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LINKS: ....Bird Flu Info ....Your Memory Enhancer ....Neurotech ....Success Tips ....Free Am I getting alzheimers?Tuesday, 13 September 2005Presenter: James Lush It's one of those things that so many of us live in fear of - Alzheimers. Is that forgotten name a sign of something ominous? A test may be at hand which can be a pointer. It all comes down to how many fruits or animals you can remember in one minute. The test has been developed by Professor Andy Ellis from the Department of Psychology at York University in the UK. Even he's surprised at the simplicity of his test, and the quality of its results. He explains that his test involved 96 people in early alzheimer stages, and a control group of 40 healthy people. Both groups were asked to name as many fruits as they could in one minute; they were then given another minute to list animals. Generally, the alzheimers patients produced fewer words than the healthy group. And there was another thing: "The types of words they produced were different...very familiar animals and fruits, and also items that we learn early in childhood," notes the professor. If it was 'cat, dog, horse' or 'peach, grapes, lemons', unleavened by anything recent or less familiar, then signs aren't good. Andy Ellis was able to distinguish the groups very accurately in blind testing. Just on the numbers and types of words in his little test, he could detect the healthy group with 95% accuracy; and the alzheimers group to 88% accuracy. To detect alzheimers at an early stage is a useful thing. Whilst it's still a technically incurable disease, there are drugs which can boost our brain's performance if administered early enough. This can defer the day when we're incapacitated by the inability to remember. Professor Ellis does warn - like a good scientist - that his test isn't foolproof. He's wary of anyone self testing until there's more geographical data at hand - after all, his results were gained from 136 Scots people from Aberdeen. They may not be the same as you and me anyway. Never-the-less, it may be worth remembering the following: pomegranite, pomelo, avocado, rockmelon, chinese gooseberry, roma tomato, quince, star fruit, chinese gooseberry, apricot, nectarine, ruby red grapefruit, raspberry, lady williams apple, kaffir lime... HOME...... Brain Food LINKS: ....Medical Dictionary ....Stress Management ....Allergy Info |