3rdQuarter2015

OUR MISSION
The Alzheimer’s Research & Prevention Foundation (ARPF) is dedicated to the prevention of Alzheimer’s disease by funding research studies and providing educational outreach and memory screenings.
INSIDE
On the Cover:
• President’s Message
Page 2:
• Donor List – Thank You!
Page 3:
• What Others Are Saying
Page 4:
• ARPF Outreach Update
• Outreach Calendar
Page 5:
• ARPF Research Update
Page 6-7:
• Continued Donor List –
Thank You!
Page 8:
• ARPF Store

OFFICERS AND BOARD MEMBERS
PRESIDENT/MEDICAL DIRECTOR
Dharma Singh Khalsa, M.D.
VICE PRESIDENT
Randal Brooks, MA, LPC
TREASURER (interim)
Kirti K. Khalsa
SECRETARY
Kirti K. Khalsa
MEMBER
Carolyn Lucz
CHIEF COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER
Simran S. Stuelpnagel
NEWSLETTER EDITOR
Tryn Rose Seley
SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY COUNCIL
Chief Scientific Advisor
Sat Bir Singh Khalsa, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Harvard Medical School
Brigham and Women’s Hospital – Boston, MA
Ma Gloria Borras-Boneu, M.D.
GRD Health Institute – Barcelona, Spain
Karen E. Innes, MSPH, Ph.D.
Western Virginia University School of Public Health – Morgantown, WV
Miia Kivipelto, M.D., Ph.D.
Aging Research Center and Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center Karolinska Institute – Stockholm, Sweden
Karen Koffler, M.D.
Medical Director, Canyon Ranch Miami Beach Miami Beach, FL
Helen Lavretsky, M.D., M.S.
Professor, Department of Psychiatry UCLA Semel Institute and Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital – Los Angeles, CA
George Perry, Ph.D.
Dean and Professor, College of Sciences University of Texas at San Antonio – San Antonio, TX
Michelle Sierpina, Ph.D.
Founding Director
UTMB Osher Institute for Lifelong Learning University of Texas Medical Branch – Galveston, TX

“Forget-Me-Not”
N E W S L E T T E R

President’s Message

On Monday, July 13, 2015, I attended The White House Conference on Aging. It was an exhilarating and stimulating experience for the 200 personally-invited people there, including me, that were privileged to attend this once-a-decade event.The main theme of the conference was that aging need not be a time of degeneration, but rather with planning, and the practice of certain life style measures, aging can be a time of activity, fun, and enlightenment.At the AARP reception the night before the conference, I had the opportunity to speak to 2 great super agers at the conference. One 93-year-old man attended the very first conference in 1961. He said the key to his longevity is staying mentally active; he went to work every day until recently. And now that he’s retired, he’s speaking out on behalf of staying mentally active.

I also spoke to an 89-year-old woman from New York. She said that the best thing about
aging is that she no longer cares what other people think, and feels freer than ever before.

Major goals discussed at the conference included finding ways to prevent Alzheimer’s Disease by 2025. As a search for a medication to prevent or cure it remains elusive, it behooves us to make use of the positive, evidence-based lifestyle research that now exists, and put it to good use in our lives. Indeed, the answers to Alzheimer’s prevention may lie in your own hands, and legs, and even your mouth. So let’s renew our efforts to make the ARPF’s “4 Pillars of Alzheimer’s Prevention” a way of life.

1. Diet, food choices that include a plant-based Mediterranean-style diet, low in red meat.

2. Stress Management, with the regular practice of yoga and meditation, especially with Kirtan Kriya, our well-researched, simple 12-minute Brain-Enhancement Meditation Exercise that is safe, affordable, fast, effective and easy.

3. Physical and Mental Exercise, beneficial aerobics for the body and mind.

4. Spiritual Fitness, including service, enjoying the company of like-minded people, and living your mission and purpose in life.

Of course, we at the ARPF have been championing those ideas for over two decades. I’m happy to say they are now becoming mainstream. In this newsletter, we acknowledge more than 1,300 donors, for which we are very grateful. Your contributions keep our research going strong.

Yours in Brain Health,
Dharma Singh Khalsa, M.D.
Founding President/Medical Director

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Outreach Update
On June 4-7, we exhibited at the Symposium of Yoga Therapy and Research in Newport Beach, California to share the results of ARPF research on the lifestyle approach to the prevention of memory loss and Alzheimer’s Disease. Over 400 people attended our presentation on the scientific results of yoga-based therapeutic interventions.

On July 13, the ARPF was invited to attend the 2015 White House Conference on Aging, held at The White House in Washington, DC. This conference takes place once every 10 years, and makes recommendations to improve the lives of older adults. It was an honor to participate in this conference.

On July 19-23, we participated in the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Washington, DC in two ways. We led a poster presentation about the first results of the study that’s underway at UCLA – Department of Psychiatry (see below for more on this study), and we had an exhibit booth to present the revised White Paper with a detailed description of 10 years of research, and advocate for lifestyle modalities to keep a healthy brain with age. Our work was well-received, and it was exciting to meet researchers from all over the world who share the same interest in the Four Pillars of Alzheimer’s Prevention. See them listed above in the President’s Message, and on our website under Prevention.

ARPF Research Update
Study at UCLA with Dr. Helen Lavretsky
“Changes in the Functional Brain Connectivity and Verbal Memory Performance Following Yoga or Memory Training in Older Adults with Subjective Memory Complaints”

Helen Lavretsky, M.D. is professor of Psychiatry at UCLA, and the Director of the Late-Life Mood, Stress and Wellness research program at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior. Dr. Khalsa presented a poster session at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in July on behalf of this group about the ongoing study, comparing brain function and verbal memory performance for one group: those who do yoga, and the other group: those who do other memory training methods.

Dr. Lavretsky reports that, to date, “We have completed recruitment of 85 subjects and (completed MRI) imaging of 25.”

UCLA is developing a new integrative mental health program, and plans to add a group combining both yoga and memory training at the Motion Picture and Television Fund (MPTF) Health Care in Los Angeles.

From a “Yoga Journal” blog, Dr. Lavretsky says:
“Chronic stress and related stress hormones could negatively affect brain structures important for memory and cognition, like the hippocampus. Chronic stress is also associated with inflammation in the body, and in the central nervous system and the brain that is linked to Alzheimer’s disease and other disorders of aging. Yoga can reduce stress hormones and inflammatory factors, and teach an individual over time how to cope more effectively and protect the body from going through the stress response.” She notes that the younger you are when you start practicing yoga and meditation, the better.

“A growing number of studies, including ours, are showing positive brain and cognitive changes with practice, as well as benefits in longtime meditators compared to novices…Yoga and meditation can help people with Alzheimer’s feel happier and find peace, especially those in the early stages who are struggling with the reality of memory loss.”

Your ARPF is funding this study. Research will be completed before the new year, so stay tuned for the findings.