Progressive, degenerative disorder Attacks the brain's neurons Results in loss of memory, thinking...

• Progressive, degenerative disorder

• Attacks the brain's neurons• Results in loss of memory,

thinking and language skills, and behavioral changes

• Confusion over time and place

Early Onset Familial Alzheimer's Disease (FAD) genetic link Age 30 to 60

Late Onset Diagnosed whena person has cognitive declineGenetic link suspected Emerging evidenceepigenetic mechanisms contribute to Alzheimer's disease~NIH 2012

1. Educate yourself about the disease2. Learn caregiving techniques. 3. Understand the experience of your loved one4. Avoid caregiver burnout5. Maintain your own physical and mental health. 6. Discuss the situation with family and friends. 7. Do cognitive stimulation activities with your loved

one. 8. Foster communication with physicians9. Take care of financial, legal and long-term care

planning issue10. Smile11. Think positive12. Reach out for care.

1.Increasing forgetfulness and mild confusion.

2.Inability to speak and write coherently

3.Impaired judgment and problem solving

~Mayo 2012

Evidence indicates Use the sense of smell to determine

if someone may get Alzheimer’s disease

Use changes in sense of smell to begin treatments, instead of waiting until someone has issues learning and remembering

Determine if therapies are workingThe Journal of Neuroscience, Nov. 2, 2011 Case Western Reserve Medical School

Starts in the olfactory – loss of smell one of the first signs

Short-term memory fails when Alzheimer's disease first destroys nerve cells in the hippocampus

Language skills and judgment decline when neurons die in the cerebral cortex

Atrophy and clinical stage of AD. Coronal three-dimensional T1-weighted volume MR images (repetition time msec/echo time msec/inversion time msec, 7/900/2.8/900) in three individuals

in their 70s are shown.

Jack C R Radiology 2012;263:344-361

©2012 by Radiological Society of North America

cross-section of the brain as seen from the front

1906Dr. Alois Alzheimer, German physicianPresented a case history of a 51-year-

old woman who suffered from mental illness

He identified through autopsy plaques and tangles in her brain

These plaques and tangles characterize Alzheimer's Disease

Plaques and tangles.



http://radiology.rsna.org/content/263/2/344.full

Integral membrane protein concentrated in the synapses of neurons.

Its primary function is not known, though it has been implicated as a regulator of synapse formation, neural plasticity and iron export

Mu Y, Gage FH. Mol Neurodegener. 2011; 6: 85PMID 22192775.

Main component of deposits found in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease

Stabilizes microtubules

Reddy 2011hyperphosphorylation of tau

In Alzheimer travels down the microtubule and tangles

Hypothetical model of the dynamic biomarkers of the AD cascade.



Nothing prevents

Some interventions don’t hurtCoffee Aspirin

April 28, 2010 by NIH

Anti –inflammatory Properties Aged mice bred to develop symptoms of

Alzheimer's Given caffeine - the equivalent of 5 cups of

coffee/day Memory impairment was reversed

University of South Florida Florida Alzheimer's Disease Research Centre 2009

Aspirin? Doesn’t hurt? Increases the

risk of serious bleeding

Jan Dubinsky, PhD

Alzheimer Foundation Mayo Clinic NIH University of Minnesota Dr. Ravinder Reddy Dr. Clifford Jack

Progressive, degenerative disorder Attacks the brain's neurons Results in loss of memory, thinking...

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