January 07, 2016

Today's Top News

MUST READS 

January 7, 2016 Wall Street Journal article reported that “The Dementia Discovery Fund, set up last year with backing from the U.K. government and several of the world’s biggest pharmaceutical companies, has led a $29.5 million investment round to back research under way at San Francisco-based Alector LLC.” [Behind paywall]

A January 6, 2016 UCS Guardian article reported that “Scientists at UCSD and Harvard University collaborated with international biotech and pharmaceutical companies to develop a stem cell model to study Alzheimer’s disease.”

A January 6, 2016 Daily Mail article (UK) reported on the projected growth of Alzheimer’s cases globally. According to the article, “More than 100 million people across the world will be battling Alzheimer's by 2050, experts have warned. In the last 10 years, the number of adults living with the disease has jumped from almost 26 million to more than 36 million. But, in the next 34 years, that number is set to soar - reaching 106 million. The explosion in patients is down to an aging population - and the fact most sufferers are diagnosed after the age of 65, according to experts at the National Institutes of Health. It will become a full-blown 'public health crisis', University of California Los Angeles experts warned.”

A January 6, 2016 Yes! Magazine article profiled the “momentia movement” and its use of strong social ties to fend off the impact of Alzheimer’s and dementia. According to the article, “The group could appear to be just another cluster of friends visiting the zoo. But they were there for another purpose, too: to provide joy as much as support. Part of a program called Momentia, more than half of the people in the group have dementia…The zoo trip was just one of a series of Seattle-area group activities, from strum and drum bands and rap performances to cafe talks and public policy advocacy, organized for Momentia members. Marigrace Becker, the program manager for the University of Washington Medicine Memory and Brain Wellness Center, co-founded Momentia three years ago to challenge the misconceptions typically associated with dementia.”


INTERESTING READS FROM AROUND THE INTERNET

The Los Angeles Times: If you weren't smart enough to know Lumosity was making bogus claims, the FTC has your back

New York Magazine: A Neuroscientist on the Calming Powers of the To-Do List

PBA 30: Super Genes With Dr. Rudy Tanzi