Alzheimer

TREXLERTOWN, Pa. - A Lehigh County man who had written in the New York Times about his love for his Alzheimer's-stricken wife killed her and himself in what their family called an act of "deep devotion. " The bodies of Charles Snelling and his wife, Adrienne, both 81, were found Thursday in their home in Trexlertown. "Our father ended our mother's life and then took his own life as well," the family said in a statement. "This is a total shock to everyone in the family, but we know he acted out of deep devotion and profound love.

Dementia and its evil twin, Alzheimer's, may have moved ahead of cancer on the list of most feared diseases, especially among baby boomers, who have begun to believe it is their inescapable fate if they have the bad luck to live too long. So we grasp at any news about aging, hoping that medical science has indeed found a way to preserve that most essential part of who we are - our memories. Do we protect our minds by doing the New York Times crossword puzzle or by doing aerobics?

CHICAGO - Doug Wyman got up early Tuesday to make breakfast for his wife, Barbara: coffee, oatmeal and fresh fruit. He drew a bath and helped her get dressed, then sat with her through her favorite morning TV shows. Not because it was Valentine's Day. Because of love. After 63 years of marriage, the couple developed their routine when Alzheimer's disease left Barbara unable to do things herself. But it's a routine that Doug Wyman - like a growing number of men who have assumed the role of caregiver in recent years - embraces proudly.

Police in Winslow Township, Camden County, are searching for a man with Alzheimer's disease who disappeared Thursday afternoon. Lyndsay Shannon was last seen at 3 p.m. Thursday wearing blue jeans, brown shoes, and a blue sweater. He was not wearing a jacket. In the past, the man has been found in Marlton and in Blackwood. He is black, 5 feet, 11 inches tall and 190 pounds with short gray hair and a beard. Police ask anyone with information to call Detective Brian Barret at 609-561-3300.

NEW YORK - Debby Haskins, a retired high school basketball coach from upstate Vermont, flew in just for this one, wearing a "We back Pat" shirt she'd ordered from the University of Tennessee website. Haskins has gone to Tennessee women's games before - she yelled out at UT players by name during warm-ups - but on this day, in this season, Haskins especially felt the need to be here. Maybe you had to play high school basketball in the days before Title IX, then coach your own daughter from third grade through high school, and see your father-in-law die late in life from Alzheimer's disease, and an aunt come down with early-onset Alzheimer's in her mid-50s, to fully appreciate why Haskins traveled to honor Tennessee women's coach Pat Summitt at Sunday's Maggie Dixon Classic at Madison Square Garden.

University of Pennsylvania researchers have used a new brain-imaging technique in a way that could improve the diagnosis and monitoring of Alzheimer's disease. The dreaded disorder is challenging to diagnose because the classic symptom, dementia, has many other causes, and the only definitive test - a brain autopsy - can't be done before death. As a result, diagnosis involves a battery of mental, physical, and lab tests, plus brain scans. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is used to rule out causes of dementia such as a stroke or tumor, and positron emission tomography (PET)

In what he hopes will be a step toward increasing funding for research into brain disorders, U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah (D., Pa.) said this week that he had helped win bipartisan support for a more coordinated approach to federal funding of neuroscience. "I see this as an area where the country can make real progress over the next decade and I believe that it deserves the kind of attention that will be caused by this collaboration," Fattah said Friday. He said the European Union had also made neuroscience research a priority.

Question: What causes Alzheimer's disease? Since it does sometimes run in families, do you think it might be contagious? Answer: There doesn't appear to be one specific cause for Alzheimer's disease, the most common cause of dementia. It occurs due to a complex mix of genetic, lifestyle, and environmental factors. Two factors are well known: advancing age and family history. If you are lucky enough to make it to 85 years of age, there's a 50-50 chance of getting Alzheimer's disease.

Following a radio signal emitted by a bracelet, Philadelphia police this week were able to locate a 77-year-old man with Alzheimer's disease who had been missing for a day. The man was last seen leaving a residence in the 200 block of North 52d Street about noon Sunday, police said. His family reported him missing about 3 p.m. Monday. The man was enrolled in the SafetyNet program, run by LoJack, the company that helps locate stolen cars. SafetyNet supplied police with the man's bracelet frequency.