News and Announcements

Building equitable relationships with community leaders and framing research questions around residents’ priorities is the core principle of community-engaged research, and IPHAM, along with ARCC, have been leaders in the field.

The Mesulam Center for Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer's Disease is actively researching the rare form of dementia called Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA), which affects language. They began using BlueJeans, one of Northwestern University’s video software solution, to support their “Communication Bridge” study — a speech therapy clinical trial that connects individuals living with PPA and SLPs – and have found that participants living with PPA benefit from doing real-time video intervention sessions with SLPs.

While people with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia gradually lose the ability to speak and to remember, the arts can help ground them, keep them engaged and let them express themselves.

“The arts enrich the quality of life of individuals with memory loss and provide them with a sense of purpose and meaning,” says Darby Morhardt, PhD, LCSW, associate professor in the Mesulam Center for Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer’s Disease at Northwestern University. “The arts are a mode of expression when cognitive abilities are declining.”

Tamar Gefen, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, strongly suggests having an in-depth discussion with a genetic counselor if you’re considering a test. “Before you say ‘I have to know,’ really understand what you’re dealing with, how your life might be affected, and what these tests can and cannot tell you,” she advised.

Partnering with Endeleo are groups such as Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, the Alzheimer's Association, the American Heart Association and local medical centers, clinics, colleges and banks. The institute is establishing storefronts offering health information and will install a blood pressure measurement kiosk inside Trinity United Church of Christ. Under the leadership of Rev. Otis Moss III, the church encourages its congregation to explore beyond traditional favorite fried foods and try dishes like baked fish and vegetables.

Chronic sleep loss has been associated with higher risk for cancer, diabetes, obesity, heart disease, heart attacks, Alzheimer's, dementia, depression, stroke, psychosis and suicide. As Phyllis Zee, chief of sleep medicine in the department of neurology at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine, says, "Sleep deprivation ... doesn't only affect the brain -- it affects all your other organs. ... Think about it as punching your other organs."

While some people might not want to know about the early signs of Alzheimer's, the new findings could help more women when they can still make plans for the future, experts said. "As your memory becomes more impaired, you are less and less aware you are having memory problems," said Sandra Weintraub, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and the clinical board director of the Mesulam Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer’s Disease Center at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. "That is the worst time to plan.”

The Alliance for Research in Chicagoland Communities (ARCC) at Northwestern University’s Center for Community Health has announced the recipients of seed grant funds that will support local research projects and community engagement initiatives.

Two Northwestern University scientists have received a $3.1 million grant from the National Institute on Aging to collaborate and investigate drug therapies for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

The researchers don’t know exactly why there was a decline in cognition in the participants who had surgery. “It’s widely considered that anesthesia may affect long-term cognition, but this has not been strongly supported by the recent literature,” Sanders said in an email. The new report offers “good news and bad news,” said Sandra Weintraub, a professor and clinical core director at the Mesulam Center for Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer’s Disease at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.

Still, the disease itself didn't come out of the blue. The evidence has been building for years, including reports of patients who didn't quite fit the mold for known types of dementia such as Alzheimer's. "There isn't going to be one single disease that is causing all forms of dementia," said Sandra Weintraub, a professor of psychiatry, behavioral sciences and neurology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. She was not involved in the new paper. Weintraub said researchers have been well aware of the "heterogeneity of dementia," but figuring out precisely why each type can look so different has been a challenge.

An experimental treatment originally intended to help patients recover from stroke may have beneficial effects for Alzheimer’s disease, according to a recent study.