June 27, 2013

Today's Top Alzheimer's News

Senator Bob Casey advocates for medical research funding, new Alzheimer's fighting molecules, and the impact of austerity on dementia sufferers in the UK (read more). 

Must reads

  • A June 25, 2013 CenterDaily.com (PA) article reported that Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) is pushing for restored medical research funding. According to Casey, "We’re trying to make the point — and this is bipartisan — that ... even in a time of tight budgets, even in a time of sequestration, we have to find ways to make sure we don’t lose our edge on the advantage we have as a nation on medical research...Unfortunately, we’re losing part of that edge, not all of it, but part of it, and we know the value of it ... not just the potential, but the lifesaving reality of medical research.”
 
Research and science 
  • A May 26, 2013 ScienceDaily.com article reported that researchers at the Neuroscience Research Institute (NRI) at UC Santa Barbara have developed "a new potential target in the fight against Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases." According to the article, "Kosik and his research team focused on tau, a protein normally present in the brain, which can develop into neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) that, along with plaques containing amyloid-ß protein, characterize Alzheimer's disease. When tau becomes pathological, many phosphate groups attach to it, causing it to become dysfunctional and intensely phosphorylated, or hyperphosphorylated. Aggregations of hyperphosphorylated tau are also referred to as paired helical filaments."
  • A May 26, 2013 ScienceCodex.com article reported on a "promising" Alzheimer's drug that might halt memory loss. According to the article, "A new class of experimental drug-like small molecules is showing great promise in targeting a brain enzyme to prevent early memory loss in Alzheimer's disease, according to Northwestern Medicine® research.Developed in the laboratory of D. Martin Watterson, the molecules halted memory loss and fixed damaged communication among brain cells in a mouse model of Alzheimer's."
 
International 
  • A May 26, 2013 Alzheimer's Society blog post highlighted the negative impact of budget cuts on dementia sufferers in the UK. According to the post, "People with dementia are becoming victims of austerity as savage cuts to social care spending leave more people reaching crisis point.Alzheimer's Society is today (Wednesday 26 June 2013) calling on George Osborne to use the Comprehensive Spending Review to fund greater access to care for tens of thousands of people with the condition. The call comes as polling by YouGov for the charity reveals that 91 per cent of Britons think it is important that the government should invest more in care services for people with dementia who are able to live at home or in a care home rather than a hospital."