The Cause Of Alzheimer's Disease

When it comes to Alzheimer’s, I know firsthand how it affects individuals and their families. My great grandfather had Alzheimer’s for many years before his passing late last year, at age 92. Alzheimer’s is a disease that many individuals suffer with each year, but yet with all the advancements in modern medicine we still have no cure for it. There are different ways to conquer this disease, understanding the causes, knowing effects, and researching possible treatments.

Alzheimer’s disease is the 6th leading cause of death in America. It kills more than breast cancer and prostate cancer combined. Alzheimer’s accounts for 70-80% of dementia cases. By the age of 65, 1 in 9 people are diagnosed and by the age of 85, 1 in 3 people will have the disease. According to the Alzheimer Association, 5 million people in American have Alzheimer’s. Alzheimer’s starts to form 20 years prior to being diagnosed. Learning about Alzheimer’s can help families understand how Alzheimer’s is more than just memory loss, it is an incurable mental disease.

“There is one thing Alzheimer 's cannot take away, and that is love. Love is not a memory - it 's a feeling that resides in your heart and soul.” (Fade to Blank). The human brain is a remarkably complex organ that processes, stores, and recalls information. “Alzheimer 's disease (AD) is a slowly progressive disease of the brain that is characterized by impairment of memory and eventually by disturbances in reasoning, planning, language, and perception. Many scientists believe that Alzheimer 's disease results from an increase in the production or accumulation of a specific protein (beta-amyloid protein) in the brain that leads to nerve cell death.” (Crystal). It is the most common form of dementia, accounting for 50 to 80 percent of dementia cases, and currently has no cure. (# 3) Research continues to be done to develop better ways to care for those affected with the disease, as well as to find support for family members, friends, and caregivers. Alzheimer’s is a devastating illness that is not a normal part of aging. In order to find a cure, awareness needs to increase to improve understanding, develop effective treatments, and to essentially prevent the disease.

Although Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is the most widely known cause of dementia in the elderly population, there are many other explanations and clinical diagnoses that

More than five million are living with Alzheimer’s disease in the United States and the number is set to almost triple by the year 2050. It is common in the elderly and generally occurs in persons over 65 years of age, but early onset of Alzheimer’s has also been documented (“Alzheimer’s disease facts,” 2016, para. 1). It starts in the medial temporal area of the brain, usually in the hippocampus, and then spreads to other areas of the brain. Blows (2011) explains, “Alois Alzheimer was a German psychiatrist who in 1906 described a dementia with two specific changes found in the brain after death... these changes were the presence of extracellular plaques and intracellular neurofibrillary tangles and these became the hallmarks of this disease” (p. 286). Loss of neurons takes place and amyloid plaques form. This is due to build-up of non-functioning proteins and can be observed by imaging techniques (Radin, 2003, p. 41). There are many risk factors that increase the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. The greatest risk factor is family history, but other risk factors include diabetes, hypertension obesity, hyperlipidemia, smoking, depression, physical inactivity, low estrogen levels, and head trauma (Huether & McCance, 2014, p. 546). The actual cause of Alzheimer’s is unknown, but there are genes associated with it that make the disease heritable. What is clear is that

Alzheimer's Disease is one of the societal issues that Scientists will be able to address. Most Alzheimer's patients have gotten the disease from their parents, meaning, scientists can study the genome of the patients to understand why it is genetic. Alzheimer's is difficult to understand because someone can get the gene even when no one else in their family has it. Studying the genomes of these patients can also give light on why there is Early-onset Alzheimer's and Late-onset Alzheimer's. Through this study and research, scientists can get a better understanding on how to slow down or even cure the disease.

“It occurred to me that at one point it was like I had two diseases - one was Alzheimer's, and the other was knowing I had Alzheimer's.

Alzheimer’s is a disease where neurotransmitters, acetylcholine, or the brain’s chemicals break connections with other nerve cells causing the cells to die off, the effects of this are irreversible. The loss of these cells result in loss of thinking and language skills, unpredictable behavioral changes and eventually the inability to carry out the simplest tasks. Although there is no known cause for Alzheimer’s, researchers have found a genetic link. Alzheimer’s first symptoms usually appear when a person is between forty and fifty years of age. Alzheimer’s is a devastating disease that initiates in the brain, drastically decreasing the quality of life as well as life expectancy in millions of people around the world.

The cause of Alzheimer’s is not yet fully understood, yet it is believed to be influenced by a mixture of genetic, behavioral, and environmental factors.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States, and currently affects over five million US citizens. It is estimated 35 million people suffer with AD world wide, with incidences increasing rapidly. It is projected by the year 2050, cases of AD will nearly double. After symptoms become noticeable, those with Alzheimers have an average of eight years to live before it takes their lives. Although there are variety of known factors contributing to an increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease, compelling evidence for the causes and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease are being discovered in the realm of nutrition. Simply put, Alzheimer’s disease is the most prevalent form of dementia. Dementia is the loss of both memory

Alzheimer’s disease is not something we can control. The disease is a progressive, permanent, and overwhelming brain illness that causes cognitive decline, including memory, language and thinking problems. After many decades of trying to find a cure, there still isn’t one, although researchers continue to make progress. “It is unknown what causes Alzheimer’s disease but older age and family history appear to play a role” (Shu, 2011). Not only do age and family history play a factor in Alzheimer’s disease, changes to the immune system can also play a part. This could play a large role in why we do not have a cure, because we do not know, with certainty, what causes it.

Researchers have not fully identified the exact cause of Alzheimer in most people. However, some clues indicate that genetic mutation may be responsible for the persons exhibiting early-onset Alzheimer. Further, scientists have identified various factors to be significant contributors of late-onset Alzheimer since this form of the disease arises from complex series that changes the function of the brain over decades. Multiple factors probably include some combination of age, gender, genetic and lifestyle. Researchers have investigated the likelihood of the disease being genetic. In this article, the key interest will be a determination of the causes of the diseases and the extent to which it is genetic.

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

Unlike a syndrome, which exists only as a collection of symptoms, a disease is a condition that has a specific pathological origin that is worsened by risk factors. In the case of Alzheimer’s disease, the pathological cause is buildup of protein in the brain which eventually forms plaques and tangles. [3] The chemical changes in a special kind of protein, tau, found in neurons, followed by pairing of threads of tau which becomes tangled together is known as neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs). [5] The presence of the tangles results in the inability of neurons to maintain its cytoskeleton which plays an important role in supporting the complex branching shape of its numerous processes. These tangles are usually found near the hippocampus which processes experiences prior to storage as permanent memories. [1] On the other hand, production and accumulation of a protein known as beta amyloid around the nerve cells in the brain leads to formation of plaques.

Alzheimer’s is a disease that erases the memory of people quietly. People will have difficulty in memorize recently happened events rather than the things happened years ago.