April 28, 2016

Today's Top Alzheimer's News

MUST READS

The May 6 2016 edition of Newsweek highlighted the promise that gene therapy may hold for combatting some brain diseases. According to the article, “For all the recent improvements, gene therapy will not be a cure-all. For instance, the approach is less likely to improve diseases where more than one gene is implicated or the cause is not known. In conditions like Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease, for example, the approach may lead to symptomatic relief, but not a cure. And the risks have not entirely dissipated. ‘You always have to think of benefit versus risk with any therapy,” says Paul. “We pick diseases where the risk of not treating is very bad.’” 

An April 28, 2016 MedicalXpress article reported that a “pilot study published today in the journal Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience suggests that treatment with liraglutide could help to limit the loss of brain activity that can be seen in Alzheimer's disease, but did not show benefits against the build-up of the Alzheimer's protein amyloid or an effect on memory and thinking over the trial period.”


An April 28, 2016 NH Voice article highlighted the complexities of dementia among HIV patients. According to the article, “Researchers have suggested that the case of an HIV patient suffering from dementia may involve much more complexities than previously considered. The consideration suddenly appeared after the online disclosure of a case of a 71-year-old man, who is suffering from HIV and displays symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, by Alzheimer's & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring.”

An April 27, 2016 The Commercial Appeal article reported that Reps. John J. Duncan Jr. (R-TN) and Steve Cohen (D-TN) introduced a bill that “would provide $10 million to the National Institutes of Health and other agencies to create the prize competition.” According to the article, “The bill is called the Eureka Act, for Ensuring Useful Research Expenditures is Key for Alzheimer's. It is the House version of bipartisan legislation that Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., has introduced in the Senate. Wicker's legislation has 40 cosponsors.”