Research: new studies on Alzheimer's disease and Down syndrome

Longitudinal study of ageing and Alzheimer's disease
Researchers at the University of Kentucky have been awarded a $US2.4 million grant to study ageing and Alzheimer's disease in people with Down syndrome over a five year period.  Deatials are available here.

Links between Alzheimer's disease, cataracts and Down syndrome
A team of researchers at the Boston University Medical Centre has discovered that the protein that forms plaques in the brain in Alzheimer's disease also accumulates in the eyes of people with Down syndrome. The new findings in Down syndrome show that the toxic protein, known as amyloid-β, that causes Alzheimer's pathology in the brain also leads to distinctive cataracts in the eyes. The discovery is leading the researchers to develop an innovative eye test for early detection of Alzheimer's pathology in both disorders.  
Read more here.   (Note: the comment, attributed to the corresponding author of the study, Assoc Prof. Lee Goldstein, that "People with Down syndrome develop symptoms of Alzheimer's-type dementia often by the age of 30" refers to changes in the brains of people with Down syndrome, not to the clinical appearance of Alzheimer's disease, which is not known to occur in people with Down syndrome before the age of 30.)