Editorial - Journal of Medicine and Medical Sciences ( 2020) Volume 11, Issue 2
Published: 27-Aug-2020, DOI: 10.14303/jmms.2020.e104
Alzheimer ’ s disease is an irreversible, progressive encephalopathy that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills and, eventually, the power to hold out the only tasks. In most of the people with Alzheimer’s, symptoms appear in their 60’s. Estimates vary, but experts suggest that quite 5 million Americans may have Alzheimer ’ s. Alzheimer’s disease is currently ranked the sixth leading explanation for death within the United States, Alzheimer ’ s is that the commonest explanation for dementia among the older adults.
Dementia is the loss of cognitive functions like thinking, remembering, reasoning and behavioural abilities to such an extent that it interferes with a person’s daily life and activities. Dementia ranges in severity from the mildest stage, when it's just starting to affect a person ’ s functioning, to the foremost severe stage, when the person must depend completely on others for basic activities of daily living. The causes of dementia can vary, counting on the kinds of brain changes which will be taking place.
Other dementias include Lewy body dementia, frontotemporal disorders, and vascular dementia. It is common for people to possess mixed dementia -a combination of two or more disorders, a minimum of one among which is dementia. For example, some people have both Alzheimer ’ s disease and vascular dementia. Alzheimer’s disease is named after Dr. Alois Alzheimer. In 1906, Dr. Alzheimer noticed changes within the brain tissue of a lady who had died of an unusual mental disease. Her symptoms included amnesia, language problems, and unpredictable behavior. After she died, he examined her total brain and located so many abnormal clumps (now called amyloid plaques) and tangled bundles of fibers.
These plaques and tangles within the brain are still considered a number of the most features of Alzheimer’s disease. Another feature is that the loss of connections between nerve cells (neurons) in the brain. Neurons are transmitting the messages between different parts of the brain, and from the brain to muscles and organs in the body. Changes in the Brain Scientists still unravel the complex brain changes involved within the onset and progression of Alzheimer’s disease. It seems likely that damage of the brain starts a decade or more before the memory and other cognitive problems could appear.
During the preclinical stage of Alzheimer’s disease, a person seems to be symptom-free, but toxic changes are taking place in the brain. Abnormal deposits of proteins form amyloid plaques and tau tangles throughout the brain. Once healthy neurons stop functioning and lose connections with other neurons, they die. The damage initially appears to require place within the hippocampus, the part of the brain essential in forming memories. As lot of neurons die, additional parts of the brain are affected, and they begin to shrink. By the final stage of Alzheimer’s, damage is widespread, and brain volume has shrunk significantly.
Alzheimer’s disease is a complex, and it is unlikely that anybody drug or other intervention will successfully treat it. Current approaches are focusing on helping people to maintain the mental function, manage behavioural symptoms and slow or delay the symptoms of disease.
Researchers focusing on developing the therapies targeting specific genetic, molecular, and cellular mechanisms in order that the particular underlying explanation for the disease are often stopped or prevented.