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Regular exercise can play a significant role in reducing the risk of dementia, according to new a major new study by Cardiff University. The research, which followed the health habits of more than 2,200 men aged 45-59 in Caerphilly over a 35-year-period, looked at the impact of five healthy behaviours that are integral to healthy ageing. These included taking regular exercise such as walking two or more miles to work each day, cycling ten or more miles to work each day or "vigorous" exercise as a regular habit, not smoking, a low body weight, a healthy diet and a low...

<p>Should children have the right to ask for their own deaths?</p> <p>In Belgium, where euthanasia is now legal for people over the age of 18, the government is considering extending it to children — something that no other country has done. The same bill would offer the right to die to adults with early dementia.</p>

Sen. John McCain has hired a controversial Syria analyst who recently was fired by one D.C. organization and resigned from another after it emerged that she inflated her academic credentials. The Republican senator's office confirmed to Fox News that Elizabeth O'Bagy was hired as a legislative assistant, and will start work next week. "Elizabeth is a talented researcher, and I have been very impressed by her knowledge and analysis in multiple briefings over the last year. I look forward to her joining my office," McCain said in a statement.

It’s an inconvenient truth of aging: In our 30s and up, it gets increasingly harder for most of us to recall names, faces, and details from the past. Scientists have long debated whether this gradual decline is an early form of Alzheimer’s disease—a neurodegenerative condition that leads to severe dementia—or a distinct neurological process. Now, researchers have found a protein that distinguishes typical forgetfulness from Alzheimer’s and could lead to potential treatments for age-related memory loss. Previous studies have shown that Alzheimer’s disease and age-related memory loss involve different neural circuits in the hippocampus, a seahorse-shaped structure in the brain...

Kim Min-woo, 15, started having memory problems recently. He started flunking tests in subjects that required heavy bouts of memorization. And then he couldn’t remember the six-digit keypad code to get into his own home. He had to call the code up on his smartphone to get in the door. Kim’s mother took him to a doctor and the diagnosis was shocking: Kim had symptoms of early onset dementia due to intense exposure to digital technology. Since the age of five, Kim was tethered to either the television or the computer. He is an avid computer game lover. “His brain’s...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Former President Jimmy Carter said on June 28 that both Christian and Islamic religious leaders share the blame for mistreating women across the world. During an international conference on women and religion, Carter’s examples of religious authorities continuing doctrines of male superiority included the Catholic Church’s practice of banning women from the priesthood and some African cultures’ mutilation of the genitalia of young girls. Describing these doctrines as theologically indefensible, Carter said they contribute to an environment in which political leaders passively accept violence against women, sex-trafficking, and inequality in the workplace. “There is a great aversion among men leaders...

Carter: World Religions Perpetuate Women's Plight BILL BARROW ATLANTA — Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter says religious leaders, including those in Christianity and Islam, share the blame for mistreatment of women across the world. The human rights activist said Friday religious authorities perpetuate misguided doctrines of male superiority, from the Catholic Church forbidding women from becoming priests to some African cultures mutilating the genitals of young girls. Carter said the doctrines, which he described as theologically indefensible, contribute to a political, social and economic structure where political leaders passively accept violence against women, a worldwide sex slave trade and inequality...

Kirk Douglas looks around America these days and he sees too many guns. The 96-year-old actor, best known for performances in classic films like Spartacus, Paths of Glory and Lust for Life, took to the cyber pages of The Huffington Post to call for more gun control--and far less guns. I often played the good cowboy on screen, riding in to save the day. Now, everybody thinks he is a cowboy too. That frightens me. We have become a cowboy country with too many guns.... I cannot understand the people who are against some form of gun control. They should...

A retired professional man has become the first British dementia patient to end his life at the Dignitas clinic. The wealthy 83-year-old chose to travel to the controversial clinic in Switzerland because he did not want to face the agony of the progressive disease. He is believed to be the first person to use the clinic’s services solely because of dementia. The unnamed man from England went to the clinic after obtaining a report from a psychiatrist stating he was mentally competent to choose to kill himself. …

Could President Obama have read this op-ed by Ron Paul before his joint press conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron this morning? The president’s assessment of the Benghazi scandal was remarkably similar to that of the former congressman. Both men called the controversy a “sideshow.” While Obama primarily went after Republicans for trying to politicize his administration’s response to the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya last September, Paul chose a more equal opportunity approach in his article, published this morning on the website of the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity. “Congressional hearings, White House...

