IRVINE, Calif. (Dec. 11, 2018) – UCI MIND, the University of California, Irvine’s Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders, Orange County’s only state and federally designated Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC), hosted its 9th annual A December to Remember Gala on Saturday, December 1 at the Balboa Bay Resort in Newport Beach. UCI MIND raised a record-shattering $370,000 through underwriting, ticket sales and donations from the attendees. “UCI MIND would not be at the forefront of Alzheimer’s disease research without the strong community behind us,” notes Dr. Joshua Grill, Director of UCI MIND. “We are forever grateful for the…
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Vivek Swarup, PhD, Assistant Professor of Neurobiology & Behavior UCI MIND faculty member, Dr. Vivek Swarup, and colleagues at UCLA, Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. in Japan, Emory University School of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, published novel findings yesterday in Nature Medicine on two major groups of genes associated with Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia and unraveled a novel microRNA, miR-203, as a master regulator of neuronal death. In human cell cultures containing AD-associated mutations, the researchers showed that certain experimental drugs altered the loss of brain cells associated with neurodegenerative disease. Dr. Swarup says, “I’m hopeful these important findings…
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Giving Tuesday is a global giving movement supported by individuals, families, organizations, businesses, and communities worldwide. At UCI MIND, researchers are investigating solutions to a global health crisis that affects over 40 million people. Today, join us by supporting our mission to rid the world of Alzheimer's disease. DONATE
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Fall 2018 Newsletter - In this issue of MIND Matters: - Grand Opening of UCI Sleep Center led by Dr. Ruth Benca - Wine for the MIND hosted by Bob & Virginia Naeve - Meet the REMIND Co-Chairs - Study Partners in Alzheimer's Research: Gwen Ritchie - Philanthropist Highlight: Greg & Cindy Lai - Donations, Sept 2017-2018 ----- Click to read the Fall 2018 Newsletter - MIND Matters
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UCI MIND faculty member Dr. Mathew Blurton-Jones was awarded a $500,000 grant from Orange County Community Foundation to test 1200+ FDA-approved compounds for effectiveness in Alzheimer's disease treatment. His lab seeks to find the top 20 genes and drugs that safely prevent brain damage caused by microglia, which are critical immune cells in the brain that 'prune' unnecessary neuronal connections, or synapses. In the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease, damage can be caused by microglia 'overpruning' synapses, leading to loss of necessary connections. UCI News reports that Dr. Blurton-Jones and his team are "grateful to be the recipients of this…
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Dr. Ira Lott with research participant in UCI MIND Down Syndrome Program UCI MIND faculty member, Dr. Ira Lott, is one of the world's leading experts in unraveling the link between Down syndrome and Alzheimer's disease (Learn more in the Winter 2016 issue of MIND Matters). His team has been selected as a Center of Excellence for the new Down Syndrome Clinical Trial Network (DS-CTN) launched by LuMIND, a Down syndrome research foundation. As part of this important network, Dr. Lott and his team will receive funding to conduct clinical trials of promising therapies for participants with Down syndrome, at…
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Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty Images In a letter released on Tuesday, October 23, retired supreme court justice Sandra Day O'Connor announced a diagnosis of probable Alzheimer's dementia, and that she will begin stepping down from public life. O'Connor, the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court, was a devoted caregiver to her husband John after his Alzheimer's diagnosis in 2005. NPR reports the reaction of Chief Justice John Roberts: "I was saddened to learn that Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, like many Americans, faces the challenge of dementia. But I was not at all surprised that she used the occasion of sharing that…
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As we gather for our annual conference, today, September 21st, is World Alzheimer's Day. Maria Shriver penned a powerful op-ed with the support of UCI MIND Director Dr. Joshua Grill to inspire us to join together to overcome Alzheimer's disease. To read Maria Shriver's challenge, click here >
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This Friday, September 21 marks the 29th Annual SoCal Alzheimer’s Disease Research Conference at the Irvine Marriott Hotel. Chair of Statistics and UCI MIND faculty member, Dr. Daniel Gillen, discusses this year’s topic of Alzheimer’s disease clinical trials with KUCI Radio - click here to listen to the podcast >. Dr. Gillen is one of several esteemed researchers who will present on Friday. There’s still time to register! Click here >, call 949.757.3720 x 3733, or purchase Day-Of tickets at the Registration booth.
