Missing Memories

When does Alzheimer's disease begin? A study suggests the damage starts earlier than you think

Doctors are all too familiar with the final stages of Alzheimer's disease, when neurodegenerative plaques and tangles spread throughout the brains of their patients, robbing them of memory, dignity and finally their lives. But what if there were a way to halt this terrifying decline? What if scientists developed a treatment that could somehow stop Alzheimer's disease in its tracks and prevent any further deterioration? Chances are you'd want to treat folks as soon as possible, in the earliest stages of the disease, long before devastating brain damage had occurred.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis,...

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