Alzheimers Disease

Title	Alzheimers Disease
# of Words	1206
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	4.82

Alzheimer's Disease

Alzheimer's Disease

by: Michael Sang

Introduction to Alzheimer's

        Alzheimer's disease is a progressive degenerative disease of the brain.
It is first described by the German neuropathologist Alois Alzheimer (1864-1915)
in 1905.  This disease worsens with advancing age, although there is no evidence
that it is cause by the aging process.
     The average life expectancy of a person with the disease is between five
and ten years, but some patients today can live up to 15 years due to
improvements in care and medical treatments. The cause of Alzheimer's has not
been discovered yet and it cannot be possible to confirm a person has
Alzheimer's until their autopsy following death.

How does Alzheimer's develop

        What causes Alzheimer's? Well no one know exactly the development of
this debilitating disease. But recent advances has produced several clues as to
how it is born. Initially when we study the brain of a Alzheimer's victim, we
focus on two specific areas. One is the cortex of the frontal and cerebral
lobes1. The second is the hippocampus (meaning seahorses in Greek which it
resembles2) which is located below the cerebral cortex and responsible for
short-term memory. If we study samples of these two section, we would find three
irregularities which are not found in normal brain matter. These three are
called neurofibrillary tangles, neuritic plagues and granulovacuolar
degeneration3.
     A nerve cell has numerous axons and dendrites coming out of it. A
neurofibrillary tangle is when the neuron changes. A number of dendrites are
missing and the nucleus is filled with protein filaments resembling steel wool.
        Although all elderly people has a few of these helix shaped bundles in
their brain for they are normal indicators of aging, Alzheimer's patients has
more than usual. Their presence usually in the frontal and temporal lobes is a
indication of AD.
     Senile neuritic plagues are small round objects. They are masses of
amyloid protein material composed of residue left over from healthy nerve
endings that were broken off and decayed. Their presence near the cell further
indicates something gone wrong. Neuritic plaques is the best evidence for
diagnostics to make the determination of AD.
     A third sign of neuron deterioration is granulovacuolar degeneration.
This is when fluid-filled vacuoles are seen crowding inside the nerve cell,
specifically in the triangular shaped cells of the hippocampus. This condition
can only be observed in carefully sliced, stain and analyzed brain tissue.
     The cell having lost all it's dendrites and nucleus soon disintegrates
entirely, vanishing into the body's waste disposal system. With the depletion of
enough nerve material the brain actually shrinks, sometimes by as much as ten
percent5. The more cells the AD sufferer loses, the more mental functions he
loses. Soon the person will have limited motor skills. People who were once
witty and quick on their feet were reduced to the mental status of small
children.

Diagnosis of Alzheimer's

        How would you now if a person you knew has Alzheimer's? There are
certain telltale signs that point to it. There was one patient6 that was
convinced she was suffering from AD. As proof of her condition, she bought the a
meeting several recent newspaper clippings, which she began to quote from memory.
Obviously this person did not have the disease, she wouldn't have memorized
complex and lengthy information. But forgetting on a regular basis doesn't
indicate Alzheimer's either.

Stages of AD

     In the initial stage, there is no clear evidence of memory trouble and
deterioration in brain functions. The individual performs well on exams that
test mental abilities (psychometric tests7) similar to those given to measure IQ.

     In the second stage, the patient shows very mild memory problems with
difficulty in remembering names of friends. The changes at this point is still
very small. Occasionally, the patient might make a surprising statement such as
inquiring about the hea...

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