Dementia

Retired Baltimore Transit Company worker Earl Lafayette Wilder, the 87-year-old accused of killing a 91-year-old fellow resident at their Columbia assisted-living home, is a one-time boxer who suffers from dementia, according to court records. The eldest of Wilder's five children, who is his guardian, said Tuesday that she was still struggling to comprehend the Aug. 17 incident in which Wilder is alleged to have risen from his wheelchair and attacked James W. Brown with his fists as the victim sat on a metal bench outside Harmony Hall.

Epilepsy drug during pregnancy bad for IQ Toddlers of moms who took the epilepsy drug valproate during pregnancy had lower IQs than the children of women who used other anti-seizure medicines, according to a new study. The valproate children had IQ scores six to nine points lower by age 3, said the study's lead author, Dr. Kimford Meador of Emory University. The drug, also sold as Depakote, had previously been linked to birth defects. Women of childbearing age have long been advised to avoid it. In the study, researchers followed pregnant women in the U.S. and United Kingdom between 1999 and 2004.

Listen: Can you hear it? That pervasive, synchronized, "gwak-gwak-gwak"? It's the collective teeth-gnashing of Marylanders across all socioeconomic strata about the condition of the U.S. economy. Stocks are tanking, retirement accounts are receding like an investment advisor's hairline - but look on the bright side: Now is a good time to invest in the bruxism retainer business. We used to be able to assess someone's financial success by the make and model of her vehicle or the cut of his clothes.

Look at dementia, Alzheimer's set The National Family Caregiver Support Program will hold a three-part workshop on dementia and Alzheimer's disease at: Maryland City Activity Center, Resurrection of Our Lord Church, 8402 Brock Ridge Road, Laurel, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Nov. 13 and 27 and Dec. 4. Registration and further information: 410-222-4464. Partners in Care founder honored Maureen Cavaiola, a founder of Severna Park-based Partners In Care, has been selected as one of 13 "Women of Worth" by L'Oreal Paris.

Carolyn Forwood, a retired salesclerk and beautician, believes in regular exercise for body and brain. The 68-year-old Parkville resident does crossword puzzles every day. She took up yoga a few months ago, and she works out on the treadmills and stationary bikes in the new fitness room at the Parkville Senior Center three to four times a week. She also volunteers part time as a senior center receptionist and spends as much time as possible with her three daughters and two stepdaughters.

Elderly black people who are chronic users of acid-inhibiting drugs in the family that includes Zantac, Pepcid and Tagamet have 2 1/2 times the normal risk of developing dementia, Indiana researchers report. The drugs block production of stomach acid by inhibiting histamine-2 receptors; the stomach releases hydrochloric acid when stimulated by histamines. But they also inhibit the brain's cholinergic system, which is involved in memory and cognition. Low levels of cholinergic activity have been linked to dementia.

After a long and contentious debate over how the NFL cares for former players, commissioner Roger Goodell has thrown the league's collective muscle into an initiative to help those in need. At an owners meeting in Nashville, Tenn., yesterday, Goodell announced that the league and its related entities - the NFL Players Association, the NFLPA Retired Players Association, the NFL Alumni, NFL Charities and the Pro Football Hall of Fame - will work together to coordinate medical support services for former players.

This month, major scientific and medical societies concerned with Alzheimer's disease marked the central event in the evolution of this modern malady: the centennial of the case of Auguste D as presented by Dr. Alois Alzheimer at a medical conference in November 1906. Something else will not be marked as loudly: The slow but gradual end of Alzheimer's as we know it - and the Americanization of dementia science. Germany's Alois Alzheimer gave us the basis of the modern conception of the disease, that of a dementia caused by a buildup of plaque between neurons and fibrous tangles inside brain cells.