Neuropsychological and Genetic Factors Surrounding Alzheimer's Disease
Alzheimer's disease is a debilitating illness that interferes with an individual's ability to recall short-term and long-term memory. People diagnosed with the disease can initially recall recent activities though they have difficulties with long-term memory. However, these patients have difficulties with short- and long-term memory over time as the disease develops. Given the increase in the number of people diagnosed with this condition, Alzheimer's disease is regarded as the most common type of dementia among the elderly. This clinical condition is basically caused by neurodegeneration and surrounded by a progressive decline in mental ability as well as difficulties in independent living. This paper focuses on examining the neuropsychological and genetic factors surrounding the illness, early signs of the disease, and possible cures to the debilitating disease.
Brief History of Alzheimer's Disease
Alzheimer's disease has a history that can be traced back to over 100 years ago when Alois Alzheimer, a German physician, conducted a grim postmortem analysis of one of his patient's dementia-ravaged brain. When conducting this analysis, Alzheimer hoped to expose the biological roots of the patient's rapid and severe mental deterioration and unusual mood swings (Marsa, 2015, p.54). The patient was surrounded in a fog of confusion, displayed delusional behavior, and would occasionally become wild and uncontrollable. During the examination, Alzheimer noticed that small clumps of hard bundles of protein known as amyloid plaques were cuddled up next to the labyrinth circuitry of healthy nerve cells. Moreover, many fibers extending from the healthy nerve cells were not only tangled but also thickened. Therefore, the main features of characteristics of Alzheimer's disease are the amyloid plaques and tau tangles in the brain circuitry. Since then, scientists and physicians have focused on identifying how the proteins work and their role in the aberrant brain circuitry.
Since discovery, Alzheimer's disease has become a major public health issue that is considered as one of the most common form of dementia across the globe because it is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects many people, especially the elderly. The disease affects more than 20% of people aged 80 years and above and is estimated to affect more than 35 million people worldwide by 2050 (Femminella, Ferrara & Rengo, 2015, p.1). As a result of this projection, Alzheimer's disease is increasingly likely to generate a significant economic and social burden.
Genetic Factors Surrounding Alzheimer's Disease
The causes of Alzheimer's disease are not yet fully understood by scientists though increased examination or study of the disease shows that genes play a significant role in its development. Alzheimer's disease is an example of an inherited genetic illness, which is sometimes caused by a genetic mutation or permanent change in some genes. If an individual inherits a genetic mutation that causes Alzheimer's disease from his/her parent, he/she is increasingly likely to get the disease. However, this disease may be caused by the occurrence of a genetic variant, especially when the variant increases disease risk and directly causes the disease or disorder.
Prior to the era of gene identification, there were several clinical observations that demonstrated that Alzheimer's disease has a genetic component. One of these observations is family history, which is regarded as a major risk factor for the disease. In addition to age, family history is the only risk factor that has been consistently recognized in epidemiological studies. In this case, the existence of an affected first-degree relative is linked with an estimated fourfold increased risk for Alzheimer's disease (Levy-Lahad & Bird, 1996, p.829). According to the findings of several studies, lifetime risk for first-degree relatives was close to 50%. This is an indication that genes with autosomal dominant inheritance are major risk factors for a significant portion of Alzheimer's disease. The second clinical observation showing the link between the disease and genetic component is that Alzheimer's disease and dementia is closely associated with Down syndrome i.e. trisomy 21. Individuals with Down syndrome tend to invariably develop the neuropathology attribute of Alzheimer's disease by 40 years. This implies that the individuals have an enhanced incidence of clinical dementia, which in turn implicates chromosome 21 genes in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease. The third observation is that in some families, the disease isolates as an autosomal dominant characteristic over several generations. This observation contributed to the hypothesis that a single gene's mutation could be enough to generate Alzheimer's disease that was similar to the disease in the general population. Therefore, genes responsible for familial Alzheimer's disease are seemingly relevant to those responsible for non-familial types of Alzheimer's disease.
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condition known as Post-traumatic Amnesia. This condition occurs when an individual suffers an acute brain damaging injury. Automobile crashes are said to be the most common origin of such injuries, and thus, the fundamental source of this disorder, in young adults. The condition persists for a few minutes or hours after the accident, or may go on for as long as weeks, months or years. Post-traumatic amnesia is accompanied
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