More Money Should be Granted to Fund Research on the Alzheimer’s Disease Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder and the most common form of dementia that affects memory, thinking skills, behavior, and normal bodily functions. There are about 5.2 million Americans living with the Alzheimer’s disease in 2014. Currently there is no prevention, treatment, or cure for the Alzheimer’s disease. Every year more than 500,000 seniors die due to the disease. Alzheimer’s has a mortality rate of 100%. Research institutions for the Alzheimer’s disease should be granted more funding because Alzheimer’s is one of the least funded diseases that is highly deadly in the United States, the amount of people with Alzheimer’s is expected to dramatically
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Research has shown that the Alzheimer’s disease is both genetically and environmentally developed. The research that has shown the disease is genetically acquired comes from two sources: early onset Alzheimer’s and genome scans. Early onset Alzheimer’s affects five percent of the people with the disease and many of them have a relative who has or had the disease. The genome research has shown that a person with the particular gene apolipoprotein epsilon 4 have an increased risk of acquiring the disease. However, not all the people with the particular apolipoprotein gene develop the disease nor do you need the gene to get the Alzheimer’s disease. Environmental and lifestyle contribution are of interest to be researched because there is evidence that factors beyond the scope of genetics may be a part of the Alzheimer’s disease. Extra funding for research in the development of Alzheimer’s would allow for more genome scans to connect similarities between patient’s genes. Clinical trials to determine what lifestyle is best to lessen the chance of developing Alzheimer’s will be …show more content…
Stanford is leading the research on finding a cure by testing a theory that would block a protein that prevents the functioning of microglia. Success of this would mean that microglia would continue clearing “[…] the brain of bacteria, viruses, and dangerous deposits” (_____). The results of this research have shown to reverse symptoms of Alzheimer’s in rats. This theory and the previously mentioned breakthrough of replicating the Alzheimer’s disease with infected brain cells in a petri dish is a large step in finding a definitive cure for the disease. However, the funding is a major contributor to finding such an advance in medicine. The funding would be used to mass-produce the petri cells so that the proposed treatments could be used to determine if they would cure the disease or not. The money would also be used to determine if the blocking of the protein would be effective in reversing Alzheimer’s symptoms in humans as they did in
Research has shown that the Alzheimer’s disease is both genetically and environmentally developed. The research that has shown the disease is genetically acquired comes from two sources: early onset Alzheimer’s and genome scans. Early onset Alzheimer’s affects five percent of the people with the disease and many of them have a relative who has or had the disease. The genome research has shown that a person with the particular gene apolipoprotein epsilon 4 have an increased risk of acquiring the disease. However, not all the people with the particular apolipoprotein gene develop the disease nor do you need the gene to get the Alzheimer’s disease. Environmental and lifestyle contribution are of interest to be researched because there is evidence that factors beyond the scope of genetics may be a part of the Alzheimer’s disease. Extra funding for research in the development of Alzheimer’s would allow for more genome scans to connect similarities between patient’s genes. Clinical trials to determine what lifestyle is best to lessen the chance of developing Alzheimer’s will be …show more content…
Stanford is leading the research on finding a cure by testing a theory that would block a protein that prevents the functioning of microglia. Success of this would mean that microglia would continue clearing “[…] the brain of bacteria, viruses, and dangerous deposits” (_____). The results of this research have shown to reverse symptoms of Alzheimer’s in rats. This theory and the previously mentioned breakthrough of replicating the Alzheimer’s disease with infected brain cells in a petri dish is a large step in finding a definitive cure for the disease. However, the funding is a major contributor to finding such an advance in medicine. The funding would be used to mass-produce the petri cells so that the proposed treatments could be used to determine if they would cure the disease or not. The money would also be used to determine if the blocking of the protein would be effective in reversing Alzheimer’s symptoms in humans as they did in