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Simple test to spot Alzheimer’s risk

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New York: An affordable non-invasive test that detects electrical activity in the brain may be used to spot people who are at the risk of Alzherimer’s, say researchers.

Electroencephalogram (EEG) technology can be used to measure cognitive deficits in people with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI).

Individuals with aMCI are at twice the risk of others in their age group of progressing to Alzheimer’s disease, but currently no conclusive test exists to predict who will develop the disorder.

While mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is the recognised clinical state between healthy aging and Alzheimer’s disease, aMCI is a specific type characterised by deficits in episodic memory, the ability to retain new memories such as recent conversations, events, or upcoming appointments.

“We think this might be more sensitive and more specific in pointing out certain cognitive deficits — in this case semantic memory (or long-term memory) — than other non-EEG methods available, because EEG reflects direct neural activity,” said study lead author Hsueh-Sheng Chiang, post-doctoral fellow at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Centre in the US.

The study was published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. The study involving 16 individuals with aMCI and 17 age matched healthy controls, the researchers identified a specific variation in brain waves of individuals with aMCI.

The results depicted a pattern of delayed neural activity that is directly related to the severity of impairment in cognitive performance on a word finding task and may indicate an early dysfunction of progression to Alzheimer’s disease.

The participants were monitored by EEG and presented with pairs of words that either described features of an object or were randomly paired.

Corona

Covid toll in Karnataka is a worrying sign for state government

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Even though Karnataka recorded the lowest number of Covid deaths in April since the virus struck first in 2020, the state is recording a rise in the positivity rate (1.50 per cent). Five people died from the Covid infections in April as per the statistics released by the state health department. In March, the positivity rate stood around 0.53 per cent. In the first week of April it came down to 0.38 per cent, second week registered 0.56 per cent, third week it rose to 0.79 per cent and by end of April the Covid positivity rate touched 1.19 per cent.

on an average 500 persons used to succumb everyday in the peak of Covid infection, as per the data. Health experts said that the mutated Coronavirus is losing its fierce characteristics as vaccination, better treatment facilities and awareness among the people have contributed to the lesser number of Covid deaths.

During the 4th and 6th of April two deaths were reported in Bengaluru, one in Gadag district on April 8, two deaths were reported from Belagavi and Vijayapura on April 30. The first Covid case was reported in the state in March 2020 and three Covid deaths were recorded in the month. In the following month 21 people became victims to the deadly virus, and May 2020 recorded 22 deaths. The death toll recorded everyday after May crossed three digits. However, the third wave, which started in January 2

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