Alzheimers Disease

Alzheimer Disease

Introduction

Alzheimer 's disease had greatly altered the lifestyle of the older people and imposed a burden for those who care and love them . It is a disease of the mind , a loss of proper mental function that eventually affects the behavior of an afflicted person . People with Alzheimer cannot hope to get well for not only is it regressive but also irreversible . The general population had accepted the reality that as a person gets old , there is a natural deterioration of his mental faculties but with the advancement

of technology the public had been brought to a greater understanding of the cause and nature of the disease and therapeutic intervention had been formulated

This will discuss all aspects of the disease , its history , meaning and facts , nature and cause , manifestations , diagnosis , treatment and research . Through this , the reader will gain a greater understanding of the disease that mostly afflicts the adult population

Definition and Facts

Alzheimer disease is a progressive , irreversible , degenerative neurologic disease that begins insidiously and is characterized by gradual losses of cognitive function , which means it slowly affects both memory and reasoning (Smeltzer Bare , 2004 , 205 Wagman , 1996 180 . According to Medical and Health Encyclopedia , victims of Alzheimer disease , which is a form of dementia or mental deterioration , undergo various behavioral changes (Wagman , 1996 , 180 . Approximately 26 of old people , 85 years above , suffer from Alzheimer 's disease . Yet , although it affects mostly older people , about 1 to 10 of cases , signs and symptoms can begin as early as in middle age . This disease affects both male and female and can last from 2 to 20 years depending on the progression of the disease (Smeltzer Bare , 2004 , 205-207 . In the past , memory loss was just an accepted part of growing old but with improve technology and research its causes are now specifically identified and there is hope for an intervention . It was in 1907 that Alois Alzheimer first diagnosed such type of disease (Munoz Feldman 2000 , 65

Causes and Nature of the Disease

There is a higher risk of the disease if a family member or relative had been afflicted by it in the past and if there is a presence of Down syndrome . This is because medical experts concluded that Alzheimer is genetic in origin . Genetic mutation of chromosomes 21 , 14 and 19 are seen as probable cause . In 1987 , medical experts had connected the gene mutation of Amyloid protein precursor (APP ) in chromosome 21 as the main reason for the early onset , usually at age of 50 , of Alzheimer disease In 1992 , the mutation of chromosome 14 was also linked to the disease and in 1995 , other chromosome 19 mutation was also found to be the culprit . In short , different gene mutations are discovered in different stages of the disease (Smeltzer Bare , 2004 , 206-207

In their researches , medical experts had discovered that the brain of a person suffering with Alzheimer contains a tangled mass of nonfunctioning neurons and APP protein...