If you haven’t seen Every Minute Counts, the PBS documentary about Alzheimer’s disease in the United States, you should. Powerful personal stories combined with expert commentary paint a telling picture of the potential social and economic impact to this country unless a medical breakthrough for Alzheimer’s disease is discovered. In this post, we are sharing only a few of the excerpts from this comprehensive report with links to clips that you might find useful and thought-provoking, including tips to encourage brain health.
The documentary also emphasizes the importance of research, both in terms of funding and participation, to make the kind of impact we have seen in other therapeutic areas. In the documentary, Matthew Baumgart of the Alzheimer’s Association reports that the NIH spends over 5 billion on cancer research, 3 billion on HIV/Aids research, 2 billion on cardiovascular research and as a result progress has been made in lowering the death rates related to these diseases. He points out that similar investments have not been made in Alzheimer’s research.
Why does LuMind RDS care? At LuMind RDS, we know that individuals with Down syndrome are pioneers in Alzheimer’s research. Four of the seven grants awarded in 2017 support research related to the cognitive decline related to Alzheimer’s in individuals with Down syndrome. Two are focused on potential drug targets related to the APP (amyloid precursor protein) gene found on chromosome 21.
We’re going to cure Alzheimer’s disease in Down syndrome first. Then we’re going to cure it for everyone else … Dr. William Mobley at the 2016 Funding Futures.
When you support LuMind RDS, you are also supporting groundbreaking research focused on delaying or preventing the onset of Alzheimer’s disease in individuals with Down syndrome. Our first grant recipient, Dr. William Mobley, is now a Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Neurosciences at UCSD and the Executive Director of UCSD’s Down Syndrome Center for Research and Treatment. as well as the Florence Riford Chair of Alzheimer Disease Research. We continue to fund his translational research whose discoveries have led to clinical trials.
LuMind RDS believes every person living with Ds deserves a bright future, filled with limitless possibilities and the ability to become more independent. It is our goal to make this vision a reality by continuously pushing the boundaries of cognitive research and delivering much-needed resources to the most innovative and committed professionals in the field. We are excited to have you join us to keep the momentum going and confront the funding challenges faced by professionals dedicated to Down syndrome and Alzheimer’s research.
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Source: LuMind IDSC