May 15, 2014

Today's Top Alzheimer's News

Wealthy Canadian family invests in neurological research and establishes Weston Brain Institute, experts urge for greater focus on ethics in brain research, and antidepressant might lead to Alzheimer's treatment (read more). 

Must reads

  • A May 15, 2014 The Globe and Mail article reported that "One of Canada’s wealthiest families is directing some of its fortune toward speeding up the quest for cures for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other diseases that ravage the aging mind." According to the article, "The W. Garfield Weston Foundation is set to announce formally on Thursday the creation of the Weston Brain Institute, a $50-million fund to support “high-risk, high-reward” Canadian research into neurodegenerative diseases."
  • A May 15, 2014 Agence France Presse article reported that US experts are urging for a greater focus on ethics in brain research. According to the article, "Science is moving fast on improvements in brain imaging, dementia research, deep brain stimulation to alleviate symptoms of Parkinson's disease, as well as electrical implants that could boost memory and brain function.But each of these areas raises ethical concerns, including at what point people with dementia can truly give informed consent to researchers, and whether cognitive enhancements could be unfairly distributed in society, Gutmann said. Advances in brain imaging could also lead to questions about privacy, amid fears that doctors and researchers could garner more information than intended about a patient."
  • A May 14, 2014 The Los Angeles Times article reported that a new study found that the antidepressant Celexa "appears to reduce accumulation of plaque that is a hallmark of Alzheimer's." According to the article, "In both mice bred to develop Alzheimer's disease and in healthy human volunteers, the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, or SSRI, drives down the production of a protein called beta-amyloid, which in the brains of those with Alzheimer's clumps together in sticky plaques and is thought to short-circuit the brain's wiring."