...Hope Polzin Composition I Research Report 3 December 2014 Alzheimer’s Disease Alzheimer’s is a very common disease in older men and women usually beginning around the age of 65. This common disease is a disease that causes the brain to slowly decline and eventually results in memory loss (Signs and Symptoms). There are 44 million individuals around the world that this specific disease affects (Study Paves Way…). There are many causes and symptoms that can lead an individual to being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. However, there are multiple treatments that can help those who are suffering depending on what stage that specific person is experiencing. There are multiple different causes that can lead to Alzheimer’s Disease. One cause...
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...effects of Alzheimer’s disease The former liberal party leader, Michael Ignatieff said in his essay, “Deficits” (2010) “Sometimes I try to count the number of times she asks me these questions but I lose track” (p.108). Ignatieff is expressing his own feelings towards his mother’s Dementia of Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Alois Alzheimer, a German physician discovered a patient that suffered from a severe dementia due to brain abnormalities. Alzheimer’s disease is the second most-feared irreversible illness in America, following Cancer. It affects as many as 5 million Americans, a number that could soar to 16 million by 2050 (Hoffman, Froemke, and Golant, 2009, para 1). These numbers are due to the fact that there is no cure. The major effects of this specific disease can be depicted by Ignatieff (2010) in “Deficits” and also scientific studies that create a clear picture of how an individual is affected through the brain, how the individual does not have that sense of security and those caregivers who are trying to cope with the disease to that individual. The brain is a vital organ in the human body, when the brain is affected; the entire functions of the body are affected. In most individuals affected by Alzheimer’s, memory loss is usually the first sign. The individual begins to lose memory of recent events and later the ability to complete regular tasks declines as nerve cells break down. In the book, “The Everything Health Guide to Alzheimer’s disease” Terry...
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...Alzheimer’s disease is an irreversible, progressive brain disorder that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills, and eventually the ability to carry out the simplest tasks. In most people with Alzheimer’s, symptoms first appear in their mid-60s. Alzheimer’s disease is complex, and it is unlikely that any one drug or other intervention can successfully treat it. Current approaches focus on helping people maintain mental function, manage behavioral symptoms, and slow or delay the symptoms of disease. It's important to give those instructions and knowledge of the side effects of Alzheimer's. One patient can become depressed and aggressive difficulty with self-care, irritability, meaningless repetition of own words, personality changes, lack...
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...Alzheimer's Disease Picture of the brain areas: It is the cortex that makes us human -- our ability to plan, calculate, imagine and create. When the cortex of the brain function normally, it creates a person, someone with a particular pattern of feelings, beliefs, reactions and thoughts, and these transcend the purely physical. A working cortex produces an individual pattern of emotion, aspiration and experience that defines the character and the personality. Unfortunately, it is the cortex, this brain-cell layer half an inch(1.25cm) thick on the surface of the brain, that is most affected by Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's disease is a progressive, degenerative disease, or more accurately, a group of disorders that results in impaired memory, thinking and behaviour. It afflicts approximately 4 million Americans and as many as 15 million people worldwide. Research has also shown that Alzheimer's disease is more prevalent among women than among men, and this prevalence increases with age. Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia, which is not a disease itself but rather a group of symptoms that involve a loss of intellectual function severe enough to interfere with daily activities. Formerly called senility, dementia was once thought to be a normal and almost inevitable accompaniment of aging. Today many doctors and researchers believe that dementia occurs in the elderly only when they are afflicted with specific diseases or disorders. Some of these...
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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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...buildup of damage from internal and external factors eventually wears the body out and starts to it break down. The cellular theory, proposes that when we are born our cells are limited to only reproducing a certain amount of times before they die, then our organs begin to slowly rot away. Researchers promoting the genetic mutation theory believe that all the mutated cells in our body increases with age, so as people get older they tend to have more damage and problems within their cells. Most of the signs of aging are shown through the outward appearance of a person, such as wrinkles, baldness, gray hair, etc., and other signs can be seen mentally which include memory loss or a slower reaction time. Osteoporosis, Parkinson’s disease, and Alzheimer’s disease are three of the most common diseases that occur with the aging process of a person. Osteoporosis is when a person’s bones become fragile and lose density over time. During the early stages of osteoporosis, there are no noticeable symptoms, but later on during the...
