Neurology Medicine

Posts Tagged ‘Alzheimer’s Disease’

Memory is fallible, make mistakes and may even sworn to the suffering of degenerative diseases whose hero is forgotten.

Memory can be defined as brain function, through synapses or connections between neurons allows us to recall facts, objects, sounds and sensations past.

Punset Eduard says: “Without memory there is life” since the last unites memory with this offering the subject a sense of continuity in time. But not only that, it also allows us to imagine the future based on various elements that are associated stored causing a reality that has occurred.

Sensory memory stores its data in different parts of the brain and are unified by the hippocampus .

“Do not store them in the head that you fit in a pocket.” Albert Einstein

Daniel Schacter, a psychologist at the University of hardward, is author of The Seven Sins of Memory, which explains why the memory is not totally reliable since it depends on several factors, including care provided at the time lived. If we look at several things at once is more likely to fall into oblivion.

The brain must select the data most important to save, to make room for what’s important. This is an adaptive need “You need to forget some things to move forward in life,” says Schacter.

Although memory has a very high storage capacity, connections that neurons make less available the more ancient they are. It is also harder to remember the more memories accumulate

Memory errors

The misattribution is to remember a certain aspect but take it out of context and invented a story that can mix elements lived in different situations.

Also influence knowledge in memory, feelings and beliefs today. That is why Punset gives importance to unlearn, as it allows access to new possibilities.

Memory fails, mainly when evoking the details, but essentially keeps well.

Memories can also be induced and stolen. It is possible to believe a person who remembers something lived in reality and also that of winning the role of a fact that has only been a spectator.

If you want to remember is to pay attention to the information at the time of capture it. A good trick is to repeat, out loud, the contextualising data to preserve or at the site has been acquired.

Memory is a faculty that can be lost due to age or illness, however, recent studies indicate the possibility of exercising, maintaining and even increasing through either physical training, manual or intellectual. In this sense, can be found in the Red j ames memory to maintain the necessary activity of neurons.
Mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s

According to studies recently carried out by Spanish researchers, the loss of short-term memory and mild cognitive impairment , characterized by missing objects, forgetfulness of scheduled tasks and the difficulty in finding the right word to communicate, could herald the condition of Alzheimer’s disease.

The number of Alzheimer patients has increased as people enjoy more years of life. Its early onset is due to heredity, at least 1% of cases, and shares the brain lesions that characterize the most common form of the disease whose onset is presented in most cases, after 65.
Research

Scientific studies to guide their efforts to detect the disease even before symptoms manifest. Thus, in Mexico, have begun clinical trials with drugs and vaccines in a range of people with a family history of the disease or carry the gene that predisposes to this disorder.

The great difficulty which is prevention research is that it is costly and time demonstrating that a product prevents disease do patients with obvious symptoms.

On the other hand, advances in imaging the brain and its processes enables a better understanding of the factors and functioning of this organ, suggesting a promising future to compensate when the most serious disease of memory.

Oblivion, often want and need, sometimes becomes a burden make it difficult reaching function in most trivial tasks.

New research suggests that biomarkers in the blood may help diagnose Alzheimer’s disease before it advances and potentially open up the door to better treatments. While currently there are no treatments that can halt or delay the onset of the disease, the hope is that having the ability to detect Alzheimer’s earlier could provide clues about which drugs might prevent the worsening of the disease, the authors study.

“Until now, most research has been conducted among those who already have Alzheimer’s disease,” said study author Sid O’Bryant, director of research at the Institute of Rural and Community Health, F. Marie Hall of the Center for Health Sciences at Texas Tech University. “We need to identify those at greatest risk.”
In the study, researchers analyzed 100 biomarkers in blood serum of 197 Alzheimer’s patients and 203 people without the disease. Participants were assigned a “risk score” based on the levels of various biomarkers such as C-reactive protein and interleukin 10, which have been associated with inflammation. About 22 of 100 biomarkers were the most significant, according to the study.

The risk score accurately identified biomarkers to 80 percent of those with Alzheimer’s disease. When including Alzheimer’s risk factors such as age, sex, education and genetic information, the accuracy of the test was 94 percent.

