Aubyn writes... I have been only following this tread sporadically, and have lost track of a strand or two. Looking back, this branch seems to have begun with this post from Michael Lee on Tue 12/14/2004 8:44 AM, I believe a tangent from the discussion of whether Flew's recent modifications of his position indicate Alzheimer's, and the study on Iris Murdoch" (note a reference is provided):
"Found this interesting while on the topic, particularly this self-testing kit mentioned at the end of the article. I had no idea such a thing existed. Perhaps I should start exercising my sense of smell more frequently! http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_1210243.html?menu=news.scienceanddiscov ery" Then Michael Sylvester added the following (I confess to not yet being sure if Dr. Sylvester is trolling in his posts to this list): "I once read a study about an Alzheimer's' institution that plants different trees with different flower odors throughout the institutional grounds. Clients are trained to associate certain odors with distance from the main house. For example'the smell of strawberry could be an indication that the client has wandered too far from the main house and the client should stop and return to the main house. And while on this subject,would that be classified as state or cue dependent learning? Several exchanges followed this, some requesting a reference. This is where I started paying attention again, and became confused if the requests for references was for the study mentioned by Michael about using tree odors to control patient wandering, or the original study about using olfaction to assess Alzheimer's. Annette posted this morning: "The story about smell and Alzheimer's was big on our local news channel this week. I'll have to surf around the websites for the big 3 (I know I was watching network news to get the local news when I heard it and said to myself, "Myself, there's that story raising brou ha ha on tips") to see where I saw it and see if I can find a legitimate link. This made me think at least some had lost track of the original citation, and were confusing Michael's assertion with the original. There have been several published studies on olfaction and Alzheimer�s. I believe what has been reported recently in the media (and originally commented on to this list by Michael Lee on Tue 12/14/2004 8:44 AM) are the results of a study by Dr. Davangere Devanand, a professor of psychiatry and neurology at Columbia University to a meeting of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology. I have seen this on several "news" outlets - one report is at: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6707580/ A brief excerpt: "For the study Devanand and colleagues studied 150 patients with minimal to mild cognitive impairment. They compared them to 63 healthy elderly people and ran tests on them every 6 months. The inability to identify 10 specific odors clearly predicted who would go on to develop Alzheimer�s, they told a meeting of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology. These smells included strawberry, smoke, soap, menthol, clove, pineapple, natural gas, lilac, lemon and leather. �Narrowing the list of odors can potentially expedite screening and help with early diagnosis,� Devanand said in a statement. This makes sense, he added, because examination of the brains of Alzheimer�s patients shows that the nerve pathways involved in smell are affected at a very early stage. Several groups have tried to link the sense of smell with Alzheimer�s and at least one company markets a scratch and sniff test for the disease. But Devanand said it is important to identify the specific odors that may be involved." **************************************************** Aubyn Fulton, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology Chair, Behavioral Science Department Pacific Union College Angwin, CA 94508 Office: 707-965-6536 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ***************************************************** --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
