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Yes! A positive Phase 3 treatment study for symptoms of dementia

By Commentary, In the News
Contributed by David Sultzer, MD, Professor of Psychiatry & Human Behavior Last week, Acadia Pharmaceuticals announced findings from its trial of pimavanserin for treatment of delusions and hallucinations related to dementia: Participants treated with pimavanserin had better outcomes than those treated with placebo. The study design was different from usual treatment comparisons of drug and placebo.  In this trial, all participants with psychosis symptoms along with Alzheimer’s disease or another cognitive disorder were treated with pimavanserin for 12 weeks.  Those who showed improvement were then assigned to either continue taking the drug or cross over to placebo treatment.  The study…
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Another setback, yet another reason to redouble our efforts

By In the News
Contributed by Joshua Grill, PhD, Director of UCI MIND Late Thursday evening, Esai publicly announced a decision to halt a Phase 3 clinical trial of a candidate treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, elenebecestat. The decision was made based on a recommendation by the study's Data Safety Monitoring Board, which determined that the safety risks of the drug no longer justified continuing the study. Elenebecestat is a BACE (beta-site of the amyloid precursor protein cleavage enzyme) inhibitor that joins several other BACE inhibitors previously determined to lack adequate safety for patient use. The field will grapple with this news and learn how…
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Summer 2019 MIND Matters Newsletter

By Commentary, Community Events, In the News
In this issue of MIND Matters: UCI MIND Scientists Discover Exercise Can Reprogram Genes Welcome, New Faculty & Staff New FDA Black Box Warning for Insomnia Medications Announcing the 10th Annual UCI MIND Gala Honorees... And more! Download Newsletter >   Upcoming Events:   Facebook LIVE Q&A Series: "What have researchers learned from brain donations?" Friday, September 6  |  9:00-9:30 am |  UCI MIND Facebook Page Follow @UCIrvineMIND to receive notifications when we go LIVE Live online Q&A with Edwin Monuki, MD, PhD, Professor and Warren L. Bostick Chair of Pathology in the UCI School of Medicine.  Attend the video live on our Facebook page or view archived…
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Commentary on the link between brain disease and sleep-wake systems

By Commentary, In the News
Contributed by Bryce Mander, PhD Getty Images Our colleagues at UCSF recently published findings in the journal Alzheimer’s and Dementia examining how tau pathology in different brain diseases – Alzheimer’s disease, progressive supranuclear palsy, and corticobasal degeneration – impacts brain cells that are in charge of keeping us awake. This study reported several important findings: In all three diseases, there was a reduction in brain cells that help promote cortical arousal. In all three diseases, tau pathology was quite substantial in several of the wake-promoting cells in the brainstem region. Tau pathology in the brainstem in Alzheimer’s disease was associated with…
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Commentary on Brain Scans for Alzheimer’s Disease

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Contributed by Joshua D. Grill, PhD A recent article in the New York Times highlights an important set of conundrums regarding amyloid imaging for Alzheimer’s disease. Amyloid imaging can detect with relative certainty whether beta amyloid plaques, which are a pathological hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease, are accumulating in a person’s brain. Conundrum #1: Amyloid scans are not covered by insurance for people with cognitive problems. Research led by our friend Dr. Gil Rabinovici at UCSF has demonstrated that amyloid imaging can and does yield important guidance to clinical care. It can change diagnoses and instruct prescribing decisions (more on this >).…
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Association between anticholinergics and dementia prompt further study

By Commentary, In the News
iStock Recent stories, including one this week by Washington Post, have highlighted the possible impact of anticholinergic medications on dementia. Some studies note that these medications may have negative side effects that mimic dementia in older adults. Others show a possible increase in dementia risk when taking strong anticholinergics long-term. However, more research is needed to understand this potential link. It's important to speak with your doctor about all your medications regularly, discussing potential benefits, risks, and interactions, to help manage your health over time. To learn more about medications and Alzheimer's disease, view UCI MIND's recent Facebook LIVE episode with…
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Dr. Craig Stark Comments for Science Magazine

By Carousel Slider, Commentary, Community Events, In the News
UCI MIND faculty member, Craig Stark, PhD was recently quoted in Science Magazine discussing the critical role scientists play in helping improve society. The article focuses on a push to better understand the science behind addiction, and how scientists are spreading evidence-based treatment knowledge through regional and national seminars. By regularly hosting seminars to gather scientific and legal experts, researchers can better inform the criminal justice system on how to improve substance abuse recovery rates in the incarcerated population. Dr. Stark, a neurobiologist who specializes in brain imaging at UCI, has presented at dozens of these legal seminars, speaking on…
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NPR Reports on the EXERT Study

