The Deep View: AI for Good: Detecting Alzheimer’s

Posted on April 23, 2025 by michelleclarke2015
AI for Good: Detecting Alzheimer’s 
Source: Unsplash
Today, there is no cure for Alzheimer’s Disease. 
But that doesn’t mean that early diagnosis isn’t necessary. Researchers have found that it might be possible to either delay or prevent the development of dementia in some patients through specific interventions, including drugs that slow the progression of the disease, drugs that treat memory loss symptoms and non-drug therapies, like making art. 
What happened: On a mission to improve early Alzheimer’s diagnoses, researchers at UC San Francisco last year built a machine learning model that can predict the disease up to seven years before symptoms begin to surface. 
The team trained random forest models on the clinical data of more than five million Alzheimer’s patients from UCSF’s Memory and Aging Center. They were looking for patterns that appeared consistently across those patients, paying significant attention to signs that were present in patients with Alzheimer’s, but were not present in patients without the disease. (Random forests are a popular type of machine learning model. Read more about them here). Thus equipped, the model was capable of predicting Alzheimer’s up to seven years before symptoms set in with 72% predictive power. 
Why it matters: The researchers were able to examine predictive factors for both men and women separately, which, considering the increased rate at which women tend to get Alzheimer’s, represents an important discovery. They found that hypertension, high cholesterol and vitamin D deficiencies act as predictive factors for both men and women, adding that osteoporosis is a predictive factor for women. 
“It is the combination of diseases that allows our model to predict Alzheimer’s onset,” Alice Tang, the study’s lead author, said in a statement. “Our finding that osteoporosis is one predictive factor for females highlights the biological interplay between bone health and dementia risk.”
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About michelleclarke2015

Life event that changes all: Horse riding accident in Zimbabwe in 1993, a fractured skull et al including bipolar anxiety, chronic fatigue …. co-morbidities (Nietzche 'He who has the reason why can deal with any how' details my health history from 1993 to date). 17th 2017 August operation for breast cancer (no indications just an appointment came from BreastCheck through the Post). Trinity College Dublin Business Economics and Social Studies (but no degree) 1997-2003; UCD 1997/1998 night classes) essays, projects, writings. Trinity Horizon Programme 1997/98 (Centre for Women Studies Trinity College Dublin/St. Patrick's Foundation (Professor McKeon) EU Horizon funded: research study of 15 women (I was one of this group and it became the cornerstone of my journey to now 2017) over 9 mth period diagnosed with depression and their reintegration into society, with special emphasis on work, arts, further education; Notes from time at Trinity Horizon Project 1997/98; Articles written for Irishhealth.com 2003/2004; St Patricks Foundation monthly lecture notes for a specific period in time; Selection of Poetry including poems written by people I know; Quotations 1998-2017; other writings mainly with theme of social justice under the heading Citizen Journalism Ireland. Letters written to friends about life in Zimbabwe; Family history including Michael Comyn KC, my grandfather, my grandmother's family, the O'Donnellan ffrench Blake-Forsters; Moral wrong: An acrimonious divorce but the real injustice was the Catholic Church granting an annulment – you can read it and make your own judgment, I have mine. Topics I have written about include annual Brain Awareness week, Mashonaland Irish Associataion in Zimbabwe, Suicide (a life sentence to those left behind); Nostalgia: Tara Hill, Co. Meath.
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