USA2 SPOTLIGHT

An April 19, 2018 PhRMA article and video quoted Alzheimer’s researchers and patient advocates at a recent American Society on Aging panel in San Francisco, including LatinosAgainstAlzheimer’s Executive Director Jason Resendez. The panel focused on the biopharmaceutical industry’s search for an AD cure. According to Resendez, “We are placing an emphasis on reframing the conversation around Alzheimer’s to be like any other disease - thinking about your brain in the same way that we think about our hearts, our livers, etc.”
 

An April 18, 2018 Woman’s Day article looked at how women are making a difference in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease. According to the article, “When someone is diagnosed with dementia, one of the main fears that come up is that others will treat that person—and his or her family—differently once they find out. So caregivers and affected people tend to clam up. “There’s a sense of family members protecting their own,” says Jill Lesser, president of the advocacy group WomenAgainstAlzheimer’s. “It’s similar to what we used to see when people were diagnosed with cancer—there’s an enormous amount of fear or stigma.” ”

MUST READS

An April 18, 2018 The New York Times opinion piece by neuroscientist and author Dr. Lisa Mosconi of Weill Cornell focused on the disparities between women and men developing Alzheimer’s disease, in particular on middle aged women and menopause. Her research has determined that when estrogen levels decline, the female brain becomes much more vulnerable the build up of plaques which are an AD hallmark. According to Mosconi, “And yet research into “women’s health” remains largely focused on reproductive fitness and breast cancer. We need to be paying much more attention to the most important aspect of any woman’s future: her ability to think, to recall, to imagine — her brain.”

RESEARCH AND SCIENCE

An Alzheimer’s News Today article focused on repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), which is approved by the FDA to treat clinical depression. It stimulates and modulates the nervous system by sending electromagnet impulses to a specific area of the brain, and is now being studied to treat Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers think the rTMS produces electric currents within the brain which stimulates nerve cells and helps improve Alzheimer’s symptoms.

ALZ TECH

An April 17, 2018 CBS New York broadcast segment focused on Caring Kind’s tech fair, showing a wide variety of products for people with Alzheimer’s disease and their caregivers. According to Jed Levine, “In absence of a cure, the best treatment is good care. Unless you’ve done it you don’t know how demanding, how draining it is to care for someone with dementia and anything we can do to make that journey a little bit easier, a little bit lighter, that’s great.”

VETERANS SPOTLIGHT

An April 18, 2018 Men’s Health article spotlighted army veteran Matt Oliver, who began experiencing symptoms of early onset familial Alzheimer's in his 30s. He carries the PSEN1 gene mutation and lost many family members to the disease. According to his partner and full-time caretaker Traci Ward, “He's lost his mum and all her nine siblings, his brother, sister, grandma, great grandfather, and some cousins have had it or are fighting this horrible terminal disease right now.” 

REGIONAL HIGHLIGHTS

An April 17, 2018 San Francisco Chronicle article highlighted Michaela “Mikey” Hoag, who has raised millions for Alzheimer’s disease research. Both her parents had the disease, which inspired her Silicon Valley fundraising. In 2016, comedian Seth Rogen and his wife, actress Lauren Miller Rogen, helped Hoag raise $10 million.