Alzheimer's Disease Essay

Alzheimer 's disease (AD) was discovered by a German doctor Alois Alzheimer in 1906 when he found amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles in the autopsy of a woman who died of an unknown mental disease. The extracellular amyloid plaque deposits, composed of insoluble amyloid-Beta peptide were hypothesized to be the main etiological factor. “The most important abnormality is an excess of Amyloid-beta peptides brought about through either overproduction or failure in degradation.” (Uzun, Kozumplik, & Folnegović-Smalc, 2011) Later, it was discovered that intracellular neurofibrillary tangles composed of hyper-phosphorylated, helically-paired tau

Alzheimer’s disease is a common problem in today’s society and within the older population this disease makes up the largest form of dementia. Although it is a problem in mainly older people, this disease can still occur in the younger population also. People in their 30s-50s can be diagnosed with this disease, even though it is not as common as people in their 60s-90s. The number of people with Alzheimer’s in the U.S. is close to five million and is expected to double within the next 30 years. With our modern medicine and advancements one would think a cure would be available, however, getting to the cause of the disease is a major factor. The cause of Alzheimer’s disease is one that is very debatable and questionable and most likely is a result of multiple factors rather than one. The main issue with finding the cause is because this disease affects the brain and can

The disease called Alzheimer’s is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States (Weiner, 1987). It is estimated that the elderly population will double between now and 2030. During this period, the number of elderly will grow by an average of 2.8% annually (U.S. Census Bureau, 2001). By 2050, the number of people with Alzheimer’s is estimated to range from 11.3 million to 16 million (Alzheimer’s Association, 2005). These startling numbers should prompt an examination into one of the leading causes of death among this group of people. Understanding what Alzheimer’s is and the known causes of the disease are a good starting point. For those who have aging family members, knowing the risk factors and warning

Alzheimer’s Disease is a disease of the future. With the growing aged population, this disease, which affects primarily the elderly, will become of increasing relevance to the medical profession. Also, the high frequency of Alzheimer’s, and the high cost in labor, money, and material of caring for its victims shall put considerable burden on the society as a whole. Here, however, these issues are not going to be debated. Instead the pathology of Alzheimer’s will be reviewed to the extent it is known today.

The symptoms of Alzheimer’s are extremely detrimental to the individual whom it affects, as the disease attacks the brain cells and their connections. As the illness progresses, many

get it, but most cases are the only ones in a family. Some patients who develop

The FDA recently has allowed two treatments to be used for Alzheimer patients. One of the treatments is a Partial Glutamate Antagonist, which is an important transmitter to the brain. It is said that Glutamate helps patients more than sugar pills do, however; it is said that too much

Due to the inability of the brain to replace nerve cells, some brain function is lost. The key question in Alzheimer’s disease is, what causes the neuron degeneration (Johnson, 1989)? The focus for finding the cause is on abnormal structures found in the brain of people with Alzheimer’s. Unfortunately, the abnormal structures the brain undergoes still has researchers uncertain as to how they are involved in Alzheimer’s and exactly how the disease occurs.

With the growing number of people becoming diagnosed, and experiencing symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, we must begin to take precautions and somehow attempt to gain knowledge of how the disease can be better treated, and ultimately prevented.

The call came at 9:05 p.m. on January 20, 2004. Mom had just finished telling the news about the girl's grandfather. He had Alzheimer's Disease and was not doing well at all. The ruling was that he probably would not make it through the night. She knew exactly what the news was the moment her mom said, "No." After the news came, the decision was made they would leave the next day to attend the funeral.

A brain deteriorates, slowly being engulfed by a mysterious disease. The neurons being cut off and destroyed by two abnormal structures. First memory is affected gradually getting worse. Then one is unable to think properly, reason, and lacks of self control. Gaps are formed in the brain 's ventricles, due to the amount of dead tissue. In the end, it will lead to death. All of this may sound like something from a science fiction movie but infact its very real. These are all known possible symptoms of a common disease that affects about millions of Americans. It is known as Alzheimer 's disease (AD), and I plan on explaining it a bit more in this paper. First I will explain the disease and list some facts about it,then I will talk about some commonly asked questions about it.

In 1901, a fifty one year old woman named Frau Auguste D. was admitted to a psychiatric hospital in Frankfurt, Germany. She had an unusual bunch of symptoms. While she had no history of prior psychiatric illness, her husband had noticed that Frau D. was becoming increasing paranoid, hallucinatory, agitated, disoriented, and having increasing difficulties with language functions and memory.

The research into Alzheimer's Disease has come a long way since 1906 when it is was discovered by Alois Alzheimer. He detected microscopic brain tissue changes called senile and neuritic plaques in deceased patients. These are chemical deposits consisting of protein molecules called Amyloid Precursor Protein(APP) that are fundamental components of a normal brain. However in the brain of an Alzheimer patient, an enzyme cuts the APP apart and leaves fragments in the brain tissue. These combined with degenerating nerve cells cause the plaques or lesions. These lesions are found in many sections of the brain including the hippocampus which regulates emotion and memory, the basal forebrain, and especially the basal nucleus of Meynert and the cortex, where the memory function is located.(2) Another sign of a diseased brain are neurofibrillary tangles, which are malformations within nerve cells.

Although Alzheimer’s disease (henceforth: AD) has been around since the 19th century or possibly even earlier and was at a point in time classified as senile dementia, it wasn’t until 1906 following Dr. Alois Alzheimer’s encounter with Auguste Deter at a Frankfurt asylum that the name of the disease was finally coined. Since then, major developments relating to the disease has taken place. In our report, we addressed some of the areas of the history, contemporary and prospects of the disease.

Alzheimer is a disease that affects the elderly most. The disease was discovered by Dr. Alois Alzheimer in the year 1906 when he was examining a female’s brain. He found out that the woman displayed memory loss, language problems and some inexplicable changes in behavior. The disease was named after the doctor who was a German psychiatrist and a neuropathologist. Alzheimer’s disease is a degenerative brain disorder that leads to memory loss, personality changes, and language problems (Gilbert & Julie 2). The disease is mostly diagnosed in people over the age of 65 years, though there is a small minority of people under the age of 50 who get the disease. Studies show that 1% of a whole population aged between the ages 65-75 have severe