Brain scans can detect Alzheimer signs

LOS ANGELES – UCLA researchers say they can, for the first time, use sophisticated brain scans to detect the precursors to Alzheimer’s disease before any symptoms begin, the school announced two weeks ago.

Yet doctors are still not able to predict a brain’s progression into Alzheimer’s disease by measuring subtle changes in brain structure over time, it was also reported.

Researchers tracked 169 people over three years who had been diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment or MCI, a condition that causes memory problems greater than those expected for an individual’s age – but not t...