A powerful new real-world data platform could transform how scientists predict and understand Alzheimer’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease related dementias (AD/ADRD), reports a new study at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and collaborators. The project, known as the M3AD Study and Real-World Data Metaplatform, represents one of the most comprehensive efforts to date to use large-scale clinical data to advance precision aging research and accelerate discoveries in Alzheimer’s prevention and care.

UCLA Health will host its first-ever Brain Health Summit on March 20-21, bringing together leading scientists, policymakers, philanthropists and community advocates from across the country to address one of the most pressing and underfunded challenges in public health.

Amyloid beta and tau proteins compete for the same binding sites on microtubules in neurons, suggesting that displacement of tau by amyloid beta, rather than aggregation of either protein, may be the primary driver of Alzheimer's disease pathology. 

People with Alzheimer’s disease often have other neurodegenerative conditions as well, including a less-understood disorder called frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD). While a precise diagnosis of FTLD has only been possible during an autopsy, new research shows how clinicians may be able to diagnose people living with both Alzheimer’s and FTLD by evaluating neuropsychiatric symptoms. In a study published in Neurology, Brown University researchers found that compared to patients who have either of the two types of dementia alone, having both Alzheimer’s disease and FTLD is associated with greater likelihood of having known neuropsychiatric symptoms of both diseases.