USA2 SPOTLIGHT

(ICYMI) Watch an April 29, 2019 Milken Institute panel, “The Price of Dementia: Innovative Strategies to Reduce Risk,” with UsAgainstAlzheimer’s Co-Founder George Vradenburg. The panel discusses the direct and indirect costs of dementia, the importance of brain health, early detection and diagnosis, disparities, and how to increase clinical trial participation.

RESEARCH AND SCIENCE

A May 14, 2019 Insight News article spotlighted a new study being funded by the NIA/NIH, led by the University of Minnesota, about the effects of adolescent education on cognitive functioning and risk of developing dementia. Researchers will look at racial, ethnic, and other social inequalities in education, to determine if they lead to disparities in rates of Alzheimer’s disease and other cognitive impairment. According to the article, “The research team will interview and collect genetic information from the 25,000 surviving members of the High School & Beyond (HS&B) cohort… to assess their cognitive function… Milder forms of cognitive impairment are likely to be more common among the cohort and may foreshadow the later development of more serious impairments.”

MUST WATCH

A May 14, 2019 KUSI News broadcast segment featured Dr. Paul Aisen of the Alzheimer’s Therapeutic Research Institute, in recognition of June as Alzheimer’s & Brain Awareness Month. Aisen talks about what people can do to keep their brain healthy.

ALZ TECH

A May 14, 2019 Forbes article looked at new technologies geared toward people with dementia and their caregivers, such as diagnostic and brain training apps. According to the article, “While we often think of “culture” in terms of cultural and historical traditions, there is also a culture out there, invisible to many, of those who are struggling with health issues like Alzheimer’s… What’s interesting is that the use of these apps to treat Alzheimer’s is no longer rhetorical as many of these apps have been tested and have been shown to be effective in combatting memory loss, ensuring safety, improving awareness and facilitating patients’ daily activities.”

REGIONAL HIGHLIGHTS

According to a May 13, 2019 University of Denver article, DU researchers received a grant from the NIH to look at links between Down syndrome and Alzheimer’s disease, to try and detect AD in its earliest stages. Tau tangles are a hallmark of both conditions. “What we’re trying to see with this particular grant is whether people with Down syndrome get a kind of tau tangle that’s more like CTE [chronic traumatic encephalopathy] or more like Alzheimer’s. And once we know that, we can design new treatment paradigms that can actually target a particular form of tau and maybe prevent the [Alzheimer’s] from happening,” said co-study lead Lotta Granholm-Bentley of the Knoebel Institute for Healthy Aging.