Alzheimer's Disease is a form of dementia that causes memory loss, cognitive impairment, progressive neurodegeneration, and erratic behavior. I have a personal connection to Alzheimer's because my grandmother was diagnosed with the disease when I was a child. I saw for myself the severe neurodegenerative effects that Alzheimer's can have on all facets of life.Alzheimer's Disease is the most common form of dementia accounting for approximately 60%-80% of dementia cases. Despite this statistic, Alzheimer's is not a normal part of aging. The disease progressively worsens over time with symptoms ranging from memory loss to complete loss of bodily functions. Alzheimer's is the sixth largest cause of death in America, and there is currently no known cure. There are some treatment options available. Hopefully there will be more viable treatment options available for individuals that are suffering with this terrible disease.
Alzhemier's Disease is caused by the formation of amyloid-beta-containing plaques and neurofibrillary tangles composed of hyperphosphorylated tau protein. Tau proteins are proteins that stabalize microtubules. They are very common in neurons, but are not found in abundance elsewhere in the body. A number of other signaling proteins are also included in the progressive neurodegeneration of Alzheimer's including glycogen synthase kinase-3-beta and cyclin-dependent kinase-s.
Sources:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2274891/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2875049/
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/09/new-study-changing-how-scientists-think-about-alzheimer-s-disease
I knew what Alzheimer's Disease was, but never the details about it, so this was new to me! I think this disease can be frightening, and I fear that my dad is getting there because of certain symptoms that I have noticed.
ReplyDeleteI have a grandmother who is starting to show some symptoms of this, after my great gradmother suffered from it it has a lot of my family on edge now. She is worried about going through the same things as her, and seeing this is worried about being treated in hospitals and going through the same trials that her mother my great grandmother went through. It can be like someone is dying but they are still there physically.
ReplyDeleteAs you said it is not an easy disease to cope with and without cures it is only a matter of time until it is able to have noticeable effects. It is great that we know the process and several causes of this. I have not looked into it much but I have heard of issues to the Tau proteins causing these issues. I did not know about the other systems which also causes the plaque building in the brain.