="en">Health</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/dementia" hreflang="en">dementia</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/exercise" hreflang="en">Exercise</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>A U.S.&nbsp;<a href="http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2587084">study</a>&nbsp;released last week found that dementia rates in America&nbsp;dropped sharply for a decade after 2002 鈥&nbsp;from about 12 to 9 per cent. That means roughly 1.5 million fewer cases of dementia today among people over 65. &nbsp;</p> <p><strong>Carmela Tartaglia</strong> is an assistant professor in 茄子直播's <a href="http://medicine.utoronto.ca/">Faculty of Medicine</a>&nbsp;and the <a href="http://tanz.med.utoronto.ca/">Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases</a>.</p> <p>She spoke with 茄子直播's&nbsp;<strong>Jim Oldfield</strong> about the University of Michigan study, and&nbsp;what Canadians can take away from it. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <hr> <p><strong>What do you make of this study?</strong></p> <p>Well, it鈥檚 really good news. People tend to think they have no control over whether they get sick, but here we have more evidence that what you do in mid-life impacts later life.</p> <p>Studies from Scandinavian countries and the UK have made similar findings&nbsp;but in smaller groups that were less representative of the population at large. They found that by controlling cardiovascular risk factors such as blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar, and by making lifestyle changes around smoking, drinking and exercise, you can make a big dent in the incidence of dementia.</p> <p><strong>What factors might explain the drop in this study?</strong></p> <p>The researchers do point to control of cardiovascular risk factors among people with diabetes as a possible factor&nbsp;along with better management of diabetes. But they also found that higher levels of education were associated with lower rates of dementia, which is consistent with other studies.</p> <p>A leading theory on this connection is the idea of 鈥渃ognitive reserve.鈥 Basically, education may improve brain function in a way that allows you to live later with preserved cognition. It鈥檚 not completely protective, but it can delay the onset of disease and enable people to better compensate for neurodegeneration.</p> <p>That said, other factors can confound that link 鈥&nbsp;more education is also associated with exercise, eating well, access to health care and mentally demanding employment, all of which may protect against dementia.</p> <p><strong>Do we have data on declining rates in Canada?</strong></p> <p>I鈥檓 not aware of any studies that show a decline in Canadian dementia rates although because we鈥檙e seeing a drop in some other developed countries, it鈥檚 reasonable to think it may be happening here. But we鈥檙e still worried about a 鈥榯sunami鈥&nbsp;of dementia.</p> <p>The total number&nbsp;of people with dementia is&nbsp;still rising. That鈥檚 a function of age, and more and more people are living longer.</p> <p>There鈥檚 no doubt that it will be a very expensive problem. The annual cost of caring for dementia patients in Canada today is about $10 billion, and we expect that will rise to more than $16 billion by 2031. So we really need a more targeted approach.</p> <p>This current study speaks well to prevention, but we鈥檙e not seeing much investment in prevention in this country, especially as it relates to exercise. 鈥楶articipaction鈥&nbsp;activities for kids and access to gyms has been cut in many places. Sports are expensive. We鈥檙e not doing a good job on that front.</p> <p><strong>What type of exercise is most protective against dementia?</strong></p> <p>It looks like aerobic activity is best. Other types of activity are good, such as weight training and stretching. But there is growing evidence in favour of aerobic activity.</p> <p>In animal studies it stimulates release of BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor), a protein that鈥檚 good for brain function. In research on the human brain, BDNF has been shown to stimulate formation of new blood vessels, new cells and synaptic connections. In my lab we鈥檙e studying the effects of aerobic activity in people with established Alzheimer鈥檚 disease. We鈥檙e using MRI to evaluate the structure of the brain and the connections within it, and our preliminary results on exercise are very encouraging.</p> <p>In my clinical practice, I feel we鈥檙e making progress with exercise as well 鈥&nbsp;more families are trying to engage family members to be active. It can be a hard sell at times, but we try to stress that this is effective therapy without side-effects, and I think we鈥檙e making headway.