The Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI), the leading nonprofit medical society representing invasive and interventional cardiology, is proud to participate in the relaunch of the Congressional Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD) Caucus, organized by the PAD Pulse Alliance and hosted by Representatives Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) and Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL).

The bipartisan event brought together physicians, patient advocates, and lawmakers to discuss current research and data, treatment, and urgent policy solutions for PAD, a disease affecting over 10 million Americans. The event featured members of the PAD Alliance, a coalition of leading medical societies working to address PAD: the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI), the Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS), Outpatient Endovascular and Interventional Society (OEIS), Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR), and the Association of Black Cardiologists (ABC).

Patient advocates, including former Harlem Globetrotter Larry “Shorty” Coleman, spoke about their personal experience navigating the life-altering disease. 

In a new Science Translational Medicine study, Northwestern University scientists have pinpointed when and where toxic proteins accumulate within the brains of Alzheimer’s patients — and discovered a decades-old Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved drug that can stop the accumulation process before it even begins. Existing human clinical data also showed the drug slowed the progression of Alzheimer’s pathology.

By studying animal models, human neurons and brain tissue from high-risk patients, the team discovered a particularly toxic protein fragment, called amyloid-beta 42, accumulates inside neurons’ synaptic vesicles — the tiny packets that neurons use to send signals. But, when the scientists administered levetiracetam (an inexpensive, decades‑old anti‑seizure drug) to the animals and human neurons, the drug prevented neurons from forming amyloid-beta 42.