Alzheimer's Flashcards
What is the term for disorders that are characterized by slow, progressive, and irreversible deterioration in neurons in the central nervous system?
neurodegenerative disorders
What are the 3 steps in the timeline of progressive memory loss in AD?
- minor memory difficulty for recent events
- memory for recent events gets worse and the memory for older events in life begins to detetiorate
- profound anterograde amnesia with dense retrograde amnesia
What age does AD usually present itself?
65 or older, but there is an early onset that is genetic
T or F: as you get older the risk of getting AD gets bigger
true
What is the condition that AD is usually preceded by?
mild cognitive impairment
What is MCI?
the stage between healthy aging and AD where the person is experiencing cognitive impairments worse than what would be expected with normal aging but not as bad as AD
What happens in the preclinical stage of memory?
- silent phase
- individual might noticed changes, but it cant be detected by tests
What happened to recent memories in AD?
- first to be forgotten
- worsens over time
- eventually profound loss
What happens to remote memories in AD?
- initially spared
- starts to worsen
- eventually profound loss and it includes recognition of familiar things
What is the name of the hollywood character that was a professor that got AD?
alice
What are the 4 A’s of AD?
- amnesia
- aphasia
- apraxia
- agnosia
What is aphasia?
language discourse most often difficulty in naming
What is apraxia?
Difficulty in performing already learned movements
What is agnosia?
sensory processing deficit resulting in difficulty recognizing objects
t or f: the brain does not shrink with AD
false, it shrinks
Patient AT
- got Ad at 50 and had severe memory impairment
- had very bad memory about golf and forgot he event hit the ball
- no recall on shots
- was able to use golf terms
- good golf ability
What are the two things in the brain of a person with AD?
- plaques
- tangles
What are amyloid plaques?
- beta-amyloid builds up on the outside of the cell
- function isn’t clear
What are neurofibrillary tangles?
tau protein deposits inside of neurons and builds up
- eventually kills the neurons
Where do tangles appear first?
-entorhinal cortex and hippocampus
t or f: plaques form in 1/3 of older adults even if they don’t have AD
true
When does the definitive diagnosis of AD occur?
after death during the autopsy
How do doctors differentiate memory loss due to AD vs just normal bad memory?
- standardized neuro-psych tests
- imaging and biomarkers
What is a PET image?
- isotopes are injected to measure brain metabolism
- cool colors= decreased metabolism
What is the PiB technique ?
-injection of a molecule that signs to amyloid proteins and shows up on the PET scan
What are 3 other diagnostic measures of AD?
- structural MRI
- cerebrospinal fluid measures
- blood measures
What were the results on the nun study?
- education & enrichment activities, among lifestyle factors, are known to be protective against AD
What are 5 protective measures against AD?
- education
- cognitive activity
- physical activity
- social interaction
- healthy diet
T or F: large social networks help protect against AD
true
What are the 2 types of AD treatments?
- drug treatments
- ultrasound treatments
What do repeated scanning ultrasounds do in AD?
- remove amyloid beta peptides
- restore memory function
