April 20, 2015

Today's Top Alzheimer's News

MUST READS

An April 18, 2015 Washington Post article reported that Senator Mark Warner’s experience with Alzheimer’s disease is “fueling an effort to pass legislation that would launch a national campaign to encourage people to set up advanced-care plans.” According to the article, “Five years after U.S. Sen. Mark Warner’s mother died of Alzheimer’s, he is still haunted by what he might have done differently for her — if only he had known her wishes. When the disease first took hold of Marjorie Warner in about 2000, her son was already a wealthy, self-made businessman, on his way to being elected Virginia’s governor the following year. He prided himself on being a take-charge executive who could solve tough problems. But after his mother was stricken, none of his money or experience really mattered. It wasn’t that Alzheimer’s, which slowly destroys a person’s memories and cognitive abilities, was incurable. It wasn’t that private nursing care is pricey - his family had access to the best health care available. What gnawed at the senator then — and still does today — is that he, his parents and his sister never had what he calls “the conversation” before his mother became too ill in the waning years of her life…His bill also would establish a new Medicare benefit to cover the cost of professional counseling with health care professionals about long-term care planning.”

An April 17, 2015 Baltimore Sun opinion piece by Dr. Gerard Anderson called on big pharma to support the NIH by supporting the Medical Innovation Act. According to Gerard, “The fact that the NIH is the preeminent developer of basic medical science in the world is without question. The number of basic science discoveries funded by the NIH, Nobel Prize winners with a history of funding from NIH, and many other indicators show the tremendous influence of NIH on basic medical science. Yet today, Congress has failed to maintain a strong federal investment in NIH. The Medical Innovation Act, a bill introduced by Elizabeth Warren in the Senate and Chris Van Hollen in the House, would help jumpstart vital new research by giving the NIH a much-needed funding boost and likely keep my colleague in the field…The Medical Innovation Act would require companies to contribute 1 percent of their profits to the NIH for every $1 billion grossing drug after they enter a settlement agreement with the government. This would deter companies from engaging in fraudulent behavior and provide an additional source of funds for the basic science at the NIH. Pharmaceutical companies may argue that this payment will reduce their ability to bring new drugs to market, but they only have to pay if they engage in inappropriate behavior, and pharmaceutical companies ultimately benefit from this increase in NIH funding…The new funding provided under the Medical Innovation Act would not be a large amount of money to the pharmaceutical companies. But for my colleagues who need money to fund their labs, it could be the difference in making a breakthrough discovery leading to the next life-saving drug. It may also prevent researchers like my colleague from being forced to leave basic science and do something else.” Gerard Anderson is a professor of health policy and management and international health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. More about the Medical Innovation Act here.

Must Watch: An April 17, 2015 The Washington Post article highlighted an innovative pilot program at the Hebrew Home in New York that uses video messages to assist dementia and Alzheimer’s patients. 

RESEARCH, SCIENCE, AND TECHNOLOGY 

 

An April 17, 2015 US News and World Report article reported on the link between milk and staving off Alzheimer’s disease. According to new research published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, “subjects who had reported drinking the most milk had higher levels of glutathione – and possibly a lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease.” According to the lead study author In-Young Choi, “A long-standing theory of aging called the free-radical theory explains that oxidative stress plays a key role in aging, aging-associated neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease…Glutathione is a major antioxidant in our brains and is known to fight against oxidative stress and protect our nerve cells. Therefore, increasing glutathione concentrations could be an important strategy to promote brain health.”

An April 17, 2015 US News and World Report Health Day article reported that “research suggests that changes in the brains of people with Down syndrome, as seen on brain scans, might help lead to promising treatments that could delay or prevent Alzheimer’s.” According to the article, “The investigators used brain-imaging technology, known as PET scans, to look for signs of beta-amyloid accumulation and patterns of reduced brain activity associated with Alzheimer's. The researchers also used MRI scans to measure the volume of "gray matter" in the study participants' brains. The study found that the people with Down syndrome who also had Alzheimer's symptoms had much greater buildup of beta-amyloid, less activity in parts of the brain known to be affected by Alzheimer's, and smaller gray matter volumes than people from the other two groups. Moreover, the people with Down syndrome who didn't yet develop symptoms of Alzheimer's had more amyloid protein than the control group, the findings showed. The researchers believe that the buildup of this protein begins early on, before memory and thinking problems develop. The authors suggested that the findings could help researchers design new prevention trials among people with Down syndrome.”
 
An April 17, 2015 The Boston Globe article reported on the research from the Mayo Clinic that finds a midlife hobby might “protect your brain from memory and thinking problems even in very old age.” According to the article, “As part of a long-term study of aging, researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota compiled 11 years of survey and health data from 256 individuals, aged 85 and older. “That’s the largest growing population of people in the United States, and we wanted to see what’s happening with those people,” says Rosebud Roberts, lead researcher on the study, published this month in the journal Neurology. Previous studies support the idea that certain lifestyle factors can reduce the risk of dementia, but this is one of the first to focus on the oldest seniors and to assess the impact of midlife activities on their later mental health. The participants were questioned about their habits in middle and late life — before and after the age of 65 — and were subject to complete neuropsychological evaluations every 15 to 18 months. Roberts and her team found that those who engaged in artistic activities, such as painting, drawing, and sculpting in both middle and late life were a whopping 73 percent less likely to develop mild cognitive impairment — the onset of declining mental function that may progress to dementia — in their late 80s than those who did not.”