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Stewart Cohen/Getty Images NPR recently spoke on All Things Considered about the EXERT Study, a nationwide clinical trial of exercise led by Carl Cotman, PhD, UCI MIND's Founding Director, and Laura Baker, PhD, Associate Director of the ADRC at Wake Forest School of Medicine. The study involves an 18-month exercise program at the local YMCA for 65-89 year-olds with Mild Cognitive Impairment. Throughout the program, researchers look at participants' cognition, blood flow, atrophy (cell loss), and harmful protein accumulation in the brain. Researchers hope to learn about the clinical effect of exercise, as well as the scientific basis for their…
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VIDEO: “What medications can I take to prevent or treat Alzheimer’s?” with Dr. Steven Tam

By Commentary, Community Events, In the News
Facebook Live Series - ASK THE DOC: Alzheimer's Research Today! This monthly series features short talks and Q&A with experts from the University of California, Irvine Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders (UCI MIND), 1 of 32 congressionally designated Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centers in the nation. Join UCI MIND on Facebook (@UCIrvineMIND) the first Friday of every month from 9:00-9:30 AM PST to learn about advances in research to improve Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. Episode 6: "What medications can I take to prevent or treat Alzheimer's?" This month, we're joined by Steven Tam, MD. Dr. Tam is…
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The Real Deal on Brain Health Supplements

By Commentary, In the News
The Global Council on Brain Health (GCBH), in partnership with AARP, recently released an extensive report reviewing the current evidence on brain health supplements. AARP formed the GCBH by bringing together an independent group of scientists, physicians, researchers, and other experts. Click here to learn more about these specialists. The GCBH found that there was a lack of evidence for effectiveness, concerns about false claims in marketing, and uncertainty of the possible risks of brain health supplements, since they are not required to be reviewed for purity, safety, and efficacy. The GCBH concluded that no endorsement could be made for…
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Alzheimer’s prevention clinical trial discontinued

By Commentary, In the News
Contributed by Joshua Grill, PhD The field of Alzheimer’s disease drug development received more troubling news yesterday, when the leaders of the GENERATION program halted their prevention clinical trials of a drug aiming to prevent the formation of the beta amyloid protein in people at risk to get Alzheimer’s disease. The GENERATION program is led by investigators at Banner Alzheimer’s Institute and is an important study in people at increased genetic risk to someday develop Alzheimer’s disease, based on the apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene. The trials were stopped because preliminary results indicated that the drug under study, CNP520 (being developed…
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The Impact of Alzheimer’s Disease on the Workplace

By Commentary, In the News
Contributed by Joshua Grill, PhD, Director of UCI MIND A recent report from The Economist concludes that three neurological disorders — migraine, multiple sclerosis, and Alzheimer’s disease — are impacting workplace productivity. Notably, all three conditions disproportionately affect women. While it is now clear that Alzheimer’s disease begins decades prior to diagnosis, the larger impact on the global economy results from the growing number of workers who are trying to balance employment as well as caregiving for a parent with the disease. More than 16 million Americans are unpaid caregivers for someone with Alzheimer’s disease and the most common caregiver is…
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UCI MIND scientists discover exercise can reprogram genes

By Carousel Slider, Commentary, In the News
Contributed by Carl W. Cotman, PhD and Nicole C. Berchtold, PhD It is increasingly recognized that exercise builds brain health. At a fundamental level, brain health and function depend on the expression of the brain’s genes, the building blocks of cells. In a recent paper that appeared in the journal “Neurobiology of Aging” (2019), Drs. Carl Cotman, Nicole Berchtold and coworkers demonstrated that in the brains of healthy older people, exercise reprograms gene expression patterns to a more youthful state, even in cognitively normal people (75-100 yrs old). Genes that were particularly targeted are those that boost cellular energy production and build…
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VIDEO: “Is there a blood test for Alzheimer’s?” with Dr. Mark Mapstone

By Commentary, Community Events, In the News
Facebook Live Series - ASK THE DOC: Alzheimer's Research Today! This monthly series features short talks and Q&A with experts from the University of California, Irvine Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders (UCI MIND), 1 of 32 congressionally designated Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centers in the nation. Join UCI MIND on Facebook (@UCIrvineMIND) the first* Friday of every month from 9:00-9:30 AM PST to learn about advances in research to improve Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. Episode 5: "Is there a blood test for Alzheimer's?" This month, we're joined by Mark Mapstone, PhD. Dr. Mapstone earned a PhD in…
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UCI MIND researchers define pathway required to slow Huntington’s disease progression in mice

