...Professor Staab Psychology April 28, 2012 Prolonging the Inevitable Alzheimer’s disease was named after a German neuropathologist and psychiatrist by the name of Aloysius Alzheimer who is credited with identifying two symptoms of the disease; amyloid plaques and neurofribrillary tangles in the brain. It is important to understand that Alzheimer’s disease is not a type of dementia; it is simply a disease that causes dementia. Alzheimer’s disease is an incurable progressive disease that can take up to twenty years to advance, but typically takes between eight to ten painful years for the Alzheimer’s sufferer and their family. Christian Nordqvist author of What is Alzheimer’s Disease? What Causes Alzheimer’s Disease? states that “During the course of the disease plaques and tangles develop within the structure of the brain. This causes brain cells to die. Patients with Alzheimer’s also have a deficiency in the levels of some vital brain chemicals with are involved with transmission of messages in the brain – neurotransmitters” (1). The disease is typically broken down into three common stages that people experience: mild, moderate, and severe. As well as the duration, the length of each stage can vary depending on the person, as Rosemary Blieszner and Peggy A. Shifflett confirm in their article The effects of Alzheimer’s Disease on Close Relationships Between Patients and Caregivers, “This disease is very unpredictable in terms of duration and nature of symptoms, with...
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...Dementia/Alzheimer’s – The Unwanted Inheritance Georgeanna L. Chapman COM/172 June 09, 2014 Janice Prewitt Dementia/Alzheimer’s – The Unwanted Inheritance It is time to start the day by getting up moving; standing there trying to remember the reason that they are perched there in the kitchen, but their brain isn’t operating correctly. Why can’t they remember what they walked in there for? It wasn’t like this yesterday, or was it is, but with the increasing symptoms of Alzheimer’s setting in, their world is changing, and there is nothing that they can do about it. Yesterday is a blur, today is starting out in a foggy cloud. Even though, environmental factors could contribute to the onset of Alzheimer’s, 25% of all people aged 55 have family history of the disease, 50% of them will inherit the gene mutation. More studies need to be done when it comes to Alzheimer’s; a disease that is increasing in numbers and it is time to put more emphasis on this. With the number of cases rising at a fast rate, women need to stand up and take a stand and demand that more studies be performed as they are more at risk to get Alzheimer’s than Cancer; nearly two-thirds of those with Alzheimer’s are women. “Alzheimer’s disease was first identified more than 100 years ago but still relatively little is known and understood about the aetiology, pathogenesis, treatment management and prevention of the disease. Diagnosis is difficult, particularly in the early stages, and effective treatments...
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...what you already know about Alzheimer’s disease. For example, you might know just a few facts or you might have a great deal of personal experience with a loved one who has Alzheimer’s disease. I don’t have a loved one who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease. I do however know that Alzheimer’s is a disease that tends to make older people forget about their everyday tasks, about their family, etc. in other words, loss of memory. 2. In an attempt to prevent unsafe driving, some states require physicians to report a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease to the health department. The health department then notifies the department of motor vehicles. Do you think your home state should have such a law? Why or why not? I personally think they should have a law like this. That why they will prevent any accidents from people who suffer Alzheimer’s. They might forget what they’re doing or have any black outs and prevent a crash. Reading comprehension questions 1. Create a rhyme, image, or other trick to help you remember what the three parts of the brain do (i.e., create a mnemonic device). Describe your trick here. Cerebrum, problem solves, Cerebellum sits back and relaxes, brains stem connects to the boney friend. 2. Explain the term “thinking wrinkles.” The thinking wrinkles are in your brain's wrinkled surface and is a specialized outer layer of the cerebrum called the cortex. 3. You may have seen a T-shirt that says, “Left-handed people are the only people in their right mind.” Explain...
