here is the update on our video
former physician takes action in the face of alzheimers
that is entered in the neurofilm festival associated with this years
american academy of neurology conference in san diego
here is the link to view the video and vote
http://patients.aan.com/go/about/neurofilmfestival
in the fan favorite category
we are presently in second place of the over 70+ videos entered
our video had been viewed over 1700 times since the contest started
thats 3 times the viewings of the first place team
the fan favorite winner will be given a certificate and recognition
at the conference this year
there are also two other categories
the grand prize
runner up
these will be decided by a committee made up of a panel of neurologists
members of the american brain foundation and by experienced filmakers
the winners will be judged on the quality of the story and quality of the film
these two winners will receive financial enumeration and recognition and
their videos will be actually shown at the conference
whereas the fan favorite will not
whats important to us is that our video is being viewed by more and more
people each day which is helping getting the alzheimers story out
to the general public
the jest of our video is that
early detection and treatment and prevention of this disease is how we are
going to defeat this disease
so feel free to share this video with other people
and continue to vote
the fact that we have got so much attention is important for this
contest but also is important for the big picture
of finding a cure for this disease
MEETING
this weekend my wife she and i went to a brunch conference that was
done by the alzheimers research center at the university of texas
southwestern medical center
researchers there talked about what research projects they were
involved in and what was going on in alzheimers studies now
of course the most important study they are involved in at present
is the alzheimers disease neuroimaging initiative study (adni)
this is the one that i am a study subject for
it has so far produced 2000+ scientific research articles
important profiles of this disease are being developed
it seems that the goal like in the video is to identify people before
symptoms show up or very early on like me so that treatment
can be started real early in the disease
it is appearing that once the disease symptoms get started it is
hard to stop it since so much damage has been done already in the
brain it can not be repaired
the goal is to catch things before the damage starts
there are important studies starting this year that will be doing just
that
one in columbia and one in washington where people who we know
carry the gene and will be getting the disease will be treated with
iv medicine that may help prevent the disease
if it does work we will know in the next 5+ years
the other thing at that meeting was
that we were able to mingle some with other volunteers for these studies
some are in the normal control group
that is they have no cognitive problems
(thats what i had planned to do but it didnt work our that way)
other people who are in the studies have the disease
many are early like me but some are more advanced
a couple in their 60s volunteered to be normal controls
she was ok
he was not
he has the disease and is more advanced than i
i recognize that lost look in his eye even though he looked ok
another couple was a retired family doctor like me and his wife
she has the disease which has forced him to go ahead and
retire early to care for her
but she again appears to be ok
but shes not
there are a lot of us out there and there are more coming
us baby boomers who will be affected by this alzheimers thing
and they are going to be identified early in the disease
as more and more testing is available earlier on
and as more and more people learn about how important it
is to know earlier and to get diagnosed earlier
this was a good meeting for us
it reinforced that my wife she and i are doing the right thing
to expose ourselves so others can maybe know what to do
the organicgreen doctor
No comments:
Post a Comment