ADRC News

As individuals age, chronic diseases like high blood pressure, arthritis, and diabetes demand more medical attention, and getting the proper medical care can be a challenge. On a recent episode of "The Caring Generation Talk Radio," host Pamela D. Wilson discussed healthcare bias and neglect toward older patients with Dr. Mary Wyman, clinical psychologist at the University of Wisconsin and a member of the Gleason lab at the Wisconsin ADRC. Wyman talked about the possibility of implicit bias...

Insulin resistance is a condition where the hormone insulin is not effectively used by the body. This in turn causes elevated levels of glucose in the blood and puts individuals at increased risk for Type 2 diabetes. Previous research has shown that insulin resistance may be related to dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease; however, the linkage between insulin resistance and the underlying pathology of Alzheimer’s disease is not clear. The Alzheimer’s Association has just given...

Nathaniel Chin, MD, assistant professor of medicine (geriatrics) and Wisconsin ADRC director of medical services, was interviewed in Curb, a UW-Madison student magazine, for a feature about local resources and people living with Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Chin described how his father’s Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis impacted his decision to specialize in memory care. He also discussed his work at the Wisconsin Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center and said there has been a sharp acceleration in the...

Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison completed a study that offers clues into how sleep and exercise affect Alzheimer’s disease risk. 

The study, “Cardiorespiratory Fitness Modifies Influence of Sleep Problems on Cerebrospinal Fluid Biomarkers in an At-Risk Cohort,” was published online in the Journal of Alzheimer’s disease. The research was led by Lena Law and members of the Ozioma Okonkwo lab, which studies exercise and Alzheimer’s disease risk. 

Law explains, “Alzheimer’s disease...

The Wisconsin Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC) hosted eight area high school sophomores and juniors for a half-day Alzheimer’s disease research experience on November 21, 2019, at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. The students are part of the inaugural class of fellows and honorable mentions from the Research Education Component (REC) Junior Fellowship, a program that aims to cultivate the next generation of Alzheimer’s disease scientists. The students attended a...

Art Walaszek, MD, professor of psychiatry and an investigator in the Wisconsin ADRC, joined Wisconsin Public Radio to talk about how to make the holidays more enjoyable for a person living with dementia. He shared tips on how to make family gatherings more enjoyable and discussed how caregivers can manage the extra stress that comes with the holiday season.

Listen to "How to Make Holiday Gatherings Inclusive for Relatives with Dementia," which aired on...

As someone who is a caregiver to someone living with dementia knows, the holiday can be overwhelming time. Caregivers may experience extra stress and the person who has dementia may have stress from holiday schedule or routine changes, disorienting decorations, or crowds. Nathaniel Chin, MD, assistant professor of medicine (geriatrics) and Wisconsin ADRC director of medical services, was interviewed by Consumer Reports about managing caregiver stress during the holidays. He said planning can help...

The Northwoods of Wisconsin is a serene setting for anyone who loves the great outdoors — clean lakes and streams for fishing and water recreation, dense forests and wildlife, and a lot of peace and quiet. But rural northern Wisconsin has an older population than the state average, and isolation from resources and family is a common theme for its elderly demographic. With age being the leading risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease, the need for dementia...

As the Wisconsin State Journal reported in a 3-day investigative series about dementia, the role of physical activity in maintaining brain health is investigated in the lab of Ozioma Okonkwo, PhD, Wisconsin ADRC investigator and a clinical psychologist at UW-Madison. A study Okonkwo presented at a conference in August 2019 involved 23 middle-age adults in the Wisconsin Registry for Alzheimer’s Prevention (WRAP) who weren’t physically active. For six months, 11 of them exercised regularly and other study...

Sterling Johnson, PhD, Barbara Bendlin, PhD, and Brad Christian, PhD, were interviewed in the Wisconsin State Journal as part of a 3-day investigative series titled “Fading away: Wisconsin’s dementia crisis.” The article included updates on how Wisconsin ADRC researchers use brain imaging and fecal samples to help answer questions about brain disease progression.

Dr. Johnson and Dr. Christian use brain imaging scans to pinpoint signs of Alzheimer’s disease, sometimes many years before symptoms develop...