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| Early Onset Alzheimer's Blog |
I went to see J.K. Rowling’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
movie with my grandkids and daughter-in-law. I’ll admit that my
granddaughter had to keep whispering information to me since I’m not a big
reader of fantasy and (gasp!) have not read a single Harry Potter novel, much
less the prequel story of Newt Scamander. She might as well have been speaking
a foreign language although I often nodded and tried to absorb the information.
I am definitely a No-Maj.
No, I don’t need to give a spoiler
alert here. During the course of the movie, buildings were destroyed and then
magically repaired. That’s why it’s called fantasy, folks, because we all know
that when something is destroyed it takes a lot of work and tenacity to rebuild
it.
Sometimes, I have thought of
Alzheimer’s as a beast. Just like in the movie, the beast burrows beneath the
surface, but in this case, wreaks havoc in the brain. The Alzheimer’s beast is
made up of two halves—beta-amyloid
plaques and tau tangles.
The Alzheimer’s beast builds a
roadblock between brain cells making it hard for them to communicate with each
other. The beast murders brain nerve cells, which causes tissue loss. The
thinking-planning-remembering part of the brain, the cortex, begins to wither.
The hippocampus where we develop new memories is especially hard hit by Alzheimer’s and shrinks dramatically. The fluid filled spaces in the brain, the
ventricles, become larger as the rest of the brain shrinks.
Unlike the movie, the damage caused
by the Alzheimer’s beast cannot be repaired by waving a magic wand. I believe
that someday—sooner, than later, I sincerely hope—researchers will find a means
to stop Alzheimer’s in its insidious tracks.
Research involves a lot of trial
and failure. I received disappointing news from the Alzheimer’s Association last
week. Eli Lilly’s experimental drug, solanezumab, had earlier shown promise in
slowing the deterioration of thinking and memory, but failed in a large
clinical trial.
Better news comes out of the
University of Kansas Alzheimer’s Disease Center. The National Institute on Aging,
part of the National Institutes of Health, renewed the center’s national
designation for five years. This center in the heart of America will receive
$9.0 million through 2021 to continue their search to understand Alzheimer’s
and treat the disease.
Douglas Girod, executive vice
chancellor of KU Medical Center said, “When the NIA first announced in August 2011 that the
KU Alzheimer’s Disease Center (KU ADC) had achieved national designation, we
were thrilled, but not surprised. We knew that our Alzheimer’s program had long
been at the forefront of discovery and had already achieved significant success
in understanding and treating this devastating disease.”
The center
will be studying lifestyle changes as well as drug intervention in changing the
course of the disease. Jeffery Burns, MD, co-director of the center announced
that several clinical trials are examining the heart/brain connection: what’s
good for the heart is good for the brain. KU ADC plans to expand the Lifetime Enrichment
for Lifestyle Prevention (LEAP) program as a way to promote brain health in residents
of senior living facilities.
Okay,
how can you help? One of the roadblocks to these programs is a lack of
volunteers. The biggest need right now is for healthy volunteers who are Hispanic or African American, but they
need clinical volunteers of all types.
Alzheimer’s
may seem like a beast that can’t be beaten, but when we promote Alzheimer’s
research and make finding a cure a national priority, we can drive the beast
from our midst.
I’ve already admitted I’m not a fan
of fantasy, but this No-Maj is a fan of fact. It is a fact that lifestyle can
reduce our risk of Alzheimer’s, and that researchers are working hard to find a
prevention, treatment, or cure. When researchers unlock the mystery of
Alzheimer’s disease, it will be magical in its own way.
Resource:
http://www.kumc.edu/news-listing-page/the-ku-alzheimer%E2%80%99s-disease-center-renews-national-designation-expands-research-and-partnerships.html
http://earlyonset.blogspot.com
Copyright © November 2016 by L.S.
Fisher
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