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Alzheimer's Plaques Imaged in Living Brains
Yves writes "Japanese scientists have developed a technique to detect traces of Alzheimer's disease (amyloid plaques in the brain) on living mice... Until now, the standard way to confirm the presence of the plaques, and thus the disease, was by autopsy. The question remains: Do you really want to know early that you have Alzheimer disease, as there is no effective treatment yet?"
The article's got a slight innaccuracy. There are effective treatments, just no cure. However, some of the treatments are excellent, and can delay the onset of the disease and substantially slow it once it does show up. My great-grandmother was diagnosed with the disease seven years ago, but is still living a perfectly normal life for somebody her age. She worries far more about high blood pressure than Alzheimers.
Hell yes I'd like to know. It'd be the perfect time to write memoirs; to recount over my life, make sure I've told the stories I want to tell, and get ready to just have fun for the rest of my life.
Even if I lose the memories inside my head, I'll have them recorded, so they won't be gone.
It's like knowing when you're going to die, except, it's knowing when a certain part of you is going to die.
--TheOrangeSquid Is it any wonder things seem so awry? We swim in a sea of confusion and don't have to think to survive