A roundup of today's other health news in brief
Alzheimer’s linked to poor money skills
Being disorganised with money may be an indication of looming Alzheimer’s disease, a study suggests.
Researchers conducted a series of simple money management tests on 160 older people, 87 of whom had mild memory problems but no symptoms of dementia. The tests included counting coins, buying groceries, using a cheque book, paying bills and spotting fraud situations. After one year, a quarter of the participants with mild cognitive impairment had developed symptoms of Alzheimer’s.
“Our findings show that declining money management skills are detectable in patients with MCI in the year prior to developing Alzheimer’s disease,” said study author Dr Daniel Marson, from the Department of Neurology and Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centre at the University of Alabama in Birmingham, US.
HSE licensing H1N1 vaccine
The HSE has said the licensing process for the H1N1 Pandemic (swine flu) vaccine is still underway and it will not begin offering vaccines until this is completed. It said it intends to commence with vaccinating healthcare workers and those in the identified at-risk groups between the ages of six months and 65 years.
However, the HSE pointed out that it did not intend to offer the vaccines to infants under six months. (An article in Healthplus on swine flu last week may have given the impression that it did.)
Irish doctor scoops award
Dr Norman Delanty, a consultant neurologist at Beaumont Hospital, has been awarded the prestigious Ambassador for Epilepsy Award at the 28th International Epilepsy Congress in Budapest.
The award is conferred every two years by the International Bureau for Epilepsy (IBE) and the International League against Epilepsy (ILAE).