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Alzheimer 's Disease : A Common Form Of Dementia

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Alzheimer’s Disease is a common form of dementia that progressively deteriorates one’s brain causing serious memory loss, and eventually, the inability to perform common daily tasks. This disease is also known as “The Mind Robber,” or the “Disease of Forgetfulness.” The unfortunate thing about this disease is that there is no cure. Medicines have been developed to slow the progression of the disease. It has moved up into the rankings on the leading causes of death in America to number six and the number of deaths are increasing. As of 2013, nearly 5 million Americans were suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease, most of them over the age of 60. The history of Alzheimer’s Disease dates back to 1907, where Alois Alzheimer first discovered the disease. Alois was a German psychiatrist and neurologist. He was examining a 51-year old woman who had a form of dementia. (Gandy, 1) He noticed that she didn’t have many brain cells and smaller nerve cells, and had plaques instead of cells. This is what we today call Alzheimer’s Disease. After the discovery, more and more modern research was done to find out more about the disease. Modern research involves using better, and more advanced instruments such as the electron microscope which enabled the viewer to see a specimen magnified up to 10 million times. It was invented in 1931 by Max Knoll and Ernst Ruska. This was an important advancement for science, and also brought new information about Alzheimer’s Disease. Scientists were able to

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