Anyone up for some YouTube?

In partnership with YouTube, the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) launched Memory and Aging, an online video channel that teaches viewers about neurodegenerative brain diseases ("dementia").

The channel is one component in a broader online campaign to educate the public about brain disease and potentially raise funds. The effort also includes a dedicated Memory and Aging website, a "Defeat Dementia" Facebook group and a "Defeat Dementia" widget, powered by Clearspring.

"The YouTube channel … gives us a rapid mechanism for communicating with physicians and caregivers who suspect that their patients or loved ones may suffer from one of these illnesses," said director Bruce Miller, MD, of the UCSF Memory and Aging Center.

He cited "early intervention with novel therapies" as key to stopping dementia. "Our goal is to increase awareness of the earliest signs of these diseases, so they can be accurately diagnosed, and patients can get into clinical trials sooner."

The YouTube collabo drew inspiration from "Fight for Mike," a Silicon Valley-based effort to raise funds for marketing guru Mike Homer of Apple/Netscape. He is currently being treated at UCSF for Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), a rare and typically fatal brain disease.

"Fight for Mike" raised over $7 million for CJD research.