Narrator:        This is Science Today. Mild cognitive impairment is an intermediate phase between normal and Alzheimer's disease and some believe it's an early stage of Alzheimer's. Now, a national study has found that brain scans and cognitive tests of patients with mild cognitive impairment can work as an early warning system for the subsequent development of Alzheimer's disease, a finding which could lead to earlier treatment. Research scientist Susan Landau of the University of California, Berkeley was lead author of the study.

Landau:          One really exciting thing about this study is that we were using data from large, multi-center nationwide study called the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, or ADNI, and that allowed us to access all kinds of information on these subjects - looking at all different factors, genetic cognitive, brain imaging, cerebral spinal fluid markers and compare them to one another. And this is actually the first time this has been done on this scale.

Narrator:        For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.