RESEARCH AND SCIENCE

An April 19, 2019 Alzforum article highlighted the rush to identify remaining genes linked to Alzheimer’s disease. New data was revealed, based on whole-genome and whole-exome sequencing, at the 14th International Conference on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases held last month in Portugal. Such next-generation sequencing can uncover rare variants that confer high risk for AD.

ALZHEIMER'S IN THE MEDIA

An April 21, 2019 KITV ABC 4 article spotlighted “This Is Dementia,” a new documentary coming out on Netflix, looking at ways to prevent or slow the progression of dementia. The doc features clinical neuropsychologist Dr. John DenBoer, of SMART Brain Aging, whose research focuses on early-stage detection and slowing dementia, including brain training, healthy eating and exercise. It premieres on May 1, 2019.

FINANCES

An April 20, 2019 The Good Men Project article looked at the financial realities of caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s disease. Out-of-pocket costs are 80% higher for a person with dementia than someone with cancer or heart disease. According to the article, “…Families had spent $60 billion for taking care of their suffering family members in the year 2018. With the hike in the number of senior Americans, there is also a consequential rise in the occurrence of dementia. This, in turn, is increasing the number of families that are going through a financial crisis.”

CAREGIVING CORNER

An April 22, 2019 Winston-Salem Journal Q&A gave tips for how to handle role reversal and working through the transition when an adult child starts caring for a parent with dementia. The article advises to let go of the past, and pay attention to the needs of the caregiver, including attending support groups.

SEX MATTERS

An April 17, 2019 Medium article broached the topic of neurological differences in the brains of men and women. In 2016, the NIH implemented new policies outlining expectations for researchers applying for grants to “consider sex as a biological variable in all stages of research.” According to neuroscientist Larry Cahill of University of California at Irvine, “By constantly denying and trivializing and even vilifying research into biologically-based sex influences on the brain, [the anti–sex difference contingent is] in fact advocating for biomedical research to retain its male subject–dominated status quo so disproportionately harmful to women.”