Canberra, Feb. 1 -- A team from Australia's national science agency has used artificial intelligence to make a breakthrough in Alzheimer's disease research.

The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) said on Wednesday that, in partnership with the Queensland University of Technology, it has developed a world-first benchmark for measuring brain atrophy in neurodegenerative diseases.

Cerebral atrophy is the loss of nerve cells and the connections that help them communicate as a result of disease, infections or traumatic injury.

Its progress is measured in patients with neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer's via magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) but changes can be in the sub-millimeter range, making ...