Here's the video about the Nun study done by researcher David Snowdon:
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=6c4_1226747631
These nuns have agreed to donate their brains to science to study more about how brain diseases develop. I found it amazing that 6 of the nuns were over 100 years old and still in very good shape. Their brains showed signs of Alzheimer's but they don't have any physical or mental characteristics of the disease. In addition, higher educated nuns have lived longer. This just shows the importance of keeping your mind active. As they say... "Use it or lose it.
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i really wanted to know more about it and i found this article that was published in Time magazine in 2001 which talks about it.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,999867-1,00.html
it has some pictures of the nuns and they look amazing and do very active things for their ages
I have heard about the nun study before. It always amazes me. Except I never actually watched any video about it. Now I am really curious to know why the nun's who had the plaques that are associated with Alzheimer's didn't actually present with any dementia. Is there any info out there that explains this?
I am also interested to learn why the nuns which showed evidence of Alzheimer's didn't present with any dementia. Specifically, I'm curious to know what exactly constitutes as "evidence" of Alzheimer's. What criteria do doctors use to determine whether or not someone has Alzheimer's?
I found some info about AD. A dementia such as Alzheimer's disease is difficult to diagnose. A number of diagnostic tests are carried out to see what is wrong with a patient who seems to be presenting with signs and symptoms of dementia. At the present time an autopsy is the only test that can confirm a diagnosis of Alzheimer's. The autopsy will show the typical signs of cerebral shrinkage and destruction of brain cells. Alzheimer’s disease is therefore often diagnosed by a process of elimination. Your family doctor, or specialist neurologist or gerontologist, and their multidisciplinary teams include information from such things as:
1) A thorough medical history of the patient and their family history.
2) An assessment of the person’s mental and physical state.
3) Psychological assessment and testing.
4) A neurological examination and assessment.
5) Lab tests and brain scans.
Once a diagnosis is made it has it is usually 80% to 90% accurate. An autopsy is the only way it which the diagnosis can be confirmed.
Resource:
http://alzheimers.about.com/cs/diagnosisissues/f/faq_diagnosis.htm
This past holiday weekend my whooole family was sitting around during Thanksgiving dinner talking about Alzheimer's (my great grandma was diagnosed with it long ago) and I was so excited to tell everyone about this study! I felt so educated and everyone was all impressed - I even grabbed my computer and made everyone watch the video. haha I'm a nerd :)
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