November 25, 2014

Today's Top Alzheimer's News

USA2's Meryl Comer urges the new GOP congress to address Alzheimer's, Alzheimer's and African Americans, and China's growing Alzheimer's problem (read more). 

USA2 Spotlight

  • A November 25, 2014 Roll Call opinion piece by USA2 board member Meryl Comer underscored the need to fund Alzheimer's research. According to Comer, "Unfortunately no disease exemplifies the misalignment of resources against current and projected needs like Alzheimer’s and dementia. Today, it’s estimated that upward of 5 million Americans are living with — or more accurately, dying from — Alzheimer’s and dementia. A half-million deaths each year makes Alzheimer’s the third and only leading cause of disease to lack a means of prevention or a disease-modifying treatment or therapy…Alzheimer’s disease is one issue that will define our generation and how we will be remembered. Will the new GOP Congress be up for more than brain games and pursue a mindful legacy for its party and us all?" Meryl Comer is president of the Geoffrey Beene Foundation Alzheimer’s Initiative, co-founder of Women Against Alzheimer’s and author of The New York Time’s best-seller “Slow Dancing With A Stranger: Lost and Found in the Age of Alzheimer’s.”
  • A November 25, 2014 Pittsburg-Post Gazette article (originally from The Washington Post) highlighted the disproportionate impact of Alzheimer's on the African American community and highlighted USA2's efforts to address the problem. According to the article, "Yet relatively few African Americans want to talk about Alzheimer’s, which is the leading cause of dementia. For historical reasons, even fewer want to participate in clinical research trials that could deliver benefits to themselves and future generations.“You just don’t hear about Alzheimer’s in the black community. There’s some stigma,” said Stephanie Monroe, associate director of the African American network at the D.C.-based nonprofit USAgainstAlzheimer’s, the event’s organizer. The organization was founded in 2010 by George Vradenburg, AOL’s former chief counsel, and his wife, Trish, a writer and former journalist."
Global 
  • A November 25, 2014 Japan Times article highlighted China's growing Alzheimer's crisis. According to the article, "The BrightFocus Foundation estimated that there are 44 million people worldwide living with dementia, with numbers expected to reach 66 million by 2030 and 115 million by 2050. According to the medical journal Lancet, China has 9 million Alzheimer’s sufferers. Those numbers make Alzheimer’s and other kinds of dementia one of the most significant health and economic problems of the 21st century…The China’s Alzheimer’s Project (CAP) estimates that 75 percent of urban patients have not been diagnosed in a timely way. The proportion of those not diagnosed in rural areas is probably higher. This is happening despite the fact that there is increasing awareness about these diseases. Presently, only the top-quality hospitals (of which there are approximately 700 in the country) can provide comprehensive diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease."
Research, science, and technology 
  • A November 24, 2014 Health Canal article reported that "A protein that stimulates the brain to awaken from sleep may be a target for preventing Alzheimer’s disease." According to the article, "In recent years, scientists at Washington University have established links between sleep problems and Alzheimer’s. For example, they have shown in people and in mice that sleep loss contributes to the growth of brain plaques characteristic of Alzheimer’s, and increases the risk of dementia. The new research, in mice, demonstrates that eliminating the protein – called orexin – made mice sleep for longer periods of time and strongly slowed the production of brain plaques."