November 14, 2017

Today’s Top Alzheimer’s News

USA2 SPOTLIGHT

According to a November 13, 2017 Forbes article, UsAgainstAlzheimer’s Co-Founder and Chairman George Vradenburg called Bill Gates’ entrance into Alzheimer’s disease research funding a “game changer.” Gates has committed $100 million to finding a cure. “Beating Alzheimer’s is going to be a team sport. We now have our new quarterback… I think he will follow with additional investments and lay out a much more consistent strategy. I think this is just the first step,” said Vradenburg.


A November 13, 2017 Univision article (in Spanish) highlighted Bill Gates’ announcement that he will invest $50 million in Alzheimer's research. The article quotes UsAgainstAlzheimer's George Vradenburg and Jason Resendez. According to Resendez, "Bill Gates’ announcement highlighted research from the USC Roybal Institute on Aging and UsAgainstAlzheimer’s that underscores the staggering economic impact of Alzheimer’s on Latino families. We can’t afford the status quo."


MUST READS

A November 14, 2017 Medical Xpress article looked at a protein called membralin, which regulates the cell's machinery for producing beta-amyloid and is critical for keeping Alzheimer's disease pathology in check. According to Huaxi Xu, PhD from Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, "We were interested in membralin because of its genetic association with Alzheimer's, and in this study we established the connection between membralin and Alzheimer's based on findings from the laboratory of a former colleague at SBP, Professor Dongxian Zhang. That investigation showed that eliminating the gene for membralin leads to rapid motor neuron degeneration, but its cellular function wasn't clear."


A November 13, 2017 Huffington Post article lauds the entrance of Bill Gates into Alzheimer’s disease research funding with a $100 million contribution. Gates calls the 21st century the next “frontier where we can dramatically improve human life. It’s a miracle that people are living so much longer, but longer life expectancies alone are not enough.” Gates’ agenda focuses on better understanding of AD, better diagnostics, a more diverse drug pipeline, faster clinical trials and better use of data.


CAREGIVING CORNER

A November 14, 2017 The Catholic Telegraph article featured nurse Amy Neuzil’s new book, “Becoming an Alzheimer’s Caregiver: What I Learned from Caring for My Mom” about her personal experience caring for her mom with a diagnosis of Mild Cognitive Impairment and later, Alzheimer’s disease. Neuzil describes the work as “a caregiver book that I’m really proud of and one I wish my family and I would have had when our journey with this heartbreaking disease began.”