Getting it straight

— The Democrat-Gazette wants its news reports to be fair and accurate.

We correct all errors of fact.

If you know of an error, write: Frank Fellone Deputy Editor P.O. Box 2221 Little Rock, Ark. 72203 or call 378-3475 during business hours Monday through Friday.

A New York Times article published Aug. 11 about spinal fluid tests in Alzheimer’s research incorrectly stated that the test can be 100 percent accurate in identifying patients with significant memory loss who “are on their way” to developing the disease.

Instead, the test was found to be as much as 100 percent accurate in identifying a signature level of abnormal proteins in patients with memory loss who went on to develop Alzheimer’s.

The article also misinterpreted an element of the researchers’ findings. Among a group of patients who had memory loss and developed Alzheimer’s within five years, every one had protein levels associated with the disease five years before; it was not the case that “every one of those patients with the proteins developed Alzheimer’s within five years.”

And the article misstated the source from which the finding of 100 percent accuracy was drawn. It came from a separate set of patients that the researchers examined to validate the protein signature they had identified in an initial group.

Front Section, Pages 2 on 09/21/2010

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