February 09, 2017

Today’s Top Alzheimer’s News

MUST READS

A February 9, 2017 STAT article by Julie Zissimopolous, PhD (Associate Director, Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics, and Vice-Dean, Academic Affairs, Price School of Public Policy, University of Southern California) explores the idea that cholesterol-lowering statins (to fight heart disease) may stop Alzheimer’s. Multiple hurdles make it difficult for researchers to initiate studies on whether and how to use statins to prevent Alzheimer’s. She writes that the National Institutes of Health, other publicly funded entities, and public and private partners should take up the cause of testing statins. Some people with a family history of Alzheimer’s might be tempted to ask their doctors to prescribe a statin now on the basis of preclinical trial evidence but many physicians are rightly reluctant to prescribe drugs for off-label, unapproved indications, and insurance companies often refuse to cover the use of drugs for them.

A February 8, 2017 UPI article reported on research from the National Institutes of Health suggesting there is potential to prevent or reverse brain damage caused by tau protein in dementia patients. The study, published in Science Translational Medicine, showed that tau antisense oligonucleotides, which are genetically engineered to block a cell's production of tau, have the potential to treat neurodegenerative disorders such as dementia. "These results open a promising new door," said Margaret Sutherland, PhD, Program Director, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, NIH. "They suggest that antisense oligonucleotides may be effective tools for tackling tau-associated disorders."

A February 8, 2017 Medpage Today article reported that a single-center study, at a tertiary care center staffed with experienced dementia specialists, showed that the majority of 20 patient-caregiver pairs undergoing amyloid PET imaging said they felt relief from the scans. Several participants thought the scan provided a "definitive" diagnosis, and could reveal information about the severity of the disease, which it cannot. Amyloid PET scans are not covered by Medicare or other insurance outside of clinical trials. The impact of amyloid scanning on outcomes in dementia patients is still under investigation. "Some folks are seekers of information about their health and well-being. Knowledge can be powerful. If I had cognitive impairment and my amyloid PET scan was negative, I would know something quite important,” said Pierre Tariot, MD, Banner Alzheimer's Institute in Phoenix.

A February 7, 2017 News & Record article by a volunteer ambassador for the American Alzheimer’s Association urges his North Carolina representatives to support additional research funding for Alzheimer’s. Alzheimer’s is an urgent crisis that is bankrupting Medicare. In 2016, the direct costs to Americans caring for those with Alzheimer’s were an estimated $236 billion, with just under half of the costs borne by Medicare.

RESEARCH, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

A February 7, 2017 Fox 17 News Nashville article reported on a Vanderbilt University study which found that the cognitive decline observed in Alzheimer's disease could be linked to the foods you eat. The results indicate the inflammatory response to a high-fat diet could contribute to the pathways which cause Alzheimer's. And that by changing to a low-fat diet, it could help reverse cognitive decline and the effects of AD.