I love Yahoo! News for many reasons. I found the following article while perusing today:

TUESDAY, April 19 (HealthDay News) — The first new guidelines in 27 years for the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease could double the number of Americans defined as having the brain-robbing illness.

The guidelines, issued Tuesday by the Alzheimer’s Association and the U.S. National Institute of Aging, differ in two important ways from the last recommendations, which have been in use since 1984.

First, Alzheimer’s is now being recognized as a continuum of stages: Alzheimer’s itself with clear symptoms; mild cognitive impairment (MCI) with mild symptoms; and also the “preclinical” stage, when there are no symptoms but when recognizable brain changes may already be occurring.

Second, the new guidelines incorporate the use of so-called “biomarkers” — such as the levels of certain proteins in blood or spinal fluid — to diagnose the disease and assess its progress, but almost exclusively for research purposes only.

Still, the authors of the guidelines emphasized that these revisions are unlikely to change what happens in doctors’ offices when diagnosing Alzheimer’s or its precursors.

“It will not change practice,” said Dr. Guy M. McKhann, one of the guideline authors, at a Monday press conference.

MCI will, however, become a new diagnosis. And that could mean that the number of people considered to be on the new Alzheimer’s continuum could double, said Marilyn Albert, another author, director of the division of cognitive neuroscience at Johns Hopkins. But how MCI is determined won’t change.

The new U.S. National Institute on Aging/Alzheimer’s Association Diagnostic Guidelines for Alzheimer’s Disease now recognize three clear stages of Alzheimer’s disease.

The first and most severe is Alzheimer’s dementia, when patients are clearly cognitively and functionally impaired. This is to be characterized now not just bymemory loss but also visual, spatial and judgment problems.

The new guidelines also make a clearer distinction between Alzheimer’s dementia and vascular dementia (such as that caused by stroke), McKhann said. The diagnosis will still be made by a doctor, with help from someone who knows the patient and perhaps the patient him- or herself, but biomarkers may be called in “to augment our certainty about the diagnosis,” said McKhann, a professor of neurology and neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.

Another stage, MCI, can represent an earlier phase of dementia and consists of modest impairments, primarily in memory, which can be a harbinger of full-blown Alzheimer’s years down the road. In the research arena, investigators will be working towards standardizing biomarkers which indicate, for example, the presence of amyloid protein or nerve damage in the brain.

But for now, how diagnoses are made “will be extremely similar to what’s been used in the last 10 years,” said Albert, who added that “a very large number” of individuals with MCI do go on to develop Alzheimer’s.

“Older adults with MCI progress to dementia at a higher rate than those with no impairment, but progression is not inevitable,” according to the Alzheimer’s Association’s online overview of mild cognitive impairment.

“Not everyone diagnosed with MCI goes on to develop Alzheimer’s,” the association noted.

The preclinical category was formulated for research purposes only, namely to study biomarkers that may be present in the blood or cerebrospinal fluid or evident on different imaging tests that would indicate the build-up of amyloid plaque or damage to nerve cells.

“The main conceptual point was to define Alzheimer’s on the basis of the underlying brain changes rather than just requiring clinical symptoms,” said Dr. Reisa A. Sperling, a neurologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and associate professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School in Boston. “We thought our best chance for disease-modifying therapy was to detect evidence of the disease and intervene much earlier.”

As in cancer and diabetes, McKhann pointed out, if you’re trying therapies “only in people who have advanced dementia, the chances of them working is not very great.”

“We’re worried that there could be drugs around now that could be beneficial but that we could be using them too late in the disease course,” added Albert.

The new guidelines, summarized William Thies, chief medical and scientific officer of the Alzheimer’s Association, “will result in little change in current clinical practice of medicine as applied to Alzheimer’s disease. . . . [However] the new criteria are really extending the range of our ability to investigate this disease and eventually to find treatments that will be so necessary to avoid the epidemic of Alzheimer’s that we see facing us.”

The new guidelines appear in four papers in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association.

More information

The Alzheimer’s Association has more about mild cognitive impairment (MCI).

Copyright © 2011HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Here is an inspiring video about a bride fulfilling her dream after a lot of hard work, I am sure. As PT’s we get to help people fulfill their dreams, one step at at a time. (You may shed a tear now…) Click “read the full story” below, then Click here to watch the video.

Well, if you are in or near Oregon and you have been rejected by one PT school after another, you have another option.  George Fox University has plans to begin their DPT program in the fall of 2012.

This will make GFU the second physical therapy program in the state and an addition to the few in the surrounding states.

The school is currently searching for professors and will soon apply with Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education (CAPTE).  GFU plans on beginning with a first class of 30 students.

To read more about the program, you can visit the school website at: http://www.georgefox.edu/physical-therapy/.

Drinking coffee appears to offer protection against stroke, a major study of women concludes.

Women in the study who drank more than a cup of coffee a day had a 22% to 25% lower risk of stroke than those who drank less, according to findings reported Thursday in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association. Stroke is the third leading cause of death in the USA, behind heart disease and cancer.

Swedish researcher Susanna Larsson of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm followed 34,670 women ages 49-83 for an average of 10 years. The questionnaire completed by the women did not inquire whether their coffee was regular or decaffeinated, but the authors say the number of people who drink decaf in Sweden is very low.

