While we strive to be thankful around the year, November is truly a month set aside to be thankful and grateful for the things, people and circumstances of our lives.
For November, we put together a list of the latest Alzheimer’s news and studies that make us thankful for the doctors, scientists, researchers and caregivers on the front lines of the Alzheimer’s epidemic. Your work is important. Your everyday tasks matter. Thank you for giving your time, energy and lives to make the future a better place.
Here are our top 5 Alzheimer’s research developments from November:
1. National Family Caregivers Month
November marks both National Alzheimer’s Awareness Month and National Caregivers Month. Last year alone 15.5 million caregivers provided over 17.7 billion hours of unpaid care to loved ones with Alzheimer’s and dementia. At Alzheimers.net, we are so thankful for the caregivers who sacrifice of self to take care of those living with dementia.
2. Alzheimer’s Test Detects Disease Decade Ahead of Onset
Results from a study that examined a blood protein known as IRS-1 were made public this month. The study has the potential to detect Alzheimer’s 10 years before symptoms occur with 100% accuracy. Researchers hope that by detecting the disease earlier than ever before, treatment and prevention methods can be put into place to slow or stop the progression of the disease.
3. Eye Test Might One Day Diagnose Alzheimer’s Before Symptoms Appear
Neuroscientists from the University of Minnesota’s Center for Drug Design have developed an imaging technique that can detect the beta-amyloid protein in the retina. The retinal scan has been successful in detecting Alzheimer’s in mice and they hope that it will one day be used to detect Alzheimer’s in humans before any symptoms appear.
4. What Alzheimer’s Patients Feel After Their Memories Have Vanished
In another recent study, researchers from the University of Iowa found that people with Alzheimer’s felt emotions from a particular event long after they were unable to recall or remember that event. This finding makes the caregiver role even more important as it appears the emotional life of people with dementia is alive and well.
5. Brain’s Dementia Weak Spot Identified
A new study has found that the brain has weak spot that links dementia and schizophrenia. Using imaging technology researchers found that people who had Alzheimer’s and people with schizophrenia had the same regions of the brain affected. While the conditions are distinct and very different this study suggests that the two are linked and may be helpful in predicting the onset of both dementia and schizophrenia, which would encourage targeted treatments earlier.
What Alzheimer‘s research developments are you thankful for this month? Please share them in the comments below.
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