Orgins of Alzheimer's disease
"Alzheimer's disease is an insidious disease characterized by a progressive decline of mental functions" (Passmore, 487). Alzheimer's is a very prominent diseases suffered by many of the world's elderly. The symptoms that follow with Alzheimer's disease can be rather stressful and emotional for the victim's family and close ones. There is no known cure for Alzheimer's disease and it only gets stronger on the patient as time goes on which ultimately ends in death. This paper will be reviewing a study funded by a three-year study undertaken by the Alzheimer's Society in the attempt of answering the origins of Alzheimer's Disease.
Alzheimer's Disease occurs due to the death of brain cells. The disease is described as being a neurodegenerative disease meaning "there is progressive brain cell death that happens over a course of time" (Bethesda). Along with the death of brain cells, "the tissue has progressively fewer nerve cells and connections"(Bethesda).
An autopsy of a victim with Alzheimer's disease would always show plaques and tangles inside the nerve tissue. Plaques are created from the build up of the beta-amyloid protein and are found in between the dying cells inside the brain. "The abnormal protein clumps, inclusions, in the brain tissue are always present with the disease, but there could be another underlying process that is actually causing the Alzheimer's - scientists are not yet sure." (Bethesda)
Several risk factors are involved such as age, being female, and your family history, which will be studied in this paper. The study regarded in this essay will be the Queen's University conducted by Professor Peter Passmore. The aim of this study was "to examine the genetic differences in key genes that are involved in the generation of behaviors thought to be associated with the development of behavioral and psychotic...