January 09, 2017

Today's Top Alzheimer's News

USA2 SPOTLIGHT 

A January 9, 2017 St. Louis Public Radio article profiled UsAgainstAlzheimer's Latino Network advocate Daisy Duarte and her role in an upcoming PBS documentary, “Alzheimer's: Every Minute Counts." According to the article, “When a doctor asked her to take part in a clinical trial for an Alzheimer’s prevention drug at Washington University, she volunteered immediately. ‘I told him there’s nothing to think about. I need to take a stand against this disease,’ said the younger Duarte, who has also lobbied in Washington for the Latinos Against Alzheimer’s network. ‘You can talk about it all you want but if you’re not in a clinical trial we’re never going to find a cure for it.’” Watch the trailer here

Must Watch: UsAgainstAlzheimer’s board member Peter Levin talks about the importance of “data fracking” to improve healthcare. Watch here.


MUST READS

A January 7, 2017 The Virginia Gazette opinion piece by Michael White underscored the need to invest in Alzheimer’s research. According to White, “Research is expensive and time consuming but as we have seen with heart disease, HIV/AIDS, and several forms of cancer, research can lead to new knowledge resulting in diseases being successfully treated. But that outcome will only be realized if legislators and other policy makers expand their growing support for Alzheimer's research in the coming years.”

A January 6, 2017 Star Telegram opinion piece by Professor Sid O’Bryant highlighted the possible importance of exercise to Alzheimer’s prevention. According to O’Bryant, “I’m hopeful about a new, federally funded Alzheimer’s study underway at more than a dozen universities around the country, including one in Texas, Fort Worth’s UNT Health Science Center. The end goal for this study: To help determine whether physicians could one day write a prescription, not for drugs, but for specific amounts and types of exercise that could help patients keep their brains healthy…Call it an Rx for exercise. We’ve got reason to believe that this non-invasive, non-pharmaceutical approach with no known drawbacks and plenty of known benefits will prove valuable in the battle against Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia. Hitting the gym can do wonders for the health of your brain — and perhaps prevent or delay Alzheimer’s-related dementia. The research is not yet conclusive, but the evidence is mounting.” Sid O’Bryant is a professor in the Center for Alzheimer’s and Neurodegnerative Disease Research at UNT Health Science Center in Fort Worth.

A January 6, 2017 FoxNews.com article reported that “A British woman whose father and grandfather died of Alzheimer’s has inherited the mysterious and incurable disease herself at age 36.” According to the article, “The Scottish Sun reported that Carla Brammall began showing symptoms of a rare genetic form of Alzheimer’s when she was 30, and now,nine years later, she is wheelchair-bound, mute, unable to lift her head, and prone to seizures.”