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The University of Pennsylvania’s Alzheimer’s Disease Core Center (ADCC) has refined its purpose and expanded its impact through the creation of a new research education core.

Core F focuses on preparing students and junior faculty to undertake research on Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias across a wide range of approaches and disciplines.

The core offers training and mentorship opportunities for MD (and MD/PHD) fellows who have completed their residencies, PhD postdoctoral trainees, and junior faculty (MD, PhD, or MD/PhD).

Dementia is on the decline in the United States, and those who do develop dementia do so later in life, according to a new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)

Between 2000 and 2012, dementia rates for people above the age of 65 dropped from 11.6 percent to 8.8 percent, a decrease of 24 percent. About 21,000 adults participated in the study led by researcher Dr. Kenneth Langa at the University of Michigan.

“This could have huge public health and policy implications,” Langa told Alzforum. He said that although the total number of people with dementia will in fact increase, the expected burden will likely be smaller than expected. According to his findings, there may be as many as 1 million fewer Americans suffering from dementia than was previously anticipated.

High magnification photomicrographs of a tau tangle (left) and an alpha-synuclein Lewy body (right)

PHILADELPHIA – Patients who had a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease (PD) with dementia (PDD) or dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and had higher levels  of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathology in their donated post-mortem brains also had more severe symptoms of these Lewy body diseases (LBD) during their lives, compared to those whose brains had less AD pathology, according to research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. In particular, the degree of abnormal tau protein aggregations, indicative of AD, most strongly matched the clinical course of the LBD patients who showed evidence of dementia prior to their deaths, the team reports in The Lancet Neurology First Online, ahead of the January print edition.

Alzheimer’s: Every Minute Counts, premiering 10 p.m. January 25 on PBS, is an urgent wake-up call about the national threat posed by Alzheimer’s disease.

Many know the unique tragedy of this disease, but few know that Alzheimer’s is one of the most critical public health crises facing America. This powerful documentary illuminates the social and economic consequences for the country unless a medical breakthrough is discovered for this currently incurable disease.

The families of dementia patients can improve their loved one’s experiences in nursing homes by establishing “goals of care,” Neurology Today reported.

Researchers at the University of North Carolina showed family members a short video and helped facilitate discussion between the families and nursing home staff to establish a care plan. The plan led to improved communication about end-of-life care and fewer hospital transfers, Neurology Today reported.

The latest edition of InSight news magazine — your guide to the people, research, and programs at the Penn Memory Center — is hot off the press and sporting a new look.

With a lead story on photo elicitation project “Typical Day,” we ­redesigned our cover to better display the artwork of photographer Damari McBride, who worked with the Penn Memory Center on the project.

A dozen participants with mild cognitive impairment were asked to capture a typical day through a series of photographs of the people, places, and things that have an impact on their lives. Their snapshots, stories, and portraits taken by McBride are on display at www.mytypicalday.org and in a temporary exhibit at the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine.

Tests that measure the sense of smell may soon become common in neurologists’ offices. Scientists have been finding increasing evidence that the sense of smell declines sharply in the early stages of Alzheimer’s, and now a new study from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania published today in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease confirms that administering a simple “sniff test” can enhance the accuracy of diagnosing this dreaded disease.

Dr. Creighton “Tony” Phelps will retire later this month after nearly 30 years at the National Institute on Aging, the NIA recently announced.

Officially, Phelps is the deputy director of the Division of Neuroscience, but he is best known as director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Centers (ADC) program, of which the Penn Memory Center is a partner organization.

“It’s about more than just how many centers he’s helped launch,” said Dr. Eliezer Masliah, director of the Division of Neuroscience, in the NIA announcement. “He has built a wonderful relationship with each and every center. ADC staff really trust Tony and value his feedback. He’s been an invaluable asset that we, as well as the centers in particular, will truly miss.”

NIA director Dr. Richard Hodes said Phelps’ impact can be felt across the entire field of Alzheimer’s research.

“Building and strengthening some of NIA’s flagship research programs and refining how we define Alzheimer’s disease, he has helped usher in a new era of Alzheimer’s disease research,” he said.