The UCLA research team has just announced a new UCLA Memory Clinic for testing treatments to prevent age-related memory loss. Studies will continue research into exploring the use of PET scanning and genetic testing. The UCLA study was a collaborative effort between the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute, the UCLA Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology, the UCLA Brain Mapping Center, the UCLA Center on Aging, the UCLA Alzheimer's Disease Center, and the Center for Human Genetics at Duke University Medical Center. Alzheimer's disease afflicts nearly 10 percent of people over age 65. The disease often begins with mild memory complaints and gradually progresses to dementia, which is a deterioration of most mental abilities including memory, language and higher intellectual functions.
Victims eventually become bedridden, requiring total care.
The UCLA study was supported by grants from the National Institute on Mental Health, the National Institute of Aging, the Alzheimer's Association, the California Department of Health Services, the Department of Energy, the Sidell-Kagen Foundation, the Montgomery Street Foundation, the Fran and Ray Stark Foundation Fund for Alzheimer's Disease Research, the Brain Mapping Medical Research Organization, the Ahmanson Foundation, and the Tamkin Foundation. If you wish to quote from any part of this story, please credit University Of California Los Angeles as the original source.