The NIA’s Bypass Budget Proposal for Fiscal Year 2018—Stopping Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias: Advancing Our Nation’s Research Agenda is now available

At the direction of Congress, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) develops an annual professional judgment budget to estimate the funds needed to fully pursue scientific opportunities to meet the research goal of the Plan—to effectively treat and prevent Alzheimer’s and related dementias by 2025.

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U.S. HHS released the National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s Disease: 2013 Update. The 2013 Update includes a new timeline for achieving its first goal – prevent and effectively treat Alzheimer’s disease by 2025 – and a review of progress over the past year.

The first-ever National Alzheimer’s Plan, initially released in May 2012, was mandated by the bipartisan National Alzheimer’s Project Act (P.L. 111-375), which Congress passed unanimously in 2010. The 2013 Update includes a new timeline for achieving its first goal – prevent and effectively treat Alzheimer’s disease by 2025 – and a review of progress over…

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When a neuron gets blocked, the delicate harmony that allows the brain to operate seamlessly deteriorates. One result: diseases like Alzheimer’s. Understanding such blockages and how “traffic” should flow normally in healthy brain cells could offer hope to people with neurodegenerative diseases.

Toward that end, a research team led by University at Buffalo biologist Shermali Gunawardena, PhD, has shown that the protein presenilin plays an important role in controlling neuronal traffic on microtubule highways, a novel function that previously was unknown.

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Why the Amyloid Hypothesis is Alive and Well

By Paul Aisen, M.D. Director, Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study Professor of Neurosciences, University of California San Diego There has been much discussion in the news lately as to whether the amyloid hypothesis is the correct path for research. The amyloid hypothesis is supported by a huge body of evidence, but to my thinking the most…

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