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...Alzheimer's disease is a disease of the brain that is eventually fatal and affects how a person thinks, feels, and acts. It is an "irreversible disease and destroys brain cells causing thinking ability and memory to deteriorate." ("Alzheimer's Disease", 2016). Each individual with this fatal disease is affected in different ways. There is no order in which symptoms occur or the speed of their progression. Alzheimer's disease affects a person's ability to make decisions, perform simple tasks, or follow a conversation. It also affects a person's emotions, mood, and physical abilities. Individuals with this disease can lose interest in their favorite hobbies, become less expressive and withdrawn. An individual may also seem "different" or out...
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...Alzheimer's: Diabetes of the Brain? Although we’ve always known that Alzheimer’s disease is typically associated with numerous tangles and plaque in the brain, the exact cause of these abnormalities has been hard to pin down. Now, we may be closer to an answer. In many respects, Alzheimer’s is a brain form of diabetes. Even in the earliest stages of disease, the brain’s ability to metabolize sugar is reduced. Normally, insulin plays a big role in helping the brain take up sugar from the blood. But, in Alzheimer’s, insulin is not very effective in the brain. Consequently, the brain cells practically starve to death. How is that like diabetes? These days, most people with diabetes have Type 2 diabetes mellitus. Basically, cells throughout the body become resistant to insulin signals. In an effort to encourage cells to take up more sugar from the blood, the pancreas increases the output of insulin. Imagine having to knock louder on a door to make the person inside open up and answer. The high levels of insulin could damage small blood vessels in the brain, and eventually lead to poor brain circulation. This problem could partly explain why Type 2 diabetes harms the brain. In Alzheimer’s, the brain, especially parts that deal with memory and personality, become resistant to insulin. Why does the brain need insulin? As in most organs, insulin stimulates brain cells to take up glucose or sugar, and metabolize it to make energy. Insulin also is very important for making...
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...What is Alzheimer’s disease? Why should people know about it? This is a disease that causes more than just memory loss. Alzheimer’s is a Neurodegenerative Brain disease, and is a common cause of dementia. It currently affects over 5 million Americans, and it is also the 6 leading cause of death in the United States (Alzheimer's Association (2014). A lot of people are not fully aware of the impact this awful disease has; not only on the victim but the caregiver as well. I chose topic of Alzheimer’s disease because I want to shed some light on the history, the effects on the families, and the hope for a cure. I have been around Alzheimer’s disease since I was about 8 years old. Being that I was so close to my mother I watched her take care of my grandmother who had Alzheimer’s; then again as a teenager I helped her take care of my aunt who also had this disease as well. I have been affected by this disease in numerous ways mentally and emotionally but the real impact didn’t hit until my mother was diagnosed with the beginning stages of Alzheimer’s. History As a neuropathologist Alois Alzheimer studied a case of a 51 year old woman when she died, Alzheimer performed an autopsy and discovered that she had “cerebral atrophy” (deterioration of the brain), “senile plaques” (protein deposits) and “neurofibrillary tangles” (abnormal filaments in nerve cells) in the brain- three common pathological features of people who have Alzheimer’s disease ( Ramanathan, 1997). Diagnosis ...
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...“overall;” disease. The disease in itself is one that is generally a degeneration in mental ability which is severe enough to interfere with everyday life. One major symptom that is associated with the disease is memory loss. Doctors will diagnose dementia if there are two or more of the following symptoms brought to them by their patient: • Memory • Language skills • Spatial Skills • Understanding of Information • Judgment and • Attention Not all patients will experience every symptom because each symptom depends on which part of the brain the disease is affecting. Thinking skills that are bad enough will reduce a person’s ability to perform everyday activities like hygiene and grocery shopping. People with Dementia...
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...Introduction: Affecting 64% of all dementia cases (Alzheimer’s Society of Canada, 2014), Alzheimer’s disease is a growing problem today. With close to 90 000 cases of dementia reported in the greater Toronto area (GTA) (Hopkins, 2010) and the number continuing to rise, it is a widespread problem in society. Alzheimer’s disease is characterized by memory loss, difficulty completing daily tasks, confusion, communication problems, and emotional and social changes (Alzheimer’s Association, 2014). Alzheimer’s disease is most common from age 65 onward. There is no cure to alzheimer’s disease, and the exact mechanisms are unclear. Current research suggests that plaques and tangles are responsible for the destruction of neurones, leading to symptoms...