</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Mon, 28 Nov 2016 15:20:53 +0000 ullahnor 102586 at 茄子直播 startup鈥檚 Alzheimer detection technology takes first prize in nation-wide competition /news/alzheimer-detection-technology-takes-first-prize <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">茄子直播 startup鈥檚 Alzheimer detection technology takes first prize in nation-wide competition</span> <div class="field field--name-field-featured-picture field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img loading="eager" srcset="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/kaufman-agewell-1140.jpg?h=3fcbca33&amp;itok=7OsW3QSO 370w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_740/public/kaufman-agewell-1140.jpg?h=3fcbca33&amp;itok=rO4zxbXM 740w, /sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_1110/public/kaufman-agewell-1140.jpg?h=3fcbca33&amp;itok=41LPfOC7 1110w" sizes="(min-width:1200px) 1110px, (max-width: 1199px) 80vw, (max-width: 767px) 90vw, (max-width: 575px) 95vw" width="740" height="494" src="/sites/default/files/styles/news_banner_370/public/kaufman-agewell-1140.jpg?h=3fcbca33&amp;itok=7OsW3QSO" alt="Liam Kaufman speaking at the AGE-WELL competition"> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>lavende4</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2016-08-02T14:21:56-04:00" title="Tuesday, August 2, 2016 - 14:21" class="datetime">Tue, 08/02/2016 - 14:21</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Liam Kaufman makes his pitch for Winterlight at the AGE-WELL Pitch Competition</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/our-community" hreflang="en">Our Community</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/computer-science" hreflang="en">Computer Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/entrepreneurship" hreflang="en">Entrepreneurship</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/dementia" hreflang="en">dementia</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/health" hreflang="en">Health</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/startups" hreflang="en">Startups</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>An Alzheimer-detection technology developed by 茄子直播 startup company Winterlight Labs has won the <em>AGE-WELL Pitch Competition: Technology to Support People with Dementia</em>, beating competitors from across the country and internationally.</p> <p>The new tablet-based assessment tool records short samples of a person鈥檚 speech as they describe a picture on the screen. It extracts hundreds of variables from the samples, producing results in less than five minutes.</p> <p>Winterlight Labs has its origins in the computer science department at the University of Toronto. CEO <strong>Liam Kaufman</strong> holds both a degree in computer science and a master鈥檚 degree from 茄子直播鈥檚 Institute of Medical Science. Co-founder <strong>Katie Fraser</strong> is a PhD student in computer science. Master鈥檚 student <strong>Maria Yancheva</strong> and computer science assistant professor <strong>Frank Rudzicz</strong> also worked on the application.</p> <h2><a href="/news/natural-language-processing-dementia">Read more about Katie Fraser and her research</a></h2> <p>鈥淪peech is a rich source of information on people鈥檚 cognitive health,鈥 Kaufman told a panel of expert judges at the AGE-WELL Pitch Competition on July 23 in Toronto. 鈥淏ecause of word-finding difficulties, people with Alzheimer鈥檚 disease will tend to pause more between words and the complexity of their vocabulary is reduced, so they will use a word such as 鈥榗ar鈥 instead of 鈥楽UV鈥 or 鈥榮edan.鈥欌</p> <p>The new technology uses artificial intelligence to analyze about 400 variables, such as pitch, tone, prosody (rhythm), and rate of speech, as well as pauses and choice of words. In the laboratory, the software can reliably identify Alzheimer鈥檚 disease, Parkinson鈥檚 disease and aphasia with between 85 and 100 percent accuracy.</p> <p>The Winterlight approach is fast and objective, and improves on time-consuming 鈥榩encil-and-paper鈥 neuro-psychological assessments, which can be stressful for people with memory problems, he said.</p> <p>The researchers are set to begin field tests in assisted living and home care settings, with funding from AGE-WELL. Five organizations which collectively care for more than&nbsp;100,000 seniors are partnering with Winterlight Labs.</p> <p>The tool will be used in seniors鈥 facilities to improve ongoing monitoring of residents鈥 cognitive health, provide family members with quantifiable updates and help everyone plan when it鈥檚 time to transition to a higher level of care, said Kaufman.</p> <p>Regulatory approval will be sought in Canada and the United States to make the technology available to family doctors and speech-language pathologists.</p> <p>鈥淭he incidence of Alzheimer鈥檚 disease and other dementias is growing worldwide, and new technologies like this novel speech-assessment tool present a real opportunity to help people with dementia and those who care for them,鈥 said Alex Mihailidis, AGE-WELL鈥檚 scientific director.</p> <p>For more information on the AGE-WELL competition visit&nbsp;<a href="http://www.agewell-nce.ca/pitch-event">www.agewell-nce.ca/pitch-event</a>.