(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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