Mild Neurocognitive Disorder

The causes of Alzheimer’s disease is unknown but scientists do know that Alzheimer’s is not a normal part of aging and the majority of people with this disease are sixty-five or older. Although it is most common in the elderly, up to five percent of Alzheimer’s patients are in the mid to late thirties and forties. Scientists also believe that Alzheimer’s disease is a result from someone’s environment, lifestyle, and certain genetic factors that affect the brain in abnormal ways over time. There are no definitive causes of the disease yet but it has a very clear effect of the brain. A person that has Alzheimer’s, their

Damage or lesions to the brain are the main causes of Alzheimer’s disease; the two main causes of these lesions are neurofibrillary tangles and senile plaques. (4) These are commonly known as plaques and tangles and are caused by the build-up of two proteins. The plaques are a build-up of the protein beta-amyloid (β-amyloid) while the tangles are formed by the build-up of the protein tau, even though both are found in Alzheimer's disease only the β-amyloid plaques are unique to the disease and it is these plaques that are believed to be the primary cause of Alzheimer's.

“Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is a type of dementia, which is affecting the population that develops in the brain and can lead to problems with memory, thinking and behavior”. The Amyloid Hypothesis claims that the build up of the beta-amyloid in the brain is a cause in the development of Alzheimer disease in patients. This plaque of the beta-amyloid and its cascade of events can be linked to the deterioration and negative effects of cognitive function of the brain over time. The beta-amyloid is described to be a “sticky” protein located in the brain therefore plaques or build up of the amyloid is common. These plaques in turn can block the brain cells from communicating with each other. Which then activates an immune system, that leads to inflammation

Alzheimer's disease is an incurable degenerative brain disease (Kennedy). It is the most common cause of dementia.There is an estimated 47.5 million people around the world affected by dementia in 2016. Most commonly memory loss is the first symptom followed by language impairments, abstract reasoning, and personality changes. We still don’t know what the cause of the Alzheimer's Disease is but scientist are looking for it.

Alzheimer’s Disease is 56% of the cause of dementia, which is characterized as a decline in memory language, problem solving, and other cognitive skills that affect a person’s ability to perform everyday tasks. (Petersen 2002) AD was first identified over 100 years ago, but it actually took about 70 years for it to be recognized as the most common form of dementia. (Alzheimer’s Association 2016) Although much has been researched and discovered about AD to help diagnose and treat the disease, much is yet to be discovered about the precise biological changes the causes Alzheimer’s and why it progresses more quickly in some than others. Scientists and doctors around the world have a common goal of discovering ways to stop of prevent this genetically

Known as the fifth leading cause of death in the United States, Alzheimer’s disease (AD) affects approximately 5.3 million Americans and is the major cause of dementia. Although the cause of AD is unknown, the correlation between the damage caused by plaque in the brain and evidence of the disease suggests possible causality. Indicated by extracellular dense plaques and intracellular neurofibrillary tangles made of beta-amyloid and tau proteins, respectively, this neurodegenerative disease is thought to be a result of mutations in the amyloid precursor protein (APP), the genetic precursor of beta-amyloid peptides.

It is the most common form of dementia in people over the age of 65 and is the fourth leading cause of death in American adults. Alzheimer’s disease usually has an onset around the age of 60, and only about five percent of cases occur before that age. While Alzheimer’s disease is thought to be caused by many different components, such as genetic disposition and age, it is generally thought to be caused by a buildup of material in the brain, called beta-amyloid plaque, which is a clump of dead neurons. This plaque affects cells abilities to function and can disrupt different connections that are necessary for normal brain functioning, such as thinking, or storing memories. Theories state that a gene called APOE on chromosome 19 will affect your probability of getting this disease. This gene is involved in the breakdown of plaque. Therefore, if you have a certain gene, the beta-amyloid plaque will not be broken down, and you may get Alzheimer’s (Cobb, Wells & Cataldo,

Alzheimer’s is described as a type of disease that causes mental illness, which causes problems with memory, thinking, and behavior of an individual. It is a deterioration of the nervous system especially the neurons in the brain. Alzheimers’ is the result of mutations on genes. Specifically, familial alzheimer’s is caused by a mutation in the gene coding for the amyloid precursor protein (APP) on chromosome 21q.When this gene is modified, a toxic protein fragment called amyloid beta peptide are produced in the brain. This peptide builds up in the brain and form amyloid plaques. The accumulation of this “amyloid beta peptide and amyloid plaque,” can lead to a great deal of death of nerve cells and progression of symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease (Genetics Home Reference, paragraph 6).

