Dementia is one of the most insidious forms of illness, one that can rob otherwise perfectly healthy people of their memories, their faculties and even their personalities.

It is especially distressing for their families, who must watch the person they have known and loved for many years begin to ebb away, while at the same time their body may be healthy, leaving them in need of constant care but often treating their closest companions like strangers.

Dementia creates a huge burden on the infrastructure of the health network and social services, as well as creating huge pressure for those who have to act as carers for their loved ones - when they themselves might be of an advanced age, if the sufferer is a spouse or partner, or having to juggle their own family lives and work with caring for a parent.

So the news that one of the most comprehensive studies into the causes and effects of dementia will take place over the next five years right here in Bradford is something that should be welcomed.

While the project is not looking for a "cure" for dementia, it is about finding ways to help manage the illness, both on a personal level and within the wider social services and health service infrastructure.

It will also look at whether certain lifestyle choices are contributory factors in developing dementia.

So if this study can perhaps identify avoidable circumstances that might reduce the onset of dementia, and make like more comfortable and a little easier both for sufferers and those who care for them, then it might well put Bradford on the map for all the right reasons.