USA2 SPOTLIGHT

A May 15, 2019 New Kerala article spotlighted UsAgainstAlzheimer’s call-to-action to create an optimal system of brain healthcare in the U.S. The paper outlines three key action areas, including equipping healthcare providers with solutions to support brain health across the lifespan, creating demand for lifelong brain health care, and aligning business incentives for payers and providers to promote brain health. “We must make every effort to create a system of healthcare that promotes and incentivizes proactive brain health across the lifespan while continuing to pursue drug development to cure Alzheimer's and other dementias. This starts with people of all ages receiving a regular brain health check-up as a basic part of routine care,” said UsA2 Co-Founder George Vradenburg.

ALZ TECH

A May 15, 2019 UCSF article focused on a new machine learning tool that can aid neuropathologists in diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease by quickly determining if brain tissue has amyloid plaque, and the type of plaque. The tool is a “convolutional neural network,” which recognizes patterns based on thousands of human-labeled examples. According to lead study author Brittany N. Dugger, PhD of UC Davis, “We still need the pathologist. This is a tool, like a keyboard is for writing. As keyboards have aided in writing workflows, digital pathology paired with machine learning can aid with neuropathology workflows.”  

CLINICAL TRIAL SPOTLIGHT

A May 15, 2019 National Institute on Aging/NIH post promoted the launch of the new ADORE (Alzheimer's and Dementia Outreach, Recruitment, and Engagement Resources) portal, to match-up willing and eligible participants with clinical trials and studies. Around 270,000 people are needed for almost 200 Alzheimer’s and other dementias trials and studies. The portal includes a planning guide to overcome barriers to local research participation, and testimonial videos from study volunteers.

HUMAN INTEREST

A May 14, 2019 Rick D'Amico blog post revealed that the former Fox 10 Phoenix news anchor’s wife, “Sergeant” Ruth, has Alzheimer’s disease.Damico writes, “Thank God that I was successful enough in my career where I was able to retire in August of 2016 so that I can spend all my time caring for her. I am her full-time caregiver. Now the tables have been turned. I now do everything… They [Banner] have put her in various forms of activities, Physical Therapy, and have put us in touch with caregiver seminars where we can split off and Ruth goes to be with other patients for activities, and I can discuss and share experiences with other caregivers and learn more about what to do, and at least we feel that we are not alone.”

REGIONAL HIGHLIGHTS

(ICYMI) An April 30, 2019 Detroit Free Press article focused on the coming Alzheimer’s epidemic as baby boomers age. Neurologist Dr. Eva Feldman’s (University of Michigan) mom has Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Feldman learned more about the condition by visiting her in a memory care unit than in her years of practice. “The people in the memory care unit, some were very violent. Some were very passive. Some were very young with really severe memory loss with early-onset Alzheimer’s. You could see the whole myriad of presentations and you could understand what an enormously difficult disease that it is for the patient, but also for the families,” said Feldman.