alzeheimer’s disease
Alzheimer’s Disease claims another victim
Arlington police have confirmed that the body found on January 5, 2013 was that of Maria Arrocha, an Alzheimer’s patient who was reported missing in December. The Tarrant County Medical Examiner ruled that Maria Arrocha died from exposure to the elements. Arrocha was found near the 1500 block of E. Abram Street near Stadium Drive in east Arlington. Officers were searching for Maria Arrocha who has been missing since Dec. 18, said Arlington police Sgt. Christopher Cook.
More than 5 million Americans have Alzheimer’s or similar dementias, and that number is expected to rise rapidly as the baby boomers age. The Texas adult population with disabilities has grown to 1,683,350, which is a 300,000 jump in the last 10 years. As more and more of our citizens, reach retirement age there are going to be more dementia related problems.
Therefore, both the Texas House and Senate 2013 budget plans include $5.2 million for the Darrell K Royal Alzheimer’s initiative in 2014. The private fund, announced last year to spur Alzheimer’s research, was named for the iconic University of Texas football coach who died in November after living with dementia for several years.
The future of Alzheimer’s
One of the largest burdens on American’s health care system is caused by Alzheimer’s disease and other related dementia. Currently over 5.4 million people are living with the disease and more than 15 million Americans are caring for persons with Alzheimer’s and other dementias. Alzheimer’s disease is the sixth-leading cause of death in the US and the ONLY cause among the top 10 that has no cure, prevention treatment or can even be slowed. Is Alzheimer’s our new Cancer?
A strategic plan is being developed by the Journal of Alzheimer’s Association. States across the country are vamping up their APS departments, elderly abuse divisions of district attorneys offices are popping up, and drug companies are trying to find cures, ways to predict the disease and even ways to slow the disease down.
The pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly & Co. show promise with new experimental Alzheimer’s treatment due to decline of cognition in some patients. Read the Article. Researches find promise in attacking a key building block of the Alzheimer’s disease. Read the Article. TauRx Therapeutics is conducting a clinical trial on a new treatment for Pick’s Disease (a form of Dementia which is similar to Alzheimer’s. Read the Article.
A Cancer drug reverses Alzeheimer’s Disease in Mice
Researchers at Case Western Reserve University have discovered that a drug currently used to treat cancer patients can reverse the cognitive deficits related to Alzheimer’s disease in mice, and what’s more, it accomplishes this feat in a remarkably short period of time.
The drug, called bexarotene, has been approved for the treatment of a type of skin cancer since 1999. In the new experiments with genetically engineered mice, the drug quickly cleared away the beta-amyloid plaques in the brain that are believed to cause cognitive deficits in Alzheimer’s disease.
This is not the first time that scientists have essentially cured Alzheimer’s in rodents. A decade ago, scientists got excited when a potential Alzheimer’s vaccine appeared to chew up nerve-destroying amyloid protein deposits in animal brains, but were equally disappointed when it failed to do the same in human patients.
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