MINNEAPOLIS, Aug. 24 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers have discovered a non-invasive predictive tool for Alzheimer's and other brain diseases.
Researchers from the University of Minnesota Medical School and the Minneapolis VA Medical Center used magnetoencephalography to record tiny magnetic fields in the brain and recorded brain cells on a millisecond-by-millisecond basis communicating with each other while research subjects stared at a point of light.
After applying various mathematic algorithms, the researchers were able to classify the 142 research subjects by diagnosis. Study participants fell into one of six categories -- including people with Alzheimer's disease, chronic alcoholism, schizophrenia, multiple sclerosis or Sjogren's syndrome, as well as healthy controls, said study leader Dr. Apostolos P. Georgopoulos.
"This elegantly simple test allows us to glimpse into the brain as it is working," Georgopoulos said in a statement. "We were able to classify, with 100 percent accuracy, the various disease groups represented in the group of research subjects."
The study is published in the Journal of Neural Engineering.