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This week Alzforum posted coverage from the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference, including UCI MIND Director Dr. Joshua Grill's presentation of data from The A4 Study (Anti-Amyloid Treatment in Asymptomatic Alzheimer's Disease Study). In The A4 Study, a secondary prevention trial of late-onset Alzheimer's disease, people with elevated amyloid had higher levels of memory complaints than those without elevated amyloid. To read the full article, click here >
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Orange Coast Magazine just named our upcoming research conference in the "20 Can’t-Miss Health Events in O.C. To Keep You Healthy!" Don't miss your chance to attend Trials Today, Treatments Tomorrow, Sept. 21 at the Irvine Marriott. Tickets: http://bit.ly/alzconference or call 949.757.3720 x 3733. "Alzheimer’s affects more than 84,000 people in Orange County. This conference, hosted by the UC Irvine Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders (UCI MIND) and Alzheimer’s Orange County, will bring world-renowned experts to Irvine to discuss progress in the battle against Alzheimer’s." -- Orange Coast Magazine
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Contributed by Joshua Grill, PhD This week’s 60 Minutes did an excellent job of illustrating, in 13 minutes, the 10-year progression of Alzheimer’s disease and its impact on patients and their caregivers. In addition to the unrelenting progression of the disease, the piece showed viewers the toll the disease takes on care providers, including the physical, financial, and emotional burdens. On average, the cost of caring for a person with Alzheimer’s disease is estimated to exceed $300,000 total. And caregivers are at increased risk for physical and mental ailments, resulting from the stress of their role and the fact that…
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UCI MIND Director Dr. Joshua Grill wrote an article for the Daily Pilot about the need for Alzheimer's clinical trial research participants in Orange County. Read an excerpt below, and click here for the full article > "Here in Orange County, we are home to the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, the UC Irvine Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders (UCI MIND). And we are making progress. There will be one essential key to needed advances, however. You. We need more people to participate in research, especially clinical trials of promising treatments. Clinical trial participants in Alzheimer’s research, much like…
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Photo credit: Zack Wittman for The New York Times The New York Times recently covered a new clinical trial effort Eli Lilly is undertaking, the TRAILBLAZER-ALZ clinical research study. The study, which UCI MIND investigators are participating in, aims to enroll 375 people with early Alzheimer's disease. To learn more about the TRAILBLAZER-ALZ study, click here, or contact us at research@mind.uci.edu or call 949.824.0008.
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UCI MIND is proud to partner with Maria Shriver's Women's Alzheimer's Movement in researching why women are more likely than men to develop Alzheimer's disease. The LA Times recently covered this partnership and the UCI researchers who were awarded grants to study gender differences. For more, read the article found in the Daily Pilot>
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UCI MIND postdoctoral researcher Alessandra Martini presents her research on inflammation and cognition in AD at AAIC 2018: "We used the triple transgenic mouse model that was actually developed at UCI, and we are hoping to...use this protein as a possible biomarker or as a target for treatment."
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Postdoctoral researcher and Alzheimer's Association Research Fellowship Awardee Stefania Forner explains her research on synaptic changes in the human brain.
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Dr. Jeffrey Cummings, the inventor of the Neuropsychiatric Inventory and international leader in the field of Alzheimer’s disease clinical trials was awarded the Bengt Winblad Lifetime Achievement Award at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference. To hear Dr. Cummings lecture about the state of Alzheimer’s disease clinical trials, register for the UCI MIND Southern California Alzheimer’s Disease Research Conference at bit.ly/alzconference
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Professors Andrea Tenner (seen here, middle) and Frank LaFerla, along with other members of UCI MIND’s Next Generation Animal Models grant presented their work at the Accelerating Medicines Partnership—Alzheimer’s Disease (AMP-AD) meeting at a pre-conference to the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Chicago on July 19 and 20.
