The video in this chapter explores dementia, and focuses on definitions of dementia, Alzheimer’s disease and Frontotemporal Dementia. Dementia is defined as a cognitive decline in one or more cognitive domains including memory, language, attention, visuospatial processing and social behavior. Two hallmark pathologic features of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are plaques, which are formed from amyloid and neurofibrillary tangles, which involve tau, whereas symptoms of Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD) may include behavioral changes, apathy and disinhibition and ritualistic or repetitive behaviors. Language may also be affected, and this can be a presenting symptom.
Abstract
Cognitive control constrains retrieval processing and so restricts what comes to mind as input to the attribution system. We review evidence that older adults, patients with Alzheimer's disease, and people with traumatic brain injury exert less cognitive control during retrieval, and so are susceptible to memory misattributions in the form of dramatic levels of false remembering.
Information on the conformation of paired helical filaments (PHF) and the neurofilamentous (NF) network is essential for an understanding of the mechanisms involved in the formation of the primary lesions of Alzheimer's disease (AD): tangles and plaques. The structural and chemical relationships between the NF and the PHF have to be clarified in order to discover the etiological factors of this disease. We are investigating by stereo electron microscopic and biochemical techniques frontal lobe biopsies from patients with AD and squid giant axon preparations. The helical nature of the lesion in AD is related to pathological alterations of basic properties of the nervous system due to the helical symmetry that exists at all hierarchic structural levels in the normal brain. Because of this helical symmetry of NF protein assemblies and PHF, the employment of structure reconstruction techniques to determine the conformation, particularly the handedness of these structures, is most promising. Figs. 1-3 are frontal lobe biopsies.
The McGill Transgenic Rat Model of Alzheimer's Disease Displays Cognitive and Motor Impairments, Changes in Anxiety and Social Behavior, and Altered Circadian Activity
