African-Americans are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s at a slightly higher rate than people of European ancestry, but a new study found no genetic difference between the groups that could account for the asymmetry.
In one of the first large studies on Alzheimer’s in African-Americans, researchers found the same gene variants that previous studies found in Caucasian Alzheimer’s patients. APoE4, a gene long known to correlate with higher Alzheimer’s risk in Caucasian people, was identified in a similar percentage of African-American patients as Caucasian patients. Another, ABCA7, was found at slightly higher rates in African-Americans with the disease.
In an editorial accompanying the publication of the research, Dr. Robert L. Nussbaum of the University of California, San Francisco, said that finding the genes in African-Americans supports theories that they contribute to susceptibility to Alzheimer’s.
The study analyzed data from 6,000 African-Americans over the age of 60. Approximately 2,000 had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.
Researchers determined that ABCA7 confers an 80 percent increase in the risk of Alzheimer’s in African-Americans, compared with a risk of 10 to 20 percent among whites. Even 80 percent is considered modest; a gene conferring significant risk would at least double the likelihood of a disease. And the gene is fairly uncommon even among African-American Alzheimer’s patients, leaving the cause of the disease mostly unexplained.
ABCA7 helps move cholesterol in and out of cells and is also suspected of influencing the development of heart disease. That may explain why many Alzheimer’s patients are diagnosed with cardiovascular disease and vice-versa.
Despite years of debate on Capitol Hill, Congress has failed to act on Social Security reform.
Any reform proposal with a fighting chance would likely include an increase in payroll taxes.
Would the American public support such measures?
Recently, the National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI) surveyed 2,000 Americans to determine what reforms they would support in order to shore up Social Security. NASI found that 82 percent of respondents would support increasing taxes on working Americans, while 87 percent would support taxing the wealthy. Eighty-two percent of those respondents with incomes over $100,000 per year supported the idea of raising their own taxes.
Although Democrats and Independents were disproportionately likely to support tax hikes, nearly three quarters of Republicans supported increasing taxes.
The survey also asked respondents to choose from a range of hypothetical packages of adjustments to benefits and tax revenue. Not only did respondents show a willingness to raise taxes enough to close the projected financing gap, but, 71 percent preferred a package that would simultaneously increase benefits.
These measures would:
- phase out the cap on earnings subject to payroll taxes so that all workers pay into Social Security throughout the year;
- gradually raise the rate at which workers and employers are taxed from 6.2 percent to 7.2 percent;
- raise the minimum Social Security benefit so that workers who paid into the system for 30 years could exceed the poverty line solely through Social Security income; and
- increase cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) to better reflect real-world price inflation.
In contrast, the options that hurt a package’s appeal among respondents included such cost-control measures as raising the retirement age to 70 years old and enacting means-testing for benefit eligibility.
The elder law attorneys at Hook Law Center assist Virginia families with will preparation, trust & estate administration, guardianships and conservatorships, long-term care planning, special needs planning, veterans benefits, and more.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has dramatically decreased the processing time for applicants to the Post-9/11 GI Bill program, the agency said in a recent press release.
The VA is currently engaged in a program to move from paper-based processing to electronic processing of benefit claims dubbed, the “Long Term Solution.” As a result, currently-enrolled students applying for education assistance under the GI Bill program now wait an average of 6 days for their claims to be processed versus the previous 9 days – a decrease of more than 50 percent.
The news is a bright spot in contrast to recent reports that wait times for veterans applying for other benefits have skyrocketed in recent years to as long as 18 months. New students, however, can expect to see no change in wait time. New students establishing their eligibility for the program for the first time can still expect an average wait time of 24 days.
According to the release, the VA is currently processing 46 percent of new claims for enrolled students electronically. Hope remains high that the computerization of claims processed throughout the VA will dramatically decrease wait times and backlogs of all applications.
The VA has reported providing $27 billion in benefits under the Post-9/11 GI Bill to veterans, their families, and educational institutions over the past three and a half years.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor made headlines in late February 2013 when he stated The National Science Foundation wasted more than $1 million on seniors, paying them to play the online, virtual-world game World of Warcraft and studying the effect it had on their brains. It was, said Cantor, another example of wasteful government spending.
