The History Of Alzheimer's Disease

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Alzheimer’s Disease is a brain disease in which damaged and dying brain cells cause mental deterioration over a period of time. The disease affects approximately 4.5 million people in the United States (“Alzheimer’s Disease”-1). This disease is overlooked by many. The history behind Alzheimer’s was an example of never ending investigating. Alzheimer’s disease is named after German neurologist Alois Alzheimer, who was the first researcher to describe it. He studied a 51-year-old woman whose personality and mental abilities were deteriorating.The woman was forgetful, became paranoid, and acted strangely. After the woman’s death, Alzheimer examined her brain during an autopsy. He noticed an unusual thickening and tangling of the brain’s nerve fibers (Alzheimer’s Disease”-1). Specifically, he found development of clumps. The clumps are known as amyloid plaques, and the tangled regions are called neurofibrillary tangles. Both are huge parts of Alzheimer’s disease (“Alzheimer’s disease”-2). He also found that the cell bodies and nuclei of nerve cells had disappeared. Alzheimer also noted that these changes indicated some new, unidentified illness. More than seven decades would pass before …show more content…

"Alzheimer’s disease." The Gale Encyclopedia of Science, edited by K. Lee Lerner and Brenda Wilmoth Lerner, 5th ed., Gale, 2014. Science in Context, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CV2644030077/SCIC?u=j047902&xid=0e4c1042. Accessed 10 May 2017. "Alzheimer's Disease." UXL Encyclopedia of Science, edited by Amy Hackney Blackwell and Elizabeth Manar, 3rd ed., UXL, 2015. Science in Context, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CV2644300059/SCIC?u=j047902&xid=be88c723. Accessed 10 May 2017. "Alzheimer Disease Plaques Seen With Conventional MRI in Animal Model for the First Time." US Newswire, 27 July 2008. Research in Context, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=MSIC&sw=w&u=j047902&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA181877506&it=r&asid=512e71bd540263fa917e989087d16042. Accessed 10 May

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