By Carousel Slider, Commentary, In the News
Contributed by Joan Steffan, PhD In a recent paper published in Proceedings of the National Academic of Sciences, colleagues and I show that a critical regulator of the immune system - called kinase IKKbeta - helps slow the onset of Huntington’s disease (HD) in mice, and this may be due to activation of a process called autophagy.  Autophagy helps cells clean out and recycle their 'trash'. Accumulation of trash can occur as we age and when disease is present, so regular cleaning enabled by autophagy is critical to maintain cellular function. In HD, brain cell autophagy fails, leading to an accumulation of harmful proteins that…
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Exciting News in Huntington’s Disease Research

By Commentary, In the News
Contributed by Joan Steffan, PhD & Leslie Thompson, PhD Results from a recent study published by Tabrizi and colleagues and Ionis/Roche Pharmaceuticals in The New England Journal of Medicine are very exciting for the Huntington’s disease (HD) patient, family, and scientific communities. The researchers showed for the first time that treatment with a huntingtin lowering drug called an antisense oligonucleotide, or ASO, is safe in HD patients.  Huntingtin is the protein linked to the genetic mutation that causes HD. With these results, researchers are planning a large clinical trial to test whether ASO can reduce symptoms in HD patients. The HD community is…
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Commentary on new FDA warning for insomnia medications

By Carousel Slider, Commentary, In the News
Contributed by Bryce Mander, PhD The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recently required some sleep medications which are commonly used to treat insomnia to add black box warning labels. The reason for this decision is because there have been reported incidents of individuals engaging in activities that commonly occur during wakefulness during sleep while on these medications, including sleep walking, sleep driving, sleep eating, and sleep cooking. On rare occasions, these symptoms have resulted in serious injuries or life-threatening incidents, which has led to the inclusion of the black box label. The FDA has also issued a contraindication for…
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Using video games to detect (and protect) those at risk for Alzheimer’s disease

By Commentary, Community Events, In the News
Contributed by Craig Stark, PhD Researchers from the UK have just released a report showing how we can extract valuable cognitive data out of video game performance. Using the mobile game Sea Hero Quest, which relies heavily on spatial memory and navigation, the researchers were able to discriminate healthy aging from those at-risk for Alzheimer's. By using games that are fun and engaging, but are designed to tap into specific brain processes, we can usher in a new era of diagnosis. Research in my lab here at UCI is further looking at whether playing certain kinds of video games can actually…
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VIDEO: “Are there any promising vaccines for Alzheimer’s?” with Dr. Elizabeth Head

By Commentary, Community Events, In the News
Facebook Live Series - ASK THE DOC: Alzheimer's Research Today! This monthly series features short talks and Q&A with experts from the University of California, Irvine Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders (UCI MIND), 1 of 32 congressionally designated Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centers in the nation. Join UCI MIND on Facebook (@UCIrvineMIND) the first Friday of every month from 9:00-9:30 AM PST to learn about advances in research to improve Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. Episode 4: "Are there any promising vaccines for Alzheimer's?" This month, we're joined by Elizabeth Head, PhD. Dr. Head earned a PhD in…
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VIDEO: Distinguished Lecture on the Brain with Dr. Ronald Petersen, Mayo Clinic

By Community Events, In the News
UCI MIND, in partnership with UCI School of Biological Sciences and UCI Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, hosted the annual Distinguished Lecture on the Brain in March at the Irvine Barclay Theatre. Guest speaker Ronald C. Petersen, MD, PhD, Director of the Mayo Clinic Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, delivered an insightful lecture on the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease in the era of biomarkers to hundreds of audience members, both in-person and via livestream. The full lecture is available below and on our YouTube channel. Stay tuned for details on the 2020 Distinguished Lecture on the Brain.
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Commentary on anti-inflammatories for Alzheimer’s prevention

By Commentary, In the News
Contributed by Andrea J. Tenner, PhD Researchers at McGill University recently published results from a clinical trial of the common non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), naproxen, showing that it was ineffective at preventing Alzheimer's disease (AD) in cognitively unimpaired people with a family history. I am not surprised by this result, as naproxen is a nonselective inhibitor of inflammatory mediators.  Dr. Breitner, the lead investigator on the manuscript, is an excellent physician scientist.  The study authors indicated that the results do not rule out a benefit from mid-life anti-inflammatory drugs, and that the study turned out to have too few participants…
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Big IDEAS May Improve Clinical Management of Dementia

By Commentary, In the News
Contributed by S. Ahmad Sajjadi, MD, PhD, Neurologist Last week, the results of a very important and highly anticipated study, the IDEAS (Imaging Dementia – Evidence For Amyloid Scanning) study, were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). This national multi-center study, including UC Irvine, enrolled more than 11,000 Medicare beneficiaries with cognitive impairment to undergo a special type of scan called amyloid positron emission tomography (PET). Amyloid PET scan provides the opportunity to visualize the accumulation of abnormal amyloid plaques on the brain. Amyloid and tau proteins are the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The study…
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Dr. Joshua Grill Discusses ‘Pseudomedicine’ with AARP