“Scientists believe that for most people, Alzheimer's disease is caused by a combination of genetic, lifestyle and environmental factors that affect the brain over time”,

Alzheimer’s disease is a type of dementia. It is a devastating brain disease that gradually ruins the patient’s memory, thinking skills and eventually the ability to perform the simplest task of the life. There are two types of Alzheimer’s; early-onset and late onset Alzheimer’s. Early onset is very rare and occurs in people ages 30-60 years. It is caused by mutation on anyone gene on a chromosome inherited from a parent. These mutations cause abnormal proteins to form which disrupts the function of the body. On the other hand, late onset is most commonly found in people ages 60 or above. A mutation on the gene on chromosome 19, which carries

Music has long been an interest of mine, it was always used as an escape from reality and can be very therapeutic; with that information I wanted to see if and how music therapy could be used to aide in patients who suffered from dementia. When conducting my own research I ran across an article titled “Connecting through music: A study of a spousal caregiver-directed music intervention designed to prolong fulfilling relationships in couples where one person has dementia”, this article caught my attention because it examined the relationship of couples where one of the spouses’ suffered from dementia and the other spouse was the primary caregiver. Music therapy is recognized to reduce agitation in patients with dementia (Dileo & Bradt, 2005; Helmes & Wiancko, 2006; Holmes et al., 2006; Ledger & Baker, 2007) and also leads to the sharing of meaningful experiences between caregivers and dementia patients in residential care settings. (Brotons, & Marti, 2003; Clair & Ebberts, 1997) Music is known to be a social phenomenon that stimulates people who have dementia, it is also helpful with memory and when the caregivers listen to music it enhances their mood to suggest that music addresses the needs of both the spousal caregiver and patient.

As a society, we are constantly faced with negative news about different diseases and genetic disorders. One genetic disorder that has affected the lives of many is, Alzheimer’s Disease. Alzheimer’s is the most common type of dementia that affects and causes problems with thinking, behavior and memory. Most of the time, symptoms of Alzheimer’s develop slowly and progress and worsen over time. Eventually the symptoms become severe enough that they begin to interfere with normal and daily tasks. It was originally thought that Alzheimer’s was a result of aging, but it has been found that there is actually something called early onset Alzheimer’s which affects people in their 40s and 50s, instead of the normal age of 65 and older (1).

Alzheimer’s disease can be caused by a combination of how a person lives, from their genetics, and the environment that person is in. People who are affected with disease have fewer brain cells and fewer connections with the healthy cells than a healthy brain. When doctors look under the microscope for problems with the brain tissues, the doctors will see two different things. They will see plagues which are clumps

Alzheimer’s disease is a brain disease the slowly destroys the patients memory and as well as their thinking skills. Alzheimer’s disease is one of the 6th main causes of death. (3,6) Dr. Alois Alzheimer; whom is the one Alzheimer’s disease is named after, noticed in 1906 changes in the tissue of the brain of a female who apparently died of an unusual mental illness. (3) During Alzheimer’s neurons in the brain will eventually lose the ability to function and communicate with one another, the neurons will then eventually die. The parts, in which are affected during this time begin to decrease in size. Alzheimer's disease is a Dementia. (3) Dementia is the great loss of cognitive functioning. Dementia is a group of symptoms, not the disease itself. Some of the cognitive functions a patient, lose their ability to think, remember, and a sense of reasoning. Scientists are not yet sure of the causes of Alzheimer’s disease. Many experiments have been done and many hypotheses have been tested pertaining this subject. There are also different stages of Alzheimer’s. (2) One of them is Early-Onset Inherited Alzheimer’s disease. This particular stage has the strongest supporting data on its causes. The data includes that the mutations dealing with Alzheimer’s disease have been discovered in majority of the patients with Early-Onset Alzheimer’s. (1) Studies show that that in those dealing with this particular stage, the mutation is the leader of the overflowing production of a specific

1020). Behavioral problems that develop as a result of the neuropathology associated with dementia such as paranoia, hallucinations, and repetitiousness may interfere with communication. Deficits must result in significant problems with employment and social functioning. The deficits do not occur exclusively with delirium, but represent a significant decline from premorbid levels of functioning. Language comprehension and production are supported by cognitive processes such as memory, perception, speed of processing, attention and various executive functions. Impairments with executive functions are a prominent feature of Alzheimer's disease. According to Harrington et al. (2013), "diagnostic criteria for preclinical Alzheimer disease are new but studies suggest both memory and executive functions are affected" (