00:00 2 elderly
women walking in street
Woman
hugs older woman
Crowd
shot, older couple walking
Man
in peaked cap
Older
woman being helped across the road
Wide
of crowd on street
Couple
walking on street
Pan
from grey haired man to middle aged woman
Guide Voice: Advances in science and medical
research mean that we’re all living longer these days,
especially in the developed world. But longer life comes at a
price. Some estimates suggest that an individual living to the age
of 85 has a 40% chance of developing Alzheimer’s disease or a
similar, related condition.
There are nearly 18 million people suffering from dementia in
the world today and experts predict that, by 2025, this figure will
have almost doubled. We may live longer, but what quality of life
will we have?
00:31 SOT: Professor Clive Ballard, Co
Director, Wolfson Centre for Age Related Diseases :
“Well the population is aging, I mean that’s
something we can’t deny, people are living longer and as they
are living longer the diseases of later life become more frequent.
I think sometimes people think that older people are a different
species whereas it’s just us in the future so I think
we’ve all got a very strong vested interest in trying to
develop better treatments that both prevent, resolve and reduce the
consequences of some of the symptoms of these common
diseases”.
00:59
Exterior, Wolfson Centre for Age-Related Diseases
Kings
College London sign outside building
Wide
of research laboratory
Medium
wide, researchers preparing slides
Researcher
labelling samples
Guide Voice: The new Wolfson Centre for
Age-Related Diseases at King’s College London, aims to do
just that by bringing together leading clinical researchers and
scientists under one roof, with the aim of developing treatments
for age-related diseases.
01:12 SOT: Professor Patrick Doherty, Co
Director, Wolfson Centre for Age Related Diseases:
“At Kings college London we were fortunate that we have a
number of scientists who are interested in the brain, interested in
the diseases that effect the brain, and by putting a centre
together we are able to bring these scientists together to get
synergies between their work so that as a team we can tackle the
major problem that is age related diseases”.
01:32
Researcher at microscope
c.u.
and tilt down, samples to hand
c.u.
analysis display
c.u.
slides in tray
Wide,
researchers at lab desk
Guide Voice: Research of this nature goes on
around the world, but it’s unusual to bring together such a
range of scientific talent in one location and it’s this
innovative approach that Professor Patrick Doherty, Head and
co-Director of the Wolfson Centre, thinks will make a real
difference to their work.
01:48 SOT: Prof. Doherty:
“What’s special about this centre is that
it’s a real centre, it’s a physical centre it’s a
building, it’s not a virtual centre. This has brought
scientists together, working on a problem together. It gives us a
focal point and having a focal point, a new building has allowed us
to attract even additional resources, additional scientists to come
and work in the centre.”
02:11
Oscillating tray with samples
Researcher
placing sample in centrifuge
Wide,
Prof. Ballard walking down corridor
c.u.
swipe card
Prof.
Ballard walking into lab
Guide Voice: It has certainly allowed for a
more creative approach to tackling these illnesses.
Professor Clive Ballard, co-Director of the Centre, is searching
for alternatives to the overuse of sedatives in the
management of dementia as there is increasing evidence that these
drugs actually accelerate cognitive decline.
02:29 SOT Prof.
Ballard: “First of all we’re looking at
practical issues, we’re looking at clinical trials to see
whether there are safer alternatives such as aromatherapy or other
drug treatments or psychological treatments that can replace the
need for these sedative drugs. Secondly we’re engaged in some
scientific studies, seeing if we can work out why these drugs are
causing so much harm and if we can understand the mechanisms can we
therefore inform safer treatments or alternatives.”
02:56 Wide
– Dr Paul Francis explaining tissue samples to student
Medium
2 shot
c.u.
pencil pointing to tissue samples
c.u.
student (profile)
c.u.
pencil and samples
c.u.
Dr Francis
Guide Voice: Staff at the new Wolfson Centre
for Age-Related Diseases hope that their research will
significantly speed up the process of developing new treatments for
these diseases, reducing the medical and pharmaceutical costs of
old age but, more importantly, significantly improving the
quality of life for the individual.
03:14 SOT: Prof. Ballard:
“Well I think quality of life for people who do suffer
from dementia is an extremely important issue and people assume
that as the dementia becomes more severe that reduced quality of
life is inevitable and actually there are numerous studies that
show that this isn’t true, that if people are provided with
the right care and the right support, even in the very severe
stages of dementia they can actually have a very good quality of
life. So I think it’s really our duty to provide environments
and treatment regimes that facilitate that.”
03:43 End
