Degenerative Disease Flashcards
__________ reflexes are lost in Parkinson’s.
Righting (such as throwing your arms out when you slip to achieve balance)
What are the defining features of Lewy body dementia?
Early Parkinsonian features (tremors)
Psychosis
Fluctuating levels of consciousness
Describe progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP).
Bradykinesia
Rigidity
Falls
Abnormal vertical eye movements (specifically loss of eye reflexes that normally occur when you’re moving your head while trying to focus on a fixed object)
Those with Huntington’s have fleeting movements called __________.
chorea
Young onset of Alzheimer’s often presents with __________ mutations.
presenilin 1
Tremor, rigidity, and bradykinesia are characteristic of _____________.
Parkinson’s disease
True or false: the normal form of the protein that leads to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is expressed in most human tissues.
True! PrP is found everywhere in the body, but the highest concentrations are in the CNS.
What causes vCJD?
Bovine-to-human transmission
The neurotransmitter involved in the dementia that presents with personality changes in the absence of memory loss is also down-regulated in which psychiatric disease?
Depression (the neurotransmitter being serotonin)
What histologic features are necessary for a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s?
Neurofibrillary tangles and neuritic plaques
What brain structures are primarily affected in Alzheimer’s?
The cortex and hippocampus – the deep nuclei are usually spared
Disturbances of synuclein are seen in those displaying what symptoms?
Parkinson’s: tremor, bradykinesia, rigidity
Lewy body: psychosis, early Parkinsonian features, dementia
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis often presents with buildup of what protein?
Ubiquitin
__________ can present with a wide variety of molecular deposits, including a recently discovered dipeptide.
Fronto-temporal dementia
