April 02, 2015

Today's Top Alzheimer's News

USA2 SPOTLIGHT

A March 25, 2015 Lead Coalition Newsletter entry by Dr. Daniel Potts, a neurologist and Seasons of Caring editor, highlighted ways that everyone can be part of the fight against Alzheimer’s and dementia. According to Dr. Potts, “You and I have opportunities to respond to the reality of dementia by making choices that will effect meaningful and productive change. Some examples include calling on Members of Congress in support of funding dementia research at the National Institutes of Health and support services such as those provided by the Older Americans Act; submitting comments to the White House Conference on Aging website; becoming a grassroots advocate through USAgainstAlzheimer’s, the Alzheimer’s Association, the BrightFocus Foundation, or another group of your choosing. You or your family members might consider supporting early detection through the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America’s National Memory Screening Program, joining the Alzheimer’s Prevention Registry or the Brain Health Registry, or enrolling in clinical trials, sharing your stories via social media advocacy groups such as Memory People, organizing community partners to develop dementia day and respite programs in your community, or a host of other possibilities.  The bottom line is that you can choose your response to the challenge dementia poses to all of us.  Will you join us?”


RESEARCH, SCIENCE, AND TECHNOLOGY 

An April 1, 2015 NBC News article reported on the BigNeuron project and its efforts to “untangle” the structure of the brain cell. According to the article, “"We are 'bench-testing' many different algorithms, comparing how each of them handles very large-scale, publicly available 3-D neuron image datasets," BigNeuron lead organizer Hanchuan Peng said in a news release. Each of the tens of billions of neurons in your brain is like a tree with thousands of ultra-thin branches that connect to other neurons. Those interconnections can be strengthened by mental stimulation — or weakened by inactivity or diseases such as Alzheimer's. Is it possible to gauge the health of an individual neuron just by looking at it? During a series of hackathons and workshops, experts will compare the performance of a wide range of image-analysis algorithms, created by scientists as well as software coders.”

An April 1, 2015 Yahoo! Health article reported on the benefits of fish oil, including evidence that it might help with Alzheimer’s, dementia, and depression. According to the article, “Research has found a clear link between fish oil and brain health. Scientists from Rhode Island Hospital released a study in 2014 that found adults taking fish oil who had not yet developed Alzheimer’s disease or dementia had significantly less cognitive decline and brain shrinkage over time than those who did not take fish oil. A large Norwegian study of 22,000 people found that those who took fish oil were roughly 30 percent less likely to have symptoms of depression than those who didn’t, and the longer participants took fish oil, the less likely they were to experience symptoms of depression.”

An April 1, 2015 Sunrise Senior Living blog post highlighted teen inventor Kenneth Shinozuka and an app he invited to help his grandfather suffering from Alzheimer’s. According to the post, “Kenneth Shinozuka, who's only 16, has developed an application that can prevent people with Alzheimer's from wandering and getting lost, according to the New York Post. The app, SafeWander, tracks Alzheimer's patients through a sensor on their sock. Shinozuka got the idea from his own grandfather, who is dealing with the illness himself. He recalled to the New York Post of an incident when he and his grandfather got lost in a park in Japan. He noted how scary the experience was at age 4. Over time, his grandfather's condition has only worsened, putting his family under immense stress. Luckily this app may be able to reduce those worries.”


CLINICAL TRIAL RECRUITMENT

A March 31, 2015 BuzzFeed News article reported that scientists developed a Facebook app to help recruit individuals into a large scale gene study. According to the article, “The scientists behind the project, Genes for Good, hope that Facebook users will send a tube of their spit to a laboratory at the University of Michigan and use a free Facebook app to fill out periodic surveys about their health, habits, and moods. The scientists will screen the volunteers’ DNA to try to discover new links between certain genetic variants, health, and disease. To rigorously establish these links, the researchers will need to enlist tens of thousands of volunteers from a wide variety of backgrounds.”


REGULATORY PERSPECTIVES

An April 1, 2015 NPR Al Things Considered segment featured a conversation with outgoing FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg. According to the description, “Margaret Hamburg ended her run this week as one of the longest serving Food and Drug Administration commissioners in recent decades. NPR's Robert Siegel speaks with her about her accomplishments and challenges while in office.”