USA2 SPOTLIGHT 

A July 15, 2015 ALFA News post announced they will join UsAgainstAlzheimer’s to support Dementia Friendly America. Becoming dementia friendly must be a priority for all of our hometowns in order to remove stigma, enable people with Alzheimer’s to come out of the shadows and engage in their communities, and help families effectively manage all that comes with the critical task of caregiving,” said US Against Alzheimer’s founder George Vradenburg, who was a major catalyst behind the new initiative. “This hometown Dementia Friendly America Initiative sends a message to American families experiencing dementia: ‘You are not alone, we are your neighbors, we care about you and we want to help.’” Vradenburg highlighted the project at ALFA’s Senior Living Executive Conference & Expo in May as a panelist discussing “Inside the Global Movement to Unravel Alzheimer’s Disease.”

A July 8, 2015 Salud Today blog post highlighted the impact of Alzheimer's on Latinos and quoted Jason Resendez, director of the UsAgainstAlzheimer's Latino Network. According to Resendez, “It’s time to raise the profile of Alzheimer’s in the Latino community. Right now, Alzheimer’s disease isn’t thought of an urgent health issue within the community. Diabetes, cardiovascular disease and obesity… these are all really seen as urgent issues...but Alzheimer’s...has fallen by the wayside. We’re coming together to coordinate a strategy to change that perception."

MUST READS

A July 16, 2015 Financial Times article reported on a promising new Alzheimer's drug trial helmed by a longterm researcher. According to the article, “In 1974 Mark Pepys, then a young postgraduate researcher, began to investigate the incurable disease amyloidosis. Now, in a remarkable demonstration of scientific perseverance, Sir Mark Pepys, a distinguished medical professor at University College London, is publishing the first clinical trial results of a drug based on his work on amyloidosis over more than 40 years.”

A July 15, 2015 Washington Post article highlighted new research on Alzheimer’s in African-American brains. According to the article, “A new study suggests that Alzheimer’s disease may affect the brain differently in black people compared with whites. The research, conducted by Lisa L. Barnes at the Rush University Medical Center, suggests that African Americans are less likely than Caucasians to have Alzheimer’s disease alone and more likely to have other pathologies associated with dementia. The findings suggest that researchers should seek different strategies to prevent and treat Alzheimer’s disease in blacks.” Also reported on by Time.

A July 15, 2015 The San Diego Union-Tribune op-ed by Alzheimer's researcher Paul Aisen defends his move from UC San Diego to found the USC Alzheimer’s Therapeutic Research Institute. According to Aisen, “As for our decision to leave UCSD: Simply put, I did not feel that our research had the proper support there. I tried to work out the issues over several years and especially in the last six months. In the end I felt that our research program would receive better support at USC.”

CAREGIVING 

A July 16, 2015 AARP post shares an update on their Valuing the Invaluable 2015 report. According to AARP on the report, “In 2013, about 40 million family caregivers in the U.S. provided an estimated 37 billion hours of care to an adult with limitations in daily activities. The estimated economic value of their unpaid contributions was approximately $470 billion in 2013, up from an estimated $450 billion in 2009.” Full report here and infographic here.

RESEARCH, SCIENCE, AND TECHNOLOGY 

A  July 15, 2015 USA Today article reports that scientists have fixed a mutating protein that leads to Alzheimer’s in rats. According to the article, "Researchers are searching for a similar antibody that would produce the same effect in people, said Kun Ping Lu, senior author of the paper, and chief of translational therapeutics at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and a professor at Harvard Medical School, both in Boston. 

A July 15, 2015 UPI article shares that a non-invasive diagnostic test for Alzheimer’s has promise. According to the story, “Researchers found that a potential biomarker for the disease exists when measuring brain waves during cognitive testing for mild cognitive impairment, or aMCI, a new study indicates. People with aMCI are at twice the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease than others in their age group, researchers said.”

A July 15, 2015 Time post takes out a 1983 Times story from the vault about the historical naming of Alzheimer’s disease in 1910 for German psychiatrist Alois Alzheimer. “It was on this day, July 15, in 1910 that the second volume of the German book General Psychiatry was published. Though the book was written by eminent psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin, it ended up preserving the name of a different doctor: it was the first time that a type of dementia was described as ‘Alzheimer’s disease.’”