[00:00.00]From VOA learning English,
[00:02.93]this is the Health Report.
[00:05.48]You wake up early one morning to make a meal
[00:08.68]to take to work and then you forget it.
[00:11.47]Has this ever happened to you?
[00:13.41]Or you see your next door neighbour someone you know well
[00:18.04]but you can not remember his name.
[00:20.54]Your family doctor says it is nothing to worry about,
[00:24.48]just a part of getting old.
[00:26.97]Well, that is true, it might not be the whole story.
[00:32.01]At a conference two weeks ago, researchers said
[00:36.92]they now have proof that self-reproted minor memory lose
[00:41.70]sometimes led to greater mental decline six years later.
[00:48.27]The Alzheimer's Association organized the event.
[00:52.31]Rebecca Amariglio is a neuropsychologist
[00:56.49]at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.
[01:01.65]She found that individuals who worried about their memory
[01:06.03]will more likely to suffer a loss of mental ability.
[01:10.60]Her research shows that such persons were likely
[01:15.51]to have a protein called beta-amyloid in the brain.
[01:20.29]Beta-amyloid is suspected of being at least
[01:24.27]partly involved with Alzheimer's disease.
[01:28.25]Evidence that the disease develops
[01:30.63]for an unknown period of time before experts
[01:35.01]recognize it is leading to a new area of study.
[01:39.85]It is called subjective cognitive decline.
[01:43.84]It involves people who sense that their memory
[01:47.72]and thinking skills are failing before others realize it.
[01:54.10]Experts want to inform the public that most people
[01:58.58]who worry about their mental decline do not develop dementia
[02:04.15]-- the most commonm form of Alzheimer's.
[02:07.49]what they are experiencing is truly natural and normal aging.
[02:13.73]Ronald Petersen is a member of the Alzhermer's
[02:17.51]Association National Board.
[02:20.10]He says people should be tested
[02:22.93]if they fear they might have the disease.
[02:27.06]Doctor Petersen says it is important
[02:29.96]that subjective cognitive decline be recognized.
[02:35.04]In his words, it can be a wake-up call for doctors.
[02:39.86]"So the doctors do not dismiss somebody when they come in,
[02:43.80]say, eg. 'Doctor, my memory isn't quite what it used to be.'
[02:47.43]Again, doesn't mean it's Alzheimer's Diseaser.
[02:49.57]But it does suggest the physician that he or she
[02:53.20]needs to ask few more probing questions."
[02:55.74]He says doctors might ask patients about other issues,
[03:00.17]like any medicines they are taking
[03:03.00]and whether they suffer from anxiety, depression or stress.
[03:08.28]He says all those things can cause changes in memory.
[03:13.96]At the same time, he says,
[03:16.20]memory loss could be an early sign of something more serious.
[03:21.98]Doctor Peterson describes the recognition of
[03:26.02]subjective cognitive decline as an important change
[03:31.04]that will help doctors identify who might be at risk.
[03:35.97]That way, when therapies are developed,
[03:39.05]the eariler doctors intervene,
[03:41.69]the more likely these treatments might be effective.
[03:46.57]Right now, there is no way to cure Alzheimer's.
[03:51.46]And that's the Health Report from VOA Learning English.