Alzheimer Disease
...ts of sticky starch, with twisted fibrils. Until today, it becomes the leading cause of dementia and memory loss in old people. Alzheimer’s Disease begins slowly. At first, the only symptom may be mild forgetfulness. People usually tend to associate this with aging. In this stage, people may have trouble remembering recent events, activities, or the names of familiar people or things. They may not be able to solve simple math problems. Such difficulties may be a bother, but usually they are not serious enough to cause alarm. However, as the disease goes on, symptoms are more easily noticed and become serious enough to cause people with Alzheimer’s Disease or their family members to seek medical help. For example, people in the middle stages of Alzheimer’s Disease may forget how to do simple tasks, like brushing their teeth or combing their hair. They can no longer think clearly. They begin to have problems speaking, under-standing, reading, or writing. Later on, people with Alzheimer’s Disease may become anxious or aggressive, or wander away from home. Eventually, patients need total care. So, basically, when people get Alzheimer’s Disease, their ability to learn, store, and retrieve new information is distorted. It is considered as a memory problem because it impacts the ability of the affected person to function. Scientists do not yet fully understand what causes Alzheimer’s Disease. Clues are emerging, but there is still no cure for Alzheimer’s Disease. There probably is not one single cause, but several factors that affect each person differently. Age is the most important known risk factor for Alzheimer’s Disease. The number of people with the disease doubles every 5 years beyond age 65. Family history is another risk factor. Scientists believe that genetics may play a role in many Alzheimer’s Disease cases. For example, familial Alzheimer’s Disease, a rare form of Alzheimer’s Disease that usually occurs between the ages of 30 and 60, is inherited. Current research found that chromosome 21 actually plays a crucial factor in the onset of Alzheimer’s Disease. Surprisingly, it was observed that the tissue found in Down Syndrome (extra copy of chromosome 21) is identical as that of the Alzheimer. Anyhow, the more common form of Alzheimer’s Disease is known as the late-onset. It occurs later in life, and no obvious inheritance pattern is seen. However, several risk factor genes may interact with each other to cause the disease. One of the risk factor genes, identified so far for the Alzheimer’s Disease, is a gene that makes one form of a protein called APP, which facilitates our nerve interaction. These proteins stick out of the nerve cells, but after awhile, they need to be removed. When APP proteins do not break off from the nerve cells as one whole structure, they break off into little pieces, converting themselves into b-amylase. The latter, in turn, form sticky military bodies with twisted fibrils, which clog up the nerve pathways and block the occurrences of synapses. As a result, our hippocampus (the part of our brain important for memory) is gradually destroyed. Since new thoughts and information travels through intricate network of nerve cells, through synapses in our brain, Alzheimer’s Disease results in fewer thoughts being formed. Neurons that cannot communicate slowly die, causing our brain to shrink. Since brain contr...