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Pets can provide many positive benefits for people with dementia. They can be soothing and provide company and activity for them.
You will need to make sure the pet is being properly cared for. Are they being fed? Is the cage or gate kept closed?
You can find out more by reading the Alzheimer's Australia help sheet about dementia and pets.
Last reviewed: November 2016
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Pets are an important part of the life of many people. This Help Sheet discusses some of the benefits of pets for people with dementia.
Read more on Dementia Australia website
Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia. Find out all you need to know, including what causes it and whether it can be prevented.
Read more on myDr website
Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder that causes tremor and rigidity in hands. It affects elderly people and is associated with dementia.
Read more on myVMC – Virtual Medical Centre website
Nuclear medicine uses small amounts of radioactive materials to diagnose and treat disease, using techniques such as bone scans, PET and SPECT.
Read more on myDr website
Dementia and depression can occur separately or together. Sometimes it may be difficult to distinguish between them because the signs and symptoms are similar.
Read more on beyondblue website
Depression reflects a range of biological and social factors and it may be difficult to diagnose in older people as its presentation may differ from that of younger people.
Read more on Black Dog Institute website
The beneficial effects of regular exercise or physical activity on your body range from fighting depression to reducing the risk of many chronic diseases such as heart disease and cancer.
Read more on myDr website
Read more on Black Dog Institute website
Connecting with other people who have a disability and their families can be a good way of getting informal advice and support.
Read more on Better Health Channel website
Unlike other illnesses or disorders, there is no simple explanation as to what causes depression. In general, depression can be due to a number of factors including stresses which can range from mild to severe, combined with vulnerability or predisposition to depression that can result from biological, genetic or psychological factors.
Read more on Black Dog Institute website
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This Best Practice information sheet has been derived from a systematic review published in 2011 in the JBI Library of Systematic Reviews.
Read more on Joanna Briggs Institute website
F-FDG PET scan for early prediction of developing Alzheimers disease or other dementia in people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI)
Read more on Cochrane (Australasian Centre) website
11C-PIB-PET scan for early prediction of developing Alzheimers disease or other dementia in people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI)
Read more on Cochrane (Australasian Centre) website
This pathway provides guidance on the imaging investigation of adult patients with cognitive decline, once systemic causes have been excluded.
Read more on Diagnostic Imaging Pathways website
Proteins in blood and cerebrospinal fluids for early prediction of developing Alzheimers disease or other dementia in people with cognitive problems
Read more on Cochrane (Australasian Centre) website
Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is one of the more common causes of dementia in old age. At present, it is diagnosed on the basis of the presence of characteristic symptoms, of which the most important are visual hallucinations, fluctuations in cognition, and Parkinsonism (movement symptoms like those seen in Parkinson's disease). However, many people who have DLB do not have all of these symptoms, and it can be hard to distinguish from other causes of dementia, especially Alzheimer's disease (AD). It is important to diagnose it accurately because people with DLB can have particularly severe side effects if given antipsychotic medication and, in the long term, so that treatments can be improved. Diagnosis of DLB using clinical symptoms alone has proven in some studies not to be very sensitive, that is cases of DLB are often missed.
Read more on Cochrane (Australasian Centre) website
Behavioural and psychological symptoms are perhaps the commonest complication of dementia syndromes.
Read more on Australian Prescriber website
Neuroblastoma is a childhood tumour that can be visualized by a specific nuclear imaging compound, called metaiodobenzylguanidine (I -MIBG). I-MIBG-imaging is not only important for the diagnosis of neuroblastoma, but also for localization of metastases (spread of the disease to other organs). Sometimes, the neuroblastoma does not take up I-MIBG and as a result the neuroblastoma is not visible on the scan. In that case, another type of nuclear imaging might be useful to visualize the neuroblastoma: fluoro-deoxy-glucose positron emission tomography (18F-FDG-PET)-imaging.
Read more on Cochrane (Australasian Centre) website
Vitamin E should not be used for the treatment of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's dementia (AD)
Read more on Cochrane (Australasian Centre) website
Current therapies for Alzheimers disease do not modify the course of disease and are not universally beneficial. Clinical trials of drugs targeting amyloid...
Read more on Australian Prescriber website
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