2007 Progress Report on Alzheimer's Disease: Discovery and Hope
The National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the Federal Government's National Institutes of Health (NIH) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has primary responsibility for basic, clinical, behavioral, and social research in Alzheimer's disease (AD) as well as research aimed at finding ways to prevent and treat AD. The Institute’s AD research program is integral to one of its main goals, which is to enhance the quality of life of older people by expanding knowledge about the aging brain and nervous system. This 2007 Progress Report on Alzheimer’s Disease summarizes recent AD research conducted or supported by NIA and other components of NIH, including:
* National Center for Research Resources
* National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
* National Human Genome Research Institute
* National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering
* National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
* National Institute of Mental Health
* National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
* National Institute of Nursing Research
Modest AD research efforts also are supported by the National Cancer Institute, National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, and John E. Fogarty International Center.
In Remembrance
The 2007 Progress Report on Alzheimer’s Disease is dedicated to Robert Katzman, M.D. (1925–2008), an internationally known AD research pioneer who fundamentally changed the way scientists and clinicians thought about the brain disorder we now know as Alzheimer’s disease, and the first to detail its prevalence and severity, in 1976. Dr. Katzman was founding director of the NIA-funded AD Research Center at the University of California San Diego one of the original members of NIA’s National Advisory Council on Aging, and a founder of the Alzheimer’s Association.
Full booklet available as .pdf at this site
Table of Contents
* Introduction
--- A Brief Primer on Alzheimer’s Disease
* Progress in AD Research Continues
--- Improving Our Basic Understanding of AD
--- Learning About Cognitive Aging
--- Normal Cognitive Aging, Cognitive Decline, and AD: What's the Difference?
--- Accelerating the Search for Genetic Causes and Risk Factors
--- Attention to Nongenetic Risk and Protective Factors Pays Off
--- Exploring All Possibilities to Improve AD Diagnosis
--- Making the Most of Translational Research
--- Supporting the Gold Standard: AD Clinical Trials
--- Helping Caregivers Cope
* Outlook for the Future
* Conclusion
* References
