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Visual Test Diagnosis

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the testing-the-branes dept.

d'alz writes "A new research states that Alzheimer's disease and other types of dementia can now be defined by a visual test based on images of faces and scenes. Research indicates that when people were asked to pick 'the odd on out' from a set of pictures of scenes and faces, those suffering from Alzheimer had difficulty picking out the odd scene. On the other hand those with semantic dementia had a problem with the faces. From the article: The findings, reported in the Journal of Neuroscience, support earlier research which suggested that different areas in a region of the brain called the Medial Temporal Lobe could be responsible for various aspects of memory and perception."

2 of 38 comments (clear)

  1. Re:The Growing Problem of Alzheimer's by BadAnalogyGuy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Though to be quite blunt, AIDS can be curbed with appropriate behavioral changes. Education and community outreach are far cheaper than medical research in this area.

    Alzheimers, on the other hand, cannot be curbed by behavior modification. It strikes due to built-in deficiencies in our genetic code (at least according to some research). Therefore it is more useful to search for a cure or treatment for this than for another disease which can be minimized without having to resort to expensive medical research which may or may not be fruitful for years.

    That said, this isn't an either/or situation. We have lots of money to spread around, and it's in all our interests to make sure both the geezers and the gays get better.

  2. Re:The Growing Problem of Alzheimer's by BadAnalogyGuy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    While I don't disagree that AIDS is a threat to all sexualities, I would like to point out that the percentage of gay males exhibiting symptoms of AIDS is greater than 57% discounting IV drug usage and gay sex+drug usage.

    http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/surveillance/basic.h tm

    Gay males, being a very small minority in this country have a disproportionate rate of infection. It's like when you have California with a 7% population of Blacks incarcerating them at a rate of 32% of the total prison population. Something is definitely askew.

    So you can say that AIDS is a gender-equal disease, and that straight women get infected far more frequently than straight men, but it doesn't change the fact that the disease is primarily borne by homosexual men.