Health and Medicine – Page 28

New Alzheimer's Programs from the Brain Channel's On Our Mind

Watch the latest Alzheimer’s Disease programs from the Brain Channel!

The Brain Channel’s flagship series On Our Mind is endeavoring in the next few months to take a closer look at Alzheimer’s disease. Join Dr. William Mobley as he meets with those on the front lines of this disease to discuss current and potential therapies, testing, clinical trials, neuropathology, public policy and so much more.

Online now:

1761 Diagnosing Alzheimer’s Disease
How do you know when memory problems become more than just problems? Diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease can be challenging but new tests and scientific insight are making the process simpler and more accurate. Michael Rafii, MD, PhD joins William Mobley, MD, PhD to discuss when to see a doctor, what to expect during the diagnosis process, and other valuable information for patients and their families.

1761 Developing New Drugs for Alzheimer’s Disease
What does the future hold for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease? Steven L. Wagner, PhD joins William Mobley, MD, PhD to discuss the development of new drugs to aid in the fight. Wagner describes amyloid plaques as “the cholesterol of the brain” and is working to find a way to suppress its adverse effects.

1761 Down Syndrome and Alzheimer’s Disease
By the age of 40, nearly all people with Down syndrome have the plaques and tangles associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Michael Rafii, MD, PhD joins William Mobley, MD, PhD to discuss why this occurs, the prevalence and progression of Alzheimer’s disease, potential treatment models and current research affecting this predisposed population.

1761 Detecting Alzheimer’s Disease Earlier and Effectively
Early detection of Alzheimer’s disease – before symptoms are visible – may be a key to stopping the disease’s progression. What warning signs are researchers looking for and what tools can they use? Paul Aisen, MD joins William Mobley, MD, PhD to discuss optimal assessments for diagnosing the disease, novel tools making earlier diagnosis possible, and the road map to developing drugs to slow, halt, and prevent Alzheimer’s.

Watch all the programs in this informative series and stay tuned for upcoming episodes.

Eating For Health (and Pleasure): The UCSF Guide to Good Nutrition

Healthy eating is not about strict dietary limitations, staying unrealistically thin, or depriving yourself of foods you love. Rather, it’s about feeling good, having more energy, and sustaining your mental disposition. If you feel overwhelmed by all the conflicting nutrition and diet advice out there, you are not alone.

UCSF Professor of Medicine Dr. Robert Baron and Registered Dietician and Diabetes Educator Katie Ferraro discuss eating healthy in this series from UCSF, Eating for Health (and Pleasure): The UCSF Guide to Good Nutrition.

8232 How Do We Know What to Eat, Drink (and Take)?
Dr. Baron addresses this often perplexing question. He explains what you can do to improve your diet, as well as what supplements you should — and should NOT — be taking. You may be surprised at the evidence.

8232 Dietary Guidelines: From Pyramid to Plate
65% of the world’s population live in countries where obesity kills more people than those who are underweight. Katie Ferraro, takes us through the history of the food pyramid and how to judge what to put on your plate to maintain healthy weight.

8232 Dietary Fats: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly
Katie Ferraro explains a healthy person on 2,000 calorie diet per day should strive for 65 grams total fat, less than 20 grams saturated fat, zero grams trans fat and under 200 milligrams of dietary cholesterol. Learn more about each type of fat and how to identify which is in what food.

8232 Understanding Obesity
Dr. Baron explains the prevalence of obesity and trends in obesity rates, then looks at what we can do about it. He takes a look at various popular diets along with surgical and medicine options and concludes that the goal is to be as fit as possible at your current weight and prevent further weight gain, then begin weight loss.

Browse all programs in the series, Eating for Health (and Pleasure): The UCSF Guide to Good Nutrition.

Sexuality and Aging

As we grow older, sexuality takes on a broader definition. A good sex life — at any age — involves a lot more than just sex. It’s also about intimacy and touch, which can benefit us all.

Understandably, sex at 70 or 80 may not be like it was at 20 or 30 — but in some ways it can be better. Even if you have health problems or physical disabilities, you can engage in intimate acts and benefit from closeness with another person.

In this presentation, psychiatrist Dan Sewell debunks several myths about sex and aging, and gives us guidelines for discussing sex and maintaining healthy sexual function in later life.

Dr. Sewell currently fills a number of roles at UC San Diego which include: Medical Director of the Senior Behavioral Health Program, Director of the Geropsychiatry Fellowship Program, Co-director of the Memory Aging and Resilience Clinic, and Associate Director for the UC San Diego Hartford Foundation Center of Excellence in Geriatric Psychiatry.

Watch Sexuality and Aging and tune in for more programs from the Stein Institute for Research on Aging.

Do 4.2 Million Children Really Need Ritalin?

In 2011, Dr. Sanford Newmark posed an important question: Do 2.5 million children really need Ritalin?

Nearly 3 years later, the number of children taking Ritalin has risen to 4.2 million.

Dr. Newmark, head of the Pediatric Integrative Neurodevelopmental Program at UCSF, specializes in the integrative and holistic treatment of children with autism and ADHD. While drugs such as Ritalin definitely serve a vital role in helping some children, he suggests that misdiagnoses, not allowing for normal variations in a child’s learning styles and abilities, and a growing “pill culture” may be causing doctors to over prescribe.

Instead, Dr. Newmark prefers an integrative approach that looks at the whole child in terms of friends, family, community, and school. In many cases, changes in diet, environment, and parental skills can have a significant positive impact on a child’s behavior – without the use of drugs.

“When we do make a diagnosis, it makes sense to explore non-pharmaceutical options before moving to psychostimulants. We have to be careful not to over diagnose ADHD and allow for many normal variations of learning styles and abilities.”

Watch Dr. Newmark in this UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Medicine presentation:

Do 4.2 Million Children Really Need Ritalin? An Integrative Approach to ADHD, 2014 Update

On Our Mind – Alzheimer's Disease

An estimated 5 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease and that number will continue to rise. The impact will be felt not just in the homes of the diagnosed but by their caregivers, their loved ones, their communities, and beyond.