Brain map week 7

Concept Map Template Primary Diagnosis: Alzheimer’s Disease 1. Describe the pathophysiology of the primary diagnosis in your own words. What are the patient’s risk factors for this diagnosis? Pathophysiology of Primary Diagnosis The abnormal aggregates between the nerve cells known as amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles are thought to be the causes of dementia. A small lesion called neuritic plaque is a beta amyloid peptide-contained formation is a processed product of amyloid precursor protein. The additional effect of substrate APP hydrolysis by specific enzymes creates triggers β-amyloid 42 chain. The accumulative oligomer is poisonous to neurons. Further, neurofibrillary tangles are composed of tangled proteins known as tau that hinder cells to be deformed. The aging process also involves the accumulation of tau proteins that gradually evolve into memory loss and decreased size of the hippocampus which may lead to inflammation and amyloid plaques development. Aggregating protein fragments constitute the cause for the production of amyloid plaques which are a collection of twisted fibers as well as string-like threads. This effect in turn also makes different immune cells to the cortex enter, including monocyte and macrophage, and also to cause the activation of these cells. Causes Risk Factors (genetic/ethnic/physical) The specific components of the Alzheimer's disease have not yet been fully determined. It’s basically brought by the combination of aging, genes, environment, and way of life. These variables equally but not the same causing disease risk in different people. AD is a brain condition that aggravates progressively. It manifests itself as alterations in the brain, in the form of amyloid plaques and tau tangles, which end up in nerve cell death as the illness develops and the individuals lose their independence, memory and thinking ability (National Institute of Aging, 2021). Alzheimer's disease can run in families and is caused by specific genes like APP, PSEN1, PSEN2. The misfolding in the proteins of these genes causes deposition of beta-amyloid protein, a characteristic of this disorder. APOE, with the common allele “e4,” is the most prevalent and impactful genetic risk factor that leads to the development of late-onset Alzheimer's (Kumar et al., 2022). The study observed that some risk factors for AD could be still more detrimental for those from different racial groups. Based on the analysis of health records of close to one million adults, it was found that the factors like high blood pressure were put a greater stake on the risk of AD of South Asian and Black individuals amidst the White individuals (Lennon et al., 2022). There are few physical related risk factors of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and one of the significant among them is ageing and as the age advances the chances also increases. Nevertheless, ADR results can hit younger people too, with up to 9% of cases occurring before age 65 (World Health Organization, 2023). 2. What are the patient’s signs and symptoms for this diagnosis? How does the diagnosis ...