Alzheimer's Disease - Assignment Example

Alzheimers Disease Purpose of study and of the disorder The purpose of this paper is to assesshow Alzheimers Disease affect its patients life. The assessment also seeks to identify the causes of the disease while at the same time discussing the areas of the brain affected. Additionally, the paper will discuss the possible treatment method for the disorder. The disease is the continuous destruction of the brain tissue, which causes the weakening and loss of mental capacity. It starts with a seemingly harmless loss of memory and other cognitive skills.

This culminates in a state of complete dependence on help requiring total assistance with personal hygiene and feeding or supervision in a nursing home. The Alzheimers Disease patients experience irreversible brain damage that follows a period of neural cell degeneration.2. Cause of Alzheimers DiseaseNot much is known regarding the cause of the disease, but there is evidence pointing to plaque build-up in the arteries similar to the one experience in cardiovascular illnesses. As well, there is evidence linking chronic circulatory complication to increased risk of this disease.

Tyler and Kimbal argue that the emergence of the disease in recent days may be as a result of the people living longer than they used to live a century ago. There has been a tremendous improvement in the standard of health and helped people to live long enough to develop dementia. A diet rich in saturated fats, calories and cholesterol is linked to risks of developing the Alzheimers Disease.3. Areas of the brain affected The disease affects the area of the brain responsible for thinking, planning and remembering.

It affects the neuron and the blood vessels supplying the brain causing unique neural tissue abnormalities. It causes accumulation of a peculiar small protein-amyloid in the brain. The accumulation of the protein forms insoluble plaques in addition to degenerating neurons called tangles that are all necessary for efficient intellectual activities and responsible for generating memory. The accumulation of the amyloid proteins is toxic, and the plaques formed are usually surrounded by dead and malfunctioning neural cells causing progressive neural tissue damage commonly referred to as neurodegeneration. 4. The effect on the person’s life The disease causes loss of memory to its patients as well an adverse impact on their coordination capabilities to the extent that the individual patient lose their autonomy in carrying out daily activities.

For instance, they cannot take care of their sanitary need or even their feeding. It also causes an adverse effect on the suffers language, judgment or even decision decision-making. This disease makes it a necessity for it patients to be taken care of around the clock for their entire life. Provision of the care can come with huge financial needs especially when the patient is institutionalized in nursing homes.5. Treatment Currently, there is no known reliable cure for the disease but mitigating treatments available.

Early stages of the disease can be treated using drugs that boost cognitive functions. Although the treatment helps, it does not provide a cure. Medical researchers assert that if it was possible to prevent the amyloid production or remove the deposits, then it will be possible to prevent the disease. In order help prevents the disease, it is advisable to manage the lifestyle choices that influence the diseases development risk. For instance, eating a balanced diet, limiting cholesterol and saturated fats intake, maintaining physical fitness as well staying mentally active.6. Relevant information Numerous studies have failed to come up with a reasonable cause and a cure, the disease has been proposed to be a part of the aging process forming a part of the logic of evolution.

The disease could be an aspect of a genetically programmed death which forces old generation to give space to new generations.Work citedKokjohn, Tyler A., and Kimbal E. Cooper. "The Outlook for Alzheimers Disease." The Futurist 39.5 (2005): 34-7. ProQuest.Web. 28 Apr. 2015. http://search.proquest.com/business/docview/218581431/A9AEEA7D4CC3455APQ/1?accountid=45049Open the attachment belowAbstract of the cited paper.The rise of Alzheimers disease in recent decades is a tragic side effect of a great success story: the increase in human longevity.

The modern emergence of Alzheimers may represent a confluence of several separate human health trends: improved public-health standards, development of novel medicines to combat infectious diseases, high-calorie diets rich in saturated fats, and general lifestyle changes. All forecasts predict higher rates of Alzheimers disease - bleak forecasts that might even be too optimistic. Todays treatments provide only temporary relief of symptoms, and there is little prospect for a cure in the near-term future.

But researchers now understand much more about the genetic and biochemical pathways that create amyloid associated with Alzheimers, and this information may lead to ways to control dementia at its source, such as through enzymes that halt toxic amyloid production or through removing deposits by vaccination or other methods.