USA2 SPOTLIGHT

Join with WomenAgainstAlzheimer's and sign onto this letter, and fill-out our brief form by June 16, 2018 to signal the importance of broad and sustained attention to the Alzheimer's crisis. In February, the CHANGE Act was introduced with strong bipartisan support. It provides an opportunity for advocates to join together with a unified voice to encourage removing barriers that currently prevent proper and timely diagnosis, and care.

A May 30, 2018 McKnight’s Long-Term Care News article quoted figures from the collaborative report, “Latinos and Alzheimer’s Disease: New Numbers Behind the Crisis,” from USC Edward R. Roybal Institute on Aging at USC University of Southern California, with USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work and UsAgainstAlzheimer’s. The numbers of Latinos in the U.S with Alzheimer’s disease is projected to increase 832% between 2012 and 2060, affecting more than 3.5 million people. Latinos are less likely to seek treatment because of financial and cultural barriers, including utilizing nursing homes or assisted living facilities for their loved ones.

MUST READS

A June 5, 2018 Science Daily article looked at preliminary findings from a new study about how tailored lighting interventions can improve sleep, mood and behavior for Alzheimer's patients in long-term care facilities. According to principal investigator and lead author Mariana Figueiro, PhD of the Lighting Research Center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, "Here we show that if the stimulus (light dose) is carefully delivered and measured, it can have a strong impact on sleep, depression and agitation. Depression was a secondary measure, and I was pleasantly surprised by the positive impact of the light treatment on depression scores."

RESEARCH AND SCIENCE

A News Medical Life Sciences article looked at stem cell therapy to treat Alzheimer’s disease. The treatment replaces damaged cells with healthy stem cells from the patient, creating new healthy brain cells. Using the patient’s own cells reduces the chances of tissue rejection or immunological reaction. Preclinical trials have produced mixed results.

INDUSTRY UPDATE

A June 5, 2018 The Conversation article asked the question, in light of all of the failures of clinical trials for Alzheimer’s drugs, “have we got the causes of Alzheimer’s all wrong?” According to the article, “Alzheimer advised scientists not to jump to the conclusion that these proteins [amyloid and tau] caused the disease. Unfortunately, his caution was ignored, and over the years it has become gospel that the build up of these proteins causes Alzheimer’s disease.”

GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES

A June 5, 2018 Newsweek article spotlighted a first-of-its-kind (in France) “Alzheimer’s village” under construction in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. The complex will have shops, a gym, restaurant and farm. According to the article, “Local residents will have priority in admittance, which will depend on medical referral, as well as application. Local officials have promised to match nursing home fees and make some form of government assistance available so as not to prevent poorer patients from residing in the facility.”