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31st Annual Spring Run Results - May 9, 2009
CLICK HERE
Go to the link above to see the full results from the 2009 Spring Run. Thank you to all or our participants, volunteers, and sponsors! See you next year on May 8, 2010.
Physical exercise could improve memory
By Ann Kuns, RN
Clinical Nurse Specialist
Foothill Presbyterian Hospital
CVHP Center for Diabetes Education
Exercise
can help to improve and maintain memory. We've known for a long time
that those with uncontrolled diabetes seem to develop some memory loss.
Elevated Blood Glucose Linked To Memory Decline
Physical
exercise could improve memory via glucose-lowering. Maintaining blood
glucose levels, even in the absence of diabetes, may be an important
strategy for preserving age-related memory and cognitive health.
Results
of a study conducted by researchers at Columbia University Medical
Center demonstrated that elevations in blood glucose affect the dentate
gyrus, part of the hippocampal formation and vital for memory. Scott A.
Small, MD, associate professor of neurology at Columbia University
stated that, "We can finally pinpoint which part of the hippocampus is
affected by glucose, the dentate gyrus, and conclude that age-related dysregulation of glucose is at least one etiology of normal cognitive aging.
Showing
that blood glucose selectively targets the dentate gyrus is not only
our most conclusive finding, but it is the one most important for
normal aging, that is, hippocampal dysfunction that occurs in the
absence of disease states, such as Alzheimer s disease, infarcts and
diabetes, the researchers wrote in the Annals of Neurology.
Although
it is widely known that the early stages of Alzheimer s disease cause
damage to the hippocampus, studies have suggested that it is also
vulnerable to normal aging. Until now, the underlying causes of
age-related hippocampal dysfunction have remained largely unknown.
With
the goal of identifying the physiological processes that underlie
cognitive aging and age-related memory decline, Small and colleagues
enrolled 240 elderly individuals (mean age, 79.7 years) into the study;
60 participants had type 2 diabetes and 74 had brain infarcts. Using
MRI, the researchers generated high-resolution functional maps of the
hippocampal formation. They also examined measures that typically
change during aging, such as rising blood glucose, BMI, cholesterol and
insulin levels.
Examination revealed that decreasing activity in
the dentate gyrus only correlated with levels of blood glucose.
Additional animal studies in aging rhesus monkeys and mice further
confirmed the relationship between glucose and dentate gyrus activity;
the researchers found the same association in adults and animals. These
findings suggest that exercising to maintain blood glucose levels is
one strategy to stave off the normal cognitive decline that comes with
age, according to the researchers. Our findings predict that any
intervention that causes a decrease in blood glucose should increase
dentate gyrus function and would, therefore, be cognitively beneficial.
By improving glucose metabolism, physical exercise also reduces blood
glucose. It is possible, therefore, that the cognitive-enhancing
effects of physical exercise are mediated by the beneficial effect of
lower glucose on the dentate gyrus, they wrote.
Previous
findings have demonstrated that glucose regulation worsens with age,
leading to mild but significant increases in blood glucose that are
detrimental to the hippocampal formation, according to Small.
In
addition, both cognitive aging and glucose dysregulation begin around
the third decade of life and worsen progressively across the lifespan,
he said.
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MORE about our Diabetes Education Programs
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EVENT REPORT
HOSPITAL COMMEMORATES NEWBORN INN FOR PHILANTHROPIST, SO. CAL. BUSINESS LEADER CARL. E. WYNN
A local businessman was honored for more than two decades of support and generosity to Foothill Presbyterian Hospital on Oct. 31 as the perinatal unit was renamed the Carl E. Wynn Newborn Inn.
More than 50 people attended the commemoration ceremony in the waiting area outside the Newborn Inn. Wynn’s daughter, Glendora resident Billie Fischer, and her daughter, Jackie Lynn Fischer, helped unveil a plaque honoring Wynn and a wall celebrating all of those who have donated funds to support FPH’s perinatal services.
| LINK to full STORY HERE
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