Scientists: 115-year-old's brain worked perfectly

Hendrikje van Andel-Schipper, who died at age 115 in 2005, is seen in this May 26, 2004 photo at de Westerkim, home for the elderly, in Hoogeveen, Netherlands. Scientists say that Henrikje van Andel-Schipper's mind was probably as good as it seemed: a post-mortem analysis of her brain revealed few signs of Alzheimer's or other diseases commonly associated with a decline in mental ability in old age. "This is the first (extremely old) brain that did not have these problems," Professor Gert Holstege of Groningen University said, whose findings will be published in the August edition of Neurobiology of Aging. Van Andel was the oldest living person in the world at the time of her death in 2005, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. (AP Photos/ Francois Wieringa)

(AP) -- A Dutch woman who was the oldest person in the world when she died at age 115 in 2005 appeared sharp right up to the end, joking that pickled herring was the secret to her longevity.