{"id":31633,"date":"2016-04-12T15:06:08","date_gmt":"2016-04-12T19:06:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/busm\/?p=31633"},"modified":"2016-04-12T15:06:08","modified_gmt":"2016-04-12T19:06:08","slug":"alzheimers-research-study-featured-in-primetime-pbs-nova-special-can-alzheimers-be-stopped","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/2016\/04\/12\/alzheimers-research-study-featured-in-primetime-pbs-nova-special-can-alzheimers-be-stopped\/","title":{"rendered":"Alzheimer\u2019s Research Study Featured in Primetime PBS Nova Special: Can Alzheimer\u2019s Be Stopped?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Clinical research being conducted on the Medical Campus is featured on the PBS program NOVA on April 13. It highlights\u00a0the Anti-Amyloid in Asymptomatic Alzheimer\u2019s Study, also known as the A4 Study<\/a>, which is the first-ever trial designed to slow the progression of memory loss in individuals who may be at a higher risk due to Alzheimer’s disease, but who don\u2019t yet have any symptoms.<\/p>\n

The study is being conducted at 61 sites, with the BU site led by Dr. Robert Stern, professor of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Anatomy & Neurobiology. Part of involvement in the study involves a PET scan that screens for an elevated level of a protein known as \u2018amyloid\u2019 in the brain. Researchers believe amyloid plaque builds up in a person\u2019s brain years before symptoms appear. The premise of the A4 trial is to rid the amyloid before brain cells have been damaged \u2014 much in the same way people with high cholesterol are given statin drugs to head off cardiovascular disease and heart attack.<\/p>\n

In addition to testing for amyloid protein, one of the signature markers for Alzheimer\u2019s disease, the A4 Study also scans the brains of healthy patients looking for the other signature marker \u2013 tau tangles. This is the first time that this cutting-edge imaging technology (called Tau PET scan) \u00a0is being used in a clinical trial. The researchers believe it will help them better understand what causes cognitive decline in Alzheimer\u2019s disease patients and eventually be able to prevent or stop the disease.<\/p>\n

The researchers are seeking healthy volunteers between the age of 65-85 with normal memory to participate in this study. For more information, please contact \u00a0Diane Essis, recruitment coordinator at 617-414-1077.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

First-ever trial designed to slow the progression of memory loss in individuals who may be at a higher risk due to Alzheimer’s disease, but who don\u2019t yet have any symptoms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":903,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[127,91,90],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31633"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/903"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31633"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31633\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31636,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31633\/revisions\/31636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}