Dr. Dougherty was featured on ABC World News with Diane Sawyer April 12, discussing his research on driving with Alzheimer’s, in the driving simulator from the University of Tennessee. You can read the full story on the ABC site here, or watch the video below. If you are concerned that you or a loved one may have signs of early Alzheimer’s, you may take the early warning screen, developed by Dr. Dougherty, here.
Dr. John Dougherty will be interviewed tonight on ABC World News with Diane Sawyer, to discuss his Alzheimer’s research, using the driving simulator at The University of Tennessee and Cole Neuroscience Center. You can read the original story, aired on Knoxville ABC-affiliate WATE here.
ALZselftest creator, Dr. John Dougherty, is leveraging the new driving simulator at the University of Tennessee to conduct some very important research on driving and Alzheimer’s disease. You can read the full story from WATE here. Please note the Lenoir City Forget Me Not 5k benefits Dr. Dougherty’s research. If you are in the Knoxville area, please plan to join us!
“Some people with severe memory problems have a difficult time remembering how to get home. They get lost in the car,” Dr. Dougherty says. “But also other things happen in Alzheimer’s disease. That is, one’s attention can be affected. You might see a dog or a child run across the street and may not be able to react as quickly.”
Dr. Dougherty hopes to start testing his patients in the simulator within the next couple of months.
Lenoir City is hosting the Forget Me Not 5K for Alzheimer’s on Saturday April 17. All proceeds will go toward Dr. Dougherty’s research at UT.
The Alzheimer’s Association is holding a Memory Walk in Knoxville the same day.
Front page article in the Knoxville News Sentinel – Test developed by UT doc and his son screens for Alzheimer’s March 31, 2010
Here is the latest list of sites featuring articles on the Computerized Self Test, or, the ALZselftest.com:
On PubMed.gov
From Science Daily
New Article on Computerized Self Test from Medscape
From The Behavioral Medicine Report
From WATE.com
From WATE News in Knoxville, TN. Get the whole story here.
KNOXVILLE (WATE) – A new online test developed in Knoxville may help with earlier diagnoses of Alzheimer’s disease.
An estimated 5 million people have Alzheimer’s disease and the latest studies show up to 60 percent go undiagnosed until it’s too late to do much about it.
It’s a progressive and fatal disease of the brain that destroys brain cells, causing memory loss and problems with thinking and behavior.
The simple, interactive test is posted on the Web sitealzselftest.com. It only takes 10 minutes and costs just under $20.
Your answers reveal important information about your mental functions.
The test is a sort of fitness test for the brain. It starts with questions like what year is it? What month? What week?
Then the questions progress to dig deeper into what’s going on in your brain.
At UT Medical Center’s Cole Neuroscience Center, researcher Rex Cannon, with UT Knoxville, and Dr. John Dougherty with the, UT Graduate School of Medicine, developed the test to get more people diagnosed in time to make a difference in their quality of life.
“It’s so important, if not critical, for people to come early for evaluation. That’s why we’ve been so interested in developing this test that people can access online. Or if they’re not computer literate a loved one, family member, can help them with the computer interface,” Dr. Dougherty says.
“Nobody is really afraid of the test and I think that’s important they don’t feel alienated, kind of comfortable taking it. It speaks to the patient with verbal instructions so that’s important,” Cannon says.
After you take the test, if you show early signs of Alzheimer’s disease, you can take the results to your doctor.
KNOXVILLE – Early detection is key to more effective treatment for Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of cognitive impairment, and new research shows that a test developed by researchers at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, is more than 95 percent effective in detecting cognitive abnormalities associated with these diseases.
The test, called CST — for computerized self test – was designed to be both effective and relatively simple for medical professionals to administer and for patients to take.
Rex Cannon, an assistant professor of psychology at UT Knoxville, and Dr. John Dougherty, an associate professor in the UT Graduate School of Medicine, worked with a team of researchers to develop CST. The impetus for the test came from data showing that 60 percent of Alzheimer’s cases are not diagnosed in the primary care setting, and that those delays lead to missed treatment opportunities.
“Early detection is at the forefront of the clinical effort in Alzheimer’s research, and application of instruments like CST in the primary care setting is of extreme importance,” said Cannon.
The CST is a brief, interactive online test that works to asses various impairments in functional cognitive domains – in essence, it’s a fitness test of sorts for the basic functions of thinking and processing information that are affected by Alzheimers and milder forms of cognitive impairment.
Cannon and Dougherty’s research, published in the April issue of the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, showed that the CST was substantially more effective and more accurate in detecting the presence of Alzheimer and other forms of cognitive impairment in patients than other existing tests. The CST had a 96 percent accuracy rate compared to 71 percent and 69 percent for the tests that are currently in use.
Part of the goal in developing the test, according to Cannon, was to ensure that the test is useful in the primary care setting, where physicians may not have detailed training in recognizing cognitive impairments, but where an early diagnosis may do the most good for patients.
“Computerized testing is a developing and exciting area for research,” said Cannon, who noted that the test can provide an objective way to determine what diseases may affect the patient and provide information to begin treatments that can blunt the effects of Alzheimer’s.
Cannon and Dougherty, who are also affiliated with the Cole Neuroscience Institute at the UT Medical Center, collaborated with Medical Interactive Education in developing the CST over the past two years.
The journal article is titled “The Computerized Self Test (CST): An Interactive, Internet Accessible Cognitive Screening Test For Dementia,” Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, 20 (1) and The test can be found at www.alzselftest.com.
