I wish my grandfather was still alive to take advantage of the new meds but he died in the 80's. My mom has told me he finally got to a point that after a transformer blew he saw the flash from it and thought aliens were coming to get him. It took hours to get him calmed down and out from behind a couch.
/I'm hoping my mother doesn't get it considering she's missing most of her corpus callosum.

So this means that the US finally is out of debt and free to spend $100 mil for a new memorial to Eisenhower, $50 mil for this, $1 bil for other new research per year. A bil here and a bil there and pretty soon we will be back in debt again.

Cantaloupes?!

cman: Finally a war that Liberals can't protest against

/Before anyone gets the wrong idea, it was a joke

Sure, something needs to be done to prevent, cure, mitigate, or at least slow down Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia. It sucks for absolutely everybody involved.

But yet another 'war' on a concept? That metaphor trivializes real war; it trivializes the disease, its sufferers, and their families and caregivers; and trivializes the science research that is eventually going to find a way to solve this (or at least mitigate it) so nobody ever again has to slowly lose a loved one twice.

/ I miss you, Mémére. And the child-woman you became, truth be told.
// I was one of the very last people she could reliably recognize.

i think Alzheimer's is caused by a overindulgence of matlock, murder she wrote, in the heat of the night, and matlock. you can take in some and build up a tolerance but the brain reaches a point of saturation after 15 years or so and whammo-Alzheimer's.

war on what now?

Keep working at it.

/RIP

Wait, maybe I forgot, but weren't we waging a War on War in warlike ways? How can we have time for anything else?

hmm... Why don't we call it a search for a cure so all the war types will not be distracted by it, and let the research types get back to work?

danielscissorhands: Cantaloupes?!

Yes, cantaloupes, thank you.

I liked the headline, subby.

/not subby

I may have Alzheimer's, but at least I don't have Alzheimer's.

Hector Remarkable: danielscissorhands: Cantaloupes?!

Yes, cantaloupes, thank you.

You're not Brian!!

Its not that bad having Alzheimer's, you meet new people every day and you can give little children the finger and no one gets pissed at ya.

david_gaithersburg: So this means that the US finally is out of debt and free to spend $100 mil for a new memorial to Eisenhower, $50 mil for this, $1 bil for other new research per year. A bil here and a bil there and pretty soon we will be back in debt again.

Ohhh... dude, that's right, I forgot!! We finally got out of debt!! For the first time since we were founded as a country!!!!

/ It was because of the War on Iraq, wasn't it? I mean, those liberals can try as they farking might, but they'll never deny the fact that Halliburton saved our economy, and everything was great until the moment 0bummer stepped in.

// Oil revenues pay for themselves. It also helped that we had a solid battle plan going in, and that the war only took a year.

/// I'm really glad China gave us that $2 trillion forbearance, too. That helped a LOT.

Glad to see this. My mother has had Alzheimer's since she was 59, she is 64 now. Makes it difficult goin to see her when she doesn't know your name anymore.

Not to be all "sour grapes" about it, $130 million for research for Alzheimer's is nice and all, but, while they're at it, could they stop cutting grant funding to cancer researchers? You remember cancer? Yep, still here. Only it doesn't play as well as Alzheimer's during an election year. Hey, boomers are facing cancer risks, too, ya know!

Cancer industry is awash with money. Especially breast cancer.

/diminishing returns, and all that.

ChuDogg: Cancer industry is awash with money. Especially breast cancer.

/diminishing returns, and all that.


This. It's about damn time Alzheimers started getting a good amount of research money.

SteveFU: Glad to see this. My mother has had Alzheimer's since she was 59, she is 64 now. Makes it difficult goin to see her when she doesn't know your name anymore.

I saw a video on YouTube where a doctor was treating her Alzheimer's husband with virgin coconut oil. The theory is that whatever causes Alzheimer's starves the brain from keytones, the oil has some acid in it that feeds the brain. Or something like that.
Anyway, within a couple weeks he was showing progress. Google it, it can't hurt.

danielscissorhands: Hector Remarkable: danielscissorhands: Cantaloupes?!