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Sunil Gandhi (left) and Mathew Blurton-Jones (right)Steve Zylius / UCI Currently, 2 out of every 3 people with Alzheimer's disease are women. Last year, UCI MIND began a partnership with Maria Shriver's Women's Alzheimer's Movement. This partnership launched a grant competition focused on understanding the role of sex in Alzheimer's disease. UCI researchers Sunil Gandhi and Mathew Blurton-Jones have been awarded this year's $100,000 grant. Their research will focus on the role of microglia in the brains of men and women using induced pluripotent stem cells generated from skin cells donated by UCI ADRC participants, modern mouse models of the…
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This week, BioArctic Neuroscience, Esai, and Biogen made headlines when they announced via press release the topline and positive results of their Phase 2a study of the anti-amyloid antibody BAN2401. The press release indicated that the drug “demonstrated statistically significant slowing in clinical decline and reduction of amyloid beta accumulated in the brain” in patients with early Alzheimer’s disease. To be sure, this is welcomed news. Too often headlines for Alzheimer’s disease clinical trials are about “flops” and “failures.” So we should take this good news and embrace it. Unfortunately, there remain many questions to which we need answers before we…
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Dr. Arvid Carlsson passed away this past Friday at the age of 95. His research into dopamine led to the development of treatments for Parkinson's disease, a neurodegenerative disease that involves tremors and rigidity. Dr. Carlsson showed that dopamine was a neurotransmitter and that it is critical to movement. Dopamine is depleted in Parkinson’s disease and the drug L-dopa can be used to treat patients with this neurological disease. Dr. Carlsson's findings earned him the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, along with noted American researchers Dr. Eric Kandel and Paul Greengard. UCI MIND is grateful for the work…
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On Friday, we collaborated with our colleagues at USC, UCLA, and UCSD at the 2018 Southern California Alzheimer's Disease Centers Research Symposium!
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Recent scientific reports, one in the journal Neuron and another coming out in the journal Cell, present some intriguing new data indicating a link between human herpes viruses and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Because the majority of AD cases cannot be attributed to genetics alone, there has been keen interest in finding other factors that affect the risk of developing AD. Head trauma and infections are two such factors that have received attention by researchers. With regard to infectious agents, speculation has often centered on the herpes viruses, especially herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV1). Human herpes viruses are neurotropic, which means they…
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Getty Images Click here to read an article in AARP, and learn how even mild high blood pressure in midlife can have a significant impact on brain health in later life. UCI MIND faculty member and Co-Principal Investigator of the 90+ Study, Dr. Maria Corrada, is quoted in the article.
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Honoring fathers, grandfathers, and caregivers this Father's Day. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXPWK--D0Yg&feature=youtu.be Join the fight against Alzheimer's disease by making a donation in honor or memory of someone you love. On behalf of UCI MIND, thank you to all the fathers, grandfathers, and caregivers. DONATE >
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Click here to watch Maria Shriver's Women's Alzheimer's Movement "Move For Minds" event in Los Angeles. UCI MIND faculty member Dr. Ruth Benca joined a renowned panel that included Marcia Gay Harden, Dr. Richard Isaacson, Kelly LeVeque, and Bob Roth. Learn more about Move For Minds here >
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UCI MIND sends a hearty congratulations to Dr. Frank LaFerla, who has been appointed to a second five-year term as dean of the UCI School of Biological Sciences. As Dean, Dr. LaFerla has taken the school to new heights, launching successful public lecture series, increasing philanthropy, and of course supporting cutting edge research. During his tenure, research funding in the school has grown by 35 percent and 15 new outstanding faculty members have been hired. Please join us in congratulating Dean LaFerla on this reappointment. Learn more >
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Join Alzheimer’s Orange County and UCI MIND for the 29th Annual Southern California Alzheimer’s Disease Research Conference. Learn about important findings from past trials, current trials of promising new treatments, and what it’s going to take to find successful treatments for the most urgent health problem we face as a society today. 29th Annual Southern California Alzheimer’s Disease Research Conference Friday, September 21 | 7:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. | Irvine Marriott Hotel Click here to register >
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Today is the last day to RSVP for the 2018 Family Education Workshop this Thursday, May 17! Click here to RSVP > Join licensed psychologists, Dr. Cordula Dick-Muehlke and Dr. Malcolm Dick, as they examine the state of the art in identification, treatment, and prevention of Alzheimer's disease. The workshop will be held at the Lakeview Senior Center in Irvine. Refreshments and registration from 9:30-10:00 AM. Lecture from 10:00 AM-12:00 PM. Thank you to our Community Partners: Alzheimer's Association, Orange County Chapter, Alzheimer's Family Center, Alzheimer's Orange County, and Family Caregiver Resource Center. For questions or to be added to…
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Reflections on Mother's Day by Virginia Naeve and Dr. Rosalyn Laudati, members of the UCI MIND Leadership Council. I just received an email advertisement from a lovely seaside restaurant stating that they are providing a “Mother’s Day Brunch that your mother will never forget.” I would have loved taking mom there on Mother’s Day, but Alzheimer’s disease forever changed those kinds of plans for us. Up until about the last four years of mom’s disease, we always loved Mother’s Day. Unfortunately, as her disease progressed, it was heartbreaking for me to realize that Mother’s Day had lost its meaning for…
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Thanks to the collective support of our community on UCI Giving Day on Wednesday, April 25, we raised $26,448 from 108 gifts! All of the funds raised will directly support cutting-edge Alzheimer’s disease research right here at UCI MIND. THANK YOU to all our friends who donated and helped spread the word! If you missed Giving Day and would still like to support Alzheimer’s research, you can make a donation in any amount by clicking here.
