Dana Foundation Blog

Dana Foundation on Storify

During last Saturday's Staying Sharp session, we covered the event live using Storify, a program that allows users to pull information from all over the internet—Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc.—and assemble it in one place. You can find Dana's Storify post from Staying Sharp here: http://storify.com/dana_fdn/staying-sharp-mount-vernon.

As you can see, the Storify post includes many tweets and photos, listed chronologically, and allows readers to follow the event as if they were there. Towards the end, you can find the panelists' "one important nugget" they shared with the audience.

We will be using Storify again at the next Staying Sharp event in Las Vegas in a few weeks. Stay tuned!

--Andrew Kahn

Live Webcast on Memory: April 11

Tomorrow (April 11) from 11:30am-noon, the Kavli Foundation is hosting a live Google Hangout on memory and they are taking questions now. On hand to respond to these questions will be Bradford Dickerson, associate professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School and director of the Frontotemporal Disorders Unit and Dickerson Neuroimaging Lab at Massachusetts General Hospital; and Mayank Mehta, professor of neurophysics at the Brain Research Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles. Science writer Bruce Lieberman will moderate.

You can submit your questions before or during the webcast by sending an e-mail to info@kavlifoundation.org or by tweeting them with the hashtag #KavliNeuro.

To access the Hangout, click here.

--Ann L. Whitman

braiNY: Staying Sharp in NYC

Wednesday was the third day of Brain Awareness Week (BAW), a global campaign to increase public awareness about the progress and benefits of brain research. As part of the week-long celebration, the Dana Foundation joined forces with New York University and AARP to host a free Staying Sharp session and brain fair on March 13^th at the NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City. The event featured an expert panel discussion and Q&A on the aging brain, memory, and brain health issues. This particular panel consisted of three NYU clinicians from the Pearl I. Barlow Center for Memory Evaluation and Treatment who work with elderly patients on health issues including dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, and Parkinson’s disease.

The event started off with an eight minute workout from a certified personal fitness trainer, which helped the audience loosen up and interact. We all gave each other knowing smiles as familiar songs, such as the theme to “Rocky,” prompted us to punch the air in rhythm.

After our warm up, we settled into our seats to hear what the experts had to say about the aging brain. In a brief description of brain function, we learned that by the time you are 65, you’ve already started to experience slight brain changes. The changes, the panelist explained, could lead to mood changes, depression, and other forms of cognitive change. Below are some highlights from the session, including information about the aging brain:

Two Chances to Attend Staying Sharp in New York

Do you want to learn about brain health, memory, and successful aging? You’ll have two chances at our New York Staying Sharp events presented by the Dana Foundation, AARP, New York University, and Hunter College.

Staying Sharp NYU
    Wednesday, March 13
    Discussion 3-5 pm
    Brain Fair 3-7 pm
    NYU Langone Medical Center, Farkas Auditorium
    550 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016
    Google Map of Location

This March 13 Staying Sharp session will also be streaming live at www.veomed.com/nyulive, for those of you who can’t attend.

    Staying Sharp Hunter College
    Friday, March 15
    Discussion 4-6 pm
    Hunter College West Building, Lecture Hall 714W
    68th Street & Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10065
    Google Map of Location

Combination of Tests May Improve Alzheimer’s Diagnosis

Using both imaging and biomarker tests for Alzheimer’s disease leads to more accurate diagnostic results, a Duke Medicine study suggests in this week’s Radiology.

In the press release, study author Jeffrey Petrella, M.D., explains, “This study marks the first time these diagnostic tests have been used together to help predict the progression of Alzheimer's. If you use all three biomarkers, you get a benefit above that of the pencil-and-paper neuropsychological tests used by doctors today… Each of these tests adds new information by looking at Alzheimer's from a different angle.”