Yes, cantaloupes, thank you.

You're not Brian!!

It's me, Brian, GrampyScissorhands. Don't you remember me? Now give me the cantaloupes!

My grandmother has Alzheimers, so I'm getting a kick out of these replies.
No, really, I need humor to deal with the sadness.

I hate old people

Hey, so if Alzheimers was cured, wouldn't that make invalidate all the researcher's jobs afterwards? Clearly a conspiracy

A Terrible Human: ChuDogg: Cancer industry is awash with money. Especially breast cancer.

This. It's about damn time Alzheimers started getting a good amount of research money.

In 2011, the National Institutes of Health devoted nearly 3 Billion Dollars to the research of diseases of aging and altzheimers. The spending for ALL cancers was 5 billion.

I don't understand what you expect here. Progress is NOT going to come fast. There may not even be a way to actually "cure" alzheimers disease, only slow it down. And the technology to do so may not even be available this century - you're talking things like nanobots and gene-targeted viral therapy. This is not an infection we're talking about. The brain's own cellular machinery goes haywire on a genetic level for protein production.

Our current generation of alzheimers patients, present and for the near future, are going to be lost causes for that magic treatment - all we can do is hope to slow the disease as best as possible, and use informed familes and healthcare professionals to allow these indivudals to maintain their dignity as long as possible, and then die with dignity and respect. The magic treatment will not come in 10 years. 20 years. or 30 years. Just like there will never be a cure for cancer.

digitalpirate: I hate old people

Nice. I can't wait till you're an old person so people can hate on you, too.

/seriously cnn, wtf.

Hector Remarkable: danielscissorhands: Hector Remarkable: danielscissorhands: Cantaloupes?!

Yes, cantaloupes, thank you.

You're not Brian!!

It's me, Brian, GrampyScissorhands. Don't you remember me? Now give me the cantaloupes!

Here's a quarter, son. Go get 2 cantaloupes. And keep the change!

ETHEL! Where's my wallet?!

BronyMedic: I don't understand what you expect here. Progress is NOT going to come fast. There may not even be a way to actually "cure" alzheimers disease, only slow it down.

I know that but anything is honestly better than nothing.

A Terrible Human: I know that but anything is honestly better than nothing.

And I know that. I don't mean to sound uncaring, but this is not something simple that can be solved by throwing an unlimited amount of money at it, and hoping that changes things.

You're dealing with a disease which pushes the boundaries of human neuroscience understanding and technology, and the capabilities of pharmaceutical treatment. Basically put, a "cure" for this disease not only involves repairing damaged neurons - which is the HOLY GRAIL of medicine - but clearing away the neurofibery tangles and senile plaques, which would require active intervention in the machinery of the cell's themselves.

Simply put, delaying the disease and allowing a more gradual neurocognitive decline may be the best goal we can accomplish with the limits of current technology.

To be quite honest, there's very limited ways that ethically we can even research the disease. Few Alzheimers patients donate their brains after death, and there are few experimental avenues available which don't require human experimentation in the first place.

dickfreckle: FirstNationalBastard: [i6.photobucket.com image 617x401]

Came for this. Leaving satisfied.

Pervert

They say memory is the second thing to go. I've forgotten what the first is.

I show my support for Alzheimers research by wearing a ribbon...

...if I remember to put it on.

born_yesterday: Not to be all "sour grapes" about it, $130 million for research for Alzheimer's is nice and all, but, while they're at it, could they stop cutting grant funding to cancer researchers? You remember cancer? Yep, still here. Only it doesn't play as well as Alzheimer's during an election year. Hey, boomers are facing cancer risks, too, ya know!