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...control her emotions my Father came in the room and gave me the news. My mother’s father was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. At the time I really did not know what to make of the situation my dad just threw at me. He tried explaining to me what it was and how it affected my grandfather but it was too much information to take in at the time. I just did not understand the concept of Alzheimer’s so I decided to do some research. I found that Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia that eats away at brain cells and interferes cognitive functioning like memory transitions, learning abilities and language formation. Alzheimer’s disease is one of the top death causes in the United States. Almost five million Americans are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and about five percent of people between the age of 65 to 75 and half of the people over the age of 85 suffer from Alzheimer’s. Alzheimer’s is not a normal side effect of aging. It starts off as just mild symptoms that interfere with normal daily activities such as forgetting to put shoes on or forgetting to eat. It progresses after that and gets worse and worse until it is at its most severe stage when one must completely rely on someone else to survive. Alzheimer’s is very unpredictable and scientists do not know what causes Alzheimer’s. The number of people with Alzheimer’s is rising each day. (National center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion) In 1906 a women died of a strange mental illness. Dr. Alois Alzheimer...
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...Alzheimer’s Disease We live in an advanced world of technology and medicine. As much as many things positively impact society, numerous may also have a negative effect. Throughout the years, we were able to create cures through medicine that have allowed the life expectancy of the older generation to outlast the previous ones. But for many seniors, new problems arise that still require an antidote with the help of research and development. Even though females have a higher rate in life expectancy, they also have a greater chance in degenerating diseases; but both have an equal chance in getting a specific disease. One of which is the most common form of Dementia called Alzheimer’s that is caused within old age. Alzheimer causes memory loss and it goes from losing a little portion to even forgetting your entire past. This paper will discuss what happens with Alzheimer’s, who it targets, what are the signs of detecting this disease, and if there is a way to cure it. Alzheimer’s was first discovered in the early 1900’s by a German physician, Alois Alzheimer. He discovered the disease while observing a patient, a 51 year old woman named Frau Auguste D., who developed symptoms of memory loss and had difficulty understandings and speaking. After a few years of observations, Dr. Alxheimer discovered a progression of the symptoms which inevitably led to the death of the patient. Upon autopsy, abnormal impairment of the brain was discovered, along with a remarkable...
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...Stem Cell Research Stem cell research is a very complex argument. There are people that feel that stem cell research should not have even been introduced into our society. However, there are others that feel that stem cell research could change many lives. Those who feel it could change many lives are right in many people’s eyes. With the advancement of stem cell research, we would be able to help many people with such diseases as heart disease and Alzheimer’s. Stem cells could also help others with diseases and those who have suffered some very unfortunate accident. One particularly known person who supports the stem cell research was Christopher Reeves, who was paralyzed in an accident. Other people that believe that the research is unethical since the best way to get stem cells is from embryos, in which the embryo is killed in order to take the stem cells. The biggest obstacle for stem cell research would have to be, killing the human embryo in order to take the stem cells. Many of those that oppose the research believe that is murder, since many religions, such as the Catholic Church, believe that the embryo has a soul, therefore, it is considered murder and a sin. There are other ways of getting the cells, which do not require the killing of embryos. One way to get the stem cells would be from taking them from an adult source. However, those are sometimes not as abundant as those taken from embryos. There is a chance that the cells could be harvested from the Umbilical...
