2008 Woodie Awards
The Ambiguity Surrounding Alzheimer's Disease
David Rosenthal
Issue date: 12/6/04 Section: Science & Technology
- Page 1 of 3 next >
With the recent death of the 40th President of the United States, Ronald Reagan, and with the growth rate of the elderly population (persons 65 years old and over) greatly exceeding the growth rate of the general population, the nation is finally beginning to comprehend the gravity of Alzheimer's disease.
As a result, more so today than ever before, the world's elderly population is depending on you, the younger generation of the nation, to try to find the cure for Alzheimer's disease (AD). Hence, in this article, to advance your knowledge in regards to the underpinnings of AD, I will give a short background on Alzheimer's with respect to its uncertain causes, symptoms, and current treatment options.
Alzheimer's disease is the leading cause of dementia among older people. An estimated 10 percent of Americans over the age of 65 and half of those over age 85 have Alzheimer's. More than four million Americans currently suffer from the disease, and the number is projected to balloon to 10-15 million over the next several decades. Alzheimer's is now the third most expensive disease to treat in the U.S., costing society close to $100 billion annually. In the popular imagination, Alzheimer disease is equated with an impaired memory, but the disease also includes a number of other changes in brain function that result in inattention, disoriented behavior, altered personality, difficulty speaking and comprehending, and impaired gait and movement.
Alzheimer's is a progressive, incurable disease. The earliest damage occurs in the entorhinal cortex, located in the ventromedial portion of the temporal lobe. The entorhinal cortex also has reciprocal connections with the hippocampus and various other cortical and subcortical structures, and thus forms an integral component of the medial temporal lobe memory system. Additionally, the hippocampus and basal forebrain, which are small, specialized structures in the brain that play a critical role in memory, are also affected in the early stages of AD. Finally, the disease is characterized by amyloid plaques (deposits in the brain of a sticky protein called amyloid beta peptide) and neurofibrillary tangles (abnormally twisted forms of the protein tau, in the long branches of neurons). However, the cause of the plaques and tangles still remains a mystery.
As a result, more so today than ever before, the world's elderly population is depending on you, the younger generation of the nation, to try to find the cure for Alzheimer's disease (AD). Hence, in this article, to advance your knowledge in regards to the underpinnings of AD, I will give a short background on Alzheimer's with respect to its uncertain causes, symptoms, and current treatment options.
Alzheimer's disease is the leading cause of dementia among older people. An estimated 10 percent of Americans over the age of 65 and half of those over age 85 have Alzheimer's. More than four million Americans currently suffer from the disease, and the number is projected to balloon to 10-15 million over the next several decades. Alzheimer's is now the third most expensive disease to treat in the U.S., costing society close to $100 billion annually. In the popular imagination, Alzheimer disease is equated with an impaired memory, but the disease also includes a number of other changes in brain function that result in inattention, disoriented behavior, altered personality, difficulty speaking and comprehending, and impaired gait and movement.
Alzheimer's is a progressive, incurable disease. The earliest damage occurs in the entorhinal cortex, located in the ventromedial portion of the temporal lobe. The entorhinal cortex also has reciprocal connections with the hippocampus and various other cortical and subcortical structures, and thus forms an integral component of the medial temporal lobe memory system. Additionally, the hippocampus and basal forebrain, which are small, specialized structures in the brain that play a critical role in memory, are also affected in the early stages of AD. Finally, the disease is characterized by amyloid plaques (deposits in the brain of a sticky protein called amyloid beta peptide) and neurofibrillary tangles (abnormally twisted forms of the protein tau, in the long branches of neurons). However, the cause of the plaques and tangles still remains a mystery.