Medinteract

Dr. Monica Crane – Discusses Alzheimer’s Disease

Dr. Monica Crane, at the University of Tennessee Medical Center and Cole Neuroscience Center discusses Alzheimer’s Disease symptoms and treatment options in a short video produce by UT Medical Center.

Sports Illustrated – Finding a Cure

Medinteract Co-founder, Dr. John Dougherty, was quoted in the article “Finding A Cure” by Alexander Wolf in the December 12, 2011 issue.

Excerpt  – “Early diagnosis is so important,” says Dr. John Dougherty, who runs the Memory Clinic at the University of Tennessee’s Cole Neuroscience Center. “The goal is prevention through delay. If we can delay symptoms by five years with medication and exercise, we can reduce the number of sufferers by six- to eight million—[about] the population of metropolitan Atlanta.”

View the full article

The cover featured: Sportsman Of The Year: Mike Krzyzewski / Sportswoman Of The Year: Pat Summitt

The two winningest coaches in Division I college basketball history (907 for him, 1,075 for her) have more in common than just extraordinary success. For reaching far beyond their campuses and refusing to be defined by their genders, SI honors them together.

Medinteract – Selected as the 2011 Technology Company of the Year

Tech 2020′s Tennessee Valley Technology Council presented its annual Navigator Awards Wednesday, November 16, during the first day of the Entrepreneurial Imperative 2011 Conference. Awards of excellence were given for this year’s top entrepreneur, researcher, and technology company, as well as for the Tech Commericalization Champion of the year.

Selected as the 2011 Technology Company of the Year, Medinteract  was cofounded by Andrew Dougherty. Medinteract provides efficient and effective detection of Alzheimer’s disease by their computer based cognitive screening testing technology. Early detection leads to early intervention delaying the impact of the disease. Medinteract is now providing their detection services to a range of medical service providers across the region.

See the full release from Tech2020′s Tennessee Valley Technology Council.

Dementia Screening Cuts Health Costs

Today, Bloomberg Businessweek published a study documenting the decrease in the cost of care when dementia is diagnosed early. Cost savings is a great thing. But bigger than that is the increased quality of life and potential delay of disease progression for early and proper diagnosis. The earlier we diagnose a disease like Alzheimer’s, the more effective the treatments are at staving off the onset of additional symptoms or worsening of those existing. Read More

Free Memory Testing During Alzheimer’s Awareness Garden

This week Medinteract is offering the ALZselftest free to the public as part of the 4th Annual Alzheimer’s Awareness Garden. This is part of our ongoing effort to educate the public and screen seniors for early signs of Alzheimer’s, while there’s still plenty of time to treat it.  Please join us if you are in the Knoxville area. The Memory Walk takes place Saturday, April 17th.

The Brain and Spine Institute in collaboration with the Cole Neuroscience Center will again host the 4th Annual Alzheimer’s Awareness Garden April 12-16. The Alzheimer’s Awareness Garden honors families and caregivers impacted by Alzheimer’s. This year, the garden will be located outdoors in the Healing Garden.

April 5 to 9, the week prior to opening the garden, special activities are planned in the main lobby from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. daily including the following.

• Computerized memory testing
• Tips for coping with caregiver stress
• “Food for Thought”
• Diabetes, stroke and the Alzheimer’s connection
• Brain games and teasers

Alzheimer’s ABC’s: Cognitive Changes II (Apathy, Delusion)

Cognitive Changes in AD: Apathy and Delusion

In the last post we considered the cognitive change of depression, and how it can affect those with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), as well as some tips to help discern between pure depression and AD.

Today we’ll consider other cognitive change often seen along with AD – apathy and delusion.

Some AD patients develop frustration, agitation or combativeness, which can be extremely difficult to treat and manage (if you are a caregiver for an AD patient with these symptoms, you are all too aware of the strain this can create). Sometimes change in personality with agitated features can be an early manifestation of AD so pay close attention to this. Read More

Alzheimer's ABC's: Understanding Early Warning Signs

In the last post we began to take a closer look at some of the more widely known symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), as well as to explore the differences between normal aging and cognitive impairment within those symptoms.  In this post I am going to provide you a list of areas in your day-to-day life where symptoms of AD appear, to help you better distinguish normal aging from the signs of something more serious. Read More

Alzheimer's ABC's: Understanding The Symptoms

This is the second post in a blog series by Dr. John Dougherty, intended to simplify and demystify Alzheimer’s disease, and help you better recognize the signs and symptoms.

In the last post we learned that the single most important place to begin our understanding of Alzheimer’s is history. I start the process by building a timeline from symptom onset with the individual (and family members).  In the next few posts we’ll take a look at Alzheimer’s symptoms. We begin the list today with some of the more widely known symptoms, but we examine more closely how to distinguish signs of normal aging from those of possible impairment within them.

Repeated and persistent signs of forgetfulness
As people age they frequently complain of losing keys, losing a wallet or purse, a checkbook, or some other staple item.  With normal aging you may forget where you parked your car after shopping, or you may forget a turn or two in the car but not be lost. Read More

Alzheimer's ABC's: Start With Where We've Been

This is part of a blog series by Dr. John Dougherty, to simplify and demystify Alzheimer’s disease, and help you better recognize the signs and symptoms.

As the first in a series of posts I’d like to begin my telling you a bit about myself.  I’ve been a neurologist for 25 years, and an Alzheimer’s disease (AD) specialist for more than 10 years.  As the Director of the Cole Neuroscience Center in Knoxville, TN I currently follow over 2,000 patients with AD in my practice.

I lost my mother, my uncle and my grandmother to Alzheimer’s disease.  My mother died in her mid-eighties, and had AD symptoms for almost 15 years prior to her death. Read More

Give The Gift of Cognitive Health

I had a conversation last week with a trainer for a large Assisted Living Facility corporation. She has the daunting task of re-training the staff of all the facilities in that organization on their approach with residents. In particular, she is working to train them to understand that their approach has a great impact on whether a resident will comply or take part in activities geared towards stimulating their cognition.

We talked about how she struggles to help the staff understand that, while it may seem easier in the short run, doing tasks FOR the residents actually has a negative impact on them long term.  It may seem easier to just take a senior by the hand and lead them where they need to go, or to manage their time and take responsibility for when/where they need to be.  But doing this causes them to relinquish the responsibility and starts a slow process of atrophy in the cognitive domain associated with that task. Read More