May 28, 2015

Today's Top Alzheimer's News

USA2 SPOTLIGHT 

A May 27, 2015 Washington Post article reported on the growing patient advocacy movement in the fight against Alzheimer’s and quotedUSAgainstAlzheimer’s Chairman George Vradenburg. According to article, ““It is possible that if we actually had a means of slowing the disease in the next few years, they might actually benefit from it. So, of course, [they] feel a sense of urgency,” said George Vradenburg, chairman and co-founder of USAgainst Alzheimer’s. He characterized this awakening as a grayer, less militant, nascent version of ACT UP, an AIDS activist group that demanded action to find treatments for HIV.”


MUST READS

A May 28, 2015 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editorial called on doctors to do a better job of conveying difficult diagnoses to patients including Alzheimer’s. According to the editorial board, “Conveying bad news is just one part of an extraordinarily challenging profession; an oncologist will do it 20,000 times over the course of a career. But whether the withholding of information by physicians is accidental or intentional, it is wrong, even with benevolent intent. Telling someone that he has Alzheimer’s, or that her baby will have a birth defect, is difficult and seems a contradiction of the Hippocratic edict to do no harm. But silence harms, too, and deprives patients of what they seek when they go to a doctor: a frank diagnosis and a treatment plan.”

A May 27, 2015 Forbes opinion piece by Dr. Bill Frist called on presidential hopefuls to develop an Alzheimer's plan. According to Frist, “One in five Americans are obese. One in four has a risk of dying from cancer in their lifetime. But one in three that live beyond 65 will die with Alzheimer’s or another type of dementia. All these ailments have significant health impacts. The difference? We have solutions to treat obesity and can cure some cancers. Alzheimer’s is the only disease among the top 10 causes of death in America that cannot be prevented, cured, or even slowed…Over two years ago, on Election Day 2012, I called on our next President to make a War on Alzheimer’s a top health care priority. I issue the same charge to today’s Presidential hopefuls. In 2015, Alzheimer’s and other dementias will cost the nation $226 billion, with half of the costs borne by Medicare. Unless something is done, in 2050, Alzheimer’s is projected to cost up to $1.1 trillion (in 2015 dollars), meaning one in every three Medicare dollars will be spent on people with Alzheimer’s and other dementias. This is financially unsustainable.” Dr. Bill Frist (R-TN) is the former U. S. Senate Majority Leader.

A May 27, 2015 MSNBC article reported that Jeb Bush once vetoed funding for Alzheimer’s services while he was governor of Florida. According to the article, “But in Bush’s case, there are some notable angles to keep in mind. The Tampa Bay Times’ Adam C. Smith, for example, noted that the Florida Republican’s current position is likely to annoy the state lawmakers in both parties who “recall Bush vetoing their budget items targeting Alzheimer’s research and care while at the same time approving tax cuts often mainly for the benefit of specific businesses or wealthier Floridians.” Smith noted several key measures, including Bush vetoing funding in 2003 for daycare centers in Boynton Beach serving 100 adults with Alzheimer’s Disease, and then in 2004 also vetoing funding for construction of outpatient treatment centers connected with the University of South Florida’s Alzheimer’s Research Institute. At the time, the Republican governor called it a “want,” not a “need.””


RESEARCH, SCIENCE, AND TECHNOLOGY

A May 27, 2015 WebMD article reported that “Damage to the brain's white matter may be an early sign of certain types of Alzheimer's disease.” According to the article, “"Alzheimer's is a gray matter disease. However, white matter damage has a central role in how the disease strikes and progresses," study co-author Dr. Federica Agosta, from the Neuroimaging Research Unit at the San Raffaele Scientific Institute in Milan, Italy, said in a news release from the Radiological Society of North America. "The white matter damage in patients with focal AD syndromes was much more severe and widespread than expected," she said. Changes in gray matter occurred in more limited areas, she added. The findings support the theory that Alzheimer's disease may travel along white matter fibers from one area of the brain to another, according to Agosta.”

A May 27, 2015 Medical Express article reported that new research from the University of Toronto “has found that molecules that are strongly associated with Alzheimer's disease are important players in a process called long-term depression (LTD).” According to the article, “LTD is a process through which the strength of synapses, the connections between neurons, is selectively reduced. Dr. Collingridge's recent research suggests improperly regulated LTD could cause the degeneration of the connections between neurons that is a core feature of Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases.”