USA2 SPOTLIGHT

A March 27, 2020 UsAgainstAlzheimer’s blog post, by AfricanAmericansAgainstAlzheimer’s lead Stephanie Monroe and LatinosAgainstAlzheimer’s lead Jason Resendez, highlighted the work that still remains in order to bring federal paid leave to caregivers. The $2 trillion federal legislative package in response to the coronavirus outbreak leaves family caregivers behind. UsA2 mobilized its advocates and fellow aging organizations to call on Congress to expand emergency paid leave provisions to cover family caregivers of people with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. A UsA2 A-LIST survey found that two out of three dementia caregivers think Congress should make paid leave a priority. According to the post, “…UsAgainstAlzheimer’s and our partners in the paid leave community are gearing up to push for comprehensive paid sick days and paid family and medical leave to be part of any future legislative efforts to address COVID-19. Congress is already turning its attention to a fourth legislative package that is expected to be taken up in the near future.”

MUST READS

According to a March 27, 2020 The New York Times article, a new five-year study found that daily low-dose aspirin does not appear effective in lowering the risk for developing Alzheimer’s or other dementias. “If you’re 70 or older and healthy, without evidence of cardiovascular disease, it’s very difficult to improve on your success. The relatively low risk of dementia in this study was not further lowered with aspirin,” said co-author Dr. Anne B. Newman of the University of Pittsburgh. Also covered by New Atlas.

In a March 25, 2020 Being Patient video, Founder Deborah Kan spoke with dementia care expert Teepa Snow about managing care in the age of coronavirus. Many families are now struggling to decide if they should take their loved one(s) out of a residential facility and bring them home. According to snow, “If you were going to take someone home, how long has it been or have you ever been their primary care provider? How aware are you of their abilities, their inabilities? How many supplies do you have in your house already, because getting additional supplies right now can be a real challenge. And finding, if you’re going to do home help care, who’s going to do that? Because many agencies of home care are doing telecare only.”

RESEARCH AND SCIENCE

A March 26, 2020 Medical News Today article focused on the link between memory-robbing chronic inflammation, Alzheimer’s disease and Down syndrome. A new collaborative study out of the Medical University of South Carolina looked at the RvE1 mechanism, which fights inflammation and is able to cross the blood brain barrier. According to the article, “One significant limitation of their study is that the effects of RvE1 in mice may not accurately reflect how the molecule affects brain inflammation in people with Alzheimer’s. For example, protein tangles accumulate in the brains of humans with Alzheimer’s, which in turn may contribute to chronic inflammation. But these tangles did not develop in the brains of the mice models used in this study.”

CLINICAL TRIAL SPOTLIGHT

A March 25, 2020 WLTZ broadcast segment focused on a new study of people with Alzheimer’s disease and their caregivers. The Columbus Memory Center is recruiting for their six-week, worldwide sleep rhythm disorders study, in the effort to bring better drugs to market which help normalize the sleep patterns of people with dementia. Find additional information on the study here.