The Alzheimer’s Disease by Apre Gleaves Frederick Douglass Academy

1. The Alzheimer’s Disease by ApreGleavesFrederick Douglass Academy BCC Bioinformatics Summer 2009 What is Alzheimer’s Disease? Alzheimer’s is a brain disorder that occurs in stages. It is the most common form of dimentia. As the diseases progresses, the infected person becomes worst almost forgetting everything that they have learned and death is next. • Treatments and Medicines • There are 4 drugs that have been approved by the FDA to slow the progression of AD • Cognex- released in 1993, it had side effects such as liver damage and it had disappointing results • Aricept, Excelon, and Reminyl. These drugs had fewer side effects and improved memory. However, the effectiveness of these drugs vary in people and are usually more effective in the early and middle stages in AD • Doctors may prescribe drugs such as tranquilizers to reduce agitation and anxiety. Background The Alzheimer’s disease is named after German physician, Dr. Alois Alzheimer. The first patient he seen with the disease was Auguste D. In her brain, he saw shrinkage of the cortex, fatty deposits in small blood vessels, dead and dying brain cells, and abnormal deposits in and around the cell. • The APOE gene • APOE e2 reduces the risk of AD • APOE e4 increases the risk of AD • APOE e3 doesn’t seem to affect the risk of AD in either direction • Symptoms associated with Stages • Early Stages • Poor judgment • Tendency to lose things • May become disoriented in • familiar surroundings • Trouble remembering • recent events and conversations • Difficulty remembering the • month or day of the week • Middle Stages • Difficult behaviors emerge such as anger, • suspiciousness, overreacting, paranoia and • repeating questions or statements • needing help bathing, taking medication, • brushing teeth, toileting, etc. • Will need care or supervision 24 • hours a day, seven days a week • May not recognize family • and friends at times • Late Stages • Inability to communicate • Inability to recognize people, places and objects • Loses ability to walk and smile • Incontinence • Majority of time spent sleeping The APOE gene makes the protein Apolipoprotein. This protein is responsible for packaging cholesterol as well as other fats and carrying them through the bloodstream. The maintenance of normal cholesterol levels is extremely important for the prevention of heart and blood vessel disorders. The APOE gene relation to Alzheimer’s is that APOE e4 is responsible for an increased number of protein Forms of Alzheimer’s Disease The disease is separated into two forms: Sporadic Alzheimer’s Disease and Familial Alzheimer’s Disease Sporadic AD accounts for majority of Alzheimer cases and has no obvious pattern of inheritance. Familial AD is rare, autosomal dominant disorder which means a person only needs to inherit one copy of the mutated gene to get FAD Caregiver’s role The role changes as the needs of the patient changes Finances-Taking care of an AD patient is costly. The financial needs vary depending on the stage. Legal-Power of Attorney for Finances and Power of Attorney for Healthcare. These documents allow a trusted family member to make decisions for the patient with AD without going to court to do so. They also allow the family member to have access to the bank account Safety- A caregiver provides the patient with a safe environment to live in Medical care- The caregiver takes the responsibility of taking the patient to doctor appointments and telling the doctor what’s going on[ Diagnosis of AD Only after death of the patient can an absolute diagnosis be made. When the autopsy is performed, a pathologist examines the brain tissue. Pathologist- He looks for the plaques and tangles in the regions of the brain that are characteristics of AD While the patient is still alive, they may undergo an examination that would include a thorough medical evaluation and neurological and neuropsychological assessments. Acknowledgements Dr. Brennan Mrs. McMahon Bronx Community College Eric Konadu Megan Torres Jordan Liz National Science Foundation Dr. Sat HCS Staff BLAST Chimpanzees-98% similar to the protein Mouse-91% similar to the protein