Alzheimer 's Disease And Its Effects On The Brain

Alzheimer 's disease (AD) is a progressive degenerative disease of the brain from which there is no recovery. There are three brain abnormalities that are the hallmarks of the Alzheimer’s disease is initially caused by plaques buildup in the brain’s neurons as illustrated in figure 1. The support structure that allows the flow of the nutrients through the neurons gets damaged and ultimately there is loss of connection among the neurons and they die off (National Institute of Health, 2015). This causes the brain tissue to shrinks, which is called atrophies. All this ultimately lead the victim of this disease to face difficulties in governing emotions, recognize errors and patterns, coordinate movement, and remember. Ultimately, a person with AD loses all memory and mental functioning.

Last year my maternal Aunt Kate passed away. She had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) about eight years earlier. My maternal grandmother also had been diagnosed with AD before her death. Later this month I will accompany my 77-year-old mother to her neurologist appointment. While she has not been diagnosed with AD, she has been prescribed Donepezil (Aricept), one of the newer drugs that are thought to reduce the decline in memory in patients that have or might be developing dementia. Opportunities to learn more about AD and the effects on the brain are welcome. The Alzheimer’s Association website, ALZ.org, is filled with a wealth of this information. Especially interesting was Inside the Brain: An Interactive Tour. I

Alzheimer’s disease is the progressive loss of memory and mental functions. The disease affects memory, thought control, language, and other cognitive functions. The disease typically appears with old age and is often found age 60. Alzheimer’s causes the brain to develop clumps and tangles fibers in the brain tissue along with the loss of neuron connections. Throughout the brain, proteins are abnormally distributed and they form tangled bundles of fibers and amyloid plaques. Some neurons fail to function properly and lose their connections, which are necessary for the transmission of messages to the body. The hippocampus is the key brain structure in the formation of memories and often experiences the first signs of damage.

Dementia is a term used to describe the symptoms of a number of illnesses which effect the function of the brain. It is an umbrella term describing the progressive decline in a person’s cognitive ability. The type and severity of symptoms varies with each type of dementia and is usually has a gradual onset, is progressive and irreversible. (1)

The disease stem cells could fix is called Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). The reason I chose this topic is because I have seen first hand how badly someone who suffers from Alzheimer’s Disease is affected in their daily lives. This disease completely takes over their lives and they turn into a completely different person who can hardly function. AD is very tough on the loved ones of the person suffering from it because that person, most of the time has no idea what is going on or who their loved ones are. The memories for people with AD is completely gone and even the simplest tasks such as remembering to use the bathroom becomes difficult. The way stem cells could be feasible is because stem cell-based therapies could potentially treat

Alzheimer’s disease affects the entire brain eventually, but as it moves through the different stages it may affect certain areas more. Before any side effects of the disease become observable, decades of damage to the brain can take place. This is known as the preclinical stage of Alzheimer’s disease. This damage is believed to take place primarily in the hippocampus, where memory functions in the brain. Here is where plaques and neurofibrillary tangles form and cause neuron death, which spreads the damage to other areas of the brain.

This research paper will be about Alzheimer’s disease and how it affects the brain. It will also tell you many other things about Alzheimer’s. Alzheimer’s disease is named after the German physician Dr. Alois Alzheimer, who first discovered Alzheimer’s in 1906. It is the most common form of dementia, and it is found in around sixty to eighty percent of all cases of dementia. Alzheimer’s is a progressive disorder (physical ailment whose course in most cases is the worsening, growth, or spread of the disease), and it is characterized by large loss of nerve cells and the connection between them, along with change in personality and behavior. Its course is never ending, but pretty predictable. People who are on the upwards of sixty-five

Ultimately, Alzheimer’s Disease affects your your entire brain. The cortex shrivels up, making it hard to think, plan, or remember important things. The brain overall also begins to shrink in size. This shrinkage effects the hippocampus the most. The hippocampus is the area of the cortex that plays a big role in the creation of new memories. Ultimately the disease affects the function of the entire body as it causes the degeneration of brain tissue and nerve cells, it makes it harder for the brain to communication with the body and to function

“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

A german Physician Alois Alzheimer did a postmortem (already dead) analysis of one of his patients, her name was Auguste Deter she was admitted to the hospital for the Mentally 111 in Frankfurt in 1901.He hoped to find out the root of the severe and rapid mental deterioration. When auguste was first interviewed she had a fog of confusion and also showed delusion behavior. She would have a lot of jealousy for her husband; she would start screaming thinking everybody wanted to kill her; she became wild and couldn't be controlled. She then died five years after she was put in the Hospital .When Alzheimer took a thin slice of her brain and put it under the microscope he found the following: that next to the nerve cells was a small clump that

Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is the most prevalent form of dementia, affecting 10% of the population over the age 65 and 50% of the population over 85 (Zhang et al,. 2011). This neurodegenerative disease causes mental and cognitive deficits such as severe memory loss and behavioural changes (Hubin et al,. 2015).

As an individual grows older there are many signs of aging, which occur. There are common areas of decline in cognition such as some loss of hearing, vision, and working memory that are considered part of the normal aging process. When these symptoms start to worsen and vastly impair everyday tasks, the consideration of a form of dementia is brought forward. Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is a brain disease, is the most common type of dementia, and affects majority of people 60 years or older (1,14). It is a progressive neurodegenerative disease, which only continues to worsen over time. Each individual is affected differently with symptoms and the progression. As of right now there is no cure for it (14).

Most elderly people worry about what they will experience later on in life. They worry about any diseases or health issues they might develop. One major disease people in their 60s start to develope is Alzheimer’s. Thinking about acquiring Alzheimer’s is a scary topic. Alzheimer’s disease is a type of dementia that causes problems with memory, thinking and behavior. Having Alzheimer 's affects your brain, body, and the people around you. The people around you are experiencing your sickness progress and your memory fade. Alzheimer’s is a very depressing disease that comes with a lot of risk factors. Scientists are researching ways in order to prevent this disease from killing every single person who is diagnosed with it.

Alzheimer’s disease, also known as AD is often insidious on set, it can take months up to years to go from a mild to severe impairment. (Mayeux, 2010) The disease is irreversible and has no cure. “The disease affects 500,000 Canadians, 71,000 of those are under the age of 65” (VanDenBroek, 2013). AD affects the person by impacting their neurological function, their cognition and their behaviour.

“Neurodegenerative disease is an umbrella term for a range of conditions which primarily affect the neurons in the human brain”, JPND Research (2014). Alzheimer’s disease occurs as a result of neurodegenerative processes. Scientists believe that both tau and amyloid work together to instigate the disease. Amyloid is believed to facilitate the spread of tau. However, there is no scientific evidence to back up this statement. Amyloid is a general term for protein fragments that the body naturally produces. Beta amyloid is a protein fragment trimmed from an amyloid precursor protein (APP), (O’Brien & Wong 2011). These protein fragments are usually broken down and removed naturally within healthy brains. However, within