Researchers craft new testing device to detect early Alzheimer's

We've heard that the "gold standard" pen and paper test seems to work fairly well at detecting the earliest stage of Alzheimer's disease, but gurus from Georgia Tech and Emory University have teamed up to develop a much quicker method for accomplishing the same. The ten-minute DETECT test utilizes a head-worn visor with a built-in LCD, headphones and a handheld controller, which the patient interacts with as he / she is put through a series of visual and auditory tests that "assess cognitive abilities relative to age," gauge reaction time and measure memory capabilities. Initial tests have purportedly shown it to have "similar accuracy" to the aforementioned pen and paper test (which takes around 90-minutes to administer), and while we've no idea when the device will be available for public use, its creators have already formed a firm (Zenda Technologies) to commercialize it. Finally, a legitimate use for head-mounted displays -- thought we'd never see the day.

[Via Wired]

[Sirocco @ Jan 19th 2008 8:41PM]

Yea but you'll need a walker to get around in one of those things.

[aoeu00 @ Jan 19th 2008 9:02PM]

So... who's testing who in the photo? :P

[Lawr. @ Jan 21st 2008 3:12AM]

John C. Dvorak, lol.

[fischju @ Jan 19th 2008 9:05PM]

Alzheimer's - the new ADD

[stitifier @ Jan 19th 2008 9:10PM]

Your comparison reveals your ignorance.

[fischju @ Jan 19th 2008 9:17PM]

They can test anybody for this easily now, like they can with ADD, and I bet that thousands of people with insurance will turn out to have it, to increase the profits of a pharmaceutical company. I don't see the problem.

[stitifier @ Jan 19th 2008 10:02PM]

Ah yes, because treating diseases to improve people's lives is inherently evil because sometimes we have to prescribe medications. If it were strictly up to people like you, we'd treat appendicitis with yoga.

[fischju @ Jan 19th 2008 10:09PM]

My recent poll shows that 90% of the kids in my school are on behavioral modification drugs, and that 87% have insurance as a whole. Is nothing there jumping out at you? These don't cure diseases, so it's much harder to say if they work or not.

[stitifier @ Jan 19th 2008 10:11PM]

I don't know where you got your results, but my intuition tells me that if 87% of people have something at baseline, it's not a disorder. I call bullshit.

And if you think it's a problem that people have health insurance, you're even stupider than you sounded the first time.

[fischju @ Jan 19th 2008 10:17PM]

Teenagers are on pills for just about everything, and parents don't talk about it because it's taboo; they don't want their kids to seem weaker/worse/whatever. Health insurance isn't bad, but do you really think all these kids need all of those meds?

[stitifier @ Jan 19th 2008 10:24PM]

First of all, you're delving way off the topic at hand, that is to say, Alzheimer's Disease. Alzheimer's Disease is a very real and devastating disease. I guarantee you that should you ever talk to a caretaker or family member of somebody who has Alzheimer's, and suggest that you take away any of their medications for the disease (say Aricept or Namenda) they'll look at you like you're nuts. Which you very well might be.

Now as to whether or not kids should be on psychoactive meds, I agree that ADD is overdiagnosed. But that's because of lazy pediatricians, and not because of some sinister conspiracy between doctors, HMOs, and pharmaceutical companies. If you don't believe me, why don't you get into medicine somehow and prove me wrong?

[derX @ Jan 19th 2008 11:17PM]

Stitifier, "If it were strictly up to people like you, we'd treat appendicitis with yoga."

xDDDDD

That totally got you points in my book--well that in addition to my concurrence with you.

------------

Yo, Fish, what the hell type of school do you go to?
Let me guess, is it something like Pfeizer High (hrm, I guess I'll have that pun intended) or U. Glaxo? Also, the comparison of Alzheimer's disease to ADD was just soooo off. I get it, you're saying that it'll end up being over-diagnosed, but:
[1] Alzheimer's is accompanied by many physical signs rendering unable to be as easily misdiagnosed/over-diagnosed.
[2] the general drawing of a similarity between the two was not cool at all. Your point was made, but not the one you would've like to have been received. (To see said received message, go to: Stitifier's first comment)

[ssuk @ Jan 20th 2008 5:22AM]

"My recent poll shows that 90% of the kids in my school are on behavioral modification drugs, and that 87% have insurance as a whole. Is nothing there jumping out at you? These don't cure diseases, so it's much harder to say if they work or not."

