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"We need to retrace the steps of the development of these diseases," Doty said. "We know loss of smell is an early sign of their onset, so finding common factors associated with the smell loss could provide clues as to the pre-existing processes that initiate the first stages of a number of neurodegenerative diseases. An understanding of such processes could provide novel approaches to their treatment, including ways to slow down or stop their development before irreversible damage has occurred." Currently, it's is generally believed that the smell loss of various neurodegenerative diseases is caused by disease-specific pathology. In other words, different diseases can bring about the same loss of smell for different reasons. Doty's review -- the first of its kind -- looked at many neurodegenerative diseases with varying degrees of smell loss and sought to find a common link that may explain such losses. He considered physiological factors as well as env...

But all is not lost according to the first study to look at and measure communication outcomes in both the caregiver spouse and the patient with dementia. In fact, researchers from Florida Atlantic University have found that "practice makes perfect" with the right intervention and a tool that can accurately measure couples' communication. Results from the study are published in the journal  Issues in Mental Health Nursing . "There has been very little focus on the patient with dementia's role in maintaining spousal relationships through conversation," said Christine L. Williams, DNSc, principal investigator of the study and a professor and director of the Ph.D. in Nursing Program in FAU's Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing, who designed the intervention program and developed the first tool that measures couples' communication. "Maybe it's because researchers assume that the patient can't have a positive influence on communication ...