</p> <p>For more about Winterlight Labs, visit&nbsp;<a href="http://www.winterlightlabs.com/">http://www.winterlightlabs.com/</a></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Tue, 02 Aug 2016 18:21:56 +0000 lavende4 14773 at Can natural language processing help detect dementia? This 茄子直播 grad student is trying to find out /news/natural-language-processing-dementia <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Can natural language processing help detect dementia? This 茄子直播 grad student is trying to find out</span> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>krisha</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2016-06-21T10:16:09-04:00" title="Tuesday, June 21, 2016 - 10:16" class="datetime">Tue, 06/21/2016 - 10:16</time> </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-field-cutline-long field--type-text-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Cutline</div> <div class="field__item">Katie Fraser is seeking a computational solution for the detection of dementia (Orbelina Cortez鈥怋arbosa photo)</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/carolyn-morris" hreflang="en">Carolyn Morris</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/orbelina-cortez-barbosa" hreflang="en">Orbelina Cortez-Barbosa</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/orbelina-cortez-barbosa-files-carolyn-morris" hreflang="en">Orbelina Cortez-Barbosa with files from Carolyn Morris</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Orbelina Cortez-Barbosa with files from Carolyn Morris</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-topic field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Topic</div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/topics/breaking-research" hreflang="en">Breaking Research</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/computer-science" hreflang="en">Computer Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/dementia" hreflang="en">dementia</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/winterlight-labs" hreflang="en">Winterlight Labs</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-medicine" hreflang="en">Faculty of Medicine</a></div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>鈥淵our speech can offer a lot of information and clues into how your brain is functioning,鈥 says <strong>Katie Fraser</strong>,&nbsp;a PhD candidate in the department of computer science at the University of Toronto.&nbsp;</p> <p>鈥淒ementia is often linked to language, and using today鈥檚 computational tools we can quickly evaluate a person鈥檚 speech.鈥&nbsp;</p> <p>Dementia is a disease affecting 47.5 million people worldwide (World Health Organization). Research&nbsp;has consistently shown that particular changes in speech and language can signal early onset of the disease.&nbsp;</p> <p>For Fraser, finding a computational solution for the detection of dementia has been the focus of her research and the idea behind the startup <a href="http://www.winterlightlabs.com/">Winterlight Labs Inc.</a>鈥 software that uses natural language processing and machine learning technology to detect signs of dementia using speech samples.</p> <p>鈥淚t鈥檚 important to get this research out of the academic sphere and into hands of people who can actually benefit from it,鈥 says Fraser. 鈥淚 think the best way to do this is to develop a product that people can use.鈥</p> <p>Fraser, who specializes in computational linguistics,&nbsp;is supervised by computer science Professor <strong><a href="http://www.cs.toronto.edu/~gh/">Graeme Hirst</a></strong> and <strong><a href="http://research.baycrest.org/jmeltzer">Jed Meltzer</a></strong>, an assistant professor in the department of psychology and a scientist with the Rotman Research Institute at the Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care.&nbsp;</p> <p>Several years ago, Hirst, his graduate student <strong>Xuan Le</strong>, and department of English Professor <strong>Ian Lancashire</strong>, in consultation with <strong>Regina Jokel</strong>, assistant professor department of speech-language pathology, used natural language processing techniques to examine the writing of authors Iris Murdoch (who is known to have died of Alzheimer鈥檚), P.D. James (who did not have Alzheimer鈥檚) and Agatha Christie. Hirst says Christie鈥檚 writing showed an incredible decline in her vocabulary in her last books, but surprisingly, not in her syntax. They concluded Christie likely died of the disease.&nbsp;</p> <p>鈥淥ur thinking in those days was that what matters is change in a person over time,鈥 says Hirst. 鈥淭hat axiom is not as clear-cut as we thought. Our more recent work is a lot less longitudinal.鈥&nbsp;</p> <p>Hirst says that aging inevitably leads to changes in language. Older people do talk more abstractly, and have minor vocabulary-seeking problems. People with dementia rapidly slide down in their vocabulary and noun to verb ratio, and their syntax becomes simpler. &nbsp;</p> <p>As part of her thesis research, Fraser conducts research on text and speech processing to look for symptoms of dementia. She collects speech samples and analyzes them through speech recognition software and machine learning classifiers. Machine learning classifiers are algorithms that have been trained to classify data into a category or class. In this case the classifiers have been trained to distinguish between a healthy individual and a person with dementia.