There is an intuitive logic to the idea that decreased sensory input would worsen cognitive decline. As 47 million adults currently live with dementia, and that number is expected to triple by the year 2050, understanding this idea could be a public health boon. If we can define the relationship between impaired sensory input and dementia, we can then create interventions to … [Read more...]
Content Marketing: A Solution to the Divide Between Running a Business and the Hippocratic Oath?
Running a private medical practice puts physicians in a unique position, walking a careful line between taking care of their business and taking care of their patients. An editorial released this month (Jan 2019) in JAMA says it well: ...on one hand, health care revolves around a sacred compact between patients and clinicians and local institutions; on the other hand, health … [Read more...]
Patients Asking You About the Keto Diet?
Cauliflower rice. If you haven’t already eaten some, you’ve probably seen it proliferating in grocery stores and on social media. According to this Consumer Reports article, cauliflower is the new kale, with sales rising 71 percent last year. For a growing number of carb conscious eaters, chopped or “riced” cauliflower has become a popular substitute for well… rice. Of all the … [Read more...]
Approaching Precision Medicine for ALS
For the lay public, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) appears to be a single disease entity. But clinicians have a front row seat to the heterogeneous clinical presentations that ALS offers up. The differences in presentation make both studying the disease and treating it a challenge. At the annual meeting of AANEM last fall, Matthew Harms, MD, discussed how this clinical … [Read more...]
Bias in Dementia Screening
Since its 1975 publication in the Journal of Psychiatric Research, the Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE) has become a staple of dementia screening. The simple test, which requires no special equipment, provides a cursory assessment for cognitive impairment, testing for things like orientation to time and place and the ability to follow complex instructions. The MMSE is widely … [Read more...]