A grant from the National Science Foundation was awarded to North Carolina State University and Georgia Tech; they were interested in studying whether playing computer games could slow mental decline, and if so, whether games had common elements that could be incorporated into cognition-enhancing “brain games.” Researchers have long wondered whether memory games and problem-solving games could be beneficial to seniors.
More than 200 seniors were tested for cognitive abilities before and after playing a spatial puzzle game to see if playing produced any change. The findings will be shared with Georgia Tech experts, who will incorporate the data into new game development focused on helping seniors retain or improve their cognitive skills. But according to the National Science Foundation’s abstract on the grant, World of Warcraft was not part of the experiment.
Interested in improving your own reasoning skills, memory and processing speed? Experts suggest you play games, work on crosswords, brain teasers and puzzles, and pick up a new hobby or craft.
The elder law attorneys and estate planning lawyers at the Hook Law Center in Virginia Beach and Suffolk, help Virginia families with trust & estate administration, guardianships, long term care planning, special needs planning, veterans benefits, and more. Learn more at http://www.hooklawcenter.com/
A home health care provider for seniors is asking Virginians to nominate an outstanding senior volunteer for state — and possibly national — recognition.
The Salute to Senior Service program by Home Instead Senior Care celebrates seniors 65 and older who contribute to their community by volunteering at least 15 hours each month. The organization is inviting the public to nominate outstanding senior volunteers. Do you know someone who has made a significant contribution? You may even nominate yourself. Nominations are being accepted between February 1 and March 31, 2013. The state winners will then be chosen by popular vote on the program’s website between April 15th and April 30, 2013.
A national Salute to Senior Service honoree will then be chosen from the group of state winners by a panel of senior care experts. Home Instead has announced that it will donate $500 to the nonprofit organizations of choice as selected by each of the state winners, and their volunteer stories will be included on the online Wall of Fame. The national winner’s chosen nonprofit will receive $5,000.
The nomination form and official rules of the contest can be found online at
http://www.salutetoseniorservice.com/
The elder law attorneys and estate planning lawyers at the Hook Law Center in Virginia Beach and Suffolk, help Virginia families with trust & estate administration, guardianships, long term care planning, special needs planning, veterans benefits, and more. Learn more at http://www.hooklawcenter.com/
When clients hear the term “estate planning,” they often think it does not apply to them. The word “estate” often conjures up something (a home, finances, etc) on a grand scale. However, estate planning covers everything from medical care when you are incapacitated to where assets will go when you are deceased.. Estate planning is for the benefit of loved ones left behind. Things to consider when planning your estate:
How would you like to dispose of personal items, such as photographs, heirlooms, sentimental pieces of jewelry, etc?
Do you have an accounting or listing of all your assets, from your mortgage to your insurance policies and any personal possessions?
Do you have a plan in place which allows someone to access your social networking accounts, respond to emails, conduct PIN-protected banking transactions, etc, if you are unable to do so?
Would you like to leave any items or a monetary amount to an organization which is meaningful to you?
What plans do you have for your pets if you become incapacitated?
Who will oversee your medical care and carryout your wishes?
Estate planning can be as simple as you need or as elaborate.
The elder law attorneys and estate planning lawyers at the Hook Law Center in Virgina Beach and Suffolk, help Virginia families with trust & estate administration, guardianships, long term care planning, special needs planning, veterans benefits, and more. Learn more at http://www.hooklawcenter.com/
The MedCottage is a new type of portable, small dwelling. Designed by a Virginia-based company with advice from Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center, the MedCottage is classified by Virginia state law as a temporary, family health-care structure. It is better known by its nickname: “granny pod.”
These auxiliary dwelling units, or ADUs, are part of an expected, growing demand to provide housing and care for the elderly as Baby Boomers “gray.” According to the Census Bureau, the number of Americans 65 and older has increased faster than the total population. It is expected that the U.S. will have more than 72 million people older than 65 within the next two decades, many of whom will likely need some sort of care.
Other ADUs showing up on the market are the Seattle-based FabCabs, Massachusetts-based in-law modulars known as “Elderly Cottage Housing Opportunities,” and freestanding models from Connecticut called “Practical Assisted Living Solutions,” or “PALS.”
