January 10, 2017

Today's Top Alzheimer's News

USA2 SPOTLIGHT 

Must Watch: On Wednesday, January 25, 2017, at 10 pm ET, PBS will air a 60-minute documentary called “Alzheimer’s: Every Minute Counts,” which aims to illuminate the social and economic consequences for the country unless a medical breakthrough is discovered for this currently incurable disease. With power and passion, the documentary weaves together expert commentary with compelling personal stories filmed around the country that represent previews of the future happening today. Forming the backbone of the documentary is the story of Daisy Duarte, who is a caregiver for her mom who has early-onset Alzheimer’s as well as a carrier of the gene indicating she will likely have an early-onset Alzheimer’s diagnosis of her own. Daisy is a caregiver advocate for UsAgainstAlzheimer’s Latino Network. The documentary is an urgent wake-up call about the national threat posed by Alzheimer’s disease. Watch the trailer here.  


MUST READS

A January 9, 2017 Harvard Health Blog article highlighted “promising evidence” that “several healthy habits may help ward off Alzheimer’s.” According to the article, “But this year, I have plenty of renewed inspiration to put my health first, and it’s the kind that will keep me up at night if I don’t stick to it: evidence suggests that adopting healthier lifestyle habits may help you thwart or even prevent the development of Alzheimer’s disease. Dementia runs in my family.”

A January 9, 2017 Boston Globe article reported that “a new state mandate requires all municipal police officers in Massachusetts to complete a course by June that teaches them about dementia, and offers proven methods for approaching and communicating with people who have the disease.”

A January 9, 2017 Las Vegas Review-Journal article reported that the Federal Trade Commission has taken legal action against Quincy Bioscience of Wisconsin over a drug called Prevagen. According to the FTC’s Jessica Rich, “The marketers of Prevagen preyed on the fears of older consumers experiencing age-related memory loss.”


SCIENCE, RESEARCH, AND TECHNOLOGY

A January 9, 2017 Wired article reported on the potential of artificial intelligence to transform healthcare challenges like Alzheimer’s. According to the article, “A similar tool could help with early detection of America’s sixth leading cause of death: Alzheimer’s disease. Often, doctors don’t recognize physical symptoms in time to try any of the disease’s few existing interventions. But machine learning hears what doctor’s can’t: Signs of cognitive impairment in speech. This is how Toronto-based Winterlight Labs is developing a tool to pick out hints of dementia in its very early stages. Co-founder Frank Rudzicz calls these clues “jitters,” and “shimmers:” high frequency wavelets only computers, not humans, can hear.”

A January 9, 2017 Psych Central article reported that “Researchers at McLean Hospital in Massachusetts have discovered the use of tablet computers is both a safe and a potentially effective approach to managing agitation among patients with dementia.”