It was reported a few months ago that Star Trek actress and Black cinema icon Nichelle Nichols was beginning to suffer from short-term memory loss. Now, new reports indicate that her condition has worsened as she has been officially diagnosed with dementia.

According to TMZ, the actress, who is best known for playing Lieutenant Uhura in Star Trek, has "moderate progressive dementia."

Documents filed by Nichols' conservatorship, Dr. Meena Makhijani, who specializes in osteopathic medicine, stated that the actress has been a patient of hers for the past two to three years. Dr. Makhijani also made the final diagnosis regarding her condition.

In an attempt to highlight the severity of the disease Nichols' is experiencing, Dr. Makhijani rated a series of cognitive functions, specifying that the actress has major impairment of her short-term memory and moderate impairment of understanding abstract concepts, sense of time, place and immediate recall.

On a more positive note, however, the doctor stressed that she shows no signs of long-term memory loss or impairments in the orientation of her body, comprehension, verbal communication, concentration, recognition of familiar people, or her ability to reason logically and plan actions or movements. 

It was also recently reported that Nichols' son had four fiduciaries assigned to her as conservators to assure that she is not being taken advantage of by those closest to her.