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India Gazette (ANI) Friday 24th August, 2012

A simple eye test may help combat Alzheimer's disease by detecting the sufferers well in advance of the destruction caused by the killer brain disease, scientists claim.

Alzheimer's is an incurable condition and experts believe the key to tackling it - and stopping it - lies in early detection.

Research led by Lancaster University - in partnership with Royal Preston Hospital, Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS foundation trust - has shown that people with Alzheimer's have difficulty with one particular type of eye tracking test, the Daily Express reported.

As part of the team's study, 18 patients with Alzheimer's, 25 patients with Parkinson's, 17 healthy young people and 18 healthy older people were asked to follow the movements of light on a computer. But in some instances they were asked to look away from the light.

Detailed eye-tracking measurements taken from the group showed stark contrasts in results.

Alzheimer's patients made errors when they were asked to look away from the light and were unable to correct those errors.

This was despite them being able to respond perfectly normally when asked to look towards the light.

These errors were 10 times more frequent in the Alzheimer's patients compared with the control groups.