The MedCottage has a steel shell, surveillance cameras, and an Internet portal with which to monitor the occupant’s vital signs, receive any alerts, and heat or cool the dwelling. The MedCottage currently sells for approximately $85,000.
The elder law attorneys and estate planning lawyers at the Hook Law Center in Virgina Beach and Suffolk, help Virginia families with trust & estate administration, guardianships, long term care planning, special needs planning, veterans benefits, and more. Learn more at http://www.hooklawcenter.com/
Question – I live in a different city than my parents. Keeping in touch by telephone and making long trips to help my parents with their needs is very time-consuming and not nearly as effective as being available full-time in person. What are my options to make this easier for me but to also make sure they are taken care of.
Hook Law Center Answer – Living in a different city or state, miles from aging parents, can be difficult.
The long-distance caregiver is a new role that is thrust upon children and younger family members. Families used to live closer together, with children residing and working near their parents. But nowadays family members are more distant from each other. Society, today, is recognizing this. Some caregiver services have tweaked their programs to work as liaisons between long-distance caregivers, senior loved ones, and local medical professionals.
Professional care managers, also known as geriatric care managers, elder care managers or aging care managers, represent a growing trend to help full time, employed family caregivers provide care for loved ones. Care managers are expert in assisting caregivers, friends or family members find government-paid and private resources to help with long-term care decisions.
They are professionals who are trained to evaluate and recommend care for the aged. A care manager might be a nurse, social worker, psychologist, or gerontologist who specializes in assessing the abilities and needs of the elderly. Care manger professionals are also becoming extremely popular as the caretaker liaison between long-distance family members and their aging loved ones.
The most important thing is to find a geriatric care manager where your loved one lives. This geriatric care manager will have knowledge of all the services in the area and can be your eyes and ears.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) administers the Improved Pension Benefit with Aid and Attendance, commonly referred to as Aid and Attendance which can provide a Veteran (or their surviving spouse) with additional income monthly, up to $23,388 per year. Veterans and their spouses must demonstrate that they have a regular need for the aid and attendance of another individual. The purpose of this non-service-connected benefit is to provide supplemental income to disabled or older veterans or surviving spouses who have low income and/or high unreimbursed medical expenses. Examples of those needing Aid & Attendance are those Veterans or their spouse who have:
- Professional home care providers or family members to provide care in the home,
- Assisted living or adult day care services, or
- Nursing home long-term care services.
The veteran must have served ninety consecutive days on active duty, with one day during a wartime period, and have a discharge other than dishonorable. This Aid & Attendance benefit is not well known or understood and often people are told they do not qualify due to misinformation. Veterans or surviving spouses can qualify for the benefit even if they have relatively large incomes or substantial assets. In order to learn more about Aid & Attendance and other benefits as well as protecting assets from the high cost of long term care, it is important to enlist the assistance of an elder law attorney to properly plan.
A ground-breaking new medical training facility, one focusing on the care of older patients, was just opened. The Simulation Lab for the Education of Nurses in the Care of Older Adults, at the College of Staten Island Department of Nursing, is a state-of-the art facility for nursing students. Students can study geriatric home-care on campus either in a simulated nursing home or in-home setting which includes a bed, lavatory, the latest in nursing equipment, and a mannequin. Nursing students “care” for the mannequin, following all medical procedures, and monitoring daily needs. Care is viewed by instructors via a two-way mirror for feedback or through videotaping. In this way, students can receive instruction and correction without ever endangering or stressing out an actual patient. . The lab was funded in part by a $100,000 grant from the Brooklyn Home for Aged Men.
A simulated medical environment is nothing new, but more and more facilities are using high-end mannequins to help medical students train with less patient pain. In Kennebec, Maine, medical students work with “Heart,” a $30,000, anatomically correct mannequin that can simulate breathing, blinking, sweating, bleeding and even seizures.
The elder law attorneys and estate planning lawyers at the Hook Law Center in Virgina Beach and Suffolk, help Virginia families with trust & estate administration, guardianships, long term care planning, special needs planning, veterans benefits, and more. Learn more at http://www.hooklawcenter.com/
