Dementia (Final Exam) Flashcards
this is a syndrome characterized by progressive deterioration and continuing decline of memory and other cognitive changes that result in social isolation
dementia
what are some signs and symptoms of dementia
- memory loss, gradual
- speech language affected
- decision making
- social graces may become lost
- paranoia, hallucinations
what are some causes of dementia
- alzheimers
- MS
- parkinsons
- alcoholism/malnutrition
- cerebrovascular injuries
- intracranial tumors
- hypothyroidism if untreated
- vit B12 def if untreated
- neurosyphilis if untreated
- HIV if untreated
- brain tumour if untreated
this is the second most common cause of dementia. results from multiple infarctions in areas irrigated by major cerebral vessels in or deep subcortical areas.
cerebrovascular injuries
this is the most common cause of dementia (50% of cases). slow progression (5-10 yrs). characterized by degeneration of neurons in temporal and frontal lobes, brain atrophy, amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles
alzheimers
what are some risk factors of Alzheimers
- female
- age
- low education
- hx of head trauma (concussion)
- diabetes
what are some signs/symptoms of Alzheimers
- mild cognitive impairment (MCI - 1.5 SD below N=50% AD in 4 years)
- logopenic aphasia (trouble thinking of the words they want to say)
- spatial disorientation
- visual processing
- frontal lobe syndrome (damage of higher functioning processes of the brain such as motivation, planning, social behavior, and language/speech production)
- corticobasal syndrome (a condition that causes changes in movement, language skills or both)
- anosognosia (a neurological condition in which the patient is unaware of their neurological deficit or psychiatric condition)
- circumlocution (he use of many words where fewer would do)
- decreased ability to care for themselves
- impaired learning
- acalculia (the inability to process numbers and perform calculations)
- loss of employment
- mute, bedridden, incontinent
this binds and helps stabilize microtubules that provide internal support, structure or skeleton to cells in the CNS
protein tau
these are paired helical filaments composed of a hyperphosphorylated form of the microtubule protein tau
neurofibrillary tangles
what is the role of neurofibrillary tangles in anzheimers disorder
- hyperphosphorylation mechanism
- misfiling (prion theory)
how to neurofibrillary tangles occur
- inflammatory changes lipid abnormalities aging process
- activation of phosphorylating enzymes
- hyperphosphorylation of tau proteins (altered)
- neurofibrillary tangles
these are found in the cerebral cortex, walls of meningeal and cerebral blood vessels. they contain
- a dense core of amyloid material
- dystrophic neurites
- reactive astrocytes and microglia
amyloid plaques
the major protein in neuretic plaques is ________ which is proteolytically derived from a membrane protein, the beta-amyloid precursor protein (APP)
amyloid beta-peptide (A-beta)
the ____ is encoded by a gene on chromosome 21
APP
APP is cleaved at the amino terminal of the A-beta sequence by the membrane-anchored protease beta-amyloid precursor protein cleaving enzyme called
B-secretase
