People at Risk of Alzheimer's May Now Be Able to Delay the Onset of Their First Symptoms

The human brain loses 5 to 10% of its weight between the ages of 20 and 90 years old. While some cells are lost, the brain is equipped with two compensatory mechanisms: plasticity and redundancy. Based on the results of her most recent clinical study published March 23 in the online version of Brain: A Journal of Neurology, Dr. Sylvie Belleville, PhD in neuropsychology, the principal author of this study and Director of Research at the Institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal (IUGM), which is affiliated with the Université de Montréal, has found that for elderly subjects at risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, hope may lie in brain plasticity.

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