July 12, 2016

Today's Top Alzheimer's News

MUST READS

A July 11, 2016 ITIF.org news post announced that the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation “estimates the potential economic opportunity associated with curing brain diseases and disorders to be more than $1.5 trillion per year—or 8.8 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).” According to the article, “This report first examines the costs of diseases and disorders that disrupt and impair brain function, such as autism, neurodegenerative diseases, and psychiatric disorders. Next it discusses the potential of biopharmaceutical innovation for treating and preventing these conditions. Finally, the report discusses broad policy directions for moving forward.” Read the report here. 

A July 11, 2016 CBS News article reported that “During their working years, women tend to earn less than men, and when they retire, they're more likely to live in poverty.” According to the article, “the National Institute on Retirement Security, a nonprofit research center, reports that women are 80 percent more likely than men to be impoverished at age 65 and older. Women age 75 to 79 are three times more likely…Brown says that increasing life spans mean a woman in the United States today will live five years longer than the average man, and about four years longer than her grandmother. ‘Those increases in longevity come with huge increases in medical costs,’ Brown says. ‘Especially if you're talking about things like long-term care or treatment for mental disabilities such as dementia and Alzheimer’s.’ Medicare does not cover long-term care. To get some subsidized coverage, seniors would need to spend down their assets to qualify for Medicaid or have a long-term care insurance policy.”


RESEARCH, SCIENCE, AND TECHNOLOGY 

A July 11, 2016 Science Daily article reported that “Scientists may have overcome a major roadblock in the development of Alzheimer’s therapies by creating a new technology to observe in the back of the eye progression of the disease before the onset of symptoms.”

A July 11, 2016 Science Daily article reported that “Traumatic brain injury (TBI) with a loss of consciousness (LOC) may be associated with later development of Parkinson's disease but not Alzheimer's disease or incident dementia, according to a study conducted at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the University of Washington School of Medicine.”