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T h e M e m o r y K e y
<http://www.memory-key.com>

Your resource for information about memory and memory improvement

April 2006

<http://www.memory-key.com/newsletters/issue_80.htm>

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THIS MONTH ON MEMORY-KEY.COM:

NEWS
Risk of mild cognitive impairment increases with less education
Age-related vision problems may be associated with cognitive impairment
AIDS-related cognitive impairment exists in two separate forms
More on why older adults are more distractible
Prenatal exposure to urban air pollutants affects cognitive development
Neurogenesis not the sole cause of enriched environment effects
Specific brain region for reading
Fast language learners have more white matter in auditory region
New understanding of how neurons communicate

ALZHEIMER'S NEWS
Social networks protect against Alzheimer's
Dietary supplements offer new hope for Alzheimer's patients
New genetic cause of Alzheimer's disease

PODCAST

BLOG
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Find out more about my e-book on "Remembering intentions" at:
http://www.memory-key.com/shop/intention_ebook.htm
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Find out about my new YA novel at:
http://www.fmmcpherson.com/
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NEWS
<http://www.memory-key.com/MemoryGuide/news.htm>

April 2006
<http://www.memory-key.com/news/2006/news_2006Apr.htm>

Risk of mild cognitive impairment increases with less education
An epidemiological study suggests 9% of those aged 70 to 79 and nearly 18% of those 80 to 89 have mild cognitive impairment. Prevalence varied with years of education: from 25% in those with up to eight years of education to 8.5% in those with more than 16 years.
http://www.memory-key.com/news/2006/news_2006Apr.htm#mild

Age-related vision problems may be associated with cognitive impairment
An investigation into the relationship between vision problems and cognitive impairment has found that average scores on cognitive tests decreased as vision decreased, although the reason for this association can only be speculated at this stage.
http://www.memory-key.com/news/2006/news_2006Apr.htm#vision

AIDS-related cognitive impairment exists in two separate forms
A study has found that cognitive impairment in people with AIDS exists in two forms -- one mild, another severe -- each affecting different areas of the brain. The mild impairment group only showed problems in the area of psychomotor speed, while those in the severe impairment group showed impairments in memory and visual-spatial processing as well as psychomotor speed.
http://www.memory-key.com/news/2006/news_2006Apr.htm#AIDS

More on why older adults are more distractible
A number of recent studies have made it clear that as we age, we find it harder to block out unwanted distractions. A study using a new brain imaging technique supports the view that the growing difficulty at blocking out distractions is due to inefficient filtering of irrelevant sensory information , not faster sensory memory decay.
http://www.memory-key.com/news/2006/news_2006Apr.htm#distractible

Prenatal exposure to urban air pollutants affects cognitive development
A study of three-year-old children in New York City has found that exposure during pregnancy to combustion-related urban air pollutants was linked to significantly lower scores on mental development tests and more than double the risk of developmental delay at age three.
http://www.memory-key.com/news/2006/news_2006Apr.htm#pollutants

Neurogenesis not the sole cause of enriched environment effects
It’s been assumed that the improvement in cognitive function found with a more stimulating environment has resulted from the neurogenesis also found. However, a new study indicates that the improvement in cognitive function occurs even when neurogenesis is prevented.
http://www.memory-key.com/news/2006/news_2006Apr.htm#Neurogenesis

Specific brain region for reading
The experience of an epileptic requiring removal of a small area next to the so-called visual word-form area (VWFA) has provided support for the idea that there’s a specific area of the brain that enables us to read efficiently by allowing us to process the visual image of entire words.
http://www.memory-key.com/news/2006/news_2006Apr.htm#reading

Fast language learners have more white matter in auditory region
An imaging study has found that fast language learners have significantly more white matter in a region of the brain that’s critical for processing sound. The variation in people’s ability to learn to tell two closely related sounds apart is also worth noting — the fastest could do it within 8 minutes; the slowest were still guessing randomly after 20 minutes.
http://www.memory-key.com/news/2006/news_2006Apr.htm#language

New understanding of how neurons communicate
A new study contradicts what we thought we knew about how neurons communicate with each other, and may lead to a better understanding of disorders such as epilepsy and migraine.
http://www.memory-key.com/news/2006/news_2006Apr.htm#neurons

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ALZHEIMER'S NEWS
<http://www.memory-key.com/Seniors/Alzheimers%20news.htm>

April 2006
<http://www.memory-key.com/Seniors/Alzheimers_2006a.htm>

Social networks protect against Alzheimer's
Previous studies have found that older people with more extensive social networks are less likely to suffer cognitive impairment. Now a new study provides evidence that social networks, like education, offers a 'protective reserve' capacity that spares them the clinical manifestations of Alzheimer's disease.
http://www.memory-key.com/Seniors/Alzheimers_2006a.htm#Social

Dietary supplements offer new hope for Alzheimer's patients
A "cocktail" of dietary supplements (omega-3 fatty acids, uridine and choline) has been found to dramatically increase the amount of membranes that form brain cell synapses in gerbils. It is hoped that such treatment may significantly delay Alzheimer's disease.
http://www.memory-key.com/Seniors/Alzheimers_2006a.htm#supplements

New genetic cause of Alzheimer's disease
A genetic study of Alzheimer's patients younger than 70 has found genetic variations in the promoter that increases the gene expression and thus the formation of the amyloid precursor protein. The higher the expression (up to 150% as in Down syndrome), the younger the patient (starting between 50 and 60 years of age). Thus, the amount of amyloid precursor protein is a genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease.
http://www.memory-key.com/Seniors/Alzheimers_2006a.htm#APP

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PODCAST

This month I discuss and connect several of the news items reported in this months news digest on the theme of mental activity, health, and cognitive decline.

This link will take you to a schedule for the program:
http://www.memory-key.com/podcasts/podnews506.htm

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BLOG
www.memory-key.com/blogger.html

Latest posts:

* More fuel for the addictive-personality debate
* Individual differences in how we anticipate pain
* being loss-averse is an innate characteristic of humans

* subliminal advertising
* human perception is better than we realize
* genes affect whether children like to read
* a pretty woman affects men’s decision-making abilities
* watching the brain "lose itself" in an activity
* 3 heads are better than one
* the neural basis of 'choice deficit' disorders

Note that the blog is indexed chronologically at
http://www.memory-key.com/indices/blog_index.htm

And by subject, at http://www.memory-key.com/indices/blog_index2.htm

You can also access my blog with an RSS feed. The URL is
http://memory-key.com/ftp.memory-key.com/atom.xml, or just click the
Bloglines button on the sidebar of my blog.

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in particular sometimes have their mail bounced back "overquota"), you can
read back issues at: http://www.memory-key.com/newsletters/newsletters.htm

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The Memory Key website is named after my book "The Memory Key", a
practical user-friendly handbook designed to help people achieve
genuine, long-lasting memory improvement.

http://www.memory-key.com/AboutTheSite/about_book.htm

www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1564144704/thememorykey-20

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