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Danny Harper & Burton Young By Danny Harper, Senior Director of Development The faculty and staff of UCI MIND, congratulate Burton Young and his fellow honorees on receiving the Men of Character recognition by the Orange County Boy Scouts of America. I had the pleasure of attending this year’s event, and I was inspired by the stories of the six men who were honored. While each shared his unique journey, there were consistent themes in each of their stories. Each, in his turn, spoke about the importance of hard work, giving back and family. These themes resonate deeply with my…
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UCI MIND Director, Dr. Joshua Grill, recently discussed Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) with Being Patient, a news site building single-subject platforms around complex health topics. Click here to read the article and learn: Is MCI reversible? Is MCI a precursor to Alzheimer's? How soon will MCI progress to Alzheimer's? What are the warning signs of MCI? Will I recognize my own MCI? What can I do to delay MCI? UCI MIND has a number of research studies currently enrolling people with MCI or memory concerns. To learn about studies for which you may be eligible, enroll in the UCI C2C Registry…
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(Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) By Danny Harper, Senior Director of Development, UCI MIND Every year, hundreds of thousands of Americans lose friends and loved ones to Alzheimer’s disease. When a celebrity passes from Alzheimer’s, it brings a higher level of attention to the disease that affects millions of Americans and more than 84,000 people right here in Orange County. Whether or not you personally know someone who has lived with Alzheimer’s, we can all get a glimpse into the disease through the lives of public figures who have been afflicted. From Rosa Parks to Ronald Reagan to Glen Campbell, and now including NPR’s…
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Joshua Grill, Malcolm Dick, Ann Quilter, Lindsay Hohsfield, and Aimee Pierce Story by Dianne Russell in Stu News Laguna featuring UCI MIND's most recent Ask the Doc panel on March 22, 2018: "Although the day is wet and dreary, it doesn’t stop 85 audience members from attending UC Irvine Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders (UCI MIND) “Ask the Doc” event at Susi Q. The roomful of mostly seniors is serious and here for one thing, to get answers to their questions regarding the widespread problem of Alzheimer’s, memory loss and brain health. It’s not an entirely comfortable situation, as…
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Getty Images This week, Congress finalized the 2018 budget for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which included a $414 million increase in funding for Alzheimer's disease research. This brings the total amount of dementia research funding to $1.8 billion. Thank you to all, including our research participants, faculty, staff, and community partners, who advocate tirelessly for increased funding, resources, and awareness for Alzheimer's disease. "Costs for treating Alzheimer’s in particular eat up billions in federal spending each year, something lawmakers said could be prevented if the NIH can develop a cure," The Hill reported (read more>). Continued investment in…
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Read and share this infographic about driving safety and older adults from the National Institute on Aging at NIH. Click here to learn more.
