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An April 20, 2016 The Georgetowner article highlighted the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation’s Great Ladies Awards luncheon with honorees George and Trish Vradenburg, co-founders of UsAgainstAlzheimer’s. 

An April 20, 2016 Mother Nature Network article highlighted a short documentary featuring Alzheimer’s advocate Greg O’Brien and his efforts to chronicle the disease’ effect on his life. According to O’Brien, “When I sat down to write my own story, in my book, 'On Pluto: Inside the Mind of Alzheimer’s’…my purpose was to offer a blueprint of strategies, faith, and humor, a day-to-day focus on living with Alzheimer’s, not dying with it — a hope that all is not lost when it appears to be."

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An April 20, 2016 Scientific American article reported on progress to discover “new players in the fight against Alzheimer’s” including brain immune cells. According to the article, “For years scientists have probed how neuroinflammation contributes to Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative ailments. Researchers face a number of immediate questions: Is neuroinflammation a driving force? Does it kick in when the disease is already underway and worsen the process? Could it be harnessed for good in the early stages? Those questions are far from settled, but research is starting to reveal a clearer picture. “It may not be the amyloid plaques themselves that directly damage neurons and the connections between them. Rather, it may be the immune reaction to the plaques that does the damage,” says Cynthia Lemere, a neuroscientist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Still, it is hard to say if microglia are good guys or bad, making it challenging to create therapeutics that target these cells.”

An April 20, 2016 WebMD.com article reported that “Older people who take certain medicines to treat conditions like urinary incontinence, depression, asthma, allergies, and sleeping problems should be warned that their use may bring a higher risk of dementia, scientists say.” According to the article, “A small Indiana University study found that people using "anticholinergic medications" did worse on thinking-related tests and had smaller brain sizes than those who didn't take them. The researchers say that although a link has been found before, this might be the first time that their effect at blocking a brain chemical called acetylcholine has been implicated.”

An April 20, 2016 AlzForum.org article highlighted top line takeaways from the Alzheimer's Disease-Related Dementias 2016 Summit, including a focus on health disparities in dementia. According to the article, “Another theme that cut across the summit was health disparities. Non-white, poor, or rural populations tend to be at higher risk for cognitive decline, yet make up only a small percentage of research participants, said Jennifer Manly, Columbia University, New York…How to encourage better participation across race, income level, and geographic regions? Wadley urged scientists to establish relationships with a community before asking members to join a study or donate tissue samples.” 

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