In this week's message, Duke University School of Medicine Dean Mary Klotman, MD, congratulates all those who graduated from the various degree programs within the School of Medicine. She also gives
The National Academy of Sciences announced today the election of 120 members and 30 international members in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.
Harnessing the Brain’s Resilience to Fight Alzheimer’s Disease
In 2020, Alzheimer’s disease was the sixth leading cause of death in the United States. And yet, unlike other leading killers such as heart disease, cancer and stroke, there are currently no effective treatments to prevent or stop it. While deaths from cardiovascular disease declined, deaths from Alzheimer’s more than doubled between 2018 and 2020.
As Americans live longer lives and baby boomers reach their seventies, there is an increasingly desperate need for treatments to prevent Alzheimer’s or slow its symptoms.
One avenue to discovering improved treatments involves unlocking the secrets of the brain’s natural resilience in the face of injuries, aging and disease. The physical manifestations of Alzheimer’s show up in the brain years before a patient begins having memory problems or other symptoms; somehow the brain compensates for the damage. For some, their brains compensate longer than for others, p