August 19, 2016

Today's Top Alzheimer's News

MUST READS

An August 18, 2016 Science article profiled neurobiologist Beth Setevens and her work linking brain function to the immune system. According to the article, “Stevens, along with her mentor at Stanford, Ben Barres, had proposed that brain cells called microglia prune neuronal connections during embryonic and later development in response to a signal from a branch of the immune system known as the classical complement pathway…This year alone, Stevens and her collaborators have published papers in Science and Nature linking the complement pathway and microglia to diseases such as schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s, and cognitive problems from infection with West Nile virus. A study on Huntington disease is forthcoming, Stevens says. Although some scientists say that such research is unlikely to produce therapies any time soon, clinical trials of antibodies that block the complement system in the brain could start for glaucoma and other neurodegenerative diseases by the beginning of 2017. Stevens’s decision to stick with her hypothesis says neuroimmunologist Richard Ransohoff of the biotech company Biogen in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has “worked out spectacularly.””

An August 18, 2016 MedScape.com article reported that “The Alzheimer’s Association has announced a new $7 million investment in clinical trials targeting brain inflammation.” According to the article, “Four cutting-edge studies will receive $1 million each over 2 years, but the remainder will go to the clinical trial that demonstrates the most promise for treating Alzheimer’s disease.”

An August 17, 2016 Huffington Post piece by Michael Hodin, CEO of the Global Coalition on Aging, underscored the hardship of elder caregiving. According to Hodin, “This is exactly what we are seeing now with caregiving and Alzheimer’s disease. Sure, Still Alice brought the horrors of Alzheimer’s to popcorn-feasting audiences, but the movie glided over the brutal day-in, day-out demands of family caregiving. It failed to show how overwhelming and all-consuming it is to be a caregiver. This is not to criticize Still Alice, but to emphasize that elder caregiving remains in the dark.”

An August 18, 2016 Desert News article explored “What Alzheimer’s disease teaches us about the soul.” According to the article, “People with dementia, it turned out, might not be able to recognize their children, but could remember the first verse of beloved hymns from their childhoods, and many could recite Bible verses they had learned when they were younger, like John 3:16 or the Twenty-Third Psalm. Moreover, when given the chance to participate in a modified worship service, they would clap their hands joyfully, and they would often hum hymns and recite Bible verses for several hours after the service ended.”