Alzheimer's Disease Research Paper

(Drugs: The Straight Fact)Did you ever briefly forget your friend’s name or have trouble recalling the name of a song on the radio? Many of us joke that it is an “early form of Alzheimer’s.” Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive brain disease that slowly destroys person’s memory, thinking skills, and at the end, even the ability to do day-to-day tasks. In other words, according to mayo-clinic, it's the most common type of dementia — a group of brain disorders that results in the loss of intellectual and social skills that are severe enough to interfere with a person’s daily life. Basically, in Alzheimer's disease, the brain cells degenerate themselves and die, causing a steady declination in memory and mental function (Mayo clinic). For example, …show more content…
Alois Alzheimer, a German neuropathologist and psychiatrist. Dr. Alois studied a 51 year old female patient who started experiencing a severe dementia symptoms, such as memory loss, language problems, and unpredictable behavior. After she died, “Dr. Alzheimer examined her brain and noted that the cerebral cortex, the outer layer of the brain responsible for numerous functions such as movement, perception, memory and speaking, was thinner than normal and had severe atrophy. Also, He found two other abnormalities: neuritic plaque and neurofibrillary tangles (Drugs: the straight fact). These two changes of brain are now known as Alzheimer’s …show more content…
According to the Mayo Clinic, today approximately 35 million Americans are over the age of 65. The U.S. Census Bureau projects by the year 2050, close to 82 million people will be in this age group. When we reach our 40s and beyond, our memory, mental acuity and cognitive powers may gradually diminish, sometimes to the point where it affects our work, our relationships and even our safety and health. After that, in our 50s, 60s, 70s, our ability to recall dates, names, facts and figures fades, slowly at first, then perhaps more rapidly (johnshopkinshealthalerts.com). Cynthia Borda has written in the Drugs: The Straight Facts that it is estimated that over 4 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease, by the year of 2050, the number could increase to 14 million. One out of ten persons 65 years of age and older develops AD. It affects 20% of people between the ages of 75 and 84 and 50% of people at age of 85 and older. In that case, more women than men get Alzheimer’s disease, in part because women tend to live longer than men and the chances of developing Alzheimer’s increases with

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