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Just as the rate of occurrence of the Alzheimer's Disease began to increase across the United States, the scientists thought it was high time they modified and improve the efficiency of the currently available treatment. Fortunately for them, there was already a base to work on, a technological breakthrough, the discovery of the mechanics behind the Alzheimer's Disease.

The Alzheimer's Disease is usually associated with the Amyloid beta peptides and these Amyloid beta peptides contain some types of protein or amino acids. What?! Amino acids are known to be important, how can it be associated with a disease? Well, if you noticed, I said some types, so maybe the ones. The way it happens: A normal brain disbands and destroys these protein or amino acids but the brain of an Alzheimer's patient does not. Their brain simply transforms the protein into a folded shape enabling them to replicate and store up. They then form solid plaques also called fibrils.

What is Alzheimer's Disease(AD)?

Alzheimer's Disease is a threat to the society and it is sometimes simply called the Alzheimer's. It is a neurodegenerative disease, a chronic brain disease that starts at a slow pace but even with this, it is responsible for 60-70% of dementia cases. Even now, scientists at Rice University now consider it a type of dementia, the most common type they say. The most common symptom is usually memory loss while mood swing and sudden change of behavior come in as it advances.

Although the most known risk factor for the Alzheimer's is aging and a whole lot of people see Alzheimer's as a normal part of growing old but actually, it is not. As a matter of fact, Alzheimer's does not discriminate. Age of risk is 65years but there are nearly 200,000 Americans under age 65 with Alzheimer's Disease.

Why must a new treatment method be found?

A lot of arguments back up the hunt for a new method of treatment for Alzheimer's. A senior associate director of medical and scientific relations at the Alzheimer’s Association expatiated the importance of the early detection of this disease. She said if Alzheimer's was to be treated, then the intervention must be in the preliminary stages of it. When Alzheimer's is detected early, patients are given advice on how to plan the future and this in a way gives them an insight of what is about to come and how to manage it. This indirectly relieves the doctors of some stress.

Putting that aside, it was discovered that Americans spend a lot on Alzheimer's treatment. A new research shows that for every $0.01 the National Institute of Health uses to fund researches on Alzheimer's, Americans spend at least $3.50 caring for Alzheimer's patients. Summing up this amount will give a whopping $172 billion in a year.

What is sundown syndrome In Alzheimer's Patients?

Despite the consistent decline in the causes of death, there has been a continuous rise in the cases of Alzheimer's even though Alzheimer's lead to death in advanced cases.

Sundown syndrome as the name implies is a syndrome connected to the setting of the sun or dusk. This syndrome is neurological just like Alzheimer's but it only starts at the setting of the sun. It is characterized by increased level of confusion, anger, aggression and sudden outburst of insane agitation in the evenings. Researchers have not been able to pinpoint what exactly causes the sundown syndrome as some think it's caused by a buildup of sensory stimulation which becomes too powerful to subject or control as the day comes to an end but others see it as a result of hormonal imbalance or even fatigue.

Studies show that there is a link between sunset and the sundown syndrome. This syndrome can also be seen when a person is bored, tired, in pain, hungry and thirsty. This was suggested because even in winter months, some individuals still showed symptoms of the syndrome. The sundown syndrome is dangerous as it can cause a crisis for an entire family if the syndrome hits just one of its members.

How Does Light Therapy for Alzheimer’s Research Work?

The Light therapy is a wonderful one though. You have to first illuminate the probe. After the illumination, the light activated probe will bring about oxidation, or at least dissolve the protein in such a way that will prevent the protein from piling up in the brain. This light activation has given researchers control over oxidation as described by Angel Martí, a Rice University Chemist.

Currently, researchers are working on creating a drug that is capable of suppressing the harmful effects of the Amyloid beta peptides' aggregate in the brain. It is important to know that if an effective drug must be created, one must first understand the bases for molecules to work and bind with Amyloid fibrils. Well, a good news is that the team now have a better understanding of how the molecules must interact with the fibrils.

Assuming the subsequent oxidation restrains the fibrils from aggregating deeper into the sticky substance located within the brains of Alzheimer’s patients, it may be the dawn of a valuable approach to cease aggregation prior to the appearance of symptoms.

Angel Martí now hopes, it might one day be possible to prevent the symptoms of Alzheimer's by kicking out Amyloid Beta peptides just the same way cholesterol is targeted to prevent heart diseases.

The Impact of Alzheimer's Disease

What would you expect from a neurodegenerative disease, where the capability of the brain keeps draining? It has a very bad impact of course, most especially because there's currently no cure and there's little that can be done to prevent Alzheimer's for people with a genetical predisposition. For diseases with unknown cure like this, people focus on life expectancy which means they try to stay alive for as long as possible but this is bad because life is not usually interesting especially when you know death is looming around your head. It is usually saddening watching someone die gradually before your eyes and there's nothing you can do to help.

Knowledge is power!!!

After understanding the basics of this disease, we need to create awareness! We need to take meaningful actions!! Maybe we can inspire a change or perhaps a cure....

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Sources

• Wikipedia

• Productivity

References

• Alois Alzheimer

• NCBI

• Pathways