New Delhi - It's a disease long associated with the elderly but is now diagnosed in younger people as well and with no permanent cure available till date. However, in what could give hope to thousands suffering from Alzheimer's Disease (AD), the pharmacology department in AIIMS has identified Ayurvedic drugs which could have a role in preventing the onset of AD and also restricting its spread in affected patients. AD is a degenerative neurological disorder leading to progressive loss of cognitive abilities, including the patient's memory due to a drop in chemicals — known as neurotransmitters — which transmits messages...

I wrote this tonight and just need to share it. Maybe some of you have family members with this insidious disease too. Hello; it's good to see you. I don't remember why it's good to see you, but it is. I know I like you, and my eyes crinkle in evident delight that you are here. Immediately I want to rattle off something witty and topical,  But I don't remember the words right. So I look for something I can see, and relate it to you. It's good to see you. My smile is not like my smile of before....

Biden And The Gushing Women... By DONOVAN SLACK | 10/23/12 SPRINGFIELD, Ohio -- Given the reception Vice President Joe Biden received at a field office here Tuesday, it's a wonder that he and the president are not faring better in the polls with seniors. It's clear that Biden, at least, appears to be faring well with senior ladies. Biden walked in for the surprise visit carrying a stack of large pizzas for the 80 or so volunteers – mostly women over 50 – who were gathered there, phone banking. The shrieks began within seconds: “Oh Jesus!” “Joe Biden’s here?” “Oh...

http://video.foxnews.com/v/1899535244001/pardon-the-interruption-examining-bidens-debate-demeanor/

ATLANTA—Former President Jimmy Carter issued a blistering indictment of the U.S. electoral process Tuesday, saying it is shot through with "financial corruption" that threatens American democracy. Speaking at the international human rights center that bears his name, Carter said "we have one of the worst election processes in the world right in the United States of America, and it's almost entirely because of the excessive influx of money." The 39th president lamented a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that allows unlimited contributions to third-party groups that don't have to disclose their donors. The dynamic is fed, Carter said, by an...

OTTAWA — The Liberal leadership in the Senate allowed a veteran senator to vote on legislation and spend public dollars for four months after she was diagnosed with dementia and declared legally incompetent. Sen. Joyce Fairbairn regularly attended Senate sittings and voted along party lines before the Upper Chamber rose for the summer at the end of June. Fairbairn was diagnosed with dementia of the Alzheimer’s type by her geriatric psychiatrist in February, according to a letter sent to Senate officials by her niece, Patricia McCullagh. It is unclear when the Liberals knew about the diagnosis, but by April, the...

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.) told a recent gathering of the Women’s Political Committee that the spirits of suffragists Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Alice Paul spoke to her at the White House. Pelosi said she heard them say: “At last we have a seat at the table”. A video recently posted on Youtube shows Pelosi speaking in May describing her first meeting with President Bush in the White House after becoming part of the Democratic House leadership.

When I was a young doctor working in poor countries, I made a casual observation that old people in them did not seem to suffer very often from dementia. It occurred to me that properly conducted surveys, of the kind that I was not suited to performing, might be valuable, because a difference in the incidence and prevalence of dementia in various countries might offer a clue to the cause of the disease. As populations throughout the world age, this is a matter of increasing importance.But was my initial casual observation true? And, if true, might the explanation not be...

The brother of Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez has revealed that the 85-year-old Nobel Laureat is suffering from dementia.Jaime García Márquez, a civil engineer, told a group of students at a lecture in the Colombian city of Cartagena that his elder brother often telephones him to ask basic questions. “He has problems with his memory. Sometimes I cry because I feel like I’m losing him,” he said. The author, who has lived in Mexico City since 1961, is one of the most influential and highly-acclaimed living writers. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1982, and Carlos Fuentes, the...

Thousands of dementia sufferers are being abandoned by the NHS, with shocking variations in the time it takes to get a diagnosis and support. Waiting periods for vital memory services average at least three months--but they can vary from a few weeks to more than a year, reveals a damning report by a group of MPs. And some patients are not informed for at least five years that they have the disease, meaning treatments that are available are not as effective. Early diagnosis is key to staving off the ravages of the killer brain disease--yet almost 60 percent with dementia...