USA2 SPOTLIGHT

A February 11, 2017 WCLK (91.9) “The Local Take” interview spoke with Garrett Davis about his play, “Forget Me Not,” about Alzheimer’s disease. Garrett’s grandmother is the inspiration for the play. As a playwright, he both shares the story and brings in medical experts to provide information for the audience. His production company, Garrett Davis Productions, tells stories about several health challenges impacting communities including diabetes and mental health. The Forget Me Not Play and Emory Alzheimer's Workshop will take place on  Saturday, February 18th at 8:30am at the Antioch Lithonia MBC.

Dr. Scott Turner joined the first 2017 Alzheimer’s Talks to share his fascinating new clinical trial, repurposing a cancer drug, as a possible treatment for Alzheimer’s disease. The study is currently recruiting for a Phase II trial. He explained the mechanism behind how this drug might work, and how repurposing could help find a treatment more quickly.

MUST READS

A February 10, 2017 Rolling Stone article reported on Elvis Costello’s new Alzheimer’s PSA for the Music & Memory charity, which helps people suffering from Alzheimer's and dementia by playing them personalized playlists of songs that could trigger memories. His grandmother, Molly MacManus, who suffered from dementia, was the inspiration for his 1989 song, “Veronica,” co-written with Paul McCartney. "The experience of dementia and Alzheimer's in my family has given me a chance to appreciate how the elusive and fragile mechanism of memory can be attended and even ministered through music," Costello says. It inspired a six-and-a-half–minute YouTube video that went viral, with musicians Carole King, Kenny Chesney and others supporting the initiative.

DISPARITIES SPOTLIGHT

A February 11, 2017 The State Letter to the Editor by Marcie Smith speaks to the growing need for dementia education in under-served and underrepresented communities, especially for African-Americans, where Alzheimer’s has been identified as a public health emergency. She is six months into a dementia-education grant from the Office on Aging where more than 500 people have attender her seminars, in partnership with the Columbia (South Carolina) Urban League. Her dementia-competent education program offers real-world responses to the most common questions. Full list of “Dementia Speaks” seminars.

RESEARCH, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

A February 10, 2017 AlzForum article reported on a new study, by Jubin Abutalebi (Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Milan), providing a possible explanation for why speaking a second language slows the development of Alzheimer’s. Bilingual people form stronger connections between some regions of their brains than monolinguals, and these networks might allow people to adapt to age-related reductions in brain functions. “This is a really exciting paper because it’s the first to examine differences in brain metabolism in people who are bilingual,” said Judith Kroll, University of California, Riverside. (Kroll was not connected to the study.) “It begins to unpack what it is about language experience [that inhibits AD symptoms], and how [that experience] manifests in the brain.”