My recent poll shows that 90% of me thinks you're an idiot, and 10% of me thinks you over-exaggerated your results.
Considering you said "my school", would lead me to believe you're 13, you conducted a poll on the only people who would talk to you, the nerdy kids in the corner, and you built your findings off a closed, narrow demographic. Congratulations.

[stitifier @ Jan 19th 2008 9:09PM]

90 minutes for a pen-and-paper test? It takes me about ten minutes, tops, to administer the SLUMS (Saint Louis University Mental Status Exam) to patients I suspect of having dementia. It certainly doesn't require any fancy equipment like the kind shown here, and its sensitivity and specificity for dementia have been proven in clinical studies.

[frontallobes @ Jan 20th 2008 3:23PM]

Yes, there are several batteries taking less than 10 minutes to administer, but they are not sensitive to EARLY AD (Mild Cognitive Impairment). 90 minutes is needed when etiology is uncertain and patients cognitive functions are mostly well preserved.

[stitifier @ Jan 20th 2008 3:43PM]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the SLUMS actually designed with early cognitive impairment in mind? I mean, it certainly contains "mild cognitive impairment" as one of the scoring outcomes.

[Flashpoint @ Jan 19th 2008 9:10PM]

Alzheimer's test?

That old giezer is a Prestige Level 5 on Call of Duty 4

[aMac @ Jan 19th 2008 9:18PM]

The gents of Daft Punk want their prototype helmets back

[Reader @ Jan 19th 2008 9:44PM]

Dying isn't the scary part, it's all the shit that comes before it. Not sure what I'd do if I ended up with Alzheimer's, I've seen what it's like. A friend has his mother living with him and his family, and it's pretty sad. I would hate to be the one with Alzheimer's.

[stitifier @ Jan 19th 2008 10:09PM]

Actually, it's a lot harder to be the caretakers. Most of my patients with Alzheimers are what we call "pleasantly confused."

[Reader @ Jan 19th 2008 11:17PM]

I understand that, but as the one with Alzheimer's you're unknowingly putting your family through that pain.

[ZeroCorpse @ Jan 19th 2008 9:49PM]

Wait-- So the woman on the right isn't a robot?
She looks like a robot.

[IndiaTech @ Jan 20th 2008 3:29AM]

That too a cute one.

[Andir3.0 @ Jan 20th 2008 4:26AM]

Yeah... for a minute there I thought he was using VR to control a she-robot to use his laptop. I thought it was a little inefficient.

Maybe she needs to lay off the makeup.

[ssuk @ Jan 20th 2008 5:24AM]

She may want to think of laying off the confectioneries as well...

[ssuk @ Jan 20th 2008 5:24AM]

She may want to think of laying off the confectioneries as well...

[ArcAngelMD @ Jan 19th 2008 9:53PM]

This is nice but it won't get large market success in the field. As stitifier alluded to there is many many brief screening instruments (5 minutes or less) that have extremely high rates of tagging potential early Alzheimer's (catches all; but false positives need to be ruled out).

The 90 minutes would be for a comprehensive neuro battery that verifies diagnosis. Many assessment publishing companies have attempted to use head gear assessments for testing but found that they hit a few major barriers:

(1) Implementation costs (Budgets are constantly shrinking in this sector)
(2) Technical Barriers (Many clinicians in the field are not technically savvy - trust me I used to sell these kinds of things)
(3) Fear of technology which can cause the client to be distracted or just narrowly hurt their focus enough to create false results. Its hard enough to calm people down for a paper-and-pencil test!

[FT @ Jan 19th 2008 9:54PM]

Is it just me...or the woman's hand seems unusually HUGE?

[Flashpoint @ Jan 19th 2008 9:58PM]

...its cause she is a fatty. But the thing is, fat girls will give you the time of your life.

[derX @ Jan 19th 2008 11:24PM]

My thoughts exactly, I call...

PHOTOSHOP!!!

*soundly (and justly) flogged for stupidity*
------------
Flashpoint, "But the thing is, fat girls will give you the time of your life."

So unrelated yet oh-so very funny xDDD

--------------
*gives [+] to both*

[pattman247 @ Jan 19th 2008 10:06PM]

isn't it ironic that this article is about the early detection of Alzheimer's through new medical testing, but the researcher with the fat hands is typing on her computer improperly which could lead to carpal tunnel syndrome :D
"noone is as smart as meeeeee" said the doctor.

