Research Needed for Alzheimer’s Disease Homework Help

Alzheimer’s Disorder (AD) is a progressive brain disease which
primarily affects older people. The parts of the brain that control memory,
language, and even thought gradually decline (ADEAR, date). While AD
develops most commonly after the age of sixty, there is a rarer form that
can develop at a younger age. Experts estimate that between the ages of 65
and 75, 5% of the population may have AD. By age 85, however, nearly half
may have AD (ADEAR, date). In spite of how common the disease is among
people who have lived a very long time, AD is not considered a normal
consequence of age but a disease process to which one becomes more
While scientists are just beginning to untangle the mystery of exactly
what causes AD, some facts have been established. The disease was first
noticed by a German doctor, Alois Alzheimer. Although doctors had noted
dementia in elderly people, Dr. Alzheimer examined the brain of a woman who
had died of an unusual mental illness. In the brain he found clumps of
matter that should have not been there (called amyloid plaques). He also
found tangled figers, now called neurofrbrillary fibers (ADEAR, date). The
presence of these formations are definitive signs of Alzheimer’s, but since
currently they can only be detected after death, their presence is not
Since Dr. Alzheimer’s first discovery, researchers have noted other
brain changes in those with AD. Nerve cells that support memory and
cognition die off, and the brains show diminished quantities of the
neurotransmitters that allow neurons to communicate with each other (ADEAR,
date). Researchers assume that the combination of diminished
neurotransmitters and loss of nerve cells contribute to the disruption of
thought processes in the patient with AD. The role of neurofrbrillary fiber
bundles and the presence of amyloid plaque is less clear.
The effects of Alzheimer’s Disease on society ar…