Who Does Alzheimer Disease Affect – Alzheimer’s disease is an irreversible, progressive brain disease that gradually destroys memory and thinking skills, and eventually the ability to perform even the simplest of tasks. In most people with Alzheimer’s, symptoms first appear in their mid-60s. Alzheimer’s disease is the leading cause of dementia among the elderly.
The disease was named after doctor Alois Alzheimer. In 1906, Dr. Alzheimer observed changes in the brain tissue of a woman suffering from a different mental illness. Its symptoms include memory loss, language problems, and erratic behavior. After his death, he examined his brain and found many abnormal plaques (called amyloid plaques) and bundles of fibers (called neurofibrillary, or tau, beams). .
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Who Does Alzheimer Disease Affect
These symptoms and seizures in the brain are still considered some of the most common symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. Another condition is the loss of connections between nerve cells (neurons) in the brain. Neurons send messages between different parts of the brain, from the brain to the muscles and organs of the body.
What Is Alzheimer’s Disease? Symptoms & Causes
Although treatment can help some people’s symptoms, there is no cure for this serious condition.
Scientists are still unraveling the complex brain changes involved in the onset and progression of Alzheimer’s disease. Brain damage appears to begin a decade or more earlier than other cognitive problems. In this early stage of Alzheimer’s disease, the person has no symptoms, but toxic changes are occurring in the brain. Improper deposits of the protein form plaques of amyloid and tau throughout the brain, causing healthy neurons to stop working, lose connections with other neurons, and die.
The damage first occurs in the hippocampus, the part of the brain that is important for memory formation. As more neurons die, more parts of the brain are affected. In the late stages of Alzheimer’s disease, the damage is widespread and the brain tissue is severely depleted.
This 4-minute video shows the complex processes involved in the progression of Alzheimer’s disease in the brain.
Lewy Body Dementia Vs. Alzheimer’s Disease
Estimates vary, but experts estimate that more than 5 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease. Unless the disease can be effectively treated or prevented, the number of people infected will increase dramatically if current population trends continue. That’s because the risk of Alzheimer’s disease increases with age, and the American population is aging.
Alzheimer’s disease is a slow disease that progresses through three stages—an early, asymptomatic stage, an intermediate stage of mild cognitive impairment, and the final stage of Alzheimer’s disease. The time from diagnosis to death varies—up to 3 to 4 years if the person is over 80 years old to 10 years or more if the person is younger.
Alzheimer’s is currently the sixth leading cause of death in the United States, but recent estimates suggest that the disease will become the third leading cause of death, behind only heart disease and cancer. the elderly.
Dementia is the loss of mental function—thinking, memory, and reasoning—and the ability to behave to a degree that interferes with a person’s quality of life and daily activities. The severity of the disease varies from a mild stage, when it begins to affect a person’s work, to a very severe stage, where the person has to rely on others for the basic functions of everyday life.
Newly Identified Genetic Variant Protects Against Alzheimer’s
Dementia has different causes, depending on the type of brain changes that occur. Other diseases include Lewy body dementia, frontotemporal disease, and vascular dementia. It’s common for people to suffer from comorbidities—a combination of two or more illnesses, one of which is an illness. For example, some people have Alzheimer’s disease and hypertension.
Some of these conditions are treatable and reversible. They can be dangerous and should be treated by a doctor as soon as possible.
Emotional problems, such as stress, anxiety, or depression, can make people more likely to forget and be mistaken for heart disease. For example, a person who has recently retired and is dealing with the death of a spouse may feel depressed, lonely, isolated, or bored. Trying to cope with these changes in life can leave some people confused or forgetful. Supportive friends and family can help ease emotional problems, but if these feelings persist, it’s important to get help from a doctor or counselor. Government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you are on a federal government site.
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Effects Of Alzheimer Disease On Patients And Their Family
The human brain contains tens of billions of neurons — specialized cells that process and transmit information through electrical and chemical signals. It sends messages between different parts of the brain, from the brain to the muscles and organs of the body. Alzheimer’s disease disrupts this communication between neurons, causing loss of function and cell death.
Neurons are important transmitters in the central nervous system, but other types of cells are also essential to healthy brain function. In fact, glial cells make up the majority of cells in the brain, outnumbering neurons by 10 to 1. These cells, in turn, come in a variety of forms – such as microglia, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes – surround and support function and health. of neurons. For example, microglia protect neurons from physical and chemical damage, and are responsible for clearing foreign substances and cellular debris from the brain. To accomplish these tasks, glial cells often cooperate with blood vessels in the brain. Together, glial cells and blood vessels regulate the delicate balance of the brain to function properly.
The brain usually declines to a certain degree in healthy aging, but, surprisingly, neurons are not lost in large numbers. In Alzheimer’s disease, however, the damage is widespread, causing many neurons to stop working, lose connections with other neurons, and die. Alzheimer’s disrupts processes involving neurons and networks, including communication, transmission, and repair.
Early on, Alzheimer’s disease mostly destroys neurons and their connections in the parts of the brain involved in memory, including the entorhinal cortex and the hippocampus. Later it affects the area of ​​the cerebral cortex responsible for language, thinking and social behavior. Eventually, many other parts of the brain are damaged. Over time, a person with Alzheimer’s loses the ability to live and work independently. In the end, he died.
What Are The 3 Stages Of Alzheimer’s Dementia?
Many molecular and cellular changes occur in the brain of a person with Alzheimer’s disease. These changes can be seen in the brain tissue under a microscope after death. Research continues to determine what changes cause Alzheimer’s disease, and what causes the disease.
The beta-amyloid protein involved in Alzheimer’s occurs in many different molecules that accumulate between neurons. It is formed from the breakdown of a larger protein, called the amyloid precursor protein. One form, beta-amyloid 42, is considered highly toxic. In Alzheimer’s brains, normal levels of these proteins combine to form signals that accumulate between neurons and disrupt cell function. Research is ongoing to better understand how, and at what stage of the disease, different types of beta-amyloid influence Alzheimer’s.
Neurofibrillary tangles are heterogeneous collections of proteins called tau that accumulate within neurons. Healthy neurons, in part, are internally supported by structures called microtubules, which help guide nutrients and molecules from the cell body to the axon and dendrites. In healthy neurons, tau binds and stabilizes microtubules. In Alzheimer’s disease, however, different chemical changes cause tau to detach from the microtubules and attach to other tau molecules, forming threads that become embedded in the brain’s structures. These drugs block the neuron’s transport system, disrupting synaptic communication between neurons.
Evidence suggests that the brain changes associated with Alzheimer’s are caused by an interaction between aging and beta-amyloid proteins and other factors. Common sense appears to accumulate in brain regions involved in memory. Beta-amyloid clusters in the layers between neurons. When beta-amyloid levels reach a peak, the plaque spreads rapidly throughout the brain.
Is Alzheimer’s Disease Actually A ‘type 3 Diabetes’?
Research suggests that chronic inflammation results from the accumulation of glial cells that often help clear the brain of debris. A type of glial cell, microglia, engulfs and destroys waste and toxins in a healthy brain. In Alzheimer’s, microglia are unable to remove debris, debris, and protein deposits, including beta-amyloid plaques. Researchers are trying to find out why microglia do not play this important role in Alzheimer’s.
One area of ​​research is a gene called TREM2. Basically, TREM2 tells microglia cells to remove beta-amyloid plaques from the brain and help fight brain inflammation. In human brains this gene doesn’t work normally, signals develop between neurons. Astrocytes—another type of glial cell—are thought to help clear the plaque and other cellular debris left behind. These microglia and astrocytes gather around the neurons, but do not perform the task of eliminating debris. In addition, they release chemicals that are associated with inflammation and also damage neurons to protect them.
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