Blog & Resources

Recently, some new studies released a novel concept in the race to accurately detect symptoms of Alzheimer’s Disease. It’s not forgetfulness, or even misplacing things on a regular basis. Researchers from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) are making the new claim it may be frequent daytime napping which may signal the onset of the disease.

The findings, which appear in the journal Alzheimer's & Dementia, also suggest that an overaccumulation of tau protein triggers these brain changes. In Alzheimer's disease, tau proteins form tangles that disrupt communication between neurons (brain cells) and impact cell health.

"Our work shows definitive evidence that the brain areas promoting wakefulness degenerate due to accumulation of tau — not amyloid protein [another protein that can become toxic in Alzheimer's disease] —

We’ve all heard of Long-Term Care Insurance. It’s the type of policy you typically buy while you’re still relatively young. It is a payable benefit to cover the costs of indefinite care provided at either a skilled nursing facility or in-home caregivers provided by an agency.

But there’s new option in town, or at least in Rhode Island for folks who may want to recuperate at home and who may not need prolonged caregiving extending beyond 365 days.

The Short-Term Care insurance policy is available from Guaranteed Trust Life (GTL) Insurance Company headquartered in Illinois. The inspiration behind this new option is simple:

People would rather recuperate at home

Benefits are paid directly to you regardless of other coverage

Benefits can help cover deductibles and co-payments

Prior hospitalization is not required

There’s three

There may be a big breakthrough coming in how we diagnose Alzheimer’s Disease! Researchers from the University of Washington have been working tirelessly to develop an alternative diagnostic tool. A blood test to diagnose Alzheimer's disease is not a new idea. For years we have seen study after study present a range of different biomarkers attempting to detect the devastating disease at its very earliest, pre-symptomatic stages. Despite a growing volume of alternative hypotheses, measuring levels of amyloid beta protein deposits in the brain is still the best diagnostic tool for tracking the progression of the disease.

Two years ago researchers from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis revealed amyloid deposits in the brain could be effectively tracked by measuring levels of two amyloid subtypes in the bloodstream.

In this weeks’ blog we’re taking a short break from the educational content we like to offer, and focusing on a local resource for actual C.N.A education! We had the pleasure to visit with the amazing team at HITEP, located on Elmwood Avenue in Providence. Here’s what we learned.

Opened in 2007, HITEP was created to address one growing economic need: Opportunity for men and women who want to pursue a career as a Certified Nursing Assistant, but might have some challenges with transportation and tuition payment. It's a decisively urban setting, but with a wildly diverse student body. Students as young as sixteen up to sixty are signing up to attend HITEP, and for good reason. 

Hernan Padilla, HITEP’s CEO has an enormously warm and friendly personality, with a great handshake. He sat down to offer his perspective on current

If you live in New England, and more importantly reside in either Rhode Island or Southeastern Massachusetts, it’s likely you call a city ‘home’. We’re flanked on all sides by industry, multi-family housing units, and an average of one vehicle for every two residents. That’s a lot of exhaust fumes, radios blaring and roadwork machinery to absorb!

In a recently published peer reviewed study featured in ‘BMJ Open’, a leading medical journal, some startling assertions are being made which link where we live to our risk of developing Dementia. The study states “ More recently research has also extended to the role of environmental risk factors and dementia, where a large systematic review identified moderate evidence for an association with eight different factors including air pollution. While air pollution is a well-established risk