To read the rest of the article click here

I recently read an article regarding cardiac rehab and how patients with heart disease are not taking advantage of it.

According to the article, approximately 70-80% of heart disease patients discharged from a hospital do not take advantage of cardiac rehabilitation despite a reduction in death rate of 25% for those who took advantage of this program.

A recent study has shown that providing patients with an automatic referral for cardiac rehabilitation increased the number of those taking advantage from 29% to 60%.  Liaison referral in addition to automatic referral added another 10% to the participation rate from 60 to 70%.

The authors of this study believe will increase participation in cardiac rehabilitation by 45%.  So if you’re in to the whole cardiac rehab thing, be sure and let everyone you know about this study.

To read this article in its entirety, click here.

Holy cow! If this doesn’t upset some people I don’t know what will. A few days ago The Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy announced that they will discontinue continuous testing effective July 1, 2011 and move to a fixed-date testing schedule.

What that basically means is after June 30th, 2011  you will no longer be able to take the NPTE at any time, but instead have 3 select dates to take the test on for the remainder of 2011. Sounds like a great idea right?? Yeah right.

Below is what their website has on the matter. I can understand the reasoning behind it, but to only offer 3 dates to take it on and having the first available test not until September seems a bit ridiculous to me.

In order to address security concerns and protect the integrity of the National Physical Therapy Examination (NPTE), while complying with the recent order entered in Georgia, the FSBPT will cease continuous testing and begin fixed-date administration for ALL candidates for the NPTE for PTs. (You can view the Georgia order by going to www.fsbpt.org/NPTE-i and selecting “Latest Updates.”)

Continuous testing until June 30, 2011
Continuous testing will be available for PT graduates until June 30, 2011.

2011 testing dates beginning July 1, 2011
Beginning July 1, 2011, all PT NPTE candidates will be able to schedule their test on one of three dates in 2011.

• September 7, 2011 (Wednesday)
• October 20, 2011 (Thursday)
• December 5, 2011 (Monday)

2012 testing dates
There will be five testing dates in 2012 for the PT NPTE. We are working with Prometric to determine best dates for accommodating candidate volume.

Purpose of fixed-date testing
By offering the NPTE on a limited number of fixed dates, the FSBPT will be able to ensure that the NPTE given on a particular date will not contain previously compromised items. This change in procedure is designed to substantially reduce or eliminate candidates’ ability to gain a score advantage by having advance access to NPTE questions. The new procedure’s purpose is to ensure the validity of scores on the NPTE and fulfill the member boards’ and FSBPT’s shared responsibility of protecting the public.

PTA students are not affected
Note that this does not affect PTA graduates; continuous testing continues for PTA graduates.

Background:
As you may know, Georgia candidates had initiated a lawsuit challenging the Federation’s decision to develop a version of the NPTE for graduates of physical therapy schools from Egypt, India, Pakistan and the Philippines (the NPTE-i). The Federation’s decision to develop the NPTE-i was made in response to objective, compelling evidence of pervasive sharing of recalled items by and among graduates of these programs.

On February 9, 2011, a Georgia Superior Court judge granted an injunction to three graduates of physical therapy programs in the Philippines against the Georgia State Board of Physical Therapy and the FSBPT. The injunction prohibits the Georgia Board and the FSBPT from enforcing in Georgia a July 2010 security measure implemented by the FSBPT that requires graduates receiving their first physical therapy degree from programs in Egypt, India, Pakistan and the Philippines to take an NPTE-i form of the National Physical Therapy Examination.

The judge’s ruling was based upon the plaintiffs’ argument that the Georgia Board failed to follow the formal “rule making” requirements of the Georgia Administrative Procedures Act and exceeded its statutory authority by adopting the FSBPT security measure. The judge’s ruling was limited to these two issues and does not address the plaintiffs’ additional arguments, including their assertion that the security measure violates their Due Process and Equal Protection rights under the Georgia Constitution.

source|fsbpt.org

Certain conditions are becoming more evident in the patient population. Diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity are very common comorbidities that we see often as therapists among the intermittent conditions in each patient’s medical history.

Fibromyalagia is a syndrome (collection of symptoms) which is frequented in many patients medical history. It seems to be a regular diagnosis especially on patients with significant medical problems.

It is hard to say whether this unique rise has been due to increased awareness or increased occurrence. Although its commonality is well documented, its awareness among clinicians varies. Continue Reading

You heard me, are you nice to yourself? This question encompasses the major idea behind a new field of psychology called self-compassion.Basically, we tend to treat others better than we treat ourselves. Recent research has urged that self abasement produces personal feelings of neglect and loneliness which can lead to depression, overeating, suicidal thoughts and even change our brain chemistry.

Feelings often drive us to new highs or new lows in our life but can these feelings be produced by an altered sense of self worth. Can a poor self esteem and in turn self abasement lead to changes that can alter our life. Continue Reading

I am sure that everyone of us has heard of working our core. The question is why are core exercises so important? Are the guys in the gym with rippling six packs an example what we mean by core stability?

Surprisingly, most of Americans (including the ones with ripped abs)  are at risk of low back injuries in the future. These core muscles include small intricate connections of muscle within the spine along with the larger strap like muscles that surround the spine and anterior portion of the abdomen. Continue Reading