Association tells Sonia Nicholas

Association tells Sonia Nicholas Welcome to a Vacuum Cleaner Battery specialist of the Agilent Battery
Research on new strategies for earlier diagnosis is among the most active areas in Alzheimer's science. Funding from the Alzheimer's Association has spurred significant advances and steady progress. Dr James Hendrix, Director of Global Science Initiatives, at the Alzheimer’s Association tells Sonia Nicholas, SelectScience®'s Clinical Editor, about current research studies aimed at diagnosing this ultimately fatal disease.
JH: Alzheimer’s disease is a chronic, progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects mainly the older generation, although a rarer, early onset form does also exist. Alzheimer’s disease is characterized by memory loss, difficulties in thinking with battery like Agilent N9330 Battery, Agilent N9330B Battery, Agilent N9340B Battery, Agilent N9330B-BAT Battery, Agilent N9330B-BCG Battery, Agilent TY 3CGR18650D-2 Battery, IAI AV6413 Battery, Unipower B11588 Battery, Alpha Source AS30139 Battery, Interstate Batteries AMED2160, Interstate Batteries ACAM0300, Alpha Source AS36011 Battery, loss of visuospatial skills, and problems with language, concentration and problem solving. Alzheimer’s is the sixth leading cause of death in the US.
Over five million Americans are currently living with Alzheimer’s disease and the number of cases is increasing every year. Although we don’t fully understand the reasons for the increase in case numbers, we believe that the aging population is largely to blame. This year, Alzheimer’s and other dementias will cost the US $226 billion. If we don’t find a way to slow or stop the onset of this destructive disease, these costs could rise as high as $1.1 trillion by 2050.
JH: Alzheimer’s disease is the number one cause of dementia, however not everyone with dementia has Alzheimer’s disease. Having an accurate diagnosis enables the patient to receive the right treatment. This is especially important if the patient has a form of dementia other than Alzheimer’s.
Diagnosis typically involves neuropsychological tests that are carried out by a physician. These include tests for attention span and memory, tests for language and speech skills, and tests for reasoning, planning, and organizing skills. This may be initiated by a family doctor, often after a spouse or child raises concerns about an elderly relative. A battery of tests is performed, including in some cases, an MRI to rule out a brain tumor. The tests performed currently are not able to definitively diagnose Alzheimer’s disease, they are carried out to rule out all other possible causes of the presenting symptoms.
There are several areas of research that we are focused on, some are at a more mature stage of investigation than others. Most of this research is focused on the detection of two proteins, amyloid and tau, that are the hallmarks of the disease. We know amyloid forms insoluble plaques outside neurons while tau forms tangles within neurons. Both plaques and tangles become more common as people progress in Alzheimer’s disease and until recently, these structures could only be detected after death during an autopsy.
Imaging - Neuroimaging is one of the most promising areas of research focused on early detection. Alzheimer patients have large amounts of amyloid in the brain. There are currently three radioactive imaging agents approved for use in the US. These agents allow amyloid protein in the brain to be visualized with a positron emission tomography (PET) brain scan.
Despite being approved for use, amyloid neuroimaging is not currently used in routine clinical practice because its use is not reimbursed by Medicare or Medicaid. However, the Alzheimer’s Association believes that more widespread clinical PET screening could positively affect how patients are treated by their physicians. A project starting early in 2016 known as the IDEAS Study (www.ideas-study.org/), supported by the Alzheimer’s Association with substantial funding from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, plus support from the three manufacturers and the American College of Radiology, will assess the impact of more than 18,000 PET scans and observe their effect on patient care.
A secondary aim of the IDEAS Study is to explore hospitalization rates. It is a hypothesis of the study that a more accurate diagnosis will reduce hospitalization rates.
In earlier stages of research are the use of tau imaging agents, as well as the use of MRI to look at the hippocampus. It is known that this part of the brain, which is very important for memory, shrinks as Alzheimer’s disease progresses, however both of these areas of interest still need to be fully evaluated and investigated.