Bailey+F.

Genetics: Alzheimer’s  Post Number One   April 17th, 2014 Alzheimer's is a type of dementia that causes problems with memory, thinking and behavior. Symptoms usually develop slowly and get worse over time, becoming detrimental to everyday tasks. Alzheimer’s is the most common type of dementia, and is irreversible. Estimates vary, but most symptoms begin to appear in people after or around the age of 60. Dementia is the loss of cognitive functioning—thinking, remembering, and reasoning—and behavioral abilities, and begins to interfere with a person’s daily life and activities. Dementia can go from the mildest stage, when it is just beginning to affect a person’s functioning, to the most severe stage, when the person must depend on other people and most o f the time be put in a home because they can not function on their own.

Although it is not a normal part of aging, Alzheimer’s is more common and people are at greater risk to it as they grow older.

Alzheimer's was named after Dr. Alois Alzheimer. In 1996, Dr. Alzheimer was working with a woman who had changes in the brain tissue. The woman died from a unusual mental illness, and her symptoms included memory loss , language problems, and strange/unpredictable behaviours. After she died, he examined her brain and found many abnormal clumps (amyloid plaques ) and tangled fibers (neurofibrillary tangles). These are two main features of Alzheimer’s disease.
 * Who discovered it **

Although it still hasn’t been quite figured out how the disease process begins, its likely that damage to the brain starts awhile before problems become evident. During the preclinical stage of Alzheimer’s disease, people are free of symptoms, however; negative functions are occurring unnoticeably in the brain. Abnormal deposits of proteins form amyloid plaques and tau tangles throughout the brain, and once-healthy neurons begin to  less efficiently. Over time, neurons lose their ability to function and communicate with each other. This leads to them dying out. The damage spreads to the hippocampus (function for memory). By the final stage, damage is everywhere and the brain tissue has shrunk.
 * Changes in the Brain in Alzheimer’s Disease **

As Alzheimer’s progresses, memory loss worsens, and changes in other cognitive abilities become more noticeable. For example, they experience more problems with getting lost, trouble handling  and paying bills , repeating questions, taking longer to complete normal daily tasks, using poor judgment, and having some mood and personality changes. When these symptoms become clearer, it is usually when people are diagnosed.
 * Mild Alzheimer’s Disease **

Damage occurs in areas of the brain that control language, reasoning, sensory processing, and conscious thought. Memory worsens, and the individual may have more trouble recognizing family and friends. They may be unable to learn new things, complete things that have more than one step , or cope with new situations. They may have hallucinations, delusions, and paranoia as well.
 * Moderate Alzheimer’s Disease **

Plaques and tangles have  throughout the brain, and brain tissue has shrunk. People with severe Alzheimer’s cannot communicate and are dependent on others for their care. Close to the end, the person is most likely just in bed for most of the day other than to use the bathroom.
 * Severe Alzheimer’s Disease **


 * Genetics **

Early-onset Alzheimer’s is very rare. It develops in people age 30 to 60, and is only in 5 percent of people with Alzheimer’s. Most cases of early-onset Alzheimer’s are familial Alzheimer’s disease, caused by changes in one of three known genes inherited from a parent. Most people with Alzheimer’s disease have “late-onset” Alzheimer’s,and usually get it after or around 60. Many studies have linked the apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene to late-onset Alzheimer’s.

=** Ted Talk Video: **= [|http://www.ted.com/talks/alanna_shaikh_how_i_m_preparing_to_get_alzheimer_s#t-76//300//]

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 * Maintain Your Brain Game: **

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[|https://www.google.ca/search?q=old+people&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=v55VU6r0O6js2wXDn4HACQ&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ&biw=1138&bih=532#q=alzheimers+genes&tbm=isch&imgdii=_]


 * EVOLUTION: Darwin and the Beagle **

Post #2

May 4th, 2014

Charles Robert Darwin, (1809 –1882) was an English naturalist and geologist. He was best known for his contributions to evolutionary theory. He claimed that all species of life have descended from common ancestors over long periods of time. He called this natural selection. During Darwin’s research, he spent a large amount of time touring the world on the Beagle, a boat captained by a man named Fitzroy. Darwin acted as the ships naturalist for nearly 5 years.



Charles Robert Darwin was born in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England, on 12 February 1809 at his family home. He was the fifth of six children of wealthy society doctor and financier Robert Darwin, and Susannah Darwin. He was the grandson of two prominent abolitionists: Erasmus Darwin on his father's side, and of Josiah Wedgwood on his mother's side.



Darwin was given the opportunity to travel all over the world while on the Beagle. This picture represents the many places he researched in. At every port, Darwin collected his most recent findings (which included 1000s of species of plants and animals) and sent them back to London as much as he could. This got Darwin well known in the scientific community. Darwin claimed this to be “By far the most important event in my life”.



Darwin in fact had everything ready to release his findings in 1844, but didn’t do so until 1859. People wonder why he waited so long to publish, but they should be wondering why he then decided to publish. If it wasn’t for the man in the above picture, who knows how long it would have taken Darwin. The man in the picture is Alfred Wallace, a naturalist who went through similar experiences as Darwin. Wallace however had no money to his name, and traveled the word in more dangerous fashions then Darwin did. Wallace continuously risked his life for his research, drinking and eating unsanitary foods, staying in dangerous surroundings, and constantly being exposed to malaria. Sadly when Wallace finally had the chance to send some of his findings back to London, the boat went up in flames along with all his research. So he continued to collect more specimens and put himself in even more bad situations. One night when Wallace was terribly ill with malaria, he had an epiphany. He immediately got a pen and paper and wrote down his ideas to send them off to Darwin. When Darwin got the letter, he was alarmed to find that Wallace had the exact same ideas as he did, and instantly put together papers of his own and sent them off to the scientific department at the same time Wallace did.



Since Darwin had sent off thousands of his specimens to the scientific department, he was quite well known by all the scientists there. In result, when both Darwin’s and Wallace’s papers arrived, they reviewed Darwin’s first, giving him most if not all of the credit for the theory of evolution.


 * Video: Voyage on the Beagle **

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 * Follow Darwins Voyage on the Beagle: **

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 * Diary: **

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 * Bio : **

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[] (Charles Darwin biography)


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Class notes