A to Z Health Guide 2007

The scientific bulletin of the year may be the stem-cell breakthrough. But 2007 provided a whole alphabet of big medical news. TIME's A-to-Z guide reviews them

By Coco Masters, Alice Park, Carolyn Sayre, Tiffany Sharples, Alexandra Silver and Kate Stinchfield

Alzheimer's

Pascal Deloche / Godong / Corbis
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It's known as the long goodbye, but Alzheimer's disease takes a similarly long time to diagnose. Confirmation of whether a person truly had the disease is not possible until an autopsy of brain tissue is conducted. An international coalition of experts from France to Japan is trying to change that, calling for the use of new imaging techniques to scan the brain while the patient is still alive, and examination of cerebrospinal fluid, recently found to carry markers that signal the disease. Earlier diagnosis can mean better treatment.

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