Exploring research 300

Dementia4

Major Causes of dementia4

Alzheimer disease5

Alzheimer's disease and dementia5

Pathophysiology of Alzheimer's disease5

Beta-amyloid peptides6

Tau proteins6

Apolipoprotein E6

Dementia in the Alzheimer's disease7

Diagnosis of dementia7

Difference between dementia, Delirium, and depression7

Risk factors associated with dementia8

Treatment of Dementia8

Antibodies targeting beta-amyloid8

Drugs targeting tau9

Insulin sensitizers9

Statins and antihypertensives9

The nerve growth factor9

Memantine9

Early diagnosis9

Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms In Dementia10

Management of Cognitive and Behavioral Problems in Dementia10

Non pharmacologic treatment11

Pharmacologic Therapy12

First line treatments12

Acetyl cholinesterase inhibitors/CHEI12

Memantine hydrochloride12

Antipsychotics13

Apathy and depression13

Apathy13

Treatment14

Non-pharmacological treatment14

Pharmacological treatment14

Depression14

Non-pharmacological treatment14

Pharmacological treatment14

Summarizing treatment14

Patients with Alternate level of care and dementia15

Dementia in the aged population15

Human rights and WHO15

WHO response16

Conclusion16

References17

Annotated bibliography18

Exploring research 300

Review of the articles

Dementia

As described by the world health organization (WHO), dementia is the syndrome that affects the memory and the thinking process of the human brain. It also affects the ability to perform the daily life activities and deteriorates the behavior (WHO, 2012). It is the weakening of the cognitive ability of the human brain. It is a slowly generating process and takes time to degenerate the brain's ability to think and remember. It is a chronic and irreversible disorder with no cure present.

Major Causes of dementia

Dementia can be caused due to a number of reasons. Being a non-specific syndrome, the condition might occur as a result of an already existing disease, or itself alone elicits a degenerative memory loss. Some of the most common causes of dementia are (webmd, 2012):

Alzheimer disease

Parkinson diseases

Huntington's disease

Traumatic brain injury

Infection of the Central nervous system

Depression

Amongst these causes, more than 60% of the total cases of dementia are caused by the Alzheimer's' disease. Other causes accounts for a lesser percentage.

Alzheimer disease

A German neuropathologist called Alois Alzheimer and his coworker Emil Kraepelin, first defined Alzheimer in the 20th century. Since then, there have been a number of researches performed on the topic and the data has lead to a dynamic growth in the discovery of processes involved in disease management and prevention. The disease is defined as

“Disease in which there is a slow degeneration of the memory, thinking and decision making ability of an individual, by affecting the human brain”

The disease is more common in older people resulting in the loss of behavioral activities and cognition to the extent that they become dependent and unable to perform even the simplest daily activities.

Alzheimer's disease and dementia

Alzheimer's disease causes dementia. This dementia can be mild to moderate, and in the worst cases, it can be severe. The treatment for dementia somehow depends on the condition that elicits it.

Pathophysiology of Alzheimer's disease

The disease progresses with the loss of neurons followed by synapses in the cerebral cortex and some sub cortical regions. This results in the atrophy with shrinkage in the gyri due to the degeneration of the cingulate gyrus. The temporal and the parietal lobe are most commonly affected by the disease while the occipital lobe is usually saved from the degeneration. The microscopy of the brain identifies the presence of amyloid plaques and neurofibrilatory tangles. Plaques being the insoluble dense particles are formed due to the deposition of amyloid peptide outside surrounding the ...