Friday 16 January 2015

Alzheimer – Memory Loss that can Lead to Death

Alzheimer is a disease which has surfaced more during the recent years. It is caused by the protein compounds that are accumulated in the brain. Since it is a neuro-degenerative disease, the person gets worse as time passes by. The disease is recognized by the early onset of short term memory loss. This can lead to death as the functions of the body are lost one at a time.

Alzheimer
There are many medical institutes that are researching on the Alzheimer’s disease. The researchers believe that it is mostly caused by genetic disorder. Michael Mullan is one of the most popular researchers who studied the cause and cure of Alzheimer. He is well trained in molecular genetics to perform gene research with respect to the disease. He currently holds the position of President and CEO in Roskamp Institute which is located in Florida. Dr.Mullan made ground breaking research and presented over 200 articles on Alzheimer which also includes the treatment for the disease.

Dr. Mullan having experience of more than 20 years in biotechnology, invented patents that used APP mutations. He worked for the causes of this disease along with its cure by receiving grants from federal organizations. He was the first person to identify the genetic cause of the disease. It was established that people with gene mutations present in TREM2 had a higher risk of getting affected by the Alzheimer disease.
There are medications which can help in treating the patients and can slow down the progress of Alzheimer, but a sure cure for the disease is still a work under progress. Roskamp is the closest institute which is on the way to finding a cure. The drug, Nilvadipine, was administered for treating hypertension, which is identified as one of the reasons that cause the disease. This drug has been proved to stop the protein production in the brain. Amyloid is considered to be a tombstone and hence the drug was developed to stop its production all together.

Michael Mullan Roskamp Institute diagnoses patients with Alzheimer and offer clinical trial for the drug which was developed. Observations were made in the genes and the medical history of the relatives in order to diagnose the disease. Medical imaging like MRI and PET are used to rule out other forms of dementia. This type of diagnosis can be made only after the onset of the disease. Early diagnosis include cerebrospinal fluid test for the presence of amyloid. This spinal tap predicts the onset of the disease which is about 94% accurate. 

There is no drug at present to prevent the onset of this disease. But, various studies prove that measures like dieting, intellectual activities and reducing cholesterol level can be done to decrease the chance of being affected by Alzheimer’s disease.