USA2 SPOTLIGHT

Watch our new whiteboard video to learn “How UsAgainstAlzheimer’s is Accelerating a Cure.” We’re done waiting. Help us take action and accelerate an Alzheimer’s cure for all. Join us! 

MUST READS

An October 10, 2018 Business Insider article spoke with Alzheimer's Research UK about common misconceptions around dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Among the most misunderstood is that dementia is caused by diseases and is not a natural part of aging. According to the article, “People understand cancer is a disease, that you shouldn't have it and it's unfair, Phipps said, but that's not yet universally accepted by people when it comes to dementia.”

MUST WATCH

An October 11, 2018 Voice of America video featured Dr. Jessica Langbaum of the Banner Alzheimer’s Institute in Phoenix, who is leading two Alzheimer’s disease prevention studies with healthy adult participants who show no cognitive deficit. The participants join GeneMatch and get tested for the ApoE4 gene. Hundreds of thousands of additional volunteers are still needed for AD research.

RESEARCH AND SCIENCE

According to an October 9, 2018 EurekAlert! release, researchers at the Institute of Molecular Pathology Biomarkers are developing a model for studying Alzheimer's disease of sporadic origin, not due to hereditary. 95 percent of AD cases are of unknown or sporadic origin. The team found a deficiency in the protein STIM1 in brain tissue of people with AD. “In Alzheimer's disease of unknown origin, to date there are no models that enable us to study how it develops,” said study author Francisco Javier Martin-Romero.

ETHICS

An October 3, 2018 Being Patient article reported that the Supreme Court is trying to decide if failure to remember a crime and inability to understand the death penalty constitutionally excuses a person from the death penalty. They are deliberating the case of Vernon Madison, who was convicted of murder in 1985, but now has vascular dementia. The state argues that cases of severe dementia would constitutionally prohibit execution. According to the article, “With an aging population, many death row prisoners are in their 60s, 70s, 80s and beyond. “So this will become a more common problem,” Justice Stephen G. Breyer said.”

ALZ TECH

An October 4, 2018 The Week Business article looked at the trend of using virtual reality in Alzheimer’s care, to both inspire compassion in caregivers and awaken memories in patients. 20kg dementia suits restrict vision and movement, and the VR induces confusion to show the experience of someone with Alzheimer’s disease. According to the article, “The virtual-reality environment is “scary, intimidating, confusing” and creates a “feeling of vulnerability”, according to Training 2 Care, the company which ran the sessions. It says VR “is medically and scientifically proven to be the closest that we can give a person with a healthy brain an experience of what dementia might be like.”