Research Needed for Alzheimers Disease essays

Research Needed for Alzheimer's Disease essays Alzheimer's Disorder (AD) is a progressive brain disease which primarily affects older people. The parts of the brain that control memory, language, and even thought gradually decline (ADEAR, date). While AD develops most commonly after the age of sixty, there is a rarer form that can develop at a younger age. Experts estimate that between the ages of 65 and 75, 5% of the population may have AD. By age 85, however, nearly half may have AD (ADEAR, date). In spite of how common the disease is among people who have lived a very long time, AD is not considered a normal consequence of age but a disease process to which one becomes more While scientists are just beginning to untangle the mystery of exactly what causes AD, some facts have been established. The disease was first noticed by a German doctor, Alois Alzheimer. Although doctors had noted dementia in elderly people, Dr. Alzheimer examined the brain of a woman who had died of an unusual mental illness. In the brain he found clumps of matter that should have not been there (called amyloid plaques). He also found tangled figers, now called neurofrbrillary fibers (ADEAR, date). The presence of these formations are definitive signs of Alzheimer's, but since currently they can only be detected after death, their presence is not Since Dr. Alzheimer's first discovery, researchers have noted other brain changes in those with AD. Nerve cells that support memory and cognition die off, and the brains show diminished quantities of the neurotransmitters that allow neurons to communicate with each other (ADEAR, date). Researchers assume that the combination of diminished neurotransmitters and loss of nerve cells contribute to the disruption of thought processes in the patient with AD. The role of neurofrbrillary fiber bundles and the presence of amyloid plaque is less clear. The effects of Alzheimer's Disease on society ...