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...Shelly Leffingwell Intro to Pysch 1050 Winter 2014 January 25, 15 Alzheimer’s: Could it be type 3 diabetes? I choose this article because I am interested in Alzheimer’s research. I want to know the physical impact of the disease on the body and how it is changing the mind of the person. This disease is on the rise as baby boomers come of age; if there is a way to prevent or minimize the aliments of the disease I want to know how to best treat people as they are progressing through the aging. Memories of people are what shape the social history of a community and country at large. Losing those memories means that a part of history will be lost unless we figure out how to preserve it before it is gone. On a personal level those memories maybe the key to a genetic disease or maybe the exposure of a harmful chemical that is now taking its toll on the body of the person. When a mind is lost we lose a living part of our personal and social history that may explain how society got where it is. The article explains how insulin affects the brain. Insulin is a key factor in brain activity because it is the sugar the body runs on. Insulin is one a few components that cross the blood brain barrier, when it does not make it to the brain the brain reacts with shrinkage. In the 1990’s studies started showing a correlation between type 2 diabetes and dementia, when a fasting glucose test is performed up to 75% had dementia type symptoms. The majority of the insulin receptors...
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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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...There are many significant health issues that come with aging, one of which is Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s disease is an irreversible, progressive brain disease that slowly destroys the memory and thinking skills of its victims. Eventually victims of Alzheimer’s lose their ability to complete tasks of daily living (National Institute on Aging, 2013). The discovery of Alzheimer’s disease was made by Dr. Alois Alzheimer upon an examination of the brain of a woman who died of an unusual mental illness. The doctor saw changes in the tissue of the brain. The National Institute on Aging (2013) website states that the symptoms of the woman’s illness were: memory loss, language problems, and unpredictable behaviors. In the examination of the brain, the doctor found abnormal clumps and tangled bundles of fibers. The clumps are amyloid plaques and the tangled bundles of fibers are neurofibrillary tangles. These plaques and tangles are two of the main features that accompany Alzheimer’s disease. A third feature is the loss of connection between neurons (nerve cells) in the brain (National Institute on Aging, 2013). Developing some knowledge of what Alzheimer’s disease is will help people understand what the symptoms of the disease are, how the disease is diagnosed and what treatments can be used to help slow the progress of Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s disease: Symptoms The symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease are tricky and can be easily written off as a sign of aging. It is not so...
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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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...discussion question for unit on Alzheimer’s disease. I cannot even imagine how hard it would even be to not know the things that you used to know when you were a younger person. This disease has and knows no barriers therefore, anyone can get it. I too work with many elderly people and have worked with those that have dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. When I work with people with this disease, I try to put myself in their shoes and wonder if I had this disease/condition the absolute worst case scenario would be if I had a caregiver that was not caring or patient with me how I would feel. With all of this in mind, I have vowed to always treat a patient with any condition with the fullest of respect. We all just never know who might get this disease and because of this we all have to be supportive of all of our patients with Alzheimer’s disease. A little history about this disease helps in its understanding of how difficult it can be not for just the patient, but also for the family that helps in caring for the patient with Alzheimer’s disease. Dementia is a similar condition that is often confused with Alzheimer’s disease. The statistics contain that Alzheimer’s disease accounts for 80% of all dementia cases. The highest prevalence in Alzheimer’s is of course the elderly and the oldest age groups. I found it incredibly interesting that over five million people in the United States have this disease. With the increase in elderly...
