May 20, 2015

Today's Top Alzheimer's News

MUST READS

A May 19, 2015 The New York Times article reported that “The largest analysis to date of amyloid plaques in people’s brains confirms that the presence of the substance can help predict who will develop Alzheimer’s and determine who has the disease.” According to the article, “The findings also confirm that amyloid screening, by PET scan or cerebral spinal fluid test, can help identify people for clinical trials of drugs to prevent Alzheimer’s. Such screening is increasingly used in research. Experts say previous trials of anti-amyloid drugs on people with dementia failed because their brains were already too damaged or because some patients, not screened for amyloid, may not have had Alzheimer’s.”

A May 20, 2015 The Hill opinion piece by Dr. Maria Freire underscored the need to invest in research funding and young researchers. According to Dr. Freire, “Consider this:  Despite the fact that the U.S. once was the undisputed leader in biomedical science, support for promising basic research that could yield new treatments for diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer is no longer a top economic priority. Recently, Dr. Francis Collins, Director of the National Institutes of Health, told Bloomberg News, “We’ve actually lost about 23 percent of our purchasing power for research over the last twelve years, and that’s having a really significant negative effect, particularly on young investigators who are trying to get their labs going.” In fact, many of the 103,100 medical scientists currently working in the U.S will struggle to hold onto their jobs or advance their careers…It is time to reverse the troubling trend of the last 12 years, support our workforce and make good on commitments to promising new research initiatives. Unless Congress adds the fuel, outstanding research scientists in this country will be driving on empty.” Dr. Maria Freire is an expert in global health and heads the Foundation for the NIH and sits on the science board of the FDA.


POLITICS

A May 19, 2015 The Huffington Post article reported that Mike Huckabee has joined a growing GOP chorus calling for increased federal funding for science research. According to the article, “This past week, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee became the latest candidate to call for greater federal investments in scientific research. “Governor Huckabee strongly supports NIH funding because Americans rely on its innovative collaborative research for scientific breakthroughs that will help find cures for so many debilitating diseases,” his top aide, Hogan Gidley, said in an emailed statement to The Huffington Post. “Hopefully, one day, that will include Alzheimer's. The Governor believes we must protect and expand these critical medical investments.”…The former governor has focused heavily on elderly voters, both on cultural grounds and with pledges to protect entitlements. And in his campaign announcement he spoke specifically about the need to gear health care reform more toward “prevention and cures” for diseases that afflict predominantly older populations.”

A May 19, 2015 The Hill article reported that “Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) will co-chair the Senate’s newest caucus, dedicated specifically to the National Institutes of Health (NIH).” According to the article, “The caucus will focus on the agency’s waning ability to fund research after losing 25 percent of its purchasing power since 2003, which the senators attribute the decline to “sequestration and flat budgets.” “As a result of this decline, the U.S. is missing opportunities to discover cures for cancer, Alzheimer’s, heart disease, diabetes, and countless other diseases,” they wrote in a release. Funding for the NIH is already a driving force behind a bipartisan House bill known as 21st Century Cures. That bill, which comes from the House Energy and Commerce Committee, includes $10 billion for the agency.”


RESEARCH, SCIENCE, AND TECHNOLOGY 

The June 2015 issue of The Atlantic profiled advances in neuroscience and brain tech. According to the article, “What’s possible now, and what may one day be? In a series of conversations with neuroscientists and futurists, I glimpsed a vision of a world where cognitive enhancement is the norm. Here’s what that might look like, and how we can begin thinking about the implications…Another option is to install electrodes deep inside your brain, to stimulate areas that tDCS cannot reliably reach. Deep-brain stimulation is already used to treat Parkinson’s disease as well as some severe cases of depression. A surgeon inserts electrodes directly into the brain—the location depends on the intent—and connects them to a device in the chest that resembles a pacemaker. That device can then regulate the brain’s electrical impulses and chemical levels via the electrodes. Applications of deep-brain stimulation may someday be more enhancing than therapeutic: in 2013, a team from UCLA showed that the procedure could buttress memory and improve the ability to process and store information, and this spring, a study using rats determined that it could potentially stave off memory loss and dementia-like symptoms. In other words, in addition to making us smarter, deep-brain stimulation could also ensure that we remain smart for longer.”