September is World Alzheimer’s Month and Saturday, September 21 was World Alzheimer’s Day. 

In recognition, the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease has published an open access, special issue that will be available to everyone for the first two weeks of publication. 

Dr. Manuel Montero-Odasso, Scientist at Lawson Health Research Institute, has edited and led the special issue focusing on gait disorders and dementia. 

He is world renowned for his findings on the relationship between cognition and mobility in the elderly, and gait as a predictor of frailty and dementia. He leads the Mobility, Exercise and Cognition (MEC) Team in London, comprised of top researchers in the areas of mobility, exercise and brain health.

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Dr. Montero-Odasso is also a professor at Western University’s Schulich Medicine & Dentistry, geriatrician at St. Joseph’s Health Care London and London Health Sciences Centre, and Director of the Gait and Brain Lab, a part of Lawson’s Parkwood Institute Research group. 

“This Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease supplemental issue showcases studies presenting the epidemiology of gait disturbances and cognitive impairment, dissecting specific associations between cognitive domains and quantitative gait parameters, and addressing with advanced neuroimaging techniques the potential mechanisms underlying the gait-cognitive interaction seen before dementia,” explains Dr. Montero-Odasso. “Also, this issue highlights how to manage mobility impairment in the cognitive impaired by using assistive devices.”

Alzheimer’s disease is an irreversible, progressive brain disorder that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills. It is the most common cause of dementia among older adults. There are over half a million Canadians living with dementia - plus about 25,000 new cases diagnosed every year. By 2031, that number is expected to rise to 937,000, an increase of 66 per cent.

Read the Gait Disorders Special Issue with editorial from Drs. Montero-Odasso and George Perry entitled “Gait Disorders in Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementias: There is Something in the Way You Walk.” 
 

Canada’s 150th anniversary of Confederation is an opportunity to celebrate the impact of health research over the last 150 years. In recognition, Lawson has launched a Canada 150 website (www.lawsonresearch.ca/canada150) to celebrate our past, our present and to look forward to how Lawson research can shape the future of health care.

Lawson’s Canada 150 website will be updated through the rest of the year with new content, including your feedback and ideas about the future of health research. We’re asking “What does the next 150 years hold for health research and innovation in Canada?” You can provide your input here or send us your ideas by tweeting us. We’ll be sharing your feedback on the Canada 150 website and social media throughout the year.

On July 1, Lawson will also be appearing alongside our hospital and foundation partners in a special insert of the London Free Press. Additionally, if you are celebrating Canada 150 at London’s Sesquifest you can view Lawson’s Canada 150 banner in the Explore Tent on Talbot Street.