1,520 Alzheimers Headlines
Patricio Reyes M.D., F.A.N.N.
Director, Traumatic Brain Injury, Alzheimer's Disease & Cognitive Disorders Clinics; Phoenix, AZ; Chief Medical Officer, Retired NFL Players Association

Barrow Neurological Institute
St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center
"2 NEW THERAPIES FOR ALZHEIMER'S"
Produced by MD Health Channel
Executive Editor.....Anne-Merete Robbs
CEO..............Stan Swartz

Dr. Reyes and his team are constantly working on new medicines and new solutions...You will receive news alerts...information on new trials as Dr Reyes announces them!
"2 NEW THERAPIES FOR ALZHEIMER'S"
Patricio Reyes M.D., F.A.N.N.
Director, Traumatic Brain Injury, Alzheimer's Disease & Cognitive Disorders Clinics; Phoenix, AZ; Chief Medical Officer, Retired NFL Players Association

St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center



DO YOU HAVE ALZHEIMERS?
 
"HELP DR. REYES... IN HIS BATTLE TO FIND A CURE...
.HE NEEDS YOUR HELP:
YOU CAN HELP WIN THE BATTLE FOR A CURE BY JOINING A TRIAL!!"....

Stan Swartz, CEO,
The MD Health Channel



"You'll receive all medication and study based procedures at
no charge

if you qualify for one of the many trials being conducted at Barrow Neurological Institute."
 

"Dr. Reyes Changed My Life"

- John Swartz
92 Years Old
Attorney at Law
"Dr.Reyes Changed My Life "
1:18
"At 92...I had lost my will to live"
5:48
Tips on Aging
2:29
"Dr. Reyes gave me customized health care"
2:09

Patricio Reyes M.D.
Director, Traumatic Brain Injury, Alzheimer's Disease & Cognitive Disorders Clinics; Phoenix, AZ; Chief Medical Officer, Retired NFL Players Association

Barrow Neurological Institute

St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center
"PRESERVING BRAIN FUNCTIONS "
Runtime: 50:22
Runtime: 50:22
"2 NEW THERAPIES FOR ALZHEIMER'S"
Runtime: 10:27
Runtime: 10:27
ALZHEIMER'S AWARENESS PROGRAMS
Runtime: 5:00
Runtime: 5:00
BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH IN ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE
PDF Document 850 kb

Download Free

4 TALES OF NEUROSURGERY &
A PIANO CONCERT BY DR. SPETZLER...
Plus 2 books written by Survivors for Survivors!
Robert F. Spetzler M.D.
Director, Barrow Neurological Institute

J.N. Harber Chairman of Neurological Surgery

Professor Section of Neurosurgery
University of Arizona
TALES OF NEUROSURGERY:
A pregnant mother..a baby..faith of a husband.. .plus... Cardiac Standstill: cooling the patient to 15 degrees Centigrade!
Lou Grubb Anurism
The young Heros - kids who are confronted with significant medical problems!
2 Patients...confronted with enormous decisions before their surgery...wrote these books to help others!
A 1 MINUTE PIANO CONCERT BY DR. SPETZLER

Michele M. Grigaitis MS, NP
Alzheimer's Disease and Cognitive Disorders Clinic

Barrow Neurological Clinics
COPING WITH DEMENTIA
 
Free Windows Media Player Click

Links
Barrow Neurological Institute

Archives
October 2006  
November 2006  
December 2006  
January 2007  
February 2007  
March 2007  
May 2007  
June 2007  
November 2007  
December 2007  
April 2008  
July 2008  
August 2008  
September 2008  
October 2008  
November 2008  
December 2008  
January 2009  
February 2009  
March 2009  
April 2009  
May 2009  
February 2010  
March 2013  
May 2013  
November 2013  
January 2014  
February 2014  
March 2014  
April 2014  
May 2014  
June 2014  
July 2014  
June 2016  
July 2016  
August 2016  
September 2016  
October 2016  
November 2016  
December 2016  
January 2017  
February 2017  
March 2017  
April 2017  
May 2017  
June 2017  
July 2017  
August 2017  
September 2017  
October 2017  
November 2017  
December 2017  
January 2018  
February 2018  
March 2018  
April 2018  
May 2018  
June 2018  
July 2018  
August 2018  
September 2018  
October 2018  
November 2018  
December 2018  
January 2019  
February 2019  
March 2019  
April 2019  
May 2019  
June 2019  
July 2019  
August 2019  
September 2019  
October 2019  
November 2019  
December 2019  
January 2020  
February 2020  
March 2020  
April 2020  
May 2020  
June 2020  
July 2020  
August 2020  
September 2020  
October 2020  
November 2020  
December 2020  
January 2021  
February 2021  
March 2021  
April 2021  
May 2021  
June 2021  
July 2021  
August 2021  
September 2021  
October 2021  
November 2021  
December 2021  
January 2022  
February 2022  
March 2022  
April 2022  
May 2022  
June 2022  
July 2022  
August 2022  
September 2022  
October 2022  
November 2022  
December 2022  
January 2023  
February 2023  
March 2023  
April 2023  
May 2023  
June 2023  
July 2023  
August 2023  
September 2023  
October 2023  
November 2023  
December 2023  
January 2024  
February 2024  
March 2024  
April 2024  

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?

