This project is taking place at the University of Hertfordshire and will likely span a period of three years. While these researchers attempt to make stroke recovery a less stressful part of patients’ lives, they are also furthering advancements in other fields too. The implications of in home robots to assist with recovery can likely be replicated in other areas of healthcare too. Additionally, this can be a great way to save money over the long term. Any practice that reduces the necessity of going to the hospital is going to reduce costs for insurance companies and healthcare facilities. These robots that are under development might be expensive to create, but as they become more advanced and replicated, their costs will go down, thus saving money for everyone.

There are a few warning signs that indicated your risk of stroke or dementia later on in life, according to new research. Amongst middle aged people, it was found that walking speed and grip strength had a correlation with someone’s risk of stroke and dementia. The study looked at 2,400 patients with an average age of 62, and determined that these simple tests could be used to help predict the chances of having a stroke or suffering from dementia. Over the course of 11 years, 34 people developed dementia and 70 had a stroke.

Amongst the participants, people with a slower than average walking speed were 1.5 times more likely to develop dementia than folks with a faster natural walking speed. A stronger than average hand grip resulted in people being 42 percent less likely to have a stroke.

Frailty has always been considered to be an unofficial warning sign of these maladies, but until this study, there was never really a way to measure this indicator. And while this study might not have had a large enough sample size to draw concrete conclusions from, the implications state that there are some major advances in predicting both someone’s risk of stroke and their risk of developing dementia. The better equipped doctors are to combat these diseases before they appear, the healthier our overall population will be. Even if this study doesn’t have a large enough portion of stroke and dementia patients, the information found can be used to base future research on.

When you have a relative with Alzheimer’s, your number one issue is their safety and wellbeing. A tendency to go wandering, however, can put their safety at an extreme risk. If they go wandering in the middle of the night, there is very little that you can do to stop them from leaving the house. Thanks to advances in technology, there is less need to fear if this happens to your loved one. Global positioning satellites (GPS) have evolved into much more than just something you place on the dashboard of your car to keep you from getting lost. A GPS unit can be placed within your loved one’s shoe and can be used to find their precise location in the event that they do get up and leave during a time when you can’t monitor them.

With over 5.4 million Americans suffering from Alzheimer’s, this type of technological advance has a practical purpose. The Aetrex Ambulator shoe is designed for comfort, but now that it has a tiny GPS unit embedded within its sole, this shoe is leading the charge in safety for senior citizens. The shoe can get recharged every once in a while simply by plugging them in.

This is not the first shoe capable of recording location as athletes have been using the technology to track their runs, but this is a separate product, distinctly aimed at benefiting the senior community. With so much at stake, this shoe can be the difference between finding your wandering loved one and having them get lost.

An interesting study concluded that individual carbon emissions grow until we reach the age of 65, at which point the amount of carbon emissions that an individual is responsible for begins to decline. A direct effect of this means that since the United States population is growing older and the amount of elderly folks in society is increasing, there is every reason to expect that the U.S.’s overall carbon emission rate will begin to decrease. And as life expectancy increases, things can only get better in this regard.

But there is also reason to believe that the aging population might not have as big of an effect as concluded by this study. The increase in life expectancy implies that people will stay more active later into their lives. One of the big reasons that carbon emissions were declining amongst the elderly is because they are less active than their younger counterparts. The elderly tend to travel less, and this is a big part of the composition of someone’s carbon footprint.

As the use of natural gas and other environmentally friendly sources of power increases, the population’s carbon emissions will probably decrease, so there is no reason to give up hope for the environment. This study was interesting in regards to current energy usage, but there is little impact that it can have on predicting the future because of the increase in an individual’s life expectancy and the nation’s switching over to alternative fuel sources. The study concluded that there will not be a significant decrease in carbon emissions until around 2030, when the Baby Boomer generation will be around age 80 and will have much lower activity levels.

A new system of scoring can help doctors to determine just who the ca best candidates are for the stroke treatment drug called alteplase. The drug helps to treat the blood clots in major arteries feeding blood to the brain. The new scoring system is called the DRAGON score, and in tests it had an 86 percent accurate in predicting the three month outcome of folks given the drug 4 ½ hours after first showing stroke symptoms.

The DRAGON scoring system is simple and easy to administer. More importantly, there are no associated costs with the scoring, so it can really be administered to anyone in need of the test. Test doctors admitted that it took less than a minute to calculate a score. But regardless of its simplicity, the DRAGON score can be a big help in letting patients and their families know more precisely what to expect with their recovery process.

Over 1,300 patients suffering from ischemic stroke were tested with this score. The average age of the patient was 69 years.

The most important thing that this study found was that it can help to create a roadmap for patients’ recovery. By knowing the future outcome 3 months down the road with an 86 percent rate of accuracy, treatment plans will become much easier to come up with. Also, it can help patients’ families to more immediately deal with the hardships that a stroke creates. By knowing with a degree of certainty what to expect, it can help families to stay positive through these hardships.

