Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.People with Alzheimer's disease may start experiencing shrinking of parts of the brain as many as 10 years before the degenerative condition is diagnosed, a US study suggested on Wednesday.
While the results are still preliminary, scientists said the findings could one day provide a way to identify by MRI scan which individuals are most likely to develop the disease, which can run in families and has no cure.
US researchers followed two separate groups of people who had no signs of Alzheimer's - one group of 33 was tracked for 11 years and another group of 33 was followed for eight years.
Magnetic resonance imaging scans were performed regularly and focused on parts of the brain where Alzheimer's is typically found, such as the language and memory centers.
Over time, eight people in the first group and seven in the other developed the devastating condition.
When researchers looked back at their brain scans, they found early signs of shrinkage, or low MRI measurements, in the ones who would develop the disease.
"Of the 11 people who had the lowest MRI measurements, 55 percent developed Alzheimer's, while none of the nine people with the highest measurements developed dementia," said the study in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
Twenty percent of those with average brain measurements developed the disease.
"This measure is potentially an important imaging marker of early changes in the brain associated with Alzheimer's disease that could help predict who might develop the dementia associated with this disease and possibly even how long it would be before dementia develops," said study author Bradford Dickerson of Harvard Medical School in Boston.
Alzheimer's is a progressive brain disease that causes memory loss and behavioral changes. It attacks the brain and gradually eats away at gray matter.
Alzheimer's is the most common form of dementia and is estimated to affect about five million Americans.
ksh/mac
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments