Alzheimer's disease

Maria Carrillo
November 17 2017
 What is Alzheimer's: This is a progressive disease that affects the brain, cells, nervous
and psychic nervous system. This results in the loss of higher cognitive function, in other words
a form of dementia. The causes in most of those effected are unknown, so there is no treatment
for the underlying cause but there is medication to slow down the progression. This is a
progressive disease that will become fatal. Symptoms may include decrease abilities to interpret
sensory perceptions, loss of understanding meaning, appropriate use of things, and dysphasia.

Alzheimer's disease was once considered rare, but now it is one of the most common
form of dementia. Across all age groups Alzheimer's composes of 60 to 80 percent of all
dementias. According to the Alzheimer's association in the United States by 2017 about 5.5
million people had the disease. Around 5.3 million were sixty-five and older, while about two
thousand were under the age of sixty-five. Those who get the disease loose cognitive abilities.
Impairments include, agnosia which is the inability to interpret sensations and hence to recognize
things, apraxia the inability to understand the meaning or appropriate the use of things, and
dysphasia the failure to arrange words into a meaningful manner. Alzheimer's all in all is a
progressive neurodegenerative disorder that slowly leads to death.

Definite diagnosis is only through autopsy, while neurological and psychiatric provide an
assessment of impairment. People effected by Alzheimer's dementia can be observed for their
behavior changes. Symptoms often develop gradually most common after the age of sixty-five.
However, it has also been known to develop in younger people but have a more rapid onset.
When this happens, they deserve immediate medical attention.

Alzheimer's disease is characterized by pathological changes in the brain that include,

senile or neurotic plaques. Which consist of extracellular proteinaceous deposits surrounded by
dystrophic neurons. The presence of similar extracellular proteinaceous deposits in the brain
vasculature, termed amyloid or congophilic angiopathy and the presence within nerve cells of
tangled fibrillary protein aggregates, called neurofibrillary tangles. These marks are due to a
large amount of neurula loss and brain atrophy. Mostly in areas of the brain involved in memory
and cognition, such as the hippocampus and the temporal and prefrontal cortex. However, the
tangles and plaques have also been found in the brains of individuals who did not have
symptoms of Alzheimers disease.
The extracellular protein deposits in the plaques and brain vasculature have distinct
properties. So, there is an organization of their molecules. There are many but typically rare,
diseases in which proteins are deposited in this organized fashion in parts of the body. The
diseases are now termed amyloidoses, for example mad cow's disease. How does a normal
biological molecule become a pathological agent in the aging brain to cause nonfamilial cases of
Alzheimers disease? It has been proposed that genetic and environmental factors may play a
role in this. The identification of theses might lead to new drug research strategies and to new
insight into amyloid formation. All in all, there is no definite cause for Alzheimer's disease.
 In present time there is no "cure" for Alzheimer's disease. There are treatment options but
not ones that target the underlying source of the disease. The treatment options tend to be
palliative rather than curative. They address the symptoms, providing some temporary relief.
Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors like donepezil, rivastigmine, galantamine, and tacrine have
shown to temporarily slow progression of the disease. Although these treatments are not use to
cure they may have a small benefit to individuals with moderate-to-severe Alzheimer's disease.

There has been many trials and suggested medications that can be taken to help with
some symptoms, like an agent that mimics nicotine but the trial ended abruptly due to the severe
side effects. nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, such as aspirin and ibuprofen, have been
suggested to help with the amyloid lesions in Alzheimers disease that may result in an
inflammatory response in the brain, which causes a major part in negative neurotoxic effects.
There are studies that have shown a negative correlation between the use of estrogen replacement
therapy. Lipid metabolism may have an impact on the development of Alzheimers disease,
cholesterol may affect the production altering cell membrane characteristics.

Research into stem cells has provided evidence for the presence of neuronal stem cells
within the brain. This approaches to therapies for Alzheimers disease includes the development
of neurotrophic factors that may enhance neuron survival. Research into how stem cell migration
works, functions and development might produce drugs that would enhance the recruitment of
such stem cells into dystrophic areas of the brain. Early detection of Alzheimers disease
increases the effectiveness of current drugs and treatments and helps keep some of the symptoms
in control to give the person some form of comfort.

Most of the research now is to find a way to detect the disease fully so treatment can be
administered as soon as possible for positive outcomes. Researches have gone on to try out
possible tests to detect Alzheimer's disease. The researchers discovered that verbal memory tests
were highly accurate in determining which individuals went on to develop the disease. There is
an obvious decline in in verbal memory in older individuals, in a one to two-year period before
the development of Alzheimer's disease.

As of 2016 Alzheimer's was the 6th leading cause of death according to the US centers of
disease control and prevention. Alzheimer's is one of the most expensive disease in this country,
reaching an annual cost for $214 billion in 2014. Total payments for people with Alzheimer's or
other forms of dementia would reached $259 billion in 2017. The disease is predicted to affect
about as many as sixteen million in the United States by 2050. Alzheimers dementia remains a
topic of interest in the effort to develop prevention strategies and treatments. There is still many
other researches and trials for current Alzheimer's victims to help slow down or bring a comfort
in their lives as the disease progresses.
 Literature cited

Alzheimer's disease. By: Martone, Robert L., Piotrowski, Nancy A., PhD, Magills Medical
Guide (Online Edition), January, 2017

Sanders, Laura. Alzheimer's Protein Can Travel from Blood to Build up in the Brain. Science
News, 6 Nov. 2017
Reflection

My Experience writing this research essay was positive in the end. When I knew about
this assignment my topic of choice was immediately Alzheimer's disease. My interest on
Alzheimer's mostly came from my mom. She is a Certified nurse assistant and medicine
technician at a retirement home, she specializes in memory care. She has worked there the
majority of my life so as her daughter I had some interest in what my mother worked with on the
daily. It was a scary and sad experience at first, but once educated I understood what was
happening. So, prior to writing this paper I had some knowledge about the disease. The
community college offers many resources for researching online. That I learned about not so
long ago. I thought that it was going to be ok to start this essay a week or so before the deadline.
Unfortunately, I was wrong, essays are my specialty but I've only done a handful of research
essays.

It's easy to gather the data or research but when it came to putting everything on paper it
was difficult. I had to organize the information in a way that will make sense and that it flows
nicely. So I almost pulled an all nighter and woke up very early to finish it up, I had some printer
problems but I was very proud of the outcome of my paper. I do find it very important to do
research papers, it changes up the variety of papers we are assigned and offers some kind of
balance and different views. Mostly when the topic is as important, like Alzheimer's disease. Not
many know the underlaying information of what the disease really is and what science is trying
to do for it. All in all, I learned a lot from doing this research paper.