MUST READS

A January 18, 2018 Knox News article looked at the work of the Pat Summitt Clinic in Alzheimer’s and dementia research at the University of Tennessee Medical Center since its opening one year ago in honor of the legendary basketball coach. Their focus is on translational research, which takes findings from the lab and into the clinic. According to the Center’s Medical Director Dr. Roberto Fernandez, “We want to expand these collaborations and grow our team, bring in new talent. We want to focus on people who have bold and great ideas. Thinking outside the box is necessary with this disease.”

A January 17, 2018 Spectrum News NY 1 article pointed to the possible connection between menopause and Alzheimer’s disease. The Alzheimer’s Prevention Clinic at Weill Cornell Medicine is studying brain scans of middle aged women and has found that the loss of estrogen during menopause may be a factor leaving the brain more vulnerable to aging and AD. According to Lisa Mosconi, “If you’re 40, 45, 50, you want your brain to be active on the scan. Instead, what we saw was that women who were in the perimenopausal and postmenopausal stages showed reductions in their brain energy levels as compared to men of the same age.” 

DEMENTIA AND THE ARTS

According to a January 18, 2018 Being Patient article, a new study from the International Longevity Centre think tank and the Utley Foundation found that people with dementia could benefit from music therapy by helping with memory recall and reducing symptoms like agitation, anxiety and aggression. Only five percent of care homes use music therapy. “People with dementia often live in a silent world. Yet music can bring a person back to life. The ability to connect to music is an innate aspect of being human; having a diagnosis of dementia need not undermine this,” said Neil Utley.

RESEARCH, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

A January 18, 2018 Fox 2 Now video segment and article spotlighted a study of adult children of Alzheimer’s patients at Washington University’s School of Medicine. The study was awarded $10 million from the NIH and focuses on knowing who and when someone might get Alzheimer’s, even 20 years before it strikes. According to study participant Cheryl Kinney, “With my family history, I wanted to find a way to get involved to see if there was a way to keep future generations from getting it.”

A January 15, 2018 Alzheimer’s News Today article announced a $2.8 million, five-year grant awarded to scientists at Ohio’s Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine from the NIA/NIH to repurpose already approved medications as Alzheimer’s disease treatments. Utilizing their computer program, DrugPredict, researchers will develop computer algorithms to identify potential candidates for testing and build a publicly available database. According to principal investigator Dr. Rong Xu, “The unique and powerful strength of our project is our ability to seamlessly combine novel computational predictions, clinical corroboration, and experimental testing.”