• Question: what experiments do you perform on people to determine why people get dementia? are the experiments for males different to females?

    Asked by maryam.m_2003 to Adrian, Iroise, Joe, Rachel, Ria on 6 Nov 2016.
    • Photo: Iroise Dumontheil

      Iroise Dumontheil answered on 6 Nov 2016:

      This is not my specialty, but you can do a range of tests including pen and paper tests, questionnaires, but also brain scans, to try to diagnose dementia. I don’t think the test would differ between men and women because their symptoms would be very similar. You can read more about tests for diagnosing dementia here:
      http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/dementia-guide/pages/dementia-diagnosis-tests.aspx

    • Photo: Ria Vaportzis

      Ria Vaportzis answered on 7 Nov 2016:

      I use several different tests for the various thinking skills that people have; however, I use them to determine if they have dementia or if there’s something not right with their thinking skills, and therefore, they may get dementia.

      For example, to test memory I may ask someone to repeat some numbers after I spell them out (e.g., repeat 4 – 7 – 2, repeat 6 – 0 – 9 – 3, repeat 2 – 4 – 6 – 8 – 1). The numbers get progressively longer. A person with dementia may struggle to repeat even 3 digits (4 – 7 – 2).

      To test their language skills I may ask them to tell me what some words mean (e.g., breakfast, pollute, plagiarism). The words get progressively harder. A person with dementia may struggle to explain what breakfast is.

      To test their ability to solve a problem I may ask them to put a puzzle together. The puzzle can have 3, 4, 7 or more pieces. A person with dementia may struggle to put together a 3-piece puzzle.

      I score each of these tests, and then put their scores altogether to give me a total score. If the total score is below a certain number, then I can say that the person’s thinking skills are not very good. Then, they may have to do some more tests to find out exactly what they have.

    • Photo: Rachel Harris

      Rachel Harris answered on 7 Nov 2016:

      I perform experiments on brains that have been donated by someone who has had dementia after they’ve died. By looking at their brains and comparing them to those without dementia I can start to understand what has changed when people have the disease. We do the same experiments on male and female brains.

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