Must read

• An October 5, 2014 National Journal cover story reported on our "national Alzheimer's debacle." According to the article, "Lost too often in the discussion about a cure has been a much more basic, more immediate, and in many ways more important question: How can we better care for those who suffer from the disease? Dementia comes with staggering economic consequences, but it's not the drugs or medical interventions that have the biggest price tag; it's the care that dementia patients need. Last year, a landmark Rand study identified dementia as the most expensive American ailment. The study estimated that dementia care purchased in the marketplace—including nursing-home stays and Medicare expenditures—cost $109 billion in 2010, more than was spent on heart disease or cancer. "It's so costly because of the intensity of care that a demented person requires," Michael Hurd, who led the study, told me. Society spends up to $56,000 for each dementia case annually, and the price of dementia care nationwide increases to $215 billion per year when the value of informal care from relatives and volunteers is included."

• An October 6, 2014 Wall Street Journal article reported that "A British-American and two Norwegian scientists were awarded this year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering brain circuits that forms an “inner GPS” system that allows us to navigate our environment." According to the article, "The research has paved the way for a better understanding of other cognitive processes, including memory, thinking and planning. And it may one day provide medical benefits.For example, patients with Alzheimer’s disease often lose their way and cannot recognize where they are. Knowledge of how the brain’s inner global positioning system works could shed light on how spatial memory loss occurs."
• An October 6, 2014 CBS News article reported on the doctor shortage the baby boomer population faces and on the need to address issues like Alzheimer's. According to the article, "Our medical system does a good job of handling the medical challenges of younger adults and children, who tend to be more prone to short-term acute issues such as the flu and non-critical injuries. But the diseases and disabilities in older adults, such as hypertension, heart diseases, cancer, Alzheimer's, or arthritis are typically more difficult and costly to treat. And Geriatrics is a medical specialty that focuses on the health care of elderly people, aiming to prevent and treat their chronic, long-term conditions...The Merrill Lynch/Age Wave report suggests that more research and attention to the diseases of old age, particularly Alzheimer's, is needed. The report shows people of all ages expressing overwhelming interest in a wide range of medical innovations to help them age with greater health and vitality. Potential therapies that slow the aging of your brain and body were supported by 80 percent or more of the population surveyed."
• An October 3, 2014 New York Times article reported on the potential impact of big data to improve clinical trial research. According to the article, "Other researchers think data-mining might also be particularly beneficial for cancer patients, because so few types of cancer are represented in clinical trials.As with so much network-enabled data-tinkering, this research is freighted with serious privacy concerns. If these analyses are considered part of treatment, hospitals may allow them on the grounds of doing what is best for a patient. But if they are considered medical research, then everyone whose records are being used must give permission. In practice, the distinction can be fuzzy and often depends on the culture of the institution. After Frankovich wrote about her experience in The New England Journal of Medicine in 2011, her hospital warned her not to conduct such analyses again until a proper framework for using patient information was in place."