THE rate of mental decline seen within patients with Alzheimer's disease is directly related to the educational level of the affected individual, according to a report in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry. The new findings are based on a study of 312 patients living in New York who were diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and followed for an average of 5.6 years. Up to nine neuropsychological tests were performed on each subject during the course of the study. Overall, mental agility fell by nine per cent of a standard deviation each year, lead author Dr Nikolaos Scarmeas and colleagues...