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...Alzheimer’s Disease HCS245 11/14/2011 Alzheimer’s Disease Alzheimer’s disease, also known as dementia is a brain disorder that damages and destroys brain cells. Alzheimer’s is the sixth leading cause of death. Alzheimer’s disease causes loss of memory, thinking, and other functions of the brain to stop working correctly. Alzheimer’s is most often found in older adults over the age of 65 but this disease is not a normal part of aging. Alzheimer’s also can be found in people under the age of 40 (Alzheimer's Association, 2011). The brain consists of one hundred billion nerve cells or neurons. These nerve cells are grouped and each group has their own job. Some of these groups are for thinking, learning, remembering, seeing, hearing, and smelling. When brain cells are functioning correctly, they should receive information, process information, store the information, and communicate with other cells. Keeping everything running requires large amounts of fuel and oxygen for coordination. Alzheimer’s disease prevents the cells from working correctly. When there are problems in one area it in return causes problems in other areas. As damage in the brain spreads, the cells lose their ability to function correctly, do their jobs, and eventually die causing permanent changes in the brain (Alzheimer's Association, 2011). Alzheimer's disease is a growing health issue in the United States. This disease affects four million people, and 360,00 to 400,00 new cases of...
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...Caregivers of Dementia patients Vascular dementia is the second most common form of dementia after Alzheimer’s disease. Caused by problematic supply of blood to the brain, symptoms include challenging communication, depression and anxiety, strokes, physical weakness or paralysis, confusion, changes in behaviour and difficulties in walking and unsteadiness. This paper discusses the problems faced by caregivers of patients suffering from vascular dementia who are above the age of 65 and possible recommendations to improve their plight through the review of the movie, Amour (a movie about an octogenarian couple, Georges and Anne, where Anne develops vascular dementia) and current literature pertaining to the topic. Georges “Put yourself in my place. Didn’t you ever think it could happen to me, too? Anne: “Of course I did. But imagination and reality have little in common.” Anne’s sudden speech arrest and frozen stare at the breakfast table with no recollection afterward are the first signs of a partial seizure. Caregivers, like Georges, who are not prepared for looking after patients are under pressure because of their increasing needs. Georges does not seem to mind this responsibility of taking care of her initially, but Anne’s condition deteriorates fast. She experiences profound right sided weakness and is bound to the wheelchair. Georges struggles to lift her from the wheelchair and make her sit on a chair or go the bathroom. Increased stress in his behaviour is...
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...Unit 33 LEARNING OUTCOME 1 1.1 DESCRIBE THE RANGE OF CAUSES OF DEMENTIA SYNDROME There are many different types of dementia: Alzheimer’s which is usually found in people over the age of 65 (extract from mayo clinic}Although in most cases the exact cause of Alzheimer's disease isn't known, plaques and tangles are often found in the brains of people with Alzheimer's. Plaques are clumps of a protein called beta-amyloid, and tangles are fibrous tangles made up of tau protein. Certain genetic factors also may make it more likely that people will develop Alzheimer's. Vascular dementia which is the second most common form of dementia which is caused by reduced blood flow or blocked blood vessels or even a infection of a heart valve (vascular condition. Lewy body dementia which is caused from abnormal clumps of protein that have been found in the brains of people with Lewy body dementia, Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. (Extract from mayo clinic} Frontotemporal dementia (Formally known as picks disease) is caused by break down of the nerve cells in the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain which controls behaviours, language, thinking and concentration as well as movement. Korsakoffs syndrome Korsakoff's syndrome is a brain disorder usually associated with heavy alcoholconsumption over a long period. Although Korsakoff's syndrome is not strictly speaking adementia, people with the condition experience loss of short-term memory. This factsheet outlines the...
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...All around the world, the elderly population is growing, and concern for age-related diseases is increasing accordingly. One of the most challenging diseases to treat for both the senior and the physician is dementia. Dementia involves various brain areas and neural networks that lead to changes in the functioning of the brain, which then affect memory, activities of daily living, and the behavior of the patients (Bauer, Kathrin). With dementia comes Alzheimer’s, which is a type of dementia.The skills that tend to deteriorate with these mental illnesses are cognitive skills. Researchers have found that yoga, which is a physical and mental exercise, can help to improve cognitive skills. In fact, epidemiological observational studies have shown...
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