May 26, 2017

Today’s Top Alzheimer’s News

USA2 SPOTLIGHT

According to a May 26, 2017 The Washington Post article, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention just put out a report about Alzheimer’s disease in the United States finding that death rates from AD climbed 55% from 1999 to 2014, and the number of Americans afflicted is likely to rise rapidly in the coming years. George Vradenburg, the former AOL Time Warner senior executive who co-founded UsAgainstAlzheimer’s with his late wife Trish, has long lobbied for a bigger commitment by government, industry and scientists to find an Alzheimer’s cure. “The CDC findings raise needed public awareness of how fast this disease is growing and destroying families, and how we must stand firm against any action that reduces the nation’s ability to innovate and speed cures,” he said in a statement Thursday. Read our full statement on the CDC data here. (Also covered by NBC NewsTime, and others.)

MUST READS

According to a May 25, 2017 MedCity News article, Merck licensed a preclinical anti-tau antibody from Tokyo, Japan-based Teijin Pharma.  Merck’s focus has moved toward targeting prodromal Alzheimer’s disease and intervening before the person begins losing function.

A May 25, 2017 WKOW/ABC 27 article focused on a poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finding that a growing number of Americans, age 40 and older, think Medicare should cover the costs of long-term care for older adults, including paying for ongoing living assistance. Also according to the poll, most older Americans mistakenly believe they can rely on Medicare already, even though it does not cover most nursing care or home health aides, and few have done much planning for their own long-term care. Many polled favor tax breaks for people who provide care to family members, and employers who give paid family leave to workers.

A May 24, 2017 The Hill opinion piece by former Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.) and Elias Zerhouni urged Congress, when considering the 2018 proposed federal budget, to continue its bipartisan support for investment in basic and applied scientific research across all disciplines. Despite a proposal to cut the NIH budget by $1.23 billion for the remainder of 2017, Congress recently decided to invest an additional $2 billion in NIH programs. U.S. investments in scientific and engineering research and development have created millions of jobs in both the public and private sectors, improved state economies, and generated commercial growth.

SEX MATTERS

A May 25, 2017 Women’s Health article highlighted that women who carry the APOE-4 gene are at an even greater risk than their male counterparts for developing Alzheimer’s disease. “Women seem to be more affected by this gene, and it is believed to be through its interaction with estrogen,” according to Tania Dempsey, M.D., who specializes in treating chronic diseases, including Alzheimer’s.

CAREGIVER CORNER

A May 25, 2017 The Sacramento Bee article spotlighted the USC Family Caregiver Support Center, which connects caregivers with support groups, classes and services that give caregivers much needed breaks. It is one of 11 nonprofit caregiver resource centers across California serving about 14,000 families a year. “This was designed to help everyone, including middle-income families,” says Donna Benton, USC Center Director.