BMS and the Gladstone Institutes Enter 3-Year Discovery Partnership in Alzheimer’s Disease

Check out this press release hot off the presses about a new partnership to research therapeutic methods to "alter the course of the disease."

Memory Care

Finding the best care facility for sufferers of Alzheimer's and Dementia is difficult at best. The facilities primarily market themselves to doctors and hospital staff, not the general public. The resources available to families is quite limited. When my family was looking around for the best facility for my grandmother, we had no idea where to start. The referrals from the doctors had a number of issues. My family needed a facility where there were staff speaking a non-English language. When I searched on the web, the only resource we found was Gilbert's Guide. Not all senior care facilities are equal. Their costs and cost structures vary considerably from place to place (with some places starting from $5000+/month). A family has to consider their budget, requirements, and the quality of the staff. Finding a place can be a very stressful process for a family because of extremely limited time to make a decision and lack of resources for evaluating locations.

Alzheimer's Disease Research

This is an exciting time in the neuroscience research community. Scientists are making breakthroughs in our understanding of the brain and diseases that afflict it. One article from Nature (Neural mechanisms of ageing and cognitive decline by Bishop et al) claims nearly 50% of people age 85 and above are afflicted by Alzheimer's disease and that cognitive decline is one of the greatest health threats in old age. The positive aspect is that through more comprehensive understanding of the disease and the brain, scientists have developed more sophisticated methods for detecting the disease and mitigating its effects. One recent paper, Sensory Network Dysfunction, Behavioral Impairments, and Their Reversibility in an Alzheimer's β-Amyloidosis Mouse Model, found a hyperactive sense of smell preceded a loss of the sense that sometimes comes with Alzheimer's. The research is still at a very preliminary stage, but the odds of developing more methods for dealing with Alzheimer's is getting better.

Symptoms of Dementia

Memory loss is the key symptom of dementia. Other symptoms vary from case to case.

Alzheimer's has 7 clinical stages ranging from Normal to Severe Alzheimer's Disease.

1. Normal
2. Normal aged forgetfulness
3. Mild cognitive impairment
4. Mild Alzheimer's disease
5. Moderate Alzheimer's disease
6. Moderately severe
7. Severe

Detection and Diagnosis

Although there is no single test to detect the disease, medical professionals and researchers have used brain imaging, blood tests (homocysteine level), mental status testing (a team of scientists from Oxford developed this online cognitive function test to help assess risk), and other methods to help diagnose symptoms. Regardless, early detection is important so please see your doctor if you suspect that you have the symptoms.

1. Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography (FDG-PET)
2. Latest research: Arterial Spin Labeling - Magnetic Resonance Imaging (ASL-MRI)

Living with Alzheimer's Disease and Dementia

The United Kingdom's National Health Service has a free "handbook" [Download PDF] to help organize your important personal information, health status, and care planning.