It is likely that every person in today’s Rotary Club meeting has been impacted by Alzheimer’s disease in one way or another. The disease, a brain disorder that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills and ultimately the ability to carry out the simplest of tasks, is estimated to affect more than six million Americans, most of them age 65 or older. According to the National Institute on Aging, Alzheimer’s is the seventh leading cause of death in the U.S. and the most common cause of dementia among the elderly.
Given this sobering reality, we are fortunate to have in our community the University of Kentucky Sanders-Brown Center on Aging (Sanders-Brown)and dedicated researchers such as today’s speaker, Maj-Linda B. Selenica, Ph.D., Assistant Professor and Associate Director of Outreach & Partnerships in the Dept. of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry.
At Sanders-Brown, Dr. Selenica and other basic and clinical scientists work together to improve the health of older adults in Kentucky and beyond through research dedicated to understanding the aging process and age-related brain diseases. It provides education, outreach, and clinical programs that promote healthy brain aging. Over the past three decades, Sanders-Brown has emerged as one of the nation’s leading centers on aging. Currently, only thirty designated Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centers exist in the U.S. In 1985, Sanders-Brown was among the first ten such centers funded by the NIH and has been continuously funded since the designation was launched. This year it celebrates its 40th Anniversary!
Dr. Selenica has been associated with Sanders-Brown since 2019. She was the recipient of a $ 125,000 grant from#TheCARTFund in 2020 for her research. CART (Coins for Alzheimer’s Research Trust) is a grassroots effort created by Rotary Clubs to provide cutting edge research to help find a cure for Alzheimer’s. Rotarians can learn more about this initiative at www.www.cartfund.org. Since its inception, CART has awarded more than $9 million in research grants to some of the most respected institutions in the country.
Today’s presentation is titled “Current and Future strategies in Dementia–How scientists atSanders-Brown Center on Aging, UK lead the way in combating Alzheimer’s Disease”. She will discuss the research going on in her laboratory and present the work that Sanders-Brown is doing right here in Lexington.She is certain it will spark many exciting conversations.
Rotary in Review:
COMBATING ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE THROUGH CUTTING EDGE RESEARCH IN THE BLUEGRASS
The Rotary Club’s most recent speaker was Dr. Maj-Linda Selenica, Associate Professor andAssociate Director of Outreach & the Dept. of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry at the Sanders-Brown Center on Aging(Sanders Brown). Based at the University of Kentucky, Sanders-Brown’s basic and clinical scientists are working together to improve the health of older adults in the Commonwealth and beyond through research dedicated to understanding the aging process and age-related brain diseases.
Today, more than seven million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s, which is the fifth leading cause of death for adults sixty-five years of age and older. Kentucky is home to 81,000 of these patients; 11.2% of Kentuckians have subjective cognitive decline. This comes at a cost toKentucky’s Medicaid system of $949 million.The human cost is incalculable.
Dr. Selenica stated that Sanders-Brown is a nationally leading institution promoting healthy brain-aging through basic and applied research. It is one of only thirty designated research centers in the United States and was one of the first ten funded by the National Institutes of Health. Recently, Sanders Brown received a $3.1 million grant from the National Institute on Aging. The Center’s focus is in five areas: healthy aging, basic research, mixed pathologies, healthy brain activity, and identifying risk factors, such as Downs Syndrome and vascular co-morbidities. She said that Alzheimer’s is a form of dementia and 60-80% of Americans have some form of it. Last year, Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia cost $360 billion. The cost to Medicaid was $9.5 billion, in addition to medical and caregiving costs not covered by this plan. It was estimated that $4.8 billion in care costs are unpaid.
She said that Alzheimer’s is an aging disease that causes a reduction in the brain’s memory area. This can lead to anxiety and the decrease in“executive”decision-making.The disease, which was discovered 120 years ago by a German doctor, is a decline in cognition caused by a buildup of plaque around the brain’s neurons. As the neurons are killed there is a loss of brain activity, causing brain shrinkage and memory decline. She suggested that the keys to delaying the“aging”of the brain are a healthy diet, exercise, and cognitive activities such as reading—easy steps to follow in combating Alzheimer’s and dementia.Central Kentucky is fortunate to have such cutting-edge research being conducted on this critical health issue through Sanders Brown.