August 31, 2015

Today's Top Alzheimer's News

USA2 SPOTLIGHT 

An August 28, 2015 The Washington Post article reported that “The Department of Health and Human Services appears to have reversed the security restrictions that were imposed on Michael Ellenbogen, a well-known advocate who has dementia, because of provocative remarks he made while urging a more aggressive government fight against Alzheimer’s disease.” According to the article, “Ellenbogen, who has no history of violent behavior, apologized for the comment but also appealed his suspension by saying had been making a rhetorical point. He said that, as someone diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s, he had suffered a lapse in judgment that he might not otherwise have made.Two attorneys at Arnold & Porter – which also represents the nonprofit USAgainst Alzheimer’s — took on Ellenbogen’s case, arguing that he should be allowed to resume his work as an advocate at the agency.”

ICYMIAn August 9, 2015 The Genius of Caring blog highlighted an opinion piece by USA2’s Trish Vradenburg and Jill Lesser about the impact of Alzheimer’s on women. According to Trish and Jill, “We need more research on how the disease affects women. In terms of support for women, we need greater availability and affordability of services, and better information about how to access services.  And lastly, we need to mobilize the power of women to demand a bold and innovative path to curing to Alzheimer’s. Together, perhaps we can bring this disease out of the shadows and stop Alzheimer’s disease by 2020.”


MUST READS

An August 29, 2015 The Salt Lake Tribune opinion piece by Don Gale underscored the need to solve Alzheimer’s. According to Gale, “If we can go to Pluto, we can solve the Alzheimer's problem. If we want to. But we would rather go on vacation, eat too much, or suffer through another stock market collapse than spend money on research. We could probably resolve Alzheimer's with the money we spend on propaganda during one political cycle … or the money we spend on football during half the coming season … or the money we spend entertaining ourselves on a weekend. It is not a matter of giving up these uniquely American niceties; it's simply a matter of shifting priorities slightly. It isn't whether we can, but whether we want to…The population grows older. Age-related mental health diseases grow more prevalent. If we don't encourage young minds to find answers for these maladies, the diseases of age will soon drain both our resources and our psyches.”

Notable Loss: An August 29, 2015 The Washington Post article reported that Ruth Leger Sivard, an internationally known economist, died from complications from Alzheimer’s. According to the article, “First as a government analyst and later as an independent researcher and publisher, Ms. Sivard became a foremost authority on how the United States and other nations allocate their resources, great or small, among defense and other societal needs.”


RESEARCH, SCIENCE, AND TECHNOLOGY 

An August 31, 2015 The Los Angeles Times article reported that “In the latest twist in the ongoing dispute over a prestigious Alzheimer's disease research project, USC is siphoning off much of the project's funding from UC San Diego.”

An August 28, 2015 R&D Magazine article reported that “According to research published in Cell Stem Cell, accumulations of fat droplets in the brain, which have been identified in deceased patients, may spur and hasten the development of the disease.” According to the article, “Researchers affiliated with the Univ. of Montreal Hospital Research Centre found significantly more fat droplets in the brains of nine patients with Alzheimer’s disease when compared with five healthy brains. A team of chemists used advanced mass spectrometry, and identified the fat deposits as “triglycerides enriched with specific fatty acids, which can also be found in animals fats and vegetable oils,” according to the university.”