MUST READS

According to a July 18, 2018 CNN article, a new study out of South Korea and Greece showed that women who have given birth five or more times may be 70% more likely to develop Alzheimer's later in life than those who have fewer births. Study author Dr. Ki Woong Kim wrote, "Based on previous research, we expected that pregnancy with childbirth may be associated with the risk of Alzheimer's disease. However we were quite surprised that incomplete pregnancy was associated with the lower risk of Alzheimer's, which we did not expect at the beginning of our research." Also covered by Newsweek, Medical Express and others

A July 17, 2018 Gates Notes blog by Bill Gates spoke about his most recent, $30 million commitment to fund research into Alzheimer’s disease with the Diagnostics Accelerator venture philanthropy vehicle project. According to Gates, “Venture philanthropy… incentivizes a bold, risk-taking approach to research with an end goal of a real product for real patients. If any of the projects backed by Diagnostics Accelerator succeed, our share of the financial windfall goes right back into the fund. My hope is that this investment builds a bridge from academic research to a reliable, affordable, and accessible diagnostic.” 

MUST WATCH

Watch “Dementia & Sensory Challenges - My Life Living with Dementia.” Living with dementia can mean adjusting to a different reality. Agnes Houston shares her sensory experiences of younger onset dementia. 

RESEARCH AND SCIENCE

A July 17, 2018 Express article reported that researchers in Italy created a new, low-cost blood test, for people showing signs of mild cognitive decline and impairment, to predict who will develop dementia and Alzheimer’s. According to Paolo Maria Rossini of the Neuroscience Area of the Gemelli IRCCS Polyclinic Foundation, "Thanks to this study, knowing who will suffer from Dementia among those at risk will be quick and easy because they will need a normal EEG (analysed with sophisticated methods) and a blood sample (a genetic test to find a mutation linked to Alzheimer’s, on ApoE gene). To date, such a test is lacking clinical practice, which will allow medical and rehabilitative treatments to begin as soon as possible, introduce the necessary changes in lifestyle and guide patients facing diagnoses of Dementia.”

ALZ TECH

A July 16, 2018 Express article highlighted the new, custom-made SpiNNaker supercomputer, the first-of-its-kind to mimic the neural networks of the brain. The hope is that it will teach experts about all facets of the brain, including degenerative diseases. According to Dr. Sacha van Albada of the Theoretical Neuroanatomy group at the Jülich Research Centre, Germany, "SpiNNaker can support detailed biological models of the cortex – the outer layer of the brain that receives and processes information from the senses – delivering results very similar to those from an equivalent supercomputer software simulation. The ability to run large-scale detailed neural networks quickly and at low power consumption will advance robotics research and facilitate studies on learning and brain disorders.”

PROFILES IN COURAGE

A July 17, 2018 NPR WUMW 89.7 Milwaukee radio segment and articlespotlighted the story of Larry Gnatzig and his husband, Jeff Tucker, who has frontotemporal dementia. The pair initially encountered resistance because the systems and policies in place did not meet or even recognize their needs as a same sex couple. This motivated Gnatzig into action. According to the segment, “Working with local, state, and federal organizations, Gnatzig helped pave the way to systemic changes state-wide for dementia screenings with those with early onset, and also made LGBTQ sensitivity training a requirement for case workers.”