NEW TEST FOR ALZHEIMER'S

A BREAKTHROUGH in the fight against Alzheimer’s could pave the way to early diagnosis years before the devastating symptoms appear.

Scientists are hailing a new test which detects changes in the brain that can help to identify those people who are likely to go on to develop the disease.

Potential sufferers could be spotted and treated early, delaying the onset of the illness by years and allowing what few remedies are available to minimise its effects. (snip)<p></P>

The new method, using a drug to highlight toxins in the brain, was presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s annual meeting in New Orleans.

Study author Dr Marwan Sabbagh said: “This is an easy, non-invasive way to assist an Alzheimer’s diagnosis at an early stage.”

The research used the drug florbetaben as a tracer during a PET scan of the brain to show-up the toxic amyloid plaques. 

Read the entire article at the Express.co.uk by clicking anywhere in the above article.

FotoFest 2012 What is memory? Photo exhibit focuses on everyday objects as tools for recall in fight against Alzheimer's

http://houston.culturemap.com/newsdetail/04-01-12-fotofest-show-asks-what-is-memory/

Text by Cameron Dezen Hammon

Photo by Anna Sneed

04.01.12 | 3:43 pm

When I was in Chicago a few weeks ago I met a woman, Mira Bartok, whose memoir, The Memory Palace, just won the prestigious National Book Critics Circle Award. Bartok's book chronicles her life as the child of a mother with schizophrenia, a mental illness that robs its victim not only of a grasp of the present, but also of the past. Bartok suffers a a brain injury at 40 and takes her reader on the often painful journey of reconstructing the memories from her life. Her book centers on the idea that memory is fluid. Everytime we retrieve a memory  it changes, even for those who don't suffer from a memory debilitating illness.