MUST READS

A May 4, 2016 Ventura County Star article highlighted the efforts of NFL defensive backs Solomon Wilcots and Ron Pitts to raise awareness of Alzheimer’s. According to the article, “‘When I saw that this disease could be part of my future, part of your future, I decided to get involved,’ said Wilcots, a 51-year-old broadcaster with CBS and NFL networks. ‘I wanted to be pro-active. ... I didn't want to sit back and say I could have done something about it.’”

A May 4, 2016 Long-Term Living article reported that Buzzfeed produced a three-minute film called “Loving someone with Alzheimer’s.” According to the article, “The scripted drama shows the relationship between a young woman and her mother with Alzheimer’s disease. It captures the hurt of the present and the struggle to remember happier memories. Nothing changes and everything changes as the daughter realizes her mother is still her mother.” Watch the video here. 

A May 4, 2016 Medscape.com article highlighted deep brain stimulation and its therapeutic potential for Alzheimer disease. According to the article, “DBS has been used for years in Parkinson disease and tremors and has been proven mostly safe, including in older individuals. A few DBS studies have been conducted in dementia; these have mostly focused on the temporal memory circuits, including such areas as the fornix, and they haven't been overly successful. These memory targets are in areas of active degeneration, so I reasoned that maybe we should try the next node: the frontal lobes, where the neurons are more intact. Frontal areas are important in decision-making, problem-solving, alertness, and focus. Memory lists and calendars help memory, but they don't do much for assisting executive functioning. Cells in the frontal lobes will eventually degenerate, but they don't degrade as early or as fast as those involved in memory in most cases.”

A May 4, 2016 Medscape.com article reported that “Older adults with steadily increasing depressive symptoms may be at increased risk of developing dementia, Dutch investigators have discovered in findings that suggest that worsening depression may share a common etiology with dementia.”

AGING & THE ARTS 

A May 5, 2016 The Los Angeles Times article highlighted a Balboa Island statue dedicated to a couple impacted by Alzheimer’s. According to the article, “But the couple — known by friends and family as Hi and Lo — also had a love affair with Balboa Island that spanned from the early 1940s until 2003, when they were no longer able to live on their own in their Apolena Avenue home and moved in with their daughter in Palo Alto…It wasn't a special occasion or celebration, just a quiet moment together only a year before Alzheimer's disease would claim Lois' life. Herman died in 2007.”

A May 4, 2016 Los Angeles Times article reported on a new Huntington Beach Art Center exhibition that explores aging through photographic and sculpture. According to the article, “The artists collectively demonstrate the various definitions of aging, from getting older to gaining life experiences.”