Alzheimer's Disease

1. Alzheimer's Disease

2. Table of Contents • What is Alzheimer's • What causes Alzheimer’s • What parts of the brain are affected • How do you detect Alzheimer’s • Alzheimer’s sample test • Who is at risk • A movie and links on Alzheimer’s

3. What is Alzheimer’s? • Alzheimer's is a degenerative disease of the brain. • The disease attacks nerve cells in all parts of the cortex of the brain, as well as some surrounding structures. • In the end, an afflicted person loses all memory and mental functioning. Table of contents

4. What causes Alzheimer’s? Some speculated causes of Alzheimer's are : • a slow acting virus • toxic substances (e.g., aluminum in non-natural sources). • Homocysteine (an amino acid) is linked to Alzheimer's. It is a known risk factor in heart disease and high blood pressure, and known to be harmful to nerve cells. Table of contents

5. What parts of the Brain are affected? • The hippocampus, which is part of the limbic system and in part functions as the focal point where processes leading to memory storage and retrieval begin. • The cortex, which is used in forming associations between ideas and memories. Table of contents

6. How do you detect Alzheimer’s? • Diagnosis is done by asking the individual a series of questions to test their short term memory. • Alzheimer's can also be diagnosed by ruling out other explanations for a memory deficit, such as a tumor, or stroke. • Diagnosis is only about 90% accurate. The only way to know that a person has Alzheimer's for sure is to do an autopsy after the person dies. Table of contents

7. An example of a test to diagnose Alzheimer’ • Click here to take the Mini Mental State Exam. Table of contents

8. Who is at risk for developing Alzheimer’ Age • The number of cases of Alzheimer's disease doubles every five years in people over 65. By age 85, almost half of all people are afflicted. Family History • People with a family history of the disease are at higher than average risk for Alzheimer’s due to genetics. Gender • A number of studies suggest that women are more likely to get it while one reported that men are more likely to suffer age-related brain damage. Population Differences • African Americans and Hispanics may have a higher risk than Caucasian Americans. • Alzheimer's disease occurs less frequently in the Native American Cherokees and in Asians. Table of contents

9. A movie on Alzheimer’s disease… • You will need real ONE to view this video. Alzheimer’s Links to Alzheimer’s resources… Alzheimer’s Association Alzheimer’s Disease Education and Referral Center Table of contents