USA2 SPOTLIGHT

A December 19, 2016 UsAgainstAlzheimer’s blog post by Ann Napoletan highlighted dementia gift ideas. According to the article, “The good news is that in recent years, there’s been an increase in items designed specifically with dementia-related needs in mind. In fact, a simple search on Amazon yields many great products; search for “Dementia Products” or “Dementia Gifts.”  There are also online stores such as The Alzheimer’s Store and Best Alzheimer’s Products that specialize in these products.”

MUST READS

A December 22, 2016 Genengnews.com article reported that “Scientists from the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Munich and the Ludwig Maximilians University (LMU), Munich say they have discovered a strategy to help the brain remove amyloid plaques, which is a characteristic feature of Alzheimer’s disease.”

A December 22, 2016 KCUR.org interview with Kansas City writer Deborah Shouse explored the “many ways for caregivers to connect to dementia patients through the expressive arts.” According to Shouse, “Music is a great one. There's a music in memory program, where you find people's favorite songs and put them on an iPod shuffle and they listen and it just can revitalize them. There’s painting, there’s drawing, they’re simply making lines. Laughter is another great one. Inviting laughter boosts people spirit. Therapeutic puppetry, cooking together. Those are just a few of the many different ways you can stay connected with someone you're caring for.”

A December 21, 2016 MedScape.com article reported that “A novel late-life dementia-prediction model, known as the Disease State Index (DSI), may help identify risk for the disorder up to a decade later, new research suggests.”

A December 21, 2016 Iowa State Daily article reported that researchers at Iowa State have discovered a new biomarker for Alzheimer’s and diabetes. According to the article, “Autotaxin, an enzyme found in fluid around the brain often studied in cancer research, has shown promise as an effective predictor of not only Alzheimer's disease, but of type 2 diabetes as well. Research shows that just a one point bump in autotaxin levels increases the odds of being diagnosed with some form of memory loss by 3.5 to five percent increase.”