January 11, 2016

Today's Top News

USA2 SPOTLIGHT 

ICYMI November Alzheimer’s Talks: Stem cell technology is potentially disruptive in the fight against Alzheimer’s. Stem cells provide new ways to attack the problem, and there’s hope that one day they can replace lost brain cells. Dr. Larry Goldstein, Director of the University of California, San Diego, Stem Cell Program, joined our last Alzheimer’s Talks to discuss some of the groundbreaking research being done and potential future therapies and treatments for Alzheimer’s disease using stem cell technology.


MUST READS 

A January 10, 2016 The San Diego Union-Tribune article profiled the long-lasting impact of caregiving even after loved ones pass away. According to the article, “For Claiborne, and the estimated 650,000 unpaid family caregivers in San Diego County, assisting a loved one stricken by disease, impaired by a disability or weakened with age can be an all-consuming undertaking. And the long-term repercussions of that role aren’t necessarily lifted with the death of the person being cared for. Numerous national studies and interviews with caregiving experts and dozens of San Diegans doing that job every day reveal that whatever shape caregiving takes, it can exact a severe physical, emotional and financial toll and rupture family relations beyond repair, particularly when stretched out over years. Caregivers can face everything from depression to lost jobs, they sometimes turn to substance abuse to alleviate the stress, and they can deplete their nest eggs to pay for the care. Compounding those hardships with loss, grief and possible regret and guilt, can make the transition to life after caregiving even more difficult.”

A January 8, 2016 CNBC.com article reported that “Researchers in the U.K. have found that blocking a receptor in the brain that regulates immune cells could ‘protect against the memory and behavior changes seen in the progression of Alzheimer's disease.’” Also reported on by the PharmaTimes.

A January 8, 2016 Fast Company article reported on the efforts of the “global hive” to find a cure for Alzheimer’s. According to the article, “This kind of crowdsourcing methodology is already being conducted in a wide variety of human computation/online machine combination platforms, two of which will be used to launch the WeCureALZ initiative: Stardust@Home out of the University of California-Berkeley, where, since 2006, a crowd of more than 30,000 citizen scientists, called "dusters," have been analyzing data and images to find pristine interstellar dust particles that were brought back to Earth from a space probe conducted by NASA, and EyeWire, an MIT-originated online 3-D puzzle game in which hundreds of thousands of players are helping to map the human brain through a human-based computation platform that challenges players to map 3-D neurons in a retina.”

A January 8, 2016 Genengnews.com article reported on new research linking Alzheimer’s and diabetes. According to the article, “Though they appear to be distinct, diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease have much in common at the molecular level. In fact, recent findings indicate that either disease can worsen the other by disrupting the same chemical process—S-nitrosylation, a form of post-translational modification that is necessary for the proper functioning of multiple enzymes.”

Take a Look Inside the J.P Morgan Healthcare Conferencehttp://www.statnews.com/2016/01/10/jpm16-live-blog/pl


INTERESTING READS FROM AROUND THE INTERNET

FortuneA Crackdown on Companies Claiming They Can Improve Your Brain?

Huffington PostOvercoming Denial When a Loved One Has Alzheimer's

The Chronicle HeraldStill Alice — views from the inside of Alzheimer’s

STAT NewsNFL's "unrestricted" grant for brain research comes with strings attached

STAT NewsThe NIH, in pursuit of precision medicine, tries to avoid problems of its past.