August 2, 2018

Today's Top Alzheimer's News

USA2 SPOTLIGHT

Take our latest A-LIST What Matters Most survey. Research shows that military veterans are at higher risk for Alzheimer’s due to service-related injuries, such as traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress, blast-induced neurotrauma, successive concussion syndrome and depression. VeteransAgainstAlzheimer’s (a network of UsAgainstAlzheimer’s) is working to raise awareness of Alzheimer’s as an urgent health issue for veterans. Whether you are a veteran, active military, caregiver or civilian, please take this survey to help us better understand What Matters Most when it comes to the impact of dementia on veterans. A-LIST is an initiative of UsAgainstAlzheimer’s.

Watch our new video, "Greg O'Brien on the CHANGE Act," featuring the Alzheimer’s activist and author. O’Brien talks about how Alzheimer’s has impacted him and his family, and how we can push Congress to accelerate the search for a cure. Click here to as your Senators and Representatives to co-sponsor the CHANGE Act.  

MUST READS

An August 2, 2018 San Francisco Chronicle “The Conversation” article by Alzheimer’s researcher Troy Rohn of Boise State University looked at things to consider before getting genetic testing for AD. According to the article, “One of the major drawbacks to being tested for the ApoE4 gene is that the test is considered what is called a susceptibility test because it has limited predictive value. Having the E4 allele does not mean that a person will be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Many E4 carriers may live long lives without ever developing the disease, and many noncarriers still have risk for Alzheimer’s. This is critically important to understand before having genetic testing for ApoE4.”

An August 1, 2018 Chicago Tribune article looked at personality and behavior changes caused by dementia that can precipitate the breakup of a marriage. According to Boston University neurology professor Dr. Andrew Budson, who wrote “Seven Steps To Managing Your Memory,” “You wouldn’t get mad at someone with high blood pressure, or someone with diabetes. So you have to keep telling yourself when they are acting poorly that this isn’t them. It’s the disease.”

RESEARCH AND SCIENCE

An August 1, 2018 Science Daily article reported that researchers developed a new method for constructing personal brain networks to improve the accuracy (96 percent) of diagnosing Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment. The researchers “…Constructed the model based on six types of morphological features, including measures of the largest alterations in the disease, such as cortical thickness and brain volume, and more subtle features not usually incorporated into network models, such as brain surface area.”

An August 1, 2018 Science Daily article spotlighted work from researchers at the University of Virginia marking new understanding of how Alzheimer’s disease develops at the molecular level before symptoms appear. According to Department of Biology Chair George Bloom, "The experiments suggest that memantine might have potent disease-modifying properties if it could be administered to patients long before they have become symptomatic and diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Perhaps this could prevent the disease or slow its progression long enough that the average age of symptom onset could be significantly later, if it happens at all."