&nbsp;<br> &nbsp;<br> Fraser founded Winterlight Labs alongside her colleagues who share similar research interests in computer science and healthcare.&nbsp;</p> <p>鈥淲e had discussed trying to build a company by bringing together all of our expertise.鈥&nbsp;</p> <p>The startup was created in the summer of 2015 and includes computer science assistant professor, status-only,&nbsp;<strong><a href="http://www.cs.toronto.edu/~frank/">Frank Rudzicz</a></strong>, a scientist with the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute 鈥 an expert in acoustic processing; <a href="http://liamkaufman.com/"><strong>Liam Kaufman</strong></a>, whose experience includes Alzheimer鈥檚 research, and holds both a degree in computer science and a master鈥檚 degree from 茄子直播鈥檚 Institute of Medical Science; and computer science master鈥檚 student <a href="http://www.cs.toronto.edu/~yancheva/"><strong>Maria Yancheva</strong></a>, a computational linguistics student with a background in software engineering and assistive technologies.</p> <p>Winterlight鈥檚 current prototype works by recording a one-to-five-minute speech sample of a person describing an image. The speech sample is then transcribed using automatic speech recognition. Various features of the speech and text sample, including acoustic, lexical, syntactic and semantic aspects are extracted and examined. These features are then put into the machine learning classifier. The prototype has an 81 per cent accuracy rate in classifying speech samples.</p> <p>In an interview with Faculty of Medicine writer <strong>Carolyn Morris</strong>, Rudzicz explained how the technology is able to detect cognitive impairment through observations of diction and syntax.</p> <p>鈥淲hen it comes to word choice and grammar, for example, one of the signs of cognitive impairment would be the use of simple verbs versus gerunds 鈥 so 鈥渢he kid runs鈥 instead of 鈥渢here鈥檚 a kid running.鈥 People with early signs of dementia will often use pronouns instead of more specific nouns. So 鈥<em>she</em>&nbsp;is washing dishes鈥 instead of 鈥<em>The mother</em>&nbsp;is washing dishes.鈥 Then there鈥檚 the interpretation of the images. So, for example, in what we call the 鈥渃ookie theft鈥 image there鈥檚 a woman in a kitchen, an overflowing sink and kids reaching up to steal cookies. Someone with cognitive impairment might notice 鈥渁 kid on a stool,鈥 but not take that next step to point out that 鈥渢he son is trying to steal cookies.鈥 Or they鈥檒l comment on the overflowing sink, but not on the woman failing to notice it.鈥</p> <h2><a href="http://medicine.utoronto.ca/news/start-sifts-through-speech-signs-decline">Read more from Rudzicz鈥檚 interview with Morris</a></h2> <p>鈥淥ur technology has a high level of accuracy and the software is applicable to not only screening for dementia but also early detection and monitoring the disease over time,鈥 says&nbsp;Rudzicz. 鈥淚t鈥檚 truly inspiring to be part of such an innovative project and with such potential to improving the future of health care.鈥</p> <p>Neuropsychological testing for dementia can only be administered once every six months because people are able to learn the test and get better at it over time. Winterlight uses different images as part of their testing diminishing the chance of a learning effect.&nbsp;</p> <p>鈥淏eing able to get such rich information with such a short, easy and cost-effective test is very exciting for us,鈥 says Fraser. 鈥淚 find it motivating to work on an issue that affects so many people. Every time I go to a conference or event where I present my work, I always meet people who have family that has been affected by dementia. It鈥檚 a terrible condition.鈥 &nbsp;</p> <p>Winterlight Labs receives support from three University of Toronto鈥檚 accelerator hubs: Rotman鈥檚 <a href="http://www.creativedestructionlab.com/">Creative Destructive Lab</a>, the Faculty of Medicine鈥檚 <a href="http://h2i.utoronto.ca/about/">Health Innovation Hub</a> (H2i) and the <a href="https://dcsil.cs.toronto.edu/">Department of Computer Science Innovation Lab</a> (DCSIL).</p> <p>The team is starting to conduct pilot studies involving seniors living in Toronto retirement homes this summer. The plan is to obtain more data to further extend their research findings and in the near future, deploy their software in medical care settings.&nbsp;</p> <p>鈥淲e are not necessarily limiting ourselves to just dementia,鈥 says Fraser. 鈥淏ut our long-term goal is to be able to use this technology on other mental and cognitive health issues such aphasia, depression, and development disorders like autism. Our goal is to monitor cognition through speech鈥. &nbsp;</p> <p><img alt class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__1321 img__view_mode__media_original attr__format__media_original" height="500" src="/sites/default/files/2016-06-21-winterlight-labs-embed_0.jpg" typeof="foaf:Image" width="750" loading="lazy"></p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> Tue, 21 Jun 2016 14:16:09 +0000 krisha 14375 at