"These results suggest that prenatal brain development may be a very important influence on psychiatric risk later in life," said lead author of the study and assistant professor of psychiatry at UNC, Rebecca C. Knickmeyer. In addition to early detection, the study may also lead to early intervention breakthroughs in the degenerative brain disorder.
According to the report on UNC's website:
The study included 272 infants who received MRI scans at UNC Hospitals shortly after birth. The DNA of each was tested for 10 common variations in 7 genes that have been linked to brain structure in adults. These genes have also been implicated in conditions such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, autism, Alzheimer's disease, anxiety disorders and depression.Experts say that Alzheimer's early intervention offers far more than just the obvious health benefits - there are economic and social gains, too. Currently, there are 5.4 million Americans living with the disease, and a majority of them receive a late diagnosis, if they receive any diagnosis at all. The result is a so-called treatment gap that limits their access to critical information, proper care and community support. This not only hurts the patient, but their families and caregivers as well.
For some polymorphisms - such as a variation in the APOE gene which is associated with Alzheimer's disease - the brain changes in infants looked very similar to brain changes found in adults with the same variants, Knickmeyer said. "This could stimulate an exciting new line of research focused on preventing onset of illness through very early intervention in at-risk individuals."
It would be nice to be able to help people before they get sick. Assuming the diagnosis is correct, which I doubt. This stinks of pre-emptive strikes and pre-crime enforcement. The way the world is presently constituted, this will be used to dole out more pills (ka-ching) that are of dubious value or are lethal, use more resources (ka-ching) compiling lists of potential criminal offenders, and screening out employees (ka-ching) who may cost a bit more in the health care department.
And if they do get around to just slaughtering people to lower the population, guess who'll be the first herded onto the cattle-cars?