Page Last Updated: 28/06/2010
ALZHERMER'S
ARTA Mohanty once again provided an excellent first speaker in this new Rotary year when he introduced Dr.Karim, from Oldham Royal Hospital. Alzheimer's disease is not a normal part of aging. It is a devastating disorder of the brain's nerve cells that impairs memory, thinking, and behaviour and leads, ultimately, to death. The impact of Alzheimer's on individuals, families and our health care system makes the disease one of our nation's greatest medical, social and economic challenges
The symptoms of the disease as a distinct entity were first identified by Emil Kraepelin. The characteristic neuropathology was first observed by Alois Alzheimer, a German psychiatrist, after whom the disease is named, in 1906. In this sense, the disease was co-discovered by Kraepelin and Alzheimer, who worked in Kraepelin's laboratory. Because of the overwhelming importance Kraepelin attached to finding the neuropathological basis of psychiatric disorders, Kraepelin made the generous decision that the disease would bear Alzheimer's name.
For most of the twentieth century, the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease was reserved for individuals between the ages of 45-65 who developed symptoms of presenile dementia, which was considered to be a more or less normal outcome of the aging process. In the 1970s and early 1980s, because the symptoms and brain pathology were identical, the name "Alzheimer's disease" began to be used, within and outside the medical profession, equally for individuals age 65 and older with senile dementia, and was eventually adopted formally for all individuals with the common symptom pattern and disease course in the psychiatric and neurological nomenclature.
Dementia is a brain disorder that seriously affects a person's ability to carry out daily activities. The most common form of dementia among older people is Alzheimer's disease (AD), which initially involves the parts of the brain that control thought, memory, and language. Although scientists are learning more every day, right now they still do not know what causes AD, and there is no cure.
Dr. Karim believes that around 840 Oldhamer's suffer from AD; in the UK it's about 500,000. The disease usually begins after age 60, and risk goes up with age. While younger people also may get AD, it is much less common. About 5 percent of men and women ages 65 to 74 have AD, and nearly half of those age 85 and older may have the disease. It is important to note, however, that AD is not a normal part of aging.
AD is named after Dr. Alois Alzheimer, a German doctor. In 1906, Dr. Alzheimer noticed changes in the brain tissue of a woman who had died of an unusual mental illness. He found abnormal clumps (now called amyloid plaques) and tangled bundles of fibers (now called neurofibrillary tangles). Today, these plaques and tangles in the brain are considered signs of AD.
Scientists also have found other brain changes in people with AD. Nerve cells die in areas of the brain that are vital to memory and other mental abilities, and connections between nerve cells are disrupted. There also are lower levels of some of the chemicals in the brain that carry messages back and forth between nerve cells. AD may impair thinking and memory by disrupting these messages
