Name: Lean Justin D.

Agapito Section: I-BLM

Date: March 18, 2014 Professor: Gerard Santos

In ones life, the most precious or priceless possession that an individual can attain is a treasure that can never be stolen, a treasure that only the one who possesses it can access, a treasure that contains the persons lifetime experiences, a treasure that will be embedded within ones self forever, our memory. by LJ AGAPITO

But mother nature accidentally developed a virus that can rob us of our most pricest possession, a virus called Alzheimers disease. Cited below are facts about the Alzheimers disease. This report will further expand our knowledge about this very Painful-painless disease.

To start off, When was is discovered?

906: Dr. Alois Alzheimer first describes "a peculiar disease" German physician Alois Alzheimer, a pioneer in linking symptoms to microscopic brain changes, describes the haunting case of Auguste D., a patient who had profound memory loss, unfounded suspicions about her family, and other worsening psychological changes. In her brain at autopsy, he saw dramatic shrinkage and abnormal deposits in and around nerve cells.

How common is Alzheimer's disease?

In the US, the most recent census has enabled researchers to give estimates of how many people have Alzheimer's disease. In 2010, some 4.7 million people of 65 years of age and older were living with Alzheimer's disease in the US.

The 2013 statistical report from the Alzheimer's Association gives a proportion of the population affected - just over a tenth of people in the over-65 age group have the disease in the US. In the over-85s, the proportion goes up to about a third.

What causes Alzheimer's disease?

Alzheimer's is caused by brain cell death.3 It is a neurodegenerative disease, which means there is progressive brain cell death that happens over a course of time. The total brain size shrinks with Alzheimer's - the tissue has progressively fewer nerve cells and connections.

While they cannot be seen or tested in the living brain affected by Alzheimer's disease, postmortem/autopsy will always show tiny inclusions in the nerve tissue, called plaques and tangles:

Plaques are found between the dying cells in the brain - from the build-up of a protein called beta-amyloid (you may hear the term "amyloid plaques").

The tangles are within the brain neurons - from a disintegration of another protein, called tau.

a pic. Has been provided for your visualization(credits to the site)

Nerve cells (neurons) in the brain. In Alzheimer's, there are microscopic 'plaques' and 'tangles' between and within brain cells. Unavoidable risk factors

Age - the disorder is more likely in older people, and a greater proportion of over-85-yearolds have it than of over-65s.

Family history (inheritance of genes) - having Alzheimer's in the family is associated with higher risk. This is the second biggest risk factor after age.

Having a certain gene puts a person, depending on their specific genetics, at three to eight times more risk than a person without the gene.6 Numerous other genes have been found to be associated with Alzheimer's disease, even recently (see developments below).

Being female (more women than men are affected).

Signs and symptoms

1. Worsened ability to take in and remember new information, for example:

"Repetitive questions or conversations Misplacing personal belongings Forgetting events or appointments Getting lost on a familiar route."

2. Impairments to reasoning, complex tasking, exercising judgment:

"Poor understanding of safety risks Inability to manage finances Poor decision-making ability Inability to plan complex or sequential activities."

3. Impaired visuospatial abilities (but not, for example, due to eye sight problems):

"Inability to recognize faces or common objects or to find objects in direct view Inability to operate simple implements, or orient clothing to the body."

4. Impaired speaking, reading and writing:

"Difficulty thinking of common words while speaking, hesitations Speech, spelling, and writing errors."

5. Changes in personality and behavior, for example:

Out-of-character mood changes, including agitation; less interest, motivation or initiative; apathy; social withdrawal

Loss of empathy Compulsive, obsessive or socially unacceptable behavior.

Tests and diagnosis

Alzheimer's disease is not simple to diagnose - there is no single test for it. For this reason, the first thing doctors do is to rule out other problems before confirming whether mental signs and symptoms are severe enough to be a kind of dementia or something else. Doctors may:

Take a history (ask about symptoms and daily activities) Do a physical examination to find any signs of, for example, a stroke, heart condition or kidney disease, and

Check neurological function, example: by testing balance, senses and reflexes.

Depending on what the doctor thinks could need checking, other diagnostics are:

Sending off for tests of blood and urine samples

Arranging brain scans (possibly including CT, MRI and EEG).

Treatment and prevention

There is no known cure for Alzheimer's disease - the death of brain cells in the dementia cannot be halted or reversed. There is, however, much backing for therapeutic interventions to help people live with Alzheimer's disease more ably. The Alzheimer's Association includes the following as important elements of dementia care:

Effective management of any conditions occurring alongside the Alzheimer's Activities and/or programs of adult day care Support groups and services.

References/sources: http://www.alz.org/research/science/major_milestones_in_alzheimers.asp http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/263769.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/159442.php