Professor J rgen G?¶tz and Dr Lars Ittner are based at Sydney University's Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Disease Laboratory at the Brain and Mind Research Institute, having moved from the University of Zurich/Switzerland three years ago.

In the article they review what we have learned from disease models of Alzheimer's and related dementias, and in particular how they have contributed to the early diagnosis and the prospect of a treatment strategy. They also discuss their groundbreaking work, together with research by others that has led to the identification of novel players and promising drug targets.

"At present, neither Alzheimer's nor related dementias can be cured," said Professor G?¶tz. "Current treatment approaches include vaccination, anti-inflammatory drugs, and modulators for formation, aggregation and clearance of toxic proteins that accumulate in the brains of Alzheimer patients. Many of the new therapeutic strategies have their foundation in disease models as the work of J rgen G?¶tz and Lars Ittner highlights," he said.

The Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Disease Laboratory headed by Professor G?¶tz works to identify the mechanisms that lead to progressive neurodegeneration and dementia, and study the effects of genetics, aging and associated disorders such as diabetes, as well as dietary aspects.

The researchers are convinced that by adopting a healthier lifestyle and introducing early diagnosis and a targeted therapy, Alzheimer's disease can be successfully treated in the near future.

The article appears in the current issue of Nature Reviews Neuroscience (Vol. 9, Issue 7, 532-544, July 2008).

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Commenting on the research published on BMJ today, QRisk2 project leader, Professor Julia Hippisley-Cox of The University of Nottingham, said: "Based on the study of 15 years of data from over 2 million UK patients, QRisk2 is a contemporary and specific risk score that allows CVD risk to be personalised to the individual patient.

"Qrisk2 has been developed for GPs, by GPs and without the co-operation of the thousands of working GPs who freely contribute their data to QResearch, projects like QRisk2 could not happen."

Dr David Stables, Clinical Director of EMIS and a Director of Qresearch, said: "QRisk2 is likely to be a more efficient tool for treatment decisions, supporting the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease.

"We are currently working on software that will enable GPs to implement QRisk2 easily within clinical practice."

The study comes as the Government's health watchdog, NICE, recommends a systematic identification of people with a 20 per cent chance of developing heart disease in the next 10 years. The Government is investing an extra 500 million to support this work.

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