March 31, 2020

Today's Top Alzheimer's News

MUST READS

A March 31, 2020 NIH Director’s Blog post by Dr. Francis Collins pointed to the ever-present need for a simple blood test to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease and distinguish it from other dementias. Testing tau levels in the blood presents a promising avenue of study. University of California, San Francisco researchers measured pTau181 levels in blood samples from participants with AD, MCI, FTLD (frontotemporal lobar degeneration) and healthy controls. According to the article, “The study found that levels of pTau181 were roughly 3.5-times higher in the blood of people with AD compared to people without AD. Those with mild cognitive impairment due to underlying AD also showed an intermediate increase in blood levels of pTau181.”

A March 29, 2020 The Washington Post health article told the story of artist David Wetzl and his wife Diana Daniels. Wetzl received a diagnosis of FTD (frontotemporal dementia) in 2012 when he was just 54. Daniels recounts a dizzying tale to get Wetzl permanent placement, once she could no longer care for him herself. According to Daniels, “Everyone thinks dementia is just that you don’t remember stuff, but it’s irrational behavior and impulses and drive. They see you getting special treatment. . . . The day before I quit, a co-worker said something to the effect of, ‘I’d sure love to come in late because my kid was sick…’”   

PATIENT AND CAREGIVER VOICES

A March 29, 2020 Al Jazeera News article by writer Tamara Green recounted her own experience with her grandmother’s dementia. With the memory care facility an hour’s drive from her house, Green found herself grappling with the worth of visiting someone who may not remember her. “Lately, she has not remembered me, either, but there is nothing funny about that. Some things are so sad there is no space left for anything else. They are big enough to fill up a whole room all by themselves. Being forgotten by your grandma is sad like that.”

OPINION

A March 30, 2020 Tennessean opinion piece brought attention to the disproportionate effect of Alzheimer’s disease on African American women by honoring the work and legacy of the recently departed advocate and lifestyle icon B. Smith. African Americans are two to three times more likely to develop AD than their white counterparts. According to the piece, “B. Smith was a role model for using one’s own life and voice to make a difference in the lives of others. She had already lived plenty of her life in the public eye. She did not have to go public with her illness, but she said she felt it necessary to be “a spokesperson for all Americans struggling with Alzheimer’s disease, but especially for women, and even more so for women of color.””