August 24, 2015

Today's Top Alzheimer's News

MUST READS

An August 24, 2015 Vox.com article by author and nurse Nicholas Conley highlighted the tough realities of Alzheimer’s care. According to Conley, “I took classes. There I learned quite a bit about Alzheimer's. I learned about plaques and tangles, the beta-amyloid protein, the possible causes, and all of the statistics. But neither my desire to help nor any class prepared me for the reality of working with actual patients. The first day I stepped onto the floor of a nursing home, when I transformed from a curious student to an actual caregiver, everything I thought about dementia, aging, friendship, and even the nature of death changed.”

An August 23, 2015 Forbes article underscored the need for the private sector to be dementia friendly. According to the article, “When I read the New York Times exposé about Amazon’s sometimes brutal working conditions, one anecdote stuck out. An early member of Amazon’s Kindle team, Molly Jay, who’d received high performance ratings for years, found her status changed when she began traveling to care for her father suffering from cancer and cut back working on nights and weekends. According to the Times, Jay’s boss told her she was “a problem” and blocked her from transferring to a less pressure-filled job. Once Jay’s dad was dying, she took unpaid leave to care for him and never went back to Amazon. “When you’re not able to give your absolute all, 80 hours a week,” Jay said, “they see it as a major weakness.” Substitute “Alzheimer’s” for “cancer,” and you’ll see how some employers treat employees needing time to care for loved ones with dementia.”

An August 21, 2015 CNBC article reported that “A team of researchers from the University of California, San Francisco, examined more than 300 studies identifying Alzheimer’s risk factors, looking for behaviors patients may be able to change in order to lower their chances of contracting the disease.” According to the article, “The study showed that heavy smoking is the most significant risk factor for developing Alzheimer's, while the most significant protective factor was a healthy diet, such as the often-praised Mediterranean diet, said Jin-Tai Yu, a researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, and one of the study's coauthors, in an email to CNBC.”

An August 21, 2015 The Miami Herald article reported that “the first Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center based in Florida officially began operation with a five-year grant that provides about $1.5 million per year from the National Institutes of Health.” According to the article, “One of the important functions of the new center is to study and research the disease among the Hispanic community and how it compares to the non-Hispanic community, said Dr. Ranjan Duara, medical director at the Wein Center for Alzheimer’s Disease and Memory Disorders at Mount Sinai and the leader of the new center’s clinical core.”


ALZHEIMER'S AND HOLLYWOOD 

An August 23, 2015 Associated Press article (via ABC News)reported that actor Owen Wilson’s father is suffering from Alzheimer’s. According to the article, “Dallas-born actor Owen Wilson says that while his father having Alzheimer's disease is "a rough thing," he also knows that there are things to be grateful for, including that his father is being cared for at home and has people around who love him.”