A disease that erases our ability to learn and remember is one of the most dangerous degenerative diseases. It is ranked as the sixth leading causes of death in the U.S.
It is estimated that 44 million people worldwide are suffering from Alzheimer’s disease or a related form of Dementia. This disease doesn’t have any cure. Let’s explore this disease!
History of Alzheimer’s
It all started in 1901 when Karl Deter registered his wife, Auguste(age 51), at a psychiatric institution. Karl said that she had symptoms of memory loss, violent outbursts, confusion, and was unable to speak her language properly. After being registered at this institution, she was under close observance of Alois Alzheimer. Alois found something atypical in her brain, he found “large abnormal clumps that had formed between neurons and ropelike tangles(neurofibrillary tangles) had formed inside neurons.”
What is Alzheimer’s?
Alzheimer’s disease is a disease that progresses and causes Dementia, which is also known as forgetfulness. Alzheimer’s is a gradual progression leading to destroying of mental functions, brain cells, loss of nerve cells, accumulation of “abnormal” protein called beta-amyloid and tau, and neurofibrillary tangle. Beta-amyloid is a protein that is formed during the breakdown of larger proteins. When this accumulates too much, it makes its toxic presence in our brain by making clumps and forming plaques between nerve cells(also called neurons) which send and receive signals from our brain. It is unclear how beta-amyloid becomes toxic to our brain. Forming of plaques in between the nerve cells causes the loss of communication and therefore causes Encephalitis(inflammation or swelling of our brain). An abnormal amount of tau formation in our brain forms tangles inside neurons.
Signs of mild Alzheimer’s(according to NIH)
Memory loss
Poor judgment
Taking longer to complete daily tasks
Repeating questions
Losing things in odd places
Mood and personality changes
Increased anxiety
Which population is targeted?
Population which is highly susceptible to Alzheimer’s is from the age of 65. As this is a degenerative disease, it worsens with the age.
More about Alzheimer's
There are 3 stages for Alzheimer’s disease which are early, middle, and late. There have been quite a lot of cases which reported that they didn’t knew they had Alzheimer-like symptoms after a long period of time.
Alzheimer’s affects the Hippocampus, which has a major role in learning and memory and it affects Entorhinal cortex. According to the National Institute of Aging, it also affects the Cerebral Cortex which is responsible for language, social behavior, and reasoning.
Treatment
Even though, there is no cure, there are medications that could slow the spread of Alzheimer's. There has been introductions of new technologies such as Blood and Fluid biomarkers which gives insights on when the disease is on its initial stage. There are many treatments for this disease en route!
Sources
Tags: #degenerativediseases
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