Dementia Matter‪s‬ Wisconsin Alzheimer's Disease Research Center

In a recent study, health economist Lauren Nicholas, PhD, found older adults who go on to be diagnosed with dementia are more likely to miss payments on bills as early as six years before a diagnosis. Dr. Nicholas joins the podcast to discuss her research findings, how financial symptoms could be used as early predictors of dementia, signs that may indicate financial trouble due to dementia, and resources for managing your own or a loved one’s finances early. Guest: Lauren Nicholas, PhD, associate professor, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Episode Topics:
How was the study designed? 1:00
Who did you look at for in the study? 5:09
What are your findings? 6:12
Do you think the financial impact is different based on the amount of family members? 9:24
What types of resources are available? 11:01
What do you hope this research will lead to? 13:32
What are clues to watch for financial trouble due to cognitive decline? 15:47
How do you see financial information being useful for understanding dementia in the future? 17:33
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Growing research has shown that music can have a profound impact on individuals with memory loss. Right to Music is an organization dedicated to promoting use of personal music by families and professionals caring for people with dementia and other cognitive challenges. Founder Dan Cohen joins the podcast to discuss how music can affect memory loss and tips for starting music therapy. Guest: Dan Cohen, founder, Right to Music
Episode Topics:
What inspired you to introduce music to people with memory loss? 1:10
What brought you to music? 2:36
What has research found around music therapy? 4:56
What do you believe it is about music that is unique? 11:31
Does genre of music matter? 14:16
How can music help bring people together? 17:00
How do you recommend a person start? 18:52
Do you have any additional tips? 20:20
Which songs help you on your playlist? 21:51
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Visiting the emergency department can be a challenging experience for individuals with memory loss and their caregivers. Dr. Manish Shah joins the podcast to discuss the difficulties people with dementia face in the emergency department and offers tips for making the most out of a visit. Guest: Manish Shah, MD, MPH, professor, BerbeeWalsh Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health
Episode Topics:
How many older adults visit emergency departments annually? 1:00
Why are adults with dementia twice as likely to seek emergency care compared to older adults who don't have dementia? 2:19
What are some of the difficulties that people with dementia may experience when they're in the emergency department? 5:10
Is there training for emergency department physicians to modify how they approach people with dementia? 7:22
Do you have any recommendations to offer that would improve the visit in the emergency department for people with dementia? 9:02
What is your team of researchers studying? 13:42
What kind of resources do these types of centers bring to your research or research like this? 15:45
What do you hope to accomplish with the funding that you've now received? 17:42
Why is it important to study and create these resources in emergency departments across the country? 19:24
Is there a day or a time that would be better for a person to go in? 20:29
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Dr. Lindsay Clark’s new study will evaluate the psychological consequences of disclosing amyloid test results to cognitively unimpaired adults. Dr. Clark joins the podcast to define amyloid accumulation and discuss how her study will examine the process of revealing amyloid results to research participants in Alzheimer’s disease research studies. Guest: Lindsay Clark, PhD, assistant professor, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health
Episode Topics:
What is amyloid accumulation and its relationship to Alzheimer’s disease? 1:13
How are you measuring amyloid in living people? 3:14
Are newer methods like PET scans reliable? 5:56
Do patients learn the results of these scans? 6:20
Do research participants ever learn their results? 7:30
Who is the target population for studying amyloid scans? 8:44
Why does disclosing the results take so many careful considerations? 9:35
What do you think are the components of a good disclosure? 11:48
Are you disclosing specific numbers of the results? 14:16
Why does your study focus on amyloid PET scan results? 16:31
Do you believe the key concepts of disclosure can work with other biomarker studies? 18:33
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In this special holiday bonus episode, we are joined by poet laureate, writer, and senior outreach specialist, Dr. Fabu Carter, to discuss the impact of poetry on memory loss and a reading of her poem “For Our Beloved Elders with Memory Loss." Guest: Fabu Carter, PhD, MA, Senior Outreach Specialist, University of Wisconsin of Medicine and Public Health


Episode Topics:


What is the importance of poetry on Alzheimer’s Disease? 1:20
Reading of "For Our Beloved Elders with Memory Loss" 4:51

Recent developments have introduced a blood-based test that could predict Alzheimer’s disease, with more of these tests currently in development. Dr. Sterling Johnson joins the podcast to discuss the significance and accuracy of these blood tests, as well as the impact it will have on Alzheimer’s disease research and care. Guest: Sterling Johnson, PhD, professor of medicine, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health
Episode Topics:
What do biomarkers like brain imaging and cerebrospinal fluid tell us about Alzheimer’s disease? 1:18
What is the significance of a blood-based biomarker test? 6:08
What does the blood test tell us about brain health? 8:14
How accurate are the tests? 9:02
How are proteins like amyloid or tau found in the bloodstream? 10:28
What kind of precautionary steps should be taken before these tests can become readily available? 12:23
When do you think these tests will become available? 15:30
What do you think is the timeline for the tau protein blood tests? 16:26