January 13, 2017

Today's Top Alzheimer's News

USA2 SPOTLIGHT 

ICYMI: In a letter released on January 12, 2017 by UsAgainstAlzheimer’s, Co-Founder and Chairman George Vradenburg said the negative clinical trial of a once-promising Alzheimer’s drug, Solanezumab, which showed clinically insignificant ability to slow cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s patients, should be viewed not as a failure, but as a development that “provides valuable lessons and suggests a way forward in the fight against Alzheimer’s.”

A January 12, 2017 Kansas City Business Journal article reported on the University of Kansas Alzheimer’s Disease Center’s partnership with the Global Alzheimer’s Platform Foundation, to make its clinical trials more efficient to help expedite research and a cure, and find prevention solutions.  John Dwyer, Founding Board Member of UsAgainstAlzheimer’s and a “serial entrepreneur,” is President of the GAP Foundation, which was created to help shorten the clinical trials process by two years (which normally takes from five to 10 years).


MUST READS

A January 12, 2017 Casper Star Tribune opinion piece by Janet Lewis called on Tom Price, Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), to prioritize Alzheimer’s research and prevention. According to Lewis, “During the confirmation hearings, I would like the Senate to ensure that Price will continue to follow the recommendations of the National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s Disease that was first released in 2012 after being mandated by Congress in 2010…I ask Senator Enzi, as a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) Committee and the Senate Finance Committee, to ensure that, if confirmed, Price will continue our gains against Alzheimer’s disease.”

A January 12, 2017 UPI article explored a new study examining 160 U.S. veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, validating a connection between concussions and the mental decline of people already at risk for Alzheimer’s.  "We found that having a concussion was associated with lower cortical thickness in brain regions that are the first to be affected in Alzheimer's disease," said study corresponding author, Jasmeet Hayes, from Boston University School of Medicine.  "Our results suggest that when combined with genetic factors, concussions may be associated with accelerated cortical thickness and memory decline in Alzheimer's disease-relevant areas.”


RESEARCH, SCIENCE, AND TECHNOLOGY

A January 13, 2017 Newsmax Health article advises that a British study from Keele University of more than 100 human brains may provide proof that aluminum does indeed have a role in Alzheimer's disease.  Some of the highest levels of aluminum ever found were in the brains of people who died of familial Alzheimer's disease.  "Aluminum is a powerful neurotoxin," says neurosurgeon Dr. Russell Blaylock. "It has been a suspect in Alzheimer’s for many years as well as in the development of dementia, Parkinson’s, Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS) and other degenerative diseases."