On Friday October 13, 2023, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a formal change to their coverage policy for amyloid PET imaging. Previously, with limited exceptions, patients were required to be enrolled in a clinical study known as “Coverage with Evidence Determination” for the scan to be reimbursed. Now, that requirement has been removed and the door has been opened for more patients to get the scan and result in savings of thousands of dollars for patients and their families. In fact, patients may have the opportunity to receive multiple covered scans as part of their routine care…

Most Americans favor an age limit for the president and other politicians. But some ethicists and scientists argue that’s ageist and scientifically unsound. Photos via Wikimedia Commons (left: Joint Congressional Committee; right: Gage Skidmore) Barring a considerable shift in the political winds, the next US president will be either 82 or 78 years old on Inauguration Day. Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who twice froze in front of cameras and was unable to speak for several agonizing moments, is 81. His Democratic counterpart, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, is a comparative spring chicken at 72. Senator Dianne Feinstein died last month…

iStock Neurologist Dr. Claudia Kawas has been tracking the habits of the “oldest old,” those older than 90, in Southern California since 2003, as part of a study at the University of California, Irvine. She and a team of researchers have found links between longevity and even short amounts of exercise, social activities such as going to church, and modest caffeine and alcohol intake. Read the article here.

Hispanic people are 1.5 times more likely to develop Alzheimer's. ‘Our America: Unforgettable’The documentary special, produced by ABC Owned Television Stations in partnership with ABC News, takes a looks at alarming data on Alzheimer’s disease through a Hispanic and Latino lens. Nearly 7 million Americans live with Alzheimer's disease, an irreversible and devastating form of dementia that gradually breaks down memory and thinking skills. But not everyone is equally at risk. Hispanic people are 1.5 times more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease than white people, according to data from the Alzheimer's Association. "Our America: Unforgettable" is an hour-long special produced by ABC Owned…

This summer, UC Irvine was again one of only 10 universities in the U.S. to host a free six-week program to train undergraduate students in the fundamentals of biostatistics, data science and computing. For the second year in a row, the Irvine Summer Institute in Biostatistics and Undergraduate Data Science (ISI-BUDS) brought students to UCI from across the nation and, as part of the training, offered hands-on experience conducting cutting-edge biomedical research. The ISI-BUDS Program Of the more than 150 applicants, 15 students were selected for the highly competitive program, which includes up to $500 in travel expenses, free housing,…

Whatever keeps the community up at night – or makes them pull the covers over their head to not face the day – probably won’t surface for years to come, but Dr. Karen Lincoln sees where it starts in the early stages through brain imaging. In and of itself, she said it’s not so much about sleep, but rather why advanced aging disproportionately impacts the Black community. Two of her landmark studies, Sleep Tight and Express Yourself, show how and why everyday discrimination and microaggressions are taking a dramatic toll on health. Earlier this year, Dr. Lincoln joined UCI faculty…

Sen. Dianne Feinstein during a committee hearing in 2022. (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press) No cause of death has been disclosed for Dianne Feinstein, the longtime California senator who struggled with evident health problems in her final years before her death Friday. She was absent from the U.S. Senate for nearly three months earlier this year while recovering from a case of shingles that led to encephalitis, a rare complication that causes inflammation and swelling in the brain. She was briefly hospitalized in August after falling at her home and was often seen in a wheelchair in public. Indications that Feinstein, 90, was struggling with memory problems have…

UCI MIND Director, Dr. Joshua Grill was recently interviewed by the OC Register about the Institute's role in being a reliable source of information about Alzheimer's disease. Read the full article here

“Music can really affect the brain in ways that are medicinal” says Dr. Joshua Grill of UCI MIND, in an interview with CNN. Watch the video here.