Conversely, the risk score accurately identified biomarkers to those without the disease 91 percent of the time. When including other risk factors for Alzheimer’s in the score, the accuracy was 84 percent.

The study is promising but has limitations, said Dr. Ralph Nixon, director of the Center for Excellence on Brain Aging at the University of New York (NYU). People who participated in the study already had Alzheimer’s disease, so more research is needed to determine if the test is sufficiently sensitive and specific for use in people with symptoms such as mild cognitive impairment, a risk factor for Alzheimer’s .

The diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease is usually done through a clinical examination with a neurologist. Neuroimaging studies are performed to rule out other diseases that cause mental deterioration, such as strokes or brain tumors, Nixon said.

Other methods include lumbar puncture or specialized MRI that can detect amyloid proteins, although generally not available outside the major metropolitan hospitals or as part of medical studies, O’Bryant said. “The real stumbling block in the field is not so much the detection of Alzheimer’s disease, which can do quite well once the disease has progressed, but early signs of disease or be able to distinguish subtle deterioration memory that has to do with Alzheimer’s disease from other causes of mild memory impairment, “said Nixon.

Currently, several medications can help treat the symptoms of memory loss, but neither addresses the underlying causes of the disease, said Nixon. “The purpose of biomarkers is to find ways to identify these changes can occur in a very early stage, so that we can root out the disease before it advances too in the brain, when it is very difficult to achieve a drug to reverse “said Nixon.

The researchers developed the blood test in conjunction with Rules-Based Medicine in Austin, Texas. It has applied for a patent, said O’Bryant. In a second study in the journal, Health System researchers at the University of Virginia conducted a trial of 18 months to test the safety of pioglitazone (Actos), a diabetes drug in Alzheimer’s patients. Although the drug did not improve the symptoms of Alzheimer’s, there were few side effects, according to the study.

The researchers emphasized that the trial involved only 25 patients and was designed to assess only the safety but not efficacy. The next step will be for larger trials to test efficacy. “There are many encouraging preclinical data that the pathways and mechanisms that could address this medicine are highly relevant to the development of Alzheimer’s disease,” said Nixon, who was not involved in the investigation. “There is a strong reason for studying drugs with this type of action.”

At present the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease is when the mail is already evident and is confirmed only after death, when you look at the brain tissue of the patient. However, the amount of information coming from basic research allows the detection of biological markers that can make identifying the disease early, even ten years before the onset of frank dementia. Brain scans, magnetic resonance imaging, cerebrospinal fluid analysis and validated procedures which should be included in routine clinical practice in order to better define disease patterns that are the doctor’s observation.

Why? First of early diagnosis allows the early beginning of therapies that are showing their worth, the more effective the more they are established at an early stage. Probably for a neuroprotective effect. Then for the search. Any new therapy, including the applicant in search of a vaccine trial, can be experienced not only symptomatic effect but also in relation to the potential action on the progression of the disease.

The latest issue of Lancet Neurology has published an interesting article on the subject Workins Grou International Research for New Criteria for the Diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease – Revising the definition of Alzheimer’s disease: a new lexicon.

This interest is not negligible. The constant increase in the incidence of the disease, the commitment of public and private resources, the need for programming of assistance measures are factors that weigh like boulders. Slow the progression of the disease, increase the years of independence are all desirable objectives and also avail themselves of a correct diagnosis.

The disease or Alzheimer’s disease is a degenerative disease that affects the brain, primarily affects the functioning of memory causing the person with lose the notions of space and time.

Reaches old age above 65 years and according to polls the more advanced age, the greater the risk and its rate increases in the population over 85 years, causing brain atrophy and increased risk of throat infections. It is a degenerative disease that primarily affects the body’s neurons and is not contagious or infectious.

According to these same surveys, Alzheimer’s affects more women than men, which can be attributed to the fact that they live longer than them. The most frequent symptom, which manifests itself more sharply, is the constant memory leak that causes one to forget completely the facts, often lose track of where you are totally losing their autonomy of movement, which makes it dangerous to leave alone.

