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Researchers at Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS) and the University of Sussex, will use techniques developed to catalogue galaxies to analyse GP data in a search for early indicators of the medical condition. Dr Philip Rooney, a research fellow in astrophysics at Sussex, who will conduct much of the data analysis, said: "We regularly apply statistical and machine-learning techniques to catalogues of galaxies and galaxy spectra. "Researchers can apply these techniques to GP patient records, where the clinical condition is analogous to a galaxy, the GP database is similar to a galaxy catalogue and diagnosis of a condition is similar to the modelling of galaxy properties." Timely diagnosis of dementia allows patients to maximise their quality of life, benefit from treatments and plan for the future.