[trevor @ Jan 20th 2008 5:18AM]

Maybe she forgot how?

[BobTurbo @ Jan 19th 2008 10:50PM]

That is what sex will be like in the future.

[eric @ Jan 27th 2008 2:19PM]

BRAVO

[yelohbird @ Jan 19th 2008 11:41PM]

It's a PS controller...he's playing a game under there!!

[krudl3r @ Jan 20th 2008 12:54AM]

meh

[IndiaTech @ Jan 20th 2008 3:33AM]

That is not an Alzheimer's Testing thingie. It is the new e-meter 4000 used by Scientologists.

[Reginald @ Jan 20th 2008 4:05AM]

Hmm, so the ability to play video games = unlikely candidate for Alzheimer's.

Seriously, what if you're an old gamer? I thought proclivities for Alzheimer's could be detected with genetic testing.


Well, I'm off to fight Alzheimer's with Halo 3.

[Steve Butler @ Jan 20th 2008 6:48AM]

lol a PS2 controller and an old Dell laptop just aren't going to work.

[wickedpheonix @ Jan 20th 2008 6:52AM]

Uhhmmm.... didn't a better way to detect early Alzheimer's come out? I learned about this in Psych class, maybe I learned wrong but this is what I think I learned:

Turns out Alzheimer's is connected to classic conditioning - where, example, hot water in shower makes you cringe, toilet flushing makes water hot, then all you need is to hear the toiler flush to jump away. Classical conditioning is purely an automatic response, you don't have to think about it at all and you can't fake it. So there was this procedure where they would puff some air into your eyes and accompany it with a tone and condition you to blink when you hear the tone, and the doctor would measure how long you took to respond to the tone. Using this test they found Alzheimer's in people with no symptoms up to about 5 years or something before they developed symptoms.

So, was the paper test method better than this or something, and produce more reliable results earlier? Is this new test going to be better?

[Bioresearcher @ Jan 20th 2008 8:59AM]

The compound resveratrol has shown interesting neuroprotective properties in clinical trials earlier this year. Drs. Anderson and Setia reported in a January paper that of 14 patients given biotivia transmax, an extract of red wine used by researchers, 12 either showed marked improvement in memory and motor skills or had their disease arrested. Sirtris pharma is developing a synthetic version of biotivia transmax which it intends to have on the market in five years. The natural form can be obtained in supplement form presently. In another study by Dr. Sinclair of Harvard published in the journal Nature transmax was shown to increase the life span of obese mammals by 31%.

[Anthony Loera @ Jan 23rd 2008 10:41AM]

Stop misinforming the public about Dr. Sinclair using transmax. It amazes me you are not
developing a better product instead of trying to misinform people.This is on the Longevinex website regarding Biotivia:
http://www.fda.gov/foi/warning_letters/s6562c.htm

It appears that the United States Governement is upset about your advertising and marketing tactics as well.

Resveratrol Price Watch:
www.ResveratrolPriceWatch.com

[Wodheila @ Jan 20th 2008 9:09AM]

Follow the links to a very hi-res picture and look at the bolt in the visor.

[brokenkeyboard @ Jan 20th 2008 4:27PM]

yep. thats a bolt if I've ever seen one.

[Roberto @ Jan 20th 2008 9:54AM]

Researchers are also investigating repeated entries by professional bloggers in the diagnosis of Alzheimer's.

[Jeff @ Jan 20th 2008 3:14PM]

This is totally the opening scene to Halo: The Mundane Wars.

[psycho joe @ Jan 20th 2008 2:32PM]

ok So I'm going to ask you a few questions about your mother....

[j0sh @ Jan 20th 2008 3:29PM]

Doesn't anyone else find it sad that the guy from Daft Punk has alzheimers?

[frontallobes @ Jan 21st 2008 8:01AM]

I think you are kind of right. SLUMS does indeed screen for MCI by stating that a given score will need further examination. There has also been a study (maybe more) where SLUMS differentiates MCI from normal functioning individuals. SLUMS does however not give much useful information in regards of etiology, does not differentiate between stress/depression/MCI and does not give any information regarding which cognitive domain is reduced.
I would administer some more paper and pencil tests before I jump to any conclusion - SLUMS is a good start, though.

[kastonie @ Jan 20th 2008 5:48PM]

the chicks hands look huge...