Friday, January 27, 2017

 

Trying to solve the Alzheimer's puzzle




























R. Scott Turner, Professor of Neurology and Director of the Memory Disorder Center at Georgetown University Hospital, points to PET scan results that are part of a study on Allheimer's disease at Georgetown University Hospital, on Tuesday, May 19, 2015, in Washington. Amyloid plaques are the Alzheimer’s culprit that gets all the attention. Now scientists are beginning to peer into the brains of people considered at high risk of getting Alzheimer’s to see if the disease’s other bad actor, tangle-forming tau, is lurking well before any memory symptoms begin. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
(Photo: Evan Vucci, AP)

Despite a 99% failure rate and another major setback last month, Alzheimer's researchers are plowing ahead with hundreds of experiments — and a boost in federal money —  to try to a crack a deadly disease that has flummoxed them for decades.

A law passed by Congress in December and signed by President Obama sets aside $3 billion over 10 years to fund research of brain diseases and precision medicine, a shot in the arm for Alzheimer's research. The law, called the 21st Century Cures Act, also includes prize money to encourage Alzheimer's experiments.

But billions of dollars have so far made little progress in decoding the memory-robbing disease, which affects 5 million Americans. Alzheimer's is currently the nation’s sixth leading cause of death. Decades of research have not produced a single drug that alters the disease’s course.

December began with another major setback: Eli Lilly shared disappointing results of a late-stage clinical trial of its which failed to significantly slow Alzheimer’s progression.

But scientists aren't giving up on the main hypothesis behind Lilly's trial: that Alzheimer's can be defeated by using drugs to attack amyloid "plaques" that build up in the brain of Alzheimer's patients. Some scientists believe these cause the disease.

Many observers still hold out hope for another promising anti-amyloid drug, Biogen's aducanumab, which in an early trial improved cognitive decline in a small number of patients.

Other potentially groundbreaking research aims to intervene before patients even feel any symptoms. Using PET scans, scientists can now identify amyloid plaques building up in a patient's brain years before they develop Alzheimer's. The A4 study, for instance, is testing solanezumab in adults who are accumulating amyloid plaques, but who show no outward signs of Alzheimer's, such as memory loss or cognitive decline.

Other scientists are targeting what they believe is the true culprit, the protein tau,  which creates "tangles" in the brain, the other primary marker of the disease.

The experiments continue against a bleak backdrop: No new Alzheimer's therapies have won federal approval since 2003, and Alzheimer's clinical trials have had a 99% failure rate. Patients can access only four Food and Drug Administration-approved Alzheimer's drugs, and those just alleviate symptoms — they do not prevent, slow or reverse brain damage.

"The history of clinical trials results has been a history of disappointment," said Keith Fargo, director of scientific programs and outreach at the Alzheimer’s Association.

Still, 77 Alzheimer's drugs are currently being investigated or developed, according to the trade group PhRMA. And other experiments seek to repurpose FDA-approved drugs for other conditions, such as diabetes or cancer, to see if they can help Alzheimer's patients — and cut several years from the drug development process.

Non-pharmaceutical solutions are also being explored. Observational studies have shown that people who exercise more and have healthier diets seem to get the disease later in life. Researchers are now conducting trials to more closely measure the effects of exercise and diet. One randomized trial underway at Wake Forest University, dubbed EXERT, is testing the effects of high-intensity aerobic exercise on adults with mild cognitive impairment by enrolling them in exercise programs at a YMCA.

Even before last month's passage of the 21st Century Cures Act, public funding for Alzheimer's research has been rising. The National Institutes of Health allocated almost $1 billion to Alzheimer's research in fiscal 2016 — a $350 million increase over the previous year, according to Laurie Ryan, chief of NIH's Dementias of Aging Branch. There are 468 open clinical trials related to Alzheimer's, and over a hundred more in progress, listed on the government database Clinical Trials.gov.

Meanwhile, Alzheimer's advocates still grapple with a basic question: Is the rate of Alzheimer's actually going down? A study in JAMA in November found that even as scientists have made no progress in changing Alzheimer's course, overall dementia rates, which include Alzheimer's and other dementias, appear to be dramatically declining. The paper cast doubt over a major talking point of the Alzheimer's lobby: That as Baby Boomers age, the number of Americans living with Alzheimer's will explode from the current 5 million to 14 million in 2050. The study also suggested that lifestyle changes may be making a difference.

While some heralded that as good news, others downplayed the finding.

Even if dementia rates drop, Alzheimer's remains a major killer, and the number of afflicted people will likely still rise, because the US population is aging so rapidly, predicted Fargo. He also questioned the study's methods, which relied largely on telephone interviews.

"It's not time to let our foot up off the gas," Fargo said.

Eli Lilly's closely watched trial, dubbed Expedition 3, was the latest potential breakthrough to fall flat. In 2,100 people with mild dementia, solanezumab failed to show significant results compared to a placebo.

Some critics said the failure casts doubt on the hotly disputed hypothesis that Alzheimer's is triggered by the buildup of amyloid plaques.

But Eli Lilly spokeswoman Nicole Hebert said more work is needed to test the hypothesis, because the trial explored just one method of removing amyloid, on one subgroup of people. She said the company is pursuing seven other lines of attack against the disease.

"Rumors of the death of the amyloid hypothesis have been around for many years, and they're probably premature," Fargo agreed.

Fargo noted that brain imaging has shown that amyloid plaques start to build up 15 to 20 years before signs of dementia appear. So to really test the amyloid hypothesis, he said, scientists may have to intervene earlier than they did in Expedition 3.

Despite the latest failure, Fargo said, "there's still more optimism in Alzheimer's research right now than there has been for 10 years."

The answer to Alzheimer's, Ryan said, is not going to be one "magic bullet," but an array of solutions tailored to different patients.

Will scientists ever find a cure?

Dr. Ron Petersen, director of the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at the Mayo Clinic, isn't betting on it. But there's still "a lot going on to be hopeful about," he said.

Story Source: The above story is based on materials provided by USATODAY
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length