Due to constant memory loss, Alzheimer’s disease is popularly known as dementia and confused with senility. At the first signs different in the elderly, such as mood swings, lack of interest in routine habits such as bathing, taking care of their appearance, memory lapses, it is important that the family seek medical help for proper evaluation so that it maintains a good quality of life even with some limitations. Read the rest of this entry »

Alzheimer’s affects a higher percentage of women because of their longer life expectancy. At present, there is no definitive treatment to cure this disease, but there are some steps that can delay the onset of symptoms.

How to prevent Alzheimer’s?

1. Food. Eating a balanced diet low in fat and polyunsaturated fatty acids often eat, such as oily fish, corn, soybeans, sunflower oil or nuts, improve brain function. Foods rich in vitamins E and B (meat, yeast, legumes and green leafy vegetables) are also important for preventing cognitive impairment, memory problems and loss of mental capacity.

2. Physical activity. Daily physical exercise is favorable to both the body and mind. Read the rest of this entry »

Thus, the importance of the brain permanently active and well out of its usual functioning, i.e., activate the parts that are dormant and stimulate the other side of the brain that is not used. So Lets get some Brain Gymnastics.

Some exercises to make them part of everyday life:

• Bathe his eyes closed, at least once a week: only touch, find the soap, shampoo, adjust water temperature, etc. This is to recognize new textures and potentiate the senses.
• Use the hand that is less skilled: the left for right handed, or right for left-handers, for writing, eating, brushing teeth, combing hair, opening a drawer, handle the computer mouse, opening and closing the tap , etc.
• Exercising the fingers: the thumb together with the fingers and repeat several times. This helps the two cerebral hemispheres are connected. Read the rest of this entry »

Alzheimer’s disease and similar disorders are a disease of the century. Although science is in search of drugs or treatments that achieve postpone his appearance, more and more people who suffer worldwide.

It is much controversy about what the specific causes that creates the disease, but nothing is yet written. The truth is that there are habits and exercises that could have an impact on prevention.

Healthy Habits

• Avoid smoking: it may cause small strokes that can sometimes damage the brain and cause dementia.
• Leading a healthy and balanced diet, free of fat and high in omega 3 and 6, vitamin E, vitamin C, vitamin B12 and folic acid, which benefit the brain.
• Exercising regularly, at least three times a week.
• Being in constant mental activity (reading, studying, working, thinking …)

The researchers based their study on healthy brain aging because they believe that knowledge in this field can be useful for the development of future tools for diagnosis of dementia, a disorder that involves progressive loss of cognitive functions, because to damage or brain disorders beyond those attributable to normal aging. On the other hand, one of the early symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease is the appearance of personality changes in people who have it. Some research has found, in fact, in the early stages of this disease, people tend to become more neurotic and less scrupulous.

According to the researchers, is therefore crucial to know the relationship between personality and state of the brain during aging in healthy people, to establish what happens in the brains of people with certain diseases and also to generate early diagnosis.

Scientists explain that many previous investigations of non-human animals have shown that chronic stress is linked to certain adverse effects on the brain. From these investigations, Head and his colleagues established the hypothesis on which they based their study: negative traits of human personality could also affect our brain, in particular during the aging process.

Thus, they assumed that neurosis, a mental disorder with no evidence of organ damage characterized by a high level of anxiety and the onset of repetitive behaviors to try to reduce stress levels, should be damaging to structural brain volume. The investigation focused on the middle temporal and prefrontal regions of the brain because it is these which produce the greatest changes during aging, and also because they are the brain areas that sit in certain cognitive abilities such as attention, emotions and memory.

According to statements by one of the authors of the research, psychologist Denise Head, appeared in a statement from Washington University, the results are a first step toward understanding how personality can affect brain aging. Head argues that these data clearly demonstrate a relationship between personality and brain volume, particularly in brain regions associated with social information processing and emotions.

Also, the researcher adds that the results suggest that personality influences the degree of aging of the human brain and also the way the brain aging may affect the personality of each individual. The researchers plan to conduct future studies to monitor the structural changes that will suffer the brain of the participants in this research, in order to deepen this process and its links to personality.