By Carousel Slider, Commentary, In the News
AARP - April 10, 2019. “A common situation is an older adult becoming concerned about their memory and taking a supplement to try to ward off dementia,” says Joshua Grill, director of the Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders at the University of California, Irvine. “But in reality, if they saw their doctor, they might find out that another medical condition such as hypothyroidism, or a certain prescription medication, is causing symptoms and can be easily treated. They're just making things worse.” And if you do have dementia, he adds, you could start a drug treatment to relieve symptoms,…
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Commentary on the link between gum disease and Alzheimer’s

By Commentary, In the News
Contributed by Christian Salazar, PhD, Project Scientist The link between gum disease and Alzheimer’s disease has received considerable attention over the past few years. The recent laboratory findings in mice from Potempa and colleagues are consistent with evidence from mostly cross-sectional observational studies in humans that suggest an association between the two diseases. However, as the article notes, we are still far from establishing a cause-and-effect relationship in humans. Not only is there difficulty in translating findings from mice to humans, but cross-sectional studies that collect data at one point in time can have many methodological limitations. For example, poor…
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VIDEO: “Is Alzheimer’s an immune disorder?” with Dr. Andrea Tenner

By Commentary, Community Events, In the News
Facebook Live Series - ASK THE DOC: Alzheimer's Research Today! This monthly series features short talks and Q&A with experts from the University of California, Irvine Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders (UCI MIND), 1 of 32 congressionally designated Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centers in the nation. Join UCI MIND on Facebook (@UCIrvineMIND) the first Friday of every month from 9:00-9:30 AM PST to learn about advances in research to improve Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. Episode 3: "Is Alzheimer's an immune disorder?" This month, we're joined by Andrea Tenner, PhD. Dr. Tenner earned her PhD from UC San…
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Phase 3 Trials of Aducanumab Halted

By Commentary, In the News
Contributed by Joshua Grill, PhD, Director of UCI MIND The global research effort to find effective treatments for Alzheimer’s disease has suffered another disappointing setback. Biogen announced today that the company will halt the parallel large Phase 3 trials of the monoclonal antibody against the amyloid beta protein, aducanumab. This treatment was viewed by many to hold tremendous promise. Early results were unprecedented. Patients with Alzheimer’s disease who were treated with aducanumab showed significant reduction in amyloid burden in the brain, which appeared to slow disease progression. The results were based on a small number of participants, however, and were not…
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VIDEO: “What causes memory problems in older adults?” with Dr. Ahmad Sajjadi

By Commentary, Community Events, In the News
Facebook Live Series - ASK THE DOC: Alzheimer's Research Today! This monthly series features short talks and Q&A with experts from the University of California, Irvine Institute for Memory Impairments and Neurological Disorders (UCI MIND), 1 of 32 congressionally designated Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centers in the nation. Join UCI MIND on Facebook (@UCIrvineMIND) the first Friday of every month from 9:00-9:30 AM PST to learn about advances in research to improve Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. Episode 2: "What causes memory problems in older adults?" Dr. Ahmad Sajjadi is Assistant Professor of Neurology in the UCI School of Medicine.…
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Forgetful Yet Unforgettable: The Legacy of an Alzheimer’s Patient

By Commentary, In the News
Chelsea holding her father's hand at a psychiatric hospital, days before he passed away with Alzheimer's disease at the age of 61 In an interview with UCI undergraduate students, Chelsea Cox, Associate Director of Eduction for UCI MIND, shares her personal journey with Alzheimer's disease, her perspective on care and research, and how people - young and old - can get involved in the cause. "...No one should have to spend their final days that way. This experience is what motivated me to get involved in Alzheimer’s research and education. So that hopefully, one day, other people don’t have to…
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VIDEO: Maria Shriver discusses the EXERT Study

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Maria Shriver discusses the importance of clinical trial participation and the EXERT Study of exercise in adults (65-89) with memory concerns. To learn more about this study, led by Carl Cotman, PhD at UCI MIND, call (949) 824-0008 or email research@mind.uci.edu.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FDA issues warning to dietary supplements making unproven claims

By Commentary, In the News
Robert K. Chin/Alamy On February 11, the FDA issued a statement and 12 warning letters related to an aggressive change in the agency’s regulation of dietary supplements. The statement was outlined in the New York Times. The main objective of the new approach is enhanced protection of consumers from mislabeled and unproven claims about treatment of disease. At the core of the problem are a number of companies that specifically target people with Alzheimer’s disease and people who are concerned about developing Alzheimer’s disease. A list of the companies receiving warning letters, as well as links to the letters, can…
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