Memory, a faculty that forgets… (Part 2)

The main warning signs:

Impaired memory and concentration: Difficulty in recalling events that occurred within hours or days before and remember new information;

Short-term memory: the very first symptom. Short-term memory recalls elements for a short time (less than 2 minutes) necessary for a cognitive operation. If it has sustained significant damage, we conclude that several acts of daily life are disrupted.
Long term memory: where information is stored. The creation of this memory depends on the starting points of the recording process. This memory is impaired in different ways depending on whether the acquisition is implicit (is effortless through repetitive action) or explicit (conscious and voluntary). The latter being the most annoying, it impairs learning.
Oral and written language: quickly, the entourage is conscious.
Disorientation in space and time: difficulty adapting to new places or new situations. The main consequence of this weakness is expressed by the tendency to avoid unsual environments.
Changes in behavior, mood and personality: usually apathy rather than aggression. The person often has mood swings, anxiety, irritability, and there are worse when sleep is altered. He or she can become depressed and tend to isolate themselves when they becomes aware of their state of degradation. A lack of enthusiasm for activities that interested them will also be noticed.

The 3 stages:

Early: lasts 2 to 4 years and is characterized by mild symptoms.
Intermediate: lasts 2 to 10 years and is marked by a significant deterioration of physical and mental abilities. Loss of memory of the events of the past and loss of time. Increased anxiety and agitation.
Advanced: lasts 1-3 years and is marked by symptoms very advanced. The person is more independent.

Brain degeneration

The two main features of the disease identified for the first time by the German neurologist Alois Alzheimer in the early twentieth century are:

Plates, deposits outside of neurons and consist almost exclusively of a small protein called beta-amyloid.
Clusters, present in the branches of neurons, which are composed of filaments of a protein called tau.

Hypothesis

Are these plates and clumps the cause or consequence of the degeneration of nerve cells in the brain? Are they merely markers of where the death of certain brain regions has already occurred?

Various results from a decade tip the scales in favor of the amyloid cascade hypothesis. Both proteins participate in the onset of the disease as with beta-amyloid precursor.

According to recent studies, another hypothesis has been issued: Type 3 Diabetes which takes its origin from neuroendocrinian problems. The researchers noticed a significant reduction in the concentration of insulin and its receptors in the brains of people in the first stage of the disease and a progressive decrease (80% of normal rate) of these same parameters as the disease evolves.

Despite all these assumptions and found some tracks to slow the disease, we are far from resolving the mystery, because the difficulty lies in determining the real causes of the disease to prevent it.

Studies and lifestyle choices marked by the syndrome of abdominal obesity

Several studies have confirmed the link between disease and lifestyle.

A congress held in Madrid (2006) confirmed this relationship and the emergence of the disease. It seems that obesity doubled the risk of contracting it, the excess cholesterol and hypertension multiply this risk by 6 and that diabetes, like heart disease, increase cognitive decline.

A Finnish study (2006) has shown that excessive consumption of animal fats and lack of exercise speeded the onset of symptoms.

Others are also at fault: