Alzheimer Prevention

Researchers are trying to create a vaccine that would prevent dementia. This line of research remains promising.

Although there is no real way to protect themselves from disease, some people are less likely to develop the disease than others and this is usually due to their past: those who monitor Studies have long had more time to develop their memory and are therefore less likely to suffer from the disease. A diet rich in vitamins C and E would also be protective.

Today, much earlier detect Alzheimer's becomes possible. A program of artificial intelligence, born of a collaboration between two French laboratories (ESPCI-Paris-Lyon ISC) and the Japan Institute RIKEN, has learned to distinguish the warning signs of mild cognitive impairment from those moving towards this disease. The error rate is 7%.

It would be possible to divide by 2 the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease by maintaining a simple cognitive activity as read a newspaper, play chess or checkers, go to bookstores, etc.. This decrease is attributable risk that current cognitive activities of the elderly. Those practiced in the past would have no influence on the cognitive decline associated with aging.

According to research presented at the 4th International Scientific Symposium on Tea and Human Health held in Washington DC in January 2008, "green tea have a direct impact on brain function, because it contributes to the preservation these functions and to repair damaged cells. " The scientific finding that consumption of tea reduces the risk of developing dementia and other neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.

Alzheimer's Disease

Alzheimer's disease is a neurodegenerative disease of the brain that causes progressive and irreversible loss of mental functions. It is the leading cause of dementia among older people, affecting about 24 million people worldwide.

The process responsible for the neurodegenerative disease is still poorly understood: it is due to the formation of amyloid plaques and tau protein aggregates forming the neurofibrillary degeneration. The cortical atrophy resulting in a key first time the internal temporal lobe (including the hippocampus) and the frontal cortex and associative temporo-parietal at a later stage.

The exact cause is still unknown, but it is assumed that environmental and genetic factors contribute. Mutations in at least four genes predisposing to Alzheimer's disease have been identified. They are particularly involved in familial cases early onset, which represent less than 5% of patients with Alzheimer's disease. For the so-called sporadic form of Alzheimer's disease, an increasing number of susceptibility genes (such as ApoE) have been identified.

Until the 1960s, it was assumed that the disease was rare, but later we found that in many cases, what was taken for normal aspects of senescence was in fact the disease.

The first symptom is loss of memory of recent events (amnesia) and is manifested initially by minor distractions that are gradually with the progression of the disease, while older memories are relatively preserved. Thereafter, the cognitive deficits extend to areas of language (aphasia), the organization of movements (apraxia), recognition visual (Agnosia) and executive functions (such as decision making and planning) . These symptoms reflect in particular the pathological process of degeneration reaching the frontal lobes of the brain. These changes affect the psychological qualities essential and for this reason the disease is sometimes described as a disease in which victims suffer loss of qualities that form the essence of human existence.