Center for Disability Resources (CDR)

Friday, May 29, 2009

Is Vitamin D Deficiency Linked To Alzheimer's Disease And Vascular Dementia?

ScienceDaily (May 27, 2009) — There are several risk factors for the development of Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia. Based on an increasing number of studies linking these risk factors with Vitamin D deficiency, an article in the current issue of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease (May 2009) by William B. Grant, PhD of the Sunlight, Nutrition, and Health Research Center (SUNARC) suggests that further investigation of possible direct or indirect linkages between Vitamin D and these dementias is needed.

Low serum levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] have been associated with increased risk for cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, depression, dental caries, osteoporosis, and periodontal disease, all of which are either considered risk factors for dementia or have preceded incidence of dementia. In 2008, a number of studies reported that those with higher serum 25(OH)D levels had greatly reduced risk of incidence or death from cardiovascular diseases.

To view entire article, please click on link above.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

PRO-Parents Calendar

2009 CALENDAR OF WORKSHOPS

THESE WORKSHOPS ARE FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC,

LET US KNOW IF YOU NEED ACCOMMODATIONS WHEN REGISTERING.

TO SCHEDULE A WORKSHOP IN YOUR AREA

PLEASE CALL: 1-800-759-4776

* Are workshops for Foster Parents and DSS Staff

5/28/2009

9:00 am - 11:00 am

Is Your Child a Target of Bullying? Workshop

Beaufort Air Station

Building 807

Beaufort, SC

Gayle Munn, PRO-Parents of SC

Region 1, Education Coordinator

For More Information or To Register Call:

1-800-759-4776 or (803) 772-5688

5/30/2009

9:00 am - 3:00 pm

*Linking Families with Special Education Workshop

Hope Center

901 North Main Street

Sumter, SC

Kim Preston, PRO-Parents of SC

Foster Parent Project - Education Coordinator

For More Information or To Register Call:

1-866-863-1512

6/02/2009

10:00 am - 12:00 pm

Transitioning Into Special Education Workshop

Georgetown County DDSN

95 Academy Avenue

Georgetown, SC

Gayle Munn, PRO-Parents of SC

Region 1, Education Coordinator

For More Information or To Register Call:

1-800-759-4776 or (803) 772-5688

6/06/2009

10:00 am - 12:00 pm

Transitioning Into Special Education Workshop

Body of Evidence

The Washington Post (May 19, 2009) -- Every year hundreds of people travel to Baltimore for an unusual purpose. They are not here to tour the city's aquarium or sample its fabled blue crabs. They are not in search of fame or money. Other than free lodging, they receive nothing in exchange for their visit, which entails a certain amount of discomfort.

No, these folks, some of whom have made this journey for decades, believe the trip is worth their time and expense because how they live -- calculated according to everything from the strength of their grip to how many apples they consume in a month -- may offer clues to how the rest of us might live better, longer, healthier lives.

These individuals -- homemakers, retirees, doctors and myriad others -- are participants in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA), the country's longest-running study of aging.

By Lori Aratani

Washington Post Staff Writer

To view entire article, please click on link above.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

At the Bridge Table, Clues to a Lucid Old Age

The New York Times (May 21, 2009) -- LAGUNA WOODS, Calif. — The ladies in the card room are playing bridge, and at their age the game is no hobby. It is a way of life, a daily comfort and challenge, the last communal campfire before all goes dark.

“We play for blood,” says Ruth Cummins, 92, before taking a sip of Red Bull at a recent game.

“It’s what keeps us going,” adds Georgia Scott, 99. “It’s where our closest friends are.”

In recent years scientists have become intensely interested in what could be called a super memory club — the fewer than one in 200 of us who, like Ms. Scott and Ms. Cummins, have lived past 90 without a trace of dementia. It is a group that, for the first time, is large enough to provide a glimpse into the lucid brain at the furthest reach of human life, and to help researchers tease apart what, exactly, is essential in preserving mental sharpness to the end.

To view entire article, please click on link above.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Ticket To Work Home-Based Job

NTI, the National Telecommuting Institute has a non-profit program to

assist people with disabilities and home employment called the Ticket

To Work Home-Based Jobs. Most positions are telecommunication,

home-computer jobs.

Wages are from $9 - $15/hour.

Contact information is as follows:

Websiste - www.mytickettoworkathome.org

Phone - 866-501-8387

To view the website, please click on link above.

Down's syndrome reveals one key to fighting cancer

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – People with Down's syndrome rarely get most kinds of cancer and U.S. researchers have nailed down one reason why -- they have extra copies of a gene that helps keep tumors from feeding themselves.

The findings could lead to new treatments for cancer, the researchers reported in the journal Nature on Wednesday, and further study of Down's patients might reveal more ways to fight tumors.

The researchers at Harvard University and elsewhere made use of a new kind of embryonic-like stem cell called an induced pluripotent stem cell or iPS cell. These cells, made from ordinary skin, can be transformed to act like powerful stem cells, the body's master cells.

To view entire article, please click on link above.

Monday, May 25, 2009

Robotic Therapy Holds Promise For Cerebral Palsy

ScienceDaily (May 21, 2009) — Over the past few years, MIT engineers have successfully tested robotic devices to help stroke patients learn to control their arms and legs. Now, they're building on that work to help children with cerebral palsy.

"Robotic therapy can potentially help reduce impairment and facilitate neuro-development of youngsters with cerebral palsy," says Hermano Igo Krebs, principal research scientist in mechanical engineering and one of the project's leaders.

