Group Posts For Alzheimer

Explaining how extra virgin olive oil protects against Alzheimer's disease
  • The mystery of exactly how consumption of extra virgin olive oil helps reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD) may lie in one component of olive oil that helps shuttle the abnormal AD proteins out of the brain, scientists are reporting in a new study.
 
 
Amal Kaddoumi and colleagues note that AD affects about 30 million people worldwide, but the prevalence is lower in Mediterranean countries. Scientists once attributed it to the high concentration of healthful monounsaturated fats in olive oil -- consumed in large amounts in the Mediterranean diet. Newer research suggested that the actual protective agent might be a substance called oleocanthal, which has effects that protect nerve cells from the kind of damage that occurs in AD. Kaddoumi's team sought evidence on whether oleocanthal helps decrease the accumulation of beta-amyloid (Aβ) in the brain, believed to be the culprit in AD.
They describe tracking the effects of oleocanthal in the brains and cultured brain cells of laboratory mice used as stand-ins for humans in such research. In both instances, oleocanthal showed a consistent pattern in which it boosted production of two proteins and key enzymes believed to be critical in removing Aβ from the brain. "Extra-virgin olive oil-derived oleocanthal associated with the consumption of Mediterranean diet has the potential to reduce the risk of AD or related neurodegenerative dementias," the report concludes.
Journal Reference:
  1. Alaa H. Abuznait, Hisham Qosa, Belnaser A. Busnena, Khalid A. El Sayed, Amal Kaddoumi. Olive-Oil-Derived Oleocanthal Enhances β-Amyloid Clearance as a Potential Neuroprotective Mechanism against Alzheimer’s Disease: In Vitro and in Vivo Studies. ACS Chemical Neuroscience, 2013; 130225100811007 DOI: 10.1021/cn400024q
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Sairath Bhattacharjya 01/23/2021 8:34 PM EST

This is a comment from Sairath

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Biswa Bhattacharya 04/12/2017 10:10 PM EDT

This is very interesting Dr, Mittal,

An Overview of Dementia and its causes
 

Most people use Dementia and Alzheimers interchangeably. Dementia is not a disease but a group of symptoms that affects memory, reasoning, and intellectual function.  Alzheimers on the other hand is a DISEASE and responsible for 50-70% of all cases of dementia.
Lets explore the most common causes of dementia:
1. Alzheimers dementia:

 
  • generally begins after age 65.  It is a progressive disease of the brain that slowly impairs memory and cognitive function.
  • impossible to diagnose Alzheimer’s with 100 percent accuracy while a person is alive
  • The exact cause is unknown and there is no cure and no therapy of any kind has been found to reverse the effects of Alzheimer's.
  • Conventional treatment for Alzheimer's disease focuses on medication, emotional support, and forms of behavior modification to help a person remember better and cope with everyday activities.
  • Other modalities include Pet Therapy,  spiritual activities, music therapy, art therapy, storytelling , reminiscense therapy, and massage therapy
2.Lewy Body dementia:
 
  • dementia that has symptoms of Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease are simultaneously present and accounts for 20% cases of dementia.
  • REM sleep behavior disorder, which causes movements, gesturing, and speaking during sleep and confusion upon awakening, is often considered an early sign of DLB.
  • There is generalized slowing of moveemnts, stiffness, balancing problems and a shuffling gait,  visual hallucinations, delusions, and mental status changes with confusion and sleepiness.
  • the presence of dementia with Lewy bodies can only be confirmed with an autopsy. No apporoved treatments except for drugs used for parkinsons for movement disorder and that for alzheimers.
  • There are no medical treatments available, so the emphasis is on managing symptoms for better quality of life.
3.Multi-infarct or Vascular dementia:
 
  • Most commonly occurs in patients with strokes and accounts for 17% of all dementia.. In this condition, episodic memory becomes impaired, but recognition doesn't. Alzheimer's generally affects both.
  • it is more common in persons with risk factors for heart disease and stroke such as high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol levels, and smoking. Vascular dementia is commonly, but not always, associated with focal neurological symptoms (for example, weakness on one side of the body), problems with walking, or difficulty with urinary incontinence.
  • There are no medications approved for vascular dementia
4.Picks disease or frontotemporal Dementia:
 
  • occurs frequently in age less than 65 . It is caused by more focal changes in specific brain regions especially frontal and temporal sides of the brain.
  • Symptoms include changes in personality, lack of inetrest, social embarrassing, compulsive or rigid behaviour, eating behaviour, difficulty speaking or finding words, apthy and emotional disengagement.
5. Parkinsons disease dementia:
 
  • 1 in 5 people with parkinsons develop dementia. Parkinson's dementia does not typically involve problems with language.
  • There are no approved medications for treatment of dementia with Parkinson's disease. 
6. Dementia caused by Infectious disease:
 
  • AIDS
  • Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Unlike dementia caused by Alzheimer's, memory problems and behavioral changes caused by Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease progress very quickly.

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