Dr. Alois Alzheimer 's Disease

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Dr. Alois Alzheimer made the decision to utilize what was a new staining technique on a sample from a deceased patient. The sample was of the patient’s cerebral cortex. Upon staining, he noted what appeared to be abnormal for the current findings. The nerve cells were bunched up, having the appearance of knots. Within these bunches of nerve cells were also what is now known as plaques. Later, in a medical journal, Dr. Alzheimer, discussed his hypothesis of the bundles and plaques being the cause for the patient’s memory loss (Tagarelli, 2006).
Background
It was once the norm to associate a decline in one’s memory to be a part of typical aging. As it has been proven, a marked decline in cognition is an unexpected outcome of the aging process. A decline has actually been identified to be cause for concern and thus falls under the broad scope of dementia. One particular disease that falls under the umbrella of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease. This is an unfortunate disorder with a hallmark symptom of gradual, ongoing, neurological decline. The disease not only consumes a person’s short term memory but eventually the long term memory as well.
Unfortunately, Alzheimer’s disease has been thought of as affecting only our geriatric population. This is not true. There have been cases of individuals as young as 40 with what is called early onset. Currently, the market houses a select few medications that have been approved to prolong the unfortunate outcome, but there still is much unanswered. Medical experts are unsure of how to prevent the development of this disease as well as what exactly the causative agent is. The development of plaques and tangles in the brain cause a combination of behavioral and psychological symptoms. The behav...

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...ist.
B. Prevalence of Dementia:
1. Dementia affects about 5% of individuals 65 and older.
2. Four to five million Americans have AD.
3. Fourteen million are projected to have AD by the year 2040.
4. Global prevalence of dementia is about 24.3 million, with 6 million new cases every year.
C. Risk Factors of developing Dementia:
1. Advanced age
2. Mild cognitive impairment
3. Cardiovascular disease
4. Genetics: family history of dementia, Parkinson 's disease, cardiovascular disease, stroke, presence of ApoE4 allele on chromosome 19
5. Environment (Fletcher, 2012).

References:
Tagarelli, A., Piro, A., Tagarelli, G., & Quattrone, A. (2006). Alois Alzheimer: A Hundred Years after the Discovery of the Eponymous Disorder. International Journal of Biomedical Sciences, 2(2), 196-204. Retrieved December 10, 2014, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3614590/

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