Alzheimer's is a type of dementia that causes problems with memory, thinking and behavior (National Institute on Aging, n.d.). Signs typically develop slowly and get worse over time, becoming severe enough to interfere with daily tasks (National Institute on Aging, n.d.). Of all the forms of dementia, Alzheimer’s stands out as the most common form. The disease’s manifestation comes in the form of memory loss and affects one’s intellectual functioning to the extent of interfering with one’s normal life. Alzheimer’s is not a normal part of aging. With regard to the fact the most people affected by this form of dementia are 64 year old and above, age emerges as the most dominant risk factor in Alzheimer’s. However, is not just a disease for old age. We find a 5 percent of people with the disease having an early onset, known as a younger-onset which appears during their 40’s or 50’s.
According to the National Institutes on National Institute on Aging (n.d.) 5.1 million Americans have AD and these numbers will continue to increase not only because of the baby boomers, but also because scientists haven’t found the cure yet. There are only two types of medications approved by the FDA for the treatment of Alzheimer’s; cholinesterase inhibitors and memantine (Alzheimer's Association, n.d.; Turkington, & Mitchell, 2010). Besides the cognitive issues, this illness also carries other symptoms like anxiety, angry, depression, sleeplessness and agitation. Herbert (2010) describes Alzheimer’s disease as a neurological disorder which interferes with the functioning of the brain’s cortex. The cortex region is a very important region of the brain because in it thoughts and voluntary movements are generated. Vision, hearing and speech are also located here. Plaques and tangles obstruct the normal communication among neurons and neuron forest that as a result the body can’t receive messages from the neurotransmitters. Consequently, the brain will slowly shrink over time. An autopsy can be used to determine whether a person died of Alzheimer's or not. The autopsy will reveal if the brain has abnormalities signs of the disease.
Ideally, a patient with AD cannot be able to do the simplest tasks and have a normal social life as the disease progress. For this reason, many researches are being conducted in a bid to come up with prudent ways of helping people with moderate AD to perform basic daily activities and prolog the disease. A group of five researches decided to come up with a “Technology-aid pictorial cues” that would be able to support these individuals. This technology-aid pictorial cue was based on verbal instructions that the patient must followed while he/she was doing the activity (Lancioni, et. al., 2012). It was divided in two sections. Section 1 and Section 2 used the strategy version with pictorial cues but only section 1 added the verbal instructions. However, both sections were compared with “an existing technology-based strategy with verbal instructions” (Lancioni, et. al., 2012). Three people with moderate Alzheimer were part of the study, Berky 73, Agnes 77 and Dawn 77. Agnes was the only one who was not receiving any medication for the AD and didn’t have depression (Lancioni, et. al., 2012).
The three of them went to a day center and were placed in a quiet room. They needed to perform four different activities that were supervised and spread between sections 1 and sections 2. In sections 1, Berky, Agnes and Dawn had to prepare vegetables and cleaning and sorting kitchen items (Lancioni, et. al., 2012). Sections 2, they had to prepare fruit juice and arranging the items fro serving it. In order to complete the tasks, they used two different desks. One desk had all the items required to do the activity and the other desk was used for organizing the items and to finish the activity. The performance was recorded by research assistants and was marked correct if the participant followed the steps. The results were given in percentages by “ dividing the number of activity steps with agreement by the total number of steps, and multiplying by 100”. The results were between 85 and 100. The researchers used two different types of technology to record each activity. For Instance, for verbal instructions were saved on a pen and every time that the participant followed the instructions, the optic sensor was activated and “triggered the MP3 player that represented the next instruction”. On the other hand, the pictorial cues showed each image (instructions) on a screen and every time that the participant took the right item the optic sensors were activated and showed the next instruction (Lancioni, et. al., 2012). The results of this study had a positive outcome because with the support of technology-aided to execute the pictorial cues and verbal instructions had a great impact to these participants to do their daily simple activities.
Through experiments including two new studies in mice, researchers have concluded that Alzheimer's spreads from brain cell to brain cell inside the brain through a malfunctioning protein called tau. Scientists have also established that other brain diseases like Parkinson's may also spread in the same way. The most likely cause of this disease is the protein called beta amyloid that accumulates in the brain of Alzheimer’s patients, forming hard barnaclelike plaque. Unlike tau, it clumps outside cells and does not spread throughout cells. Early research shows that tau filled cells appear in places in the brain where memories are stored, causing forgetfulness.
The beta amyloid protein is said to "create a bad neighborhood," while the tau is said to be the "executioner." Tau Proteins normally stabilize the scaffoldlike microtubules that carry messages within a healthy neuron. But in some circumstances, tau detaches and forms tangled clumps, disrupting the microtubules and finally killing the cell. Older studies are controversial, different scientists having different opinions on the spread of this disease. Studies in humans could not reveal whether that assumption was accurate. Dr. Small said that they include autopsy and brain imaging revisions and was indirect and unconvincing. Nevertheless, due to newer advances, experts have revealed that Alzheimer's certainly spreads cell to cell (Kolata, 2012). This outcome came up after Dr. Hardy’s colleague treated two Parkinson’s patients who had fetal brain cells implanted to substitute dead and dying neurons (Kolata, 2012). Years later when they died, autopsies indicated the patients still had the fetal cells, but they had spheres of a Parkinson’s infection protein, synuclein, inside.
Scientists propose an antibody that blocks tau to treat this disease. In mice, studies show that cells start dying at the entorhinal cortex, where traces of tau can be found. Since mice cannot make human tau proteins, the protein was spread from cell to cell, which scientists consider is the case in humans as well. However, scientists are still conducting extensive research on this topic; we still cannot unravel all the ambiguities of Alzheimer's.
References
Alzheimer's Association. (n.d.). Latest Medication for Memory Loss | Alzheimer's Association. Alzheimer's Disease and Dementia | Alzheimer's Association. Retrieved May 11, 2013, from http://www.alz.org/alzheimers_disease_standard_prescriptions.asp
Herbert, Miranda. (2010). Human Diseases and Conditions. In C. Scribner (Ed.), Alzheimer’s Disease (pp70-76). Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/retrieve.do?sgHitcountType=None
Kolata, G. (2012, February 3). Path Is Found for the Spread of Alzheimer’s. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com
Lancioni, G. E., Perilli, V., Singh, N. N., O'Reilly, M. F., Sigafoos, J., Cassano, G., Pinto, K., Minervini, M. G., & Oliva, D.. (2012). Technology-aided pictorial cues to support the performance of daily activities by persons with moderate Alzheimer's disease. Res Dev Disabil, 33(1), 265- 273.
National Institute on Aging. (n.d.). Alzheimer's Topics. National Institute on Aging . Retrieved May 11, 2013, from http://www.nia.nih.gov/alzheimers
Turkington, C., & Mitchell, D. R. (2010). The encyclopedia of Alzheimer's disease. New York: Facts On File.
