Dementia is one of the most debilitating consequences of Parkinson’s disease, a progressive neurological condition characterized by tremors, stiffness, slow movement and impaired balance. Eighty percent of people with Parkinson’s develop dementia within 20 years of the diagnosis, and patients who carry a particular variant of the gene APOE are at especially high risk.

In new research, scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found a clue to the link between Parkinson’s, APOE and dementia. They discovered that harmful Parkinson’s proteins spread more rapidly through the brains of mice that have the high-risk variant of APOE, and that memory and thinking skills deteriorate faster in people with Parkinson’s who carry the variant. The findings, published Feb. 5 in Science Translational Medicine, could lead to therapies targeting APOE to slow or prevent cognitive decline in people with Parkinson’s.

Full article at Science Daily

Continuing Education for Nursing Home Administrators

It’s a pain. About 80 percent of adults in the United States will experience lower back pain at some point. Treating back pain typically involves medication, including opioids, surgery, therapy and self-care options. Efforts to reduce opioid use and increase physically based therapies to reduce pain and increase physical function and safety are crucial.

Patients are often advised to use non-pharmacological treatments to manage lower back pain such as exercise and mind-body interventions. But, do they really help? In a review published in the journal Holistic Nursing Practice, researchers from Florida Atlantic University’s College for Design and Social Inquiry and Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing evaluated the evidence of effects of three movement-based mind-body interventions on chronic low back pain. They examined yoga, tai chi, which combines gentle physical exercise and stretching with mindfulness, and qigong, a traditional Chinese meditative movement therapy focused on body awareness and attention during slow, relaxed, and fluid repetitive body movements. Little is known about the effects of movement-based mind-body intervention, in particular qigong and tai chi.

Full article at Science Daily

Continuing Education for Nursing Home Administrators

Genesis HealthCare (NYSE: GEN) on Tuesday announced a set of deals that will see the skilled nursing giant transfer control of 19 facilities in the West to a regional operator — while also still serving as a provider of back-office support and ancillary services.

Under the terms of the $79 million transaction, the Los Angeles-based New Generation Health, LLC purchased the operations and real estate associated with six skilled nursing facilities.

New Generation also assumed full operational responsibility for 13 more properties — seven SNFs, five behavioral health centers, and one assisted living community — in California, Nevada, and Washington state.

Full article at Skilled Nursing News

Nursing home administrator continuing education courses