Symptoms And Symptoms Of Alzheimer s Disease - 2374 Words

As a society, we are constantly faced with negative news about different diseases and genetic disorders. One genetic disorder that has affected the lives of many is, Alzheimer’s Disease. Alzheimer’s is the most common type of dementia that affects and causes problems with thinking, behavior and memory. Most of the time, symptoms of Alzheimer’s develop slowly and progress and worsen over time. Eventually the symptoms become severe enough that they begin to interfere with normal and daily tasks. It was originally thought that Alzheimer’s was a result of aging, but it has been found that there is actually something called early onset Alzheimer’s which affects people in their 40s and 50s, instead of the normal age of 65 and older (1).†¦show more content†¦This causes a loss in connection between nerve cells. Eventually, the nerve cell dies (2). To this day there have been various studies to try to determine the cause for Alztherimers; from different proteins, to environtmental factors(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9). There are two types of Alzheimer’s disease, early onset and late onset. Early onset represents less than 5 percent of people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Most of these early onset cases are caused by an inherited change in one of three genes, and is known as early –onset familial Alzheimer’s disease or FAD. In the other cases, the cause is still unknown. Early onset FAD is caused by â€Å"any one of a number of different single-gene mutations on chromosomes 21, 14, and 1† (2). The mutations on these chromosomes cause abnormal proteins to form. â€Å"Mutations on chromosome 21 cause the formation of abnormal amyloid precursor protein (APP). A mutation on chromosome 14 causes abnormal presenilin 1 to be made, and a mutation on chromosome 1 leads to abnormal presenilin 2† (2). The mutations contribute to the decomposition of protein APP. The true function of APP is still unknown, but by breaking down APP, the harmful amyloid plaques are f ormed (2). Between the two types, the more common of the two is late-onset Alzheimer’s. Even though the complete cause is still unknown, there are studies that show it could be a combination of genetic, environmental, and lifestyle