A new drug called J147 is meeting a lot of fanfare because of the progress that it has shown in research when treating mice with Alzheimer’s disease. So far, the drug has shown that it can improve memory function in mice, both with and without Alzheimer’s disease. The drug also improves synapse connections within the brain. No drug designed to date can boast that it does both of these things, making J147 a novel and promising drug.

The use of this drug on humans is still in the distant future. There has been no human testing yet, and it isn’t even known if the drug will be safe or effective on people. But still, scientists are excited because of the progress that it has shown on test mice.

Currently, about 5.4 million Americans have Alzheimer’s. It’s estimated that by 2050, 16 million Americans will be affected by the disease. This is due to the rapid increase that the aging of the Baby Boomer generation will have upon the elderly population. Even if this drug does not work on human’s it is a step in the right direction. With so many people at risk for Alzheimer’s, this is a very promising development.

J147 is a synthetic drug created by the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. The sooner that they can progress with testing, the sooner they can learn of its effect upon humans. Hopefully, this is the progress that is needed to help stop the devastating effects of Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.

The need for some sort of long term care amongst the elderly population is set to rapidly expand. It’s estimated that over 3 million jobs will be added to the elder care sector over the next six years. This is a huge jump for any industry, especially a specialized one like elder care. However, this kind of jump in job creation happens for only one reason: an increase in demand.

The Baby Boomer generation was born directly after World War II and marked a huge jump in the population of the U.S. Today, these folks are getting up in years and for many families, it is time to start looking at long term care options. In fact, about one out of every eight Americans is over the age of 65, currently. This need for outside care is exacerbated by the fact that only about 6 percent of the 60 and up population live with a younger relative. The anticipation of the need for outside care is extremely important amongst this group since they are at a higher risk of being alone and thus at a higher risk of getting hurt or having an injury go unnoticed.

In home care can be a great solution. As more and more services are created across the U.S., it is becoming easier to find a good in home care service provider in your area. Even if your elderly loved one lives with you, an in home caregiver can supervise them during the hours you are at work, if this will be beneficial and provide lasting peace of mind.

A recent study concluded that up to 5 percent of the over 70 population loses a portion of their memory each year. The amount rises to about 7 percent in the over 80 populations. These numbers are much larger than original estimates, and they reinforce the need for good quality elder care.

This could have serious implications on the Baby Boomer generation, who are now becoming senior citizens. With such a large portion of the population facing memory problems, it has never been more important that elder care be a topic of conversation between elderly parents and their children. The more that we know about our parents’ wishes for care, the better decisions we can make if they become unable to make decisions themselves.

Some researchers have concluded that the senior care market might become overburdened by the amount of care, but this will likely not be a problem. The healthcare industry as a whole is growing quickly and assisted living and in home care is at the forefront of this growth. Still, that does not mean there is no reason to not be prepared.

If you have an elderly parent, it is important that you have this conversation with them. Make sure you know their wishes and their thoughts on receiving care. At the very least, you want to make sure that they would be happy with the decisions you make for them. It might be an uncomfortable topic of conversation, but it is definitely an important thing to take care of.

I have been a big supporter of the growth of the health care industry, especially the quick movement of one of its fastest growing components: in home care. The health insurance policies around the country, however, have not caught up with this trend yet. Medicaid is one of the bigger problems. Designed to help out those unable to afford or obtain traditional health insurance, Medicaid will cover the cost of a hospital or nursing home stay, but will not provide for in home care. This is true even for people with a disease that no amount of health care can cure, such as Alzheimer’s.

This clearly illustrates the fact that a change is needed in our country’s insurance coverage policies. In fact, there are at least twenty five states that cut in home care funding between 2007 and 2010. For the individual in need of care, this is heartbreaking.

Here’s what you can do to help retain in home care as an option for you or your family. First, invest your money in some in home care insurance.  A policy costs very little each month, and the benefits are great should you ever need to utilize your insurance policy.

Second, you need to let your local and federal politicians know that in home care is important to you. As beneficial as the government has been for ensuring health care for those who really need it, there is still a lot more work that can be done. This goes for all parties at all levels of government.

It’s been suggested that nonprofit nursing homes provide better care than privately owned nursing homes. While this might seem like an obvious fact at first, the findings are flawed. The specific study I am referring to said that nonprofit homes provided “a more supportive practice environment.” However, this is not necessarily akin only to nonprofit homes.

Other studies have said that nonprofit workers are more satisfied with their jobs. This might have a degree of truth to it—a nonprofit worker is more likely to be working in order to perform a labor of love since their pay might not be as competitive. But the fact remains that this does not necessarily indicate that better care is given at these homes.

Instead, it is the homes that have the most highly trained caregivers that will provide the best care. There is little difference between private and nonprofits in this regard; the deciding factor is the skill level of the caregiver. This indicates that a private nursing home can be just as good at caring for their patients as a nonprofit. While on average a nonprofit organization might have more devoted nurses and caregivers, this does not change the fact that their training is ultimately going to be the deciding factor.

Think about it this way: would you like to have someone who is enthusiastic about their job, but has no idea what they are doing care for you? Or would you rather have a competent, well-trained nurse in your corner? The answer is pretty obvious.