WHAT’S NEW?
‘FLYING SAM’ TO TAKE ON FUNDRAISING
BUNGEE JUMP Staff at Balhousie Forth View Care Home have launched a fundraising appeal to buy a state-of-the-art multi- sensory table to help enhance the lives of their residents.
https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/samantha-beattie-1
The appeal is being led by deputy care home manager, Samantha Beattie, who is completing a daring bungee jump in May to help the Methil-based home reach a target of £3000 to purchase the special equipment. The special sensory equipment will help to stimulate and relax residents, particularly those with dementia.
Staff are supporting Samantha's appeal by raising money through sponsored walks, silences, car washing and various other activities, making the appeal a real team effort.
Sam will be making the big 160ſt leap on Saturday, May 12th
Riverside Museum. To donate, visit Samantha's JustGiving page here.
Affectionately known as ‘Flying Sam' by fellow staff and residents aſter completing a skydive last year to raise money for a virtual reality system for the home, Samantha is hoping they can reach their new fundraising target and bring another piece of new technology which will make a significant difference to the residents.
WOMEN WITH ALZHEIMER’S LOSE VERBAL COMMUNICATION SKILLS QUICKER
THAN MEN A new research review, conducted by academics at the University of Hertfordshire, has identified that the cognitive areas where women usually have the upper hand over men, such as verbal communication, are those quickest to decline in women as the Alzheimer’s disease progresses. The study’s findings have been published in the March issue of the journal Current Opinions in Psychiatry.
The study follows on from previous research by paper author Dr Keith Laws which revealed that women had more cognitive deterioration at the same stage of Alzheimer’s than men. In the current study, Dr Laws analysed
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298 articles published between 2016 and 2017 reviewing the disparity between the sexes in relation to areas where cognitive decline is greater in women and the factors contributing to this decline.
The emerging evidence consistently
shows that women suffer significantly greater cognitive impairment across a wide range of cognitive domains including both visual and verbal processing, as well as memory.
Keith Laws, Professor of Cognitive Neuropsychology at the University of Hertfordshire, said: “Men and women at high genetic risk of Alzheimer’s disease may share some resilience factors; however, sex-specific resilience factors also exist and may have implications for different care strategies to ameliorate cognitive decline.
“In terms of sex-specific resilience, women benefit from being married, living with a partner, lower BMI and alcohol use; while for men something as seemingly random as ‘pet ownership’ can aid resilience,
, 2018 at Glasgow
Samantha said: "Like the virtual reality system, a new multi-sensory table will offer many benefits to residents including improved memory, mood and verbal communication. It will be particularly beneficial to residents living with dementia who have lost the ability to communicate. It is wonderful to see people who can no longer verbalise their feelings benefitting from this kind of technology."
The multi-sensory table, which in essence is a large interactive tablet laid flat on a table, will allow residents to draw, paint, view pictures, listen to music, play games and take part in many other interactive activities.
Balhousie Forth View Care Home Manager, Gordon Candlish, said: "Aſter the popularity of the virtual reality system, it is great that we, with some extra special fundraising efforts, will be able to offer another brilliant interactive experience for residents. We can't thank Sam enough for her efforts - we wish her well on her bungee jump. Rather her than us!"
www.balhousiecare.co.uk
presumably because it is also linked to exercise. There are also some common factors that are protective to both sexes – including doing puzzles and crosswords, and their education.”
The previous research identified a variety of reasons as to why women may be more adversely affected by Alzheimer’s than men. Some researchers argue that it’s due to a reduction of oestrogen in postmenopausal women - the menopause diminishes cognitive functions such as memory, which is subsequently compounded by Alzheimer’s. Another possibility concerns the fact that men have traditionally spent more time in work, and this activity may give them greater ‘cognitive reserve’, enabling them to better resist the impact of the illness. Another theory relates to a specific gene (APOE 4) which has been linked to Alzheimer’s. Women are more likely to be carriers of this gene which is linked to cognitive decline and memory problems even in healthy individuals.
https://journals.lww.com/co-psychiatry/Abstract/2018/03000/Sex_differences_in_Alzheimer_s_disease.11.aspx The paper is available here.
www.tomorrowscare.co.uk
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