April 26, 2017

Today’s Top Alzheimer’s News

USA2 SPOTLIGHT

Join our April Alzheimer's Talks on Friday, April 28, from 4-5pm (EST). Our guest is Greg O’Brien, author of “On Pluto: Inside the Mind of Alzheimer’s.” Ever since he was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s in 2009, Greg has been sharing stories of his daily fight with Alzheimer’s and giving voice to the millions of Americans who live with it.

MUST READS

An April 25, 2017 Scientific American guest blog by Sheril Kirshenbaum comes from her talk at the March for Science in Washington. As a mother, she wonders whether her children will be healthy, or accustomed to armed conflict because of limited resources and climate change. “But maybe we’ll invest in education, medicine and technology to meet the needs of the nine billion people on the planet by then. We’ll figure out how to cure cancer and Alzheimer’s and combat pandemics and superbugs.“

An April 25, 2017 AlzForum post spotlighted the Cognitive Aging Summit earlier this month, where over 300 researchers gathered to share data on factors that contribute to healthy brain aging. They focused on cognitive resilience and reserve in exploring successfully aging brains.

An April 24, 2017 Neurology Advisor article reported that the Apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene can induce psychosis in patients with Alzheimer's disease, based on research presented at the 2017 American Academy of Neurology Annual Meeting in Boston. According to lead researcher, Julia Kim, “The APOE4 has a female-specific gene dose effect in inducing psychosis, both delusions and hallucinations in AD. The contribution of APOE4 to the development of psychosis in AD may be mediated by Lewy bodies."

RESEARCH, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

According to an April 25, 2017 Futurity article, a new study published in eLife shows that low levels of the NPTX2 gene brain protein may combine with amyloid to trigger the learning and memory losses in Alzheimer’s disease. Circuit adaptations that are essential for neurons to work together are disrupted which results in a failure of memory. “The key point here is that it’s the combination of amyloid and low NPTX2 that leads to cognitive failure,” says Paul Worley, a Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Neuroscientist, and the study’s senior scientist.

CAREGIVER CORNER

An April 26, 2017 WTOP article explored the realities facing many adult children in their 50’s who have aging parents in their 70’s. This is the time to discuss with them what to do if their mental or physical condition begin to decline, however, these types of conversations are often delayed until a triggering health event occurs.