Krebs and others at MIT, including professor of mechanical engineering Neville Hogan, pioneered the use of robotic therapy in the late 1980s, and since then the field has taken off.

To view entire article, please click on link above.

Friday, May 22, 2009

New Gene Linked To Autism Risk, Especially In Boys

ScienceDaily (May 20, 2009) — UCLA scientists have discovered a variant of a gene called CACNA1G that may increase a child's risk of developing autism, particularly in boys.

Classic autism strikes boys four times more often than girls. When including the entire spectrum of autism disorders, such as the milder Asperger syndrome, boys are diagnosed 10 times more often than girls.

The journal Molecular Psychiatry publishes the findings in its May 19 advance online edition. "This is a strong finding," said Dr. Stanley Nelson, professor of human genetics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. "No one has scrutinized the role that CACNA1G plays in autism.

To view entire article, please click on link above.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Children Who Are Depressed, Anxious Or Aggressive In First Grade Risk Being Victimized Later On

ScienceDaily (May 18, 2009) — Children entering first grade with signs of depression and anxiety or excessive aggression are at risk of being chronically victimized by their classmates by third grade, according to a new longitudinal study.

The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Victoria, looked at more than 400 Canadian children beginning in the autumn of first grade. The children were asked about their experiences being bullied (such as being hit, pushed, and shoved, or being teased and excluded from play). Their teachers were asked to report on the children's symptoms of depression and anxiety, as well as on their displays of physical aggression. The researchers returned at the end of first, second, and third grades, at which time they asked the children and their teachers to report on the same issues.

Most children (73 percent) showed few symptoms of depression and anxiety over the three years. But 7 percent of the children showed continuously high levels. The remaining 20 percent showed moderate symptoms at first, but these increased over time. Victimization by depressed and anxious children wasn't evident until third grade.

To view entire article, please click on link above.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Neurons That 'Mirror' The Attention Of Others Discovered

ScienceDaily (May 18, 2009) — Whether a monkey is looking to the left or merely watching another monkey looking that way, the same neurons in his brain are firing, according to researchers at the Duke University Medical Center.

"We speculate that the neurons' activity may lie beneath critical social behavior, such as joint attention," said Michael Platt, Ph.D., Duke professor of neurobiology and evolutionary anthropology and senior author of the study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "If social inputs to the neurons are disrupted, that might contribute to the social deficits seen in autism and other disorders."

People spontaneously follow the gaze of other people, and this joint attention helps promote social bonding, enhance learning, and may even be necessary for the development of language. People who can't do these things are at a decided disadvantage, and may fail to develop normal patterns of social interaction, Platt said.

To view entire article, please click on link above.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

PAALS: Palmetto Animal Assisted Life Services

PAALS is a 501c3 non-profit organization.

PAALS is a provisional member of the

Assistance Dogs International (ADI).

Misson

Enriching and empowering children and adults with physical disabilities and social needs by training service animals and providing animal assisted educational and recreational activities.

Goals

To train and provide service dogs for individuals with varying abilities. To train assistance animals to create activities for kids with physical and social challenges in South Carolina. To train and provide service animals for various special needs people in our community (ex. Therapy dogs). To increase assistance animal awareness. To provide a program where at-risk youth and/or retired individuals can give back to the community. To provide in training for therapeutic uses (ex. Use in ABA therapy for autistic kids).

Services

PAALS overall goal is to train assistance animals to help individuals with disabilities other than blindness or deafness. These animals can help with a vast array of tasks to assist with physical disabilities, and social needs as assigned assistance animals, or using them through quality programs to groups or organizations that can benefit from our assistance animals.

PAALS, Palmetto Animal Assisted Life Services is not affiliated with Practical Animal Assisted Life Services or the book Practical Partners. Practical Animal Assisted Life Services has recently changed their name to Dogs for Disabled.

To view the PAALS website, please click on link above.

To view the PAALS May 09 Newsletter: http://hosted.verticalresponse.com/226737/12c4baad3d/1582500029/2f8a7b771d/

Age-related Difficulty Recognizing Words Predicted By Brain Differences

ScienceDaily (May 14, 2009) — Older adults may have difficulty understanding speech because of age-related changes in brain tissue, according to new research in the May 13 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. The study shows that older adults with the most difficulty understanding spoken words had less brain tissue in a region important for speech recognition. The findings may help explain why hearing aids do not benefit all people with age-related hearing difficulties.

Although some hearing loss can be a normal part of aging, many older adults complain about difficulty understanding speech, especially in challenging listening conditions like crowded restaurants. Research has suggested that this decline in speech recognition is independent of hearing loss.

To view entire article, please click on link above.

Monday, May 18, 2009

Videoconferencing Can Increase Patient Access To Stroke Specialists

ScienceDaily (May 11, 2009) — A new scientific statement says a remote exam using high-quality videoconferencing equipment is as effective as a bedside stroke evaluation.

Physicians must quickly evaluate stroke patients to determine if they’re eligible for time-sensitive treatment such as tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) that can save brain function and reduce disability. Stroke and brain imaging specialists are often required to perform the evaluation. However, the United States has only an average of four neurologists per 100,000 people, and not all of them specialize in stroke, according to the statement.

Telemedicine, or telestroke, uses interactive videoconferencing via webcams connected to a TV or computer screen, which allows the patient, family and the bedside and distant healthcare providers to see and hear each other in full color and in real time.

To view entire article, please click on link above.