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...to avoid a painful death similar to that of his father. To Caleb, just knowing that there is a possibility to have control over his death is comforting. His death is the only event left to have control over. “I really see this as a medical option,” Heppner explains (Caleb Heppner Discusses). Physician assisted suicide should be legalized because everyone should have the right to choose how to live as well as how to die. In addition, assisted suicide provides an alternative to a painful death. By granting patients the legal right to physician-assisted suicide, terminally ill patients would be able to die peacefully. Physician assisted suicide refers to the procedure in which a physician prescribes a lethal dose of a medication to a terminally ill patient. Today, Oregon, Montana, and Washington are the only state in the United States in which physician assisted suicide is legal. California is currently considering whether or not it should legalize physician-assisted suicide as well. The law requires that both the patient and the medical personnel take the procedure slowly and seriously. In order to ensure that there is no possible cure for the patient’s disease, the law requires that two physicians independently conclude that the patient is terminally ill. In a recent article, Patricia Guthrie informs her audience about the physician assisted suicide law in Oregon, which was authorized in 1994 by vote. “Oregon’s law requires two doctors to consult and agree that the patient...
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..."Where has Yesterday Gone" Memory loss, like old age is a condition which mankind has always reluctantly recognized and always - with resignation. Memory loses are sometimes trivial and meaningless and go unrecognized. However, when these loses are so great that a person does not know who or where they are the concerns are quite grave. Although it is realize that Alzheimer's disease destroys the brain memory function, many do not realize precisely how the memory is destroyed once one is aware of the process, it becomes faster to work forward to alleviate the destruction. "Without memory there is no knowledge to recreate or reproduce past perceptions, emotions, thoughts and actions that are so vital to live a full and functioning life. Memory is the key that unlocks doors that keep us functioning, not only mentally but physically (Corrick 32)." "Memory loss is not a sign of decay (Freedman 10)." As we get older, there is some mild impairment in our recollection of recent events, such as forgetting why one went into a room or misplacing a person's eye glasses, which even young are guilty of doing. As reported by Larry Squire, "forgetting is quite normal and usually develops in the third decade of life, and by one estimate 85 percent of the healthy elderly - those over 65--suffer some memory impairment (59)." According to Dr. Seligmann, "forgetting is the process through which information in memory becomes inaccessible, either because it is stored but is not at that time retrievable...
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...eugenics. Many people believe eugenics is immoral. It crosses religious lines as well, as many believe that it is up a higher power to decide who a person is and what traits they have. However, some are in support of genome editing because it could lead to cures for diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease. Genome editing therefore generates many arguments in society, some for, and some against. In my opinion, the potential benefits of this research do outweigh the risks. In today’s society, people of all generations suffer from genetic conditions which end up holding them back. Alzheimer’s disease is very common in the aging generations, especially as humans begin to live longer. Because life spans are increasing, this means that Alzheimer’s and other chronic conditions that typically appear in old age will continue to plague society unless a cure is found. Genome editing could also produce a cure for autism, but this is another ethical dilemma in itself. While genome editing does bring forth the potential for cures to diseases which negatively affect a large portion of society, it also creates the argument of whether or not some diseases should be cured. However, in the case of chronic diseases which place harm on a person’s health and threaten their life, a cure should be given, and if genome editing could lead to that cure, then it would prove to benefit society....
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...Dementia Supporting people with dementia and their carers in health and social care Issued: November 2006 NICE clinical guideline 42 guidance.nice.org.uk/cg42 NICE has accredited the process used by the Centre for Clinical Practice at NICE to produce guidelines. Accreditation is valid for 5 years from September 2009 and applies to guidelines produced since April 2007 using the processes described in NICE's 'The guidelines manual' (2007, updated 2009). More information on accreditation can be viewed at www.nice.org.uk/accreditation © NICE 2006 Dementia NICE clinical guideline 42 Contents Introduction................................................................................................................................... 4 Person-centred care ..................................................................................................................... 6 Key priorities for implementation .................................................................................................. 8 1 Guidance ................................................................................................................................... 11 1.1 Principles of care for people with dementia ...................................................................................... 11 1.2 Integrated health and social care ..................................................................................................... 17 1.3 Risk factors, prevention and early identification...
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