February 03, 2015

Today's Top Alzheimer's News

MUST READS

A February 2, 2015 New York Times article reported on the details of President Obama's Precision Medicine Initiative and what it might mean for diseases like Alzheimer's. According to the article, "The hope of scientists working on diseases like Alzheimer’s, diabetes and cancer is that the so-called precision medicine plan that President Obama proposed last week would speed such efforts to understand genetic variations within diseases and to develop treatments for them. The plan — part of the budget the administration sent to Congress on Monday — would establish a coordinated way for researchers to get genetic and clinical data on a million people. It would cost $215 million in the next fiscal year, including $70 million for the National Cancer Institute." 

A February 2, 2015 Associated Press article (via Al.com) profiled one Alabama family at the center of an Alzheimer's genetic research study. According to the article, "For a northeast Alabama woman and her extended family, losing keys or forgetting names is no laughing matter. In fact, she and her relatives watch with dread for signs that a disease that affects a startling 50 percent or more of her family may be lurking…According to Crouse, researchers have discovered her genetics, as part of the Chastain family tree, mean there is a strong likelihood that her fears are founded. "They are doing a study on the Chastain blood, because we have an extra Alzheimer's gene," she said. "They're trying to find a cure and think it's real possible it could be in our blood. They say we're the only family in America who has this extra gene and there are only two other families in the world who do." It's a remarkable assertion confirmed by Dr. Allan Levey, chair of the Department of Neurology at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta and director of Emory's Alzheimer's Disease Research Center."

A February 2, 2015 Science Mag article highlighted the science components of President Obama's 2016 budget proposal, including a modest increase for Alzheimer's research. According to the article, "The request also includes $70 million in new money for the cross-agency BRAIN Initiative, more than doubling its NIH funding; $51 million more for Alzheimer’s disease research (a 9% increase over current spending); and $51 million more for vaccines against such diseases as HIV and influenza." Also reported on by the Washington Post


REGIONAL 

A February 3, 2015 Minnesota Daily article reported on the efforts of state officials and community stakeholders to combat Alzheimer's in the state. According to the article, "Minnesota’s aging population is putting pressure on researchers of Alzheimer’s disease, which some lawmakers say highlights the need for more sources of funding for the studies.State legislators recently introduced bills that would establish a grant program to help fund research on Alzheimer’s and other dementia-related diseases. University of Minnesota researchers say the proposed source of funding could potentially benefit their studies, which they say are crucial because of population trends…The Senate’s bill would allocate $5 million in both 2016 and 2017 for dementia research, and Nelson said an additional $750,000 in grant funding would be available annually in an effort to connect more caregivers and patients with resources." 


RESEARCH, SCIENCE, AND TECHNOLOGY 

A February 2, 2015 Science Blog article reported that "A research team at Weill Cornell Medical College and the University of California, San Francisco has developed a mathematical model that determines where in the brain Alzheimer’s has spread, predicts where it will appear next and how fast the brain’s atrophy patterns will change — giving patients a roadmap of their future."