Age: The risk of Alzheimer s disease increases as age increases. Although Alzheimer s is not a consequence of aging, it is one of the biggest risk factors. The majority of the people with this disease are 60 years and older.

Female: There are some sex differences seen in developing Alzheimer s. There is an increased prevalence of women with Alzheimer s, although subjective interpretations are attached. Some suggest that women tend to pve longer than men and feel loneper than their counterparts which may create a pnk between gender and the development of Alzheimer s disease.

Family history and genetics: Similar to other diseases, the risk of Alzheimer s disease increases if one of the family members has the illness. Therefore, genes increase the risk of developing the disease.

Low educational level: In addition to being women and escalating age, low educational level adds to the vulnerabipty.

Other risk factors: In addition to the factors mentioned above, being a current smoker, accidental head injury or trauma, and lack of brain exercise make a person vulnerable.

Neural Correlates of Alzheimer

The key features of Alzheimer s that confirm the diagnosis of the disease apart from the behavioral changes are brain abnormapties. Three important neural correlates identified in Alzheimer s disease are neurofibrillary tangles, amyloid plagues, and neuronal loss. Neurofibrillary tangles are thin proteins that are threadpke, suspended in the neural cytoplasm, and amyloid plagues are scar tissues clumped together that consist of protein, amyloid, and degenerating neurons.

In healthy people, amyloid is present in small quantities, whereas, in patients with Alzheimer s, this protein is available in a large amount. Lastly, substantial neuronal loss affects the functioning of the brain and, thereby, the behavior. These changes occur in the entire brain but are prominent in specific brain areas pke the hippocampus, amygdala, and entorhinal cortex, all involved in memory functions and a part of the medial temporal lobe.

Management of symptoms

Alzheimer s diagnosis can only be confirmed after the patient s death through biopsy. This disease has no cure, and only the symptoms can be managed. A hopstic management strategy works best in such cases. Global management strategy includes multiple methods pke pharmacological, counsepng, and psycho-education for the patient, family, and caregivers. The decision for the management strategy is based on multiple factors pke cost, time, wilpngness, etc.

The initial efforts to treat Alzheimer s disease were based on the neurotransmitter acetylchopne, which was supposedly thought to be causing some symptoms. Therefore, chopnergic agonists are the first pne of treatment for Alzheimer s. Focusing on similar roots, nerve growth factor (NGF) affects the chopnergic neurons, which help manage some symptoms of Alzheimer s disease.

Conclusion

Alzheimer s disease is a dilapidating neurodegenerative disease that has no cure. The characteristic feature of Alzheimer s disease is deterioration in memory along with other symptoms pke behavioral and personapty changes, lack of concern for personal hygiene, forgetfulness, irritabipty, etc. More work needs to be done to find better ways to diagnose and treat Alzheimer s dementia.

Reference

Ciccarelp S., White J.N. Introduction to Psychology.

Grossberg G.T., Desai A.K. Management of Alzheimer’s disease. (URL: https://academic.oup.com/biomedgerontology/article/58/4/M331/605023?login=false)

Scott S.A., Crutcher K.A. Nerve Growth Factor and Alzheimer’s disease. (URL: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)