confusion: a situation in which people do not understand what is happening, what they should do or who someone or something is
asthma: a medical condition that makes breathing difficult by causing the air passages to become narrow or blocked
spell(verb): to cause something bad to happen in the future
symptom: any feeling or illness or physical or mental change that is caused by a particular disease
New drugs could completely change the way Alzheimer’s is treated. The medication slows down memory loss and confusion according to recent scientific trials. That means that people with disease could still do everyday tasks like shopping, cooking, and cleaning. And scientists hope that Alzheimer’s will be managed as easily as asthma and diabetes.
1,Experts urge health regulators to approve ‘turning point’ dementia drugs
This headline describes these drugs as a turning point. Turning point is a big change, and it’s going from one idea to another or something positive to something negative, or something negative to something positive. So it could mean a really big change for people with Alzheimer’s. And it’s often used when we’re talking about a change for the positive. For example, when you have children, it’s a turning point in your life. And if you get a new job, we could call that a turning point.
2,New Alzheimer’s drugs could spell ‘beginning of the end’ for disease
These drugs could be the ‘beginning of the end’. That means the start of events that lead to something finishing. It’s used the reason why these drugs are now being tested and they might become available soon. So we’re at the start of disease becoming easier to manage which could then, kind of, be the end for Alzheimer’s as we know it today. This expression is usually used for quite big things like a cure for disease. For example, when the Covid vaccines became available, it was the beginning of the end of the pandemic. And it’s much more common nowadays to type on a phone or a computer, so it could be the beginning of the end for the pen and pencil.
3,The Times view on Alzheimer’s drug treatment: Breakthrough to Remember
This headline calls these drugs a ‘breakthrough to remember’. ‘Breakthrough’ is an important discovery or development. And we use ‘to remember’ after a noun and we mean that something is so important that it will be remembered by a lot of people, maybe even fair into future. So in this headline, this breakthrough, which is these drugs, are very important to the world of science. It’s a memorable event and they use ‘to remember’ to mean that. And we can also use this with personal situations. For example, you have a birthday party with all your family and friends, and you say “Wow, it was a night to remember!” You’re not going to forget it because it was so great. And your wedding day was a day to remember.
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