September 21 is the World Alzheimer's Day. This is an opportunity to underline the importance of research and prevention against a disease that has spread particularly in the last decade. To suffer, only in Italy, would be over 600 thousand people, while in the rest of the world it is diagnosed every 3,2 seconds. Impressive numbers, destined to grow if a cure is not found. However, just in these days, a new discovery seems to have rekindled hope. A group of Italian researchers has in fact found a way to diagnose it several years before the onset of symptoms.
Artificial intelligence to the rescue of man
A group of researchers from the University of Bari, led by Marianna LaRocca e Nicholas Love, was able to demonstrate the effectiveness of artificial intelligence when applied in the diagnosis of Alzheimer's. The team has fine-tuned an algorithm capable of identifying a brain with a high possibility of getting sick. How? By having him analyze about 67 resonances of healthy and sick people. Once the results were stored, they then repeated the experiment. This time though without reporting to the computer those relating to the carriers of the disease. Out of 148 resonances, artificial intelligence was able to distinguish those of healthy, sick or people predisposed to the development of the disease, with 86% accuracy. Said this way it also seems simple, but behind it there is a work of engineering, computer science and medicine that lasted years. A work that just recently ended up on the front page of the Times.
Diagnose Alzheimer's in time
The research from the University of Bari was defined by the Times as a turning point. The main problem with this evil lies in the inability to make an early diagnosis. The actual symptoms manifest themselves, in fact, only when the disease is in an advanced stage. However scientists believe that it is possible to identify it 10 to 20 years before it arises, thus making treatments more effective. The results of Italian researchers, for this very reason, are invaluable in being able to diagnose and fight this disease in time.
