Experts disclose dementia research

Some of the world’s leading experts will be among those attending the two-day event at Leeds University organised by Alzheimer’s Research UK.

Among those presenting research papers will be Professor Annalena Venneri, from Hull University.

She will discuss her research into the genetics behind declining language skills in people at risk of developing Alzheimer’s.

Her team has been studying a known Alzheimer’s risk gene called APOE4 and the effect it has on the language abilities of people with mild cognitive impairment.

About one person in six people over 70 has the impairment, which causes problems with memory, language and other mental functions, but not enough to interfere with daily life.

Research has established that about half of those affected go on to develop dementia within five years of being diagnosed.

Research in Hull has found that people with mild cognitive impairment, who also carry the Alzheimer’s risk gene, score lower on a test of their language abilities than those without the gene, while brain scans show they also have greater shrinkage in regions of the brain usually affected when Alzheimer’s develops.

It is hoped that the team’s work could improve early Alzheimer’s diagnoses.