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Helping Stop a Devastating Disease: The ACT-AD Coalition Continues its Important Work in Alzheimer's
Alzheimer's disease is a slow, dehumanizing, and fatal disease that strikes 1 in 8 people over the age of 65. While it's typically thought of as a disease that affects memory, it goes well beyond memory loss and eventually leads to death.
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Science in the Spotlight
Muscle Loss & Aging: Combatting Sarcopenia and Lost Independence
Typically, our muscles grow larger and stronger as we age. That is, until about the time we celebrate our 30th birthdays. That’s when most of us start down the other side of the hill and begin to gradually lose our muscle mass, strength, and function. While it’s usually not very noticeable in our 30s and 40s, the loss increases exponentially with age and tends to accelerate between the ages of 65 and 80.
This progressive loss of muscle mass is called sarcopenia, and it’s found to play a major role in the increased frailty, disability, and functional impairment that too often come with aging. While sarcopenia is a condition that is not uncommon with age, we don’t have to just sit back and accept it. There are things we can do to slow its progress, and current research promises to make that trip over-the-hill less traumatic.
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Taxes or Medical Research? Tensions Rise in the Battle to Reduce the Deficit
The country did not go over the "fiscal cliff" thanks to the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (ATRA), which was passed by Congress on New Year’s Day. While fears loomed that lawmakers would fail to act in time, ATRA addressed the expiration of numerous tax credits, raised some revenue, and temporarily delayed automatic spending cuts scheduled to take effect on December 31, 2012. When ATRA became law America earned a temporary reprieve from imminent economic catastrophe. However, our health and personal economic security may still suffer from the fallout resulting from actions taken by policymakers struggling to find a more permanent solution to the nation’s fiscal woes.
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Feature Article
Treatments for Age-Related Macular Degeneration: Going Head to Head
Exciting treatments make slowing and even restoring vision loss in wet age-related macular degeneration (wAMD) patients a reality. Two of the most frequently used treatments are currently in the spotlight as they go head-to-head in clinical trials comparing their effectiveness, and to some extent, exploring their costs.
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What is the 510(k)? Balancing Benefits, Safety, and Patient Needs
What does a tongue depressor have in common with an artificial knee and a heart monitor? This is not trick question or an unsolvable riddle—all three are medical devices that must go through the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for approval. Many of us are exposed to medical devices on a regular basis but few of us give much thought to who develops these products, and even fewer take the time to consider how their benefits and safety were measured. The process by which these products are evaluated and allowed for public use is essential to the quality of life of millions of people in the U.S., however most Americans know very little about it.
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Document
The Severe Burden of Diabetes on America's Seniors
In an Alliance for Aging Research and American Diabetes Association joint briefing, Dr. William Rowley from The Institute for Alternative Futures presented on the economic burden of diabetes and the need for continued research into prevention, management and treatment options. His slides are available here.
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Document
Human Burden of Diabetes and The Importance of Research
In an Alliance for Aging Research and American Diabetes Association joint briefing, Dr. K.M. Venkat Narayan from Emory University in Atlanta presented on the human burden of diabetes and the need for continued research into prevention, management and treatment options. His slides are available here.
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CAN You Help Find a Cure?: Funding May Mean the Difference Between Life and Death
After a long fought battle over how best to structure meaningful health reform legislation, President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law in March. Many media sources are reporting on the negative financial impact some health reform provisions might have on the country, but little attention has been focused on positive aspects of the bill that could make a real difference in the lives of many people suffering from, or who will face, serious and life-threatening illnesses.
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Restoring a Commitment to Medical Research
Investigators supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are on the cusp of research breakthroughs that may enhance their ability to predict and intervene earlier in the processes of many age-related chronic diseases.
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Empowering Patients with Information and Improving Care
No one can deny that our country’s health care spending is reaching an unmanageable level. In 2006 we spent over $2 trillion on health care and some experts predict that we’ll be spending twice that much by 2017. While you might assume that population growth is causing these increases—more people usually means more health care—we’re also seeing a rise in the amount of money that we spend on each person.
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Report
Research At Risk
This document is intended to increase understanding of the interplay between Medicare reform, prescription drug coverage, and continued progress of biomedical research in America.