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Contributed by Carl Cotman, PhD, Founding Director of UCI MIND The role of exercise in reducing or slowing Alzheimer’s disease keeps coming up on headlines. Observational studies like the one in this article suggest that brain health may be different for older adults who exercise versus those who do not. While the results of studies like this one are intriguing, disease modifying effects need to be demonstrated in a larger and more diverse populations using accessible, cost-effective and sustainable programs that have the potential for implementation in a community setting. To address this need, UCI MIND and the Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative…
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Contributed by Bryce Mander, PhD As reported in CNN, a new study published in JAMA Neurology indicates that healthy older adults who are excessively sleepy during the day show a greater buildup over time of β-amyloid plaques, a defining brain feature of Alzheimer’s disease, compared to those who are not excessively sleepy. As we describe in our editorial on this article, this study is an important advance in our understanding of how sleep disturbance in general can result in increased risk for Alzheimer’s disease. Many studies over the past few years, including our own, have linked poor sleep to increased…
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Marcelo Wood, PhD Dr. Marcelo Wood, UCI MIND faculty member and chair of neurobiology and behavior, and his team have discovered a way to help old and damaged brains form long-term memories by unlocking a repressed gene. Wood presented the findings at the American Association for the Advancement of Science conference earlier this month. Next, Wood's team plans to investigate how these findings apply to people with Alzheimer's disease to formulate ideas for drug development. READ MORE FROM THE DAILY PILOT >
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Please join UCI MIND on Friday, March 9 at Norman P. Murray Senior Center for an ASK THE DOC Q&A session at South OC Senior Day, in partnership with Senator Pat Bates and Assemblyman Bill Brough. Bring your questions about brain health, Alzheimer’s disease and memory loss, diagnosis and treatment, research advances, and more to a panel of expert clinicians and scientists from UCI MIND, Orange County’s only state and federally designated Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center: www.mind.uci.edu There is no cost to attend. Register today at www.seniordayoc.com or call 949.598.5850. Click here for Event Details> Moderator: Ruth Benca, MD, PhD, Professor…
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UCI MIND faculty investigator, Dr. Claudia Kawas, presented findings from The 90+ Study at the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s annual conference this past weekend, highlighting the link between moderate alcohol consumption and longevity. In an observational study of participants age 90 and older, Dr. Kawas and her team found that consuming about two glasses of beer or wine daily was associated with 18% reduced risk of premature death. Findings also suggest regular exercise, social and cognitive engagement, and a few extra pounds in older age are associated with longevity. To learn more about The 90+ Study, click HERE or contact 949.768.3635 or study90@uci.edu.…
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Bill Gates with father, Bill Gates Sr. Charitable billionaire Bill Gates recently announced a $100 million pledge to fight Alzheimer's disease, but today he reveals why the disease hits close to home. His father, 92 year-old Bill Gates Sr., is one of the 5.5 million people in the United States with Alzheimer's disease. Click here to read the article and watch his interview with Maria Shriver at TODAY.com >
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Honoree Maria Shriver with donor and Alzheimer’s research participant Ann Quilter of Laguna Beach, center, and Aimee Pierce, MD, medical director of the UCI MIND Memory Assessment Research Center. (Photo by Stan Sholik) By B.W. Cook January 16, 2018 Daily Pilot Opinion "At appropriate times past, I have broken my strict rule not to interject my personal life stories into this column. With that said, anything to do with the pursuit of an Alzheimer's disease cure and/or care compels me to share private family experience. Alzheimer's devastated my talented, intelligent mother at the early age of 65 and it ripped…
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Free community screening reveals how personalized music provides comfort ORANGE, CA – The public is invited to a free screening of Alive Inside, a documentary that explores the transformative impact of music on people living with a diagnosis of dementia or other cognitive disorders. The award winning documentary follows the journey of social worker Dan Cohen, creator of the national MUSIC & MEMORY® program which helps non-verbal dementia patients re-ignite positive memories as they listen to familiar songs from their past. WHEN: Friday, January 26, 2018 WHERE: Folino Theater, Marion Knott Studios – Chapman University, 283 N. Cypress St., Orange, CA…
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New research partnership aims to better understand the Alzheimer's gender divide By Madeline Vann, Caring.com Health Writer "One of the biggest risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease you may not have heard of? Being a woman. More women than men live with Alzheimer’s, a type of dementia that causes problems with memory, behavior and thinking. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, women make up two thirds of the roughly 5.5 million Americans living with the disease, but experts do not yet understand why. Now, the University of California at Irvine’s Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders (UCI MIND) and Maria Shriver’s…
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