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Alzheimer’s History |
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Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia (a
brain disorder that seriously affects the person’s memory, intellectual, or
thinking abilities as well as interferes with social and/or occupational
functioning) that occurs in the elderly. Occurring in 60 to 70% of people
with dementia above the age of 65, Alzheimer’s disease is classified as
progressive, which means that its symptoms grow worse over time. Basically,
the disease gradually robs the sufferers of their ability to think and
function, and may even reduce lifespan.
The Alzheimer’s history began in the early 1900s – in 1906, to be exact.
That year, Alois Alzheimer (1864-1915), a German physician well-known for
his extensive work in neuropathology and histopathology with other big names
in science, marked the Alzheimer’s history by describing a condition of a
certain middle aged patient of his.
The patient, named Auguste Deter, was only 55 years old when she died for
reasons that puzzled her attending physicians, including Alzheimer himself.
Her condition involved progressive problems with memory, language, and
behavior. Little did anyone know that it would be her death that would
signal the beginning of the Alzheimer’s history.
After the death of Auguste D., Alzheimer, who was in Munich at the time,
studied her brain to determine what the factors that caused her symptoms to
appear were. There he found two changes in the tissue of the brain. During
the course of the Alzheimer’s history, these two changes would later become
the essential features of this brain disease.
First are the tangles. Called Neurofibrillary tangles, these formations are
intracellular abnormalities involving the cytoplasm of the nerve cell. In
order to see them, one would have to use hematoxylin and eosin stain or
through silver impregnation techniques, as well as Congo red or fluorescent
dye thioflavine. These abnormalities are generally found in the cerebral
cortex, especially in the temporal lobe structures such s the hippocampus
and amygdale.
The second change that Alzheimer noticed is the neuritic plaques. In the
Alzheimer’s history, it has been found that these neuritic plaques are
actually made up of protein called amyloid, which is naturally found in the
body. But for reasons yet unknown, large deposits of this protein are formed
between the nerve cells. Later, it was also discovered that the plaques also
contained deposits of aluminum silicate, in addition to amyloid peptides,
hence the term “amyloid plaques.” This, along neurofibrillary tangles, are
said to cause the symptoms of Alzheimer’s.
Years after Alzheimer first described these essential features of the
disease, scientists have gained greater insight into the genetic factors
that contribute to Alzheimer’s disease. In this period of Alzheimer’s
history, it has been found that there is a form of the disease that is
mostly hereditary – that is, it is passed from one family member to another
via their genetic makeup.
But much is still to be learned about Alzheimer’s history before any real
conclusions can be made. And at present, the research on Alzheimer’s disease
is more focused on finding ways to prevent the onset of the symptoms. |
| This article
is provided courtesy of Roxanne Courtmanch. Please visit
www.thehelpingcircle.com for more articles on Alzheimers
as well as many other topics that may be of interest to you. |
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Alzheimer Articles
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Alzheimer’s Association
Alzheimer’s disease is a dreaded disease that affects the cognitive
functions of the brain.
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Alzheimer’s Cures
Alzheimer’s disease is a degenerative brain illness that causes the victim
to become confused and lose his cognitive functions. |
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Alzheimer’s Disease
It
starts with minor memory lapses, like getting people’s names confused or
forgetting where you put the keys to the car. |
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Alzheimer’s Eye Test
Alzheimer’s disease affects millions of
people worldwide. In the United States alone, 4.5 million people are
experiencing memory loss,
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Alzheimer’s History
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia (a brain disorder
that seriously affects the person’s memory,
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Alzheimer’s Nursing Homes
We always want what’s best for our family. And we think that
no one can take care of our loved one quite as well as we can.
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Alzheimer’s Research
Dementia is the collective name for a broad
category of brain disorders, sharing more or less the same common symptom of
progressive
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Alzheimer’s Test
Experts say that there are about 4 million people in the United States that
exhibit symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease.
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Causes of Alzheimer’s
Alzheimer’s disease is a complex brain disorder that results
in the gradual degeneration of most of the mental functions of
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Early Onset Alzheimer’s
Alzheimer’s disease is a form of dementia (a
neuropathological disorder affecting many cognitive functions of the brain)
commonly
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