March 26, 2015

Today's Top Alzheimer's New

USA2 SPOTLIGHT

A March 25, 2015 statement by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) announced the the introduction of the "Health Outcomes, Planning, and Education (HOPE) for Alzheimer‘s Act" of 2015. The statement included a quote from USAgainstAlzheimer’s Chairman George Vradenburg. According to Vradenburg, “The HOPE Act is critical for patients and caregivers, as well as Medicare and Medicaid.  HOPE is a necessary first step toward providing such services to our Medicare beneficiaries. I commend Congressman Smith and Congresswoman Waters for reintroducing this legislation and urge Congress to enact it into law this Congress.” 


MUST READS AND WATCH

A March 25, 2015 The Hill opinion piece by Rep. Paul Tonko (D-NY) called on Washington to “refocus on Alzheimer’s research.” According to Rep. Tonko, “The result of this underinvestment is clear. The total cost of Alzheimer’s in 2015 will hit the ceiling at $226 billion, which includes a $153 billion drain on Medicare and Medicaid. You read that right: about one out of every five taxpayer dollars that were spent on Medicare went to treating Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia…With such tightly constrained budgets and so many competing interests for federal dollars in recent years, funding can be difficult to find. However, the economic effects of this underinvestment alone, without even considering the unbearable human tolls, should prompt swift action. Only then will we stop this thief and be able to overcome new challenges in health care.”

A March 25, 2015 CBS News article and broadcast segment profiled B. Smith’s battle with Alzheimer’s and her efforts to engage minorities in Alzheimer’s research. According to the article, “"I'm B. Smith and I suffer from Alzheimer's disease," says B. Smith in an online video for the Brain Health Registry. She and husband Dan Gasby are promoting the registry, which offers free online cognitive screenings. A new report by the Alzheimer's Association found only 45 percent of people with Alzheimer's or their caregivers are given the diagnosis by their doctor. "The reason we're doing this is to show people not to hide," said Gasby. "There's such a stigma attached to it.”” Also highlighted by AARP Blog and ABC News New York

A March 25, 2015 Star Tribune article reported that Mayo’s Dr. Ronald Petersen testified before a Senate Special Committee on Aging that “he held out hope for highly effective treatments in a decade if the government significantly increases its investment in research.” According to the article, “Petersen said researchers are “on the precipice” of finding ways to delay the onset of Alzheimer’s or slow its progress once it takes hold of the brain. Nevertheless, Dr. Richard Hodes, director of the National Institute on Aging, said the NIH currently cannot pay for half of the Alzheimer’s research projects that it judges worthy of funding. What Petersen and others in the scientific community aim to find are ways to identify and treat genetic and physical markers of Alzheimer’s and other serious forms of dementia before people suffer memory loss, confusion, brain damage and eventually die. Dementia currently ranks as the sixth leading cause of death in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control. “From a public health perspective,” Petersen testified, “we cannot wait until individuals become symptomatic; we must address the earliest biologic underpinnings of the disease.””


RESEARCH, SCIENCE, AND TECHNOLOGY 

A March 26, 2015 Washington Post Neuroscience Quiz challenges readers to test their neuroscience knowledge with questions about neurons, ApoE4, and Beta Amyloid. Take the quiz and test your knowledge! 

A March 25, 2015 The New York Times article reported that new genetic research from Iceland has identified a new gene associated with Alzheimer’s. According to the article, “Scientists in Iceland have produced an unprecedented snapshot of a nation’s genetic makeup, discovering a host of previously unknown gene mutations that may play roles in ailments as diverse as Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease and gallstones…The scientists also found a rare mutation to a gene called ABDB4 that raises the risk of gallstones. And they identified a gene called ABCA7 as a risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease. Previous studies had suggested a gene in the genetic neighborhood of ABCA7 was associated with the disease. But the Icelandic study pinpointed the gene itself — and even the specific mutation involved.”

A March 25, 2015 MIT Technology Review article reported that researcher Robert Langer is calling for scientists to develop pills that “deliver a full course of treatment in one swallow.” According to the article, “In an invited column in this week’s issue of the journal Nature, he and his colleague Giovanni Traverso, a gastroenterologist and researcher at MIT, note that failure to keep up with drug treatments leads to about $100 billion a year in avoidable hospitalizations. In poor countries, compliance with treatment can be even lower. “We have a lot of great medicines, but under 50 percent of folks actually take them,” Traverso says…Engineering a single pill to take the place of complex dosing regimens could be particularly important for malaria, which often requires multiple drugs over long periods. Failure to follow the right treatment can spread drug resistance, making the disease harder to eradicate. Traverso says the technology could also “revolutionize the standard of care” for psychiatric patients and those with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia, which make it difficult for patients to remember to take their medicine.”