Vanguard Estates: The Future of the Aging Brain

Flash Forward

Flash Forward Presents

Science

4.8 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 14 November 2022

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this series, we’re taking a look at some of the real science, policy, economics, law and ethics that inspired the events of Vanguard Estates. Today: what even is dementia, and why can’t we cure it? Guests: Dr. Malú Gámez Tansey — professor of neuroscience and neurology at the University of Florida, and the co-director of the Center for Translational Research in Neurodegenerative Disease Dr. Tia Powell — psychiatrist and the director of the Center for Bioethics at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, author of the book Dementia Reimagined: Building a Life of Joy and Dignity from Beginning to End. Charles Piller — investigative reporter at Science magazine Dr. Tanisha Hill-Jarrett — neuropsychologist and postdoctoral fellow at UCSF Dr. Margot Kushel — professor of medicine at UCSF and the director of the Center for Vulnerable Populations and the Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative Kate Swaffer: activist & author, co-founder of Dementia Alliance International Nikki: care partner & founder of A Log Cabin in Brooklyn → → → Further reading & resources here! ← ← ← Flash Forward is hosted by, Rose Eveleth and produced by Ozzy Llinas Goodman. The intro music is by Asura and the outro music is by Hussalonia. The episode art is by Mattie Lubchansky. Get in touch: Twitter // Facebook // Reddit // [email protected] Support the show: Patreon // Donorbox Subscribe: iTunes // Soundcloud // Spotify Episode Sponsors: Purple Carrot: Purple Carrot is THE plant-based subscription meal kit that makes it easy to cook irresistible meals to fuel your body. Each week, choose from an expansive and delicious menu of dinners, lunches, breakfasts, and snacks! Get $30 off your first box by going to www.purplecarrot.com and entering code FLASH at checkout today! Purple Carrot, the easiest way to eat more plants! Knowable: Learn today’s most in-demand skills with actionable, podcast-style lessons from top experts. Download the Knowable app or visit Knowable.fyi and use the code FLASHFORWARD for an additional 20% off. The proceeds from ads on this episode will be donated to Moms 4 Housing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to Flash Forward. I'm Rose and I'm your host. Today we are diving back into
0:14.0	the real science behind Welcome to Vanguard Estates, the choose your own path story that you can play
0:20.2	if you go back into the podcast archives a couple weeks. And in our story, the father has dementia.
0:27.4	And today's episode is all about that disease. We're going to talk diagnosis, treatment,
0:32.5	care, and access to that care. So let's start from the beginning. What actually is dementia?
0:41.1	Dementia is a very complicated set of diseases in it's more than one.
0:46.7	That's Dr. Malu Tonsi, a professor of neuroscience and neurology at the University of Florida and
0:52.2	the co-director of the Center for Translational Research in Neurodegenerative Disease.
0:57.6	Dementia is basically the loss of cognitive ability. The ability to remember the ability
1:05.2	to make executive decisions, your behavior changes, and most of it is due to the loss of
1:15.8	circuits in the brain and the loss of important brain centers that control that behavior,
1:22.2	that decision-making, and your ability to recall memories. The most common form of dementia,
1:29.6	the one that you have probably heard the most about is Alzheimer's. But it's not the only one.
1:36.9	There's vascular dementia. There's dementia induced by alcohol dependence, alcohol abuse.
1:44.8	There's something called frontotemporal dementia, which is happening much earlier than the Alzheimer's
1:52.0	dementia that we know about. There's Louis body dementia. And one thing I actually didn't realize
1:57.9	until working on this series is that there is no one easy and obvious test for dementia.
2:05.1	If not like doctors can do a blood test or look at your brain and go like, yep, there it is, that's
2:10.6	dementia. The field would love to get to a blood test, right, or some kind of test that will
2:17.0	definitively tell you yes or no, right, like a pregnancy test or COVID-19 test. That is not yet
2:24.4	available to us. But by piecing together a lot of different modalities, the imaging, the blood
2:30.9	work, the cerebral spinal fluid work, the genetics, the family history, the behavior of the individual,
	...

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