August 14, 2017

Today’s Top Alzheimer’s News

MUST READS

An August 14, 2017 Bangor Daily News article told the story of Frances Vittum, who has Alzheimer’s disease, and her family’s tough decision to put her in a memory-care facility. Frances’ family and friends made a commitment to boosting research funding and support services for people living with Alzheimer’s. They are lobbying for the PCHETA bill — Palliative Care and Hospice Education and Training Act — which would enhance support services, build a trained direct-care workforce and expand research at the national level. 
 


An August 12, 2017 CNBC video segment and article spotlighted video games as medicine. Akili Interactive Labs is working to get games approved by the Food and Drug Administration. According to Neurology, Physiology and Psychiatry Professor, Adam Gazzaley, ”Our brain's plasticity, its ability to modify itself, really responds to experience. If we can create very targeted experiences that are also adaptive to a person, it can help improve their brain function."


According to an August 11, 2017 Alzheimer’s News Today article, Loyola Medicine is participating in the IDEAS study (Imaging Dementia – Evidence for Amyloid Scanning), utilizing PET scans to detect Alzheimer’s disease. PET scans could increase confidence in the underlying cause of cognitive impairment, leading to earlier counseling and intervention. The goal is to help the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services decide if they will cover PET scans in dementia care expenses.


An August 11, 2017 USC News article focused on Kwok “Chris” Im, a National Science Foundation fellow and third-year PhD student in the USC Neuroscience Graduate Program, who is studying Alzheimer’s and immunotherapeutics. Through USC’s Bridging the Gaps program, Im was paired with a graduate student and faculty mentors at the Keck School of Medicine. 


RESEARCH, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

An August 2, 2017 Science Daily article reported on the molecular mechanism linking PTSD with Alzheimer’s and dementia developed later in life. The research was published in The EMBO Journal. 


An August 14, 2017 Long Island Business News article spotlighted Dr. Yun Freudenberg-Hua, who was awarded a grant from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Aging to study how genetic risk impacts Alzheimer’s disease. Along with her research team, she will examine the genes of patients with Alzheimer’s and those of healthy individuals who are 100 or older.


GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES

An August 14, 2017 Alzheimer’s News Today video segment and article reported on a pop-up restaurant in Tokyo which employed people with dementia. The Restaurant of Order Mistakes was open for two days to raise awareness and reduce stigma associated with AD.