Maybe the "cancer causes" should spend less of their budgets "raising awareness" and, I dunno, fund some freaking research?

born_yesterday: A Terrible Human: ChuDogg: Cancer industry is awash with money. Especially breast cancer.

/diminishing returns, and all that.


This. It's about damn time Alzheimers started getting a good amount of research money.

While cancer does receive a lion's share of government funds, I would strongly disagree that it is being applied appropriately, and would hardly describe the funding situation for any cellular and molecular biologists, regardless of their specialty, as "awash with money".

Politics and a top-heavy bureaucracy have resulted in an unsatisfying percentage of the total money being applied to cancer actually reaching the level of the research scientist. This same bureaucracy will be in charge of the distribution of the funds for Alzheimer's. Any snark aside, I wish you better luck than we've had dealing with it.

See? An even better reason to give cancer less funding -- they're already squandering what they do have.

digitalpirate: I hate old people

You're Farked up!

The human brain is the most complex computer the universe has ever seen. Completely organic wetware too. You know having a computer run straight for 65-95 years of course it's going to run into the ground. Human beings are generally speaking are not meant to live this long. When the life expectancy was shorter Alzheimers was unheard of. Now we are living so long that the mind is wearing itself into maximum mileage.

FTA: "In addition, the plan calls for better training of doctors in a bid to better recognise the symptoms of the disease, increased support for care-givers and public awareness of the disease, as well as better data tracking."

Farkin' thesaurus! How does it work?

Now that I got this out of the way, kudos for more research money!

Old people need a defrag button.

BronyMedic: A Terrible Human: I know that but anything is honestly better than nothing.

And I know that. I don't mean to sound uncaring, but this is not something simple that can be solved by throwing an unlimited amount of money at it, and hoping that changes things.

You're dealing with a disease which pushes the boundaries of human neuroscience understanding and technology, and the capabilities of pharmaceutical treatment. Basically put, a "cure" for this disease not only involves repairing damaged neurons - which is the HOLY GRAIL of medicine - but clearing away the neurofibery tangles and senile plaques, which would require active intervention in the machinery of the cell's themselves.

Simply put, delaying the disease and allowing a more gradual neurocognitive decline may be the best goal we can accomplish with the limits of current technology.

To be quite honest, there's very limited ways that ethically we can even research the disease. Few Alzheimers patients donate their brains after death, and there are few experimental avenues available which don't require human experimentation in the first place.

Actually, there are a number of animal models available for the study of AD, and while none of them are perfect, they provide a better vehicle for understanding the disease in lieu of human experimentation. There is even work on detection of said plaques and tangles without biopsy, which would revolutionize diagnosis.

Also, immunotherapy for AD has shown some promising leads over the years, and could be a legitimate long-term therapy, if not a cure. Lots of hurdles to overcome, but there it is.

born_yesterday: A Terrible Human: ChuDogg: Cancer industry is awash with money. Especially breast cancer.

/diminishing returns, and all that.


This. It's about damn time Alzheimers started getting a good amount of research money.

While cancer does receive a lion's share of government funds, I would strongly disagree that it is being applied appropriately, and would hardly describe the funding situation for any cellular and molecular biologists, regardless of their specialty, as "awash with money".

Politics and a top-heavy bureaucracy have resulted in an unsatisfying percentage of the total money being applied to cancer actually reaching the level of the research scientist. This same bureaucracy will be in charge of the distribution of the funds for Alzheimer's. Any snark aside, I wish you better luck than we've had dealing with it.

Hard to disagree with this. Plus, not to be a jerk about it, but a lot of the research you see is endless masturbation over mechanisms without ever getting around to practical aspects of making a therapy. And since less than 3% of that money will go to sources that aren't government-funded labs (NIH, universities, etc.), these sources of funding aren't likely to help as much as people might imagine. It's a wonder to me that new drugs ever get made.

And hey, how about a science-source for the story?

Nature - US lays out strategy for Alzheimer's Disease