MCU Dementia and Alzheimer\'s Patients Identifying Distinctions

Identify Distinctions Among MCU, Dementia, and Alzheimer's
1. Topic
· Distinctions Among MCU, Dementia, and Alzheimer's
2. Information about medical conditions you are addressing
Dementia: Dementia is a syndrome characterized by diminished cognitive abilities, memory loss, and reduced thinking capacity. Dementia-related symptoms affect the day-to-day activities of the victim. Alzheimer's, a condition that causes brain cells to degenerate, is the leading cause of dementia. A slow decline of memory destroys thinking skills, and it translates into disrupted daily life. Inability to live an independent life affects the relationships, and as a result, the victims feel neglected by close family members or friends. Dementia can also occur due to other diseases such as thyroid or lack of essential vitamins in the body, but the good thing is this kind of condition can be reversed (AA, 2017).
Dementia can manifest different signs, but common ones include: Patients Being forgetful, losing track of personal belonging such as a wallet, Getting late in paying bills, Problems planning and making meals, Skipping booked appointments, and difficulties spending time in the neighborhood.
(AA, 2017)
Dementia symptoms are not an overnight thing but a progressive change that happens over time. It is possible to notice the condition early, especially if it's from a close person. Any change in cognitive capabilities should be taken seriously, and it is advisable to seek help from a doctor. Seeking professional assistance at the early stages allows the doctors to diagnose treatable cases. Dementia-related to natural causes such as old age may not be treated but presenting the issue at an early stage allows the victim to have management sessions. Memory therapies can help improve the situation, and victims can also participate in clinical experiments, which may help manage the condition (AA, 2017).
Causes
The root cause of dementia is damaged brain cells and their connections. Broken connections affect the normal way cells communicate, and as a result, normal brain functioning is affected. The condition is noticed in victims' life through a change of behavior and cognitive capacity (AA, 2017).
The brain is entrusted with different human body responsibilities, including making judgments, thinking, remembering, and solving problems. Damage to the brain affects all these functions, and it's no longer possible to live a normal life (AA, 2017).
Alzheimer's: Alzheimer's is an irreversible brain condition characterized by a damaged brain. It happens progressively, and an indication of having the disease is a decline in thinking capacity to the extent of being unable to live a normal life. The condition is prevalent in people aged 60 years and above(late-onset-type). Young people can also be affected by the condition, and for victims between 30-60 years, we term the state as early-onset-Alzheimer's. Many cases of dementia are linked to Alzheimer's diseases, especially for older adults (NIA, 2017).
Alzheimer's disease may also exhibit in the form of neurofibrillary tangles and amyloid plaques in the brain. Neurons connection disruption is also considered a sign of Alzheimer's disease. Nerve cells(neurons) acts as the massager between different sections of the brain. It also sends signals to other organs in the body, including muscles. Alzheimer's disease can be caused by various brain changes, with some being difficult to explain because of their complexity (NIA, 2017).
Signs of Alzheimer's:
Alzheimer's diseases affect the victims' productivity in a big way, and surviving without help becomes very difficult. Doing everyday tasks, such as cooking or driving, becomes a problem. Living with victims demands higher understanding since they keep asking the same questions, getting lost at times, misplacing items, and getting confused over and over. As the condition worsens, victims feel isolated, and many get stressed (NIA, 2017).
Causes and risks
· Old age is a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease. A significant percentage of older adults suffer from the condition but not all. This means it is not a normal process of aging but a disease that attacks older people more.
· Alzheimer's disease is also linked to some genetic factors. Coming from a family with several cases of the condition should worry you. It can be parents, relatives, or even siblings. This risk factor remains challenging to explain amongst many scientists but what is known is that families with a history of the condition report more cases.
· Being exposed to traumatic events can also pose an individual to catching Alzheimer's disease.
· Poor sleeping habits also put individuals at risk of having Alzheimer's disease (MCS, 2018).
Mitochondrial calcium uniporter (MCU)
MCU is responsible for sending signals in different biological processes. Considering the significant role it plays in the human body, it is sometimes called a "life and death signal," and the central nervous system depends on the signal. MCU problems in the brain cause different disorders, such as the famous Alzheimer's disease (AD). Other conditions linked to the disruption include cerebral ischemic stroke, Huntington disease (HD), Parkinson's disease (PD), and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) (Liao, Dong, & Cheng, 2017).
Research is ongoing on the causes of Alzheimer's disease but what is known to date is that the death of neurons and an increase in levels of calcium in mitochondria are the leading cause of the condition (Burns, 2020).
3. Differentiation of "normal" and "abnormal" cognitive impairment
Normal Cognitive Impairment
The United States is recording massive growth in the population of people aged above 65 years. By 2050, people in this age category are expected to double from the current 40.2 million to 88.4 million (Harada, Love, & Triebel, 2014). It is important to focus more on cognitive changes that happen at old age to help the enormous population that will be hit by the future condition. Cognitive disorders may be normal at old age, but they result from other health conditions in some cases.
It is critical to note that the brain is affected differently. Some cognitive ability tends to grow, while others decline. An excellent example of cognitive ability that increases is vocabulary. Older adults maintain high command of language even in times of memory loss. The rate of decline is not uniform among older people. Some might be affected early, and others might experience minimal changes at a very advanced age (Harada, Love, & Triebel, 2014).
Cognitive impairment can be categorized based on processing speed, language, attention, memory, reasoning or executive functioning, and visuospatial abilities.
· Processing speed explains how quickly one can think and reason out issues.
· Attention describes levels of concentration or focusing on a specific event.
· Memory. Refers to the ability to remember planned things or past events. Study shows that remembering capacity is low in old age compared tender age (Harada, Love, & Triebel, 2014)
· Language remains one of the exciting domains in this context. Command of language remains intact at old age, and in some cases, it improves.
· Visuospatial abilities focus on the ability to identify differences and similarities of visual objects. Visuospatial abilities remain intact at old age.
· Executive functioning refers to capacities that allow a person to successfully engage in independent, appropriate, purposive, and self-serving behavior (Harada, Love, & Triebel, 2014). 
Abnormal Cognitive Impairment
Dementia, a condition characterized by loss of memory, has become very common in the past decade. Alzheimer's disease mainly causes memory loss and is a major cause of low productivity among older adults above 85. Families believe that dementia is part of aging, and therefore they rarely seek medical assistant. The assumption puts the victims in danger of having severe symptoms. Dementia develops over a long time, approximately ten years, and therefore it can easily get ignored (Larson, Kukull, & Katzman, 1992).
Possible changes due to abnormal cognitive impairment
· Problems remembering recent events or even names of people met in the past. Sometimes it goes to the extent of forgetting the names of family members.
· Seeking answers to questions answered earlier, for example, where is my smartphone? Sometimes they ask those questions when holding the item.
· Victims misplace objects, usually in odd places such as the bathroom.
· Patients get into constant confusion.
· Dementia causes concentration problems.
· Victims fall into the trap of making uninformed decisions when assessing issues or when dealing with money. 
· Challenges remembering dates or appointments.
· Problems when visiting familiar places due to confusion.
· Dementia patients lose morale to work and interact with other people.
· Memory loss causes Loneliness as a result of being isolated by past friends and family members.
· Becoming hot-tempered at work or even at work as a result of simple mistakes made (AS, n.d.)
4. Benefits of knowing when to be concerned and seek professional help
Seeking medical attention helps determine whether memory loss results from Alzheimer's disease or other related conditions that are treatable.
If the condition is confirmed to be Alzheimer's, the patients get the following medical support
· Management therapy. Though Alzheimer's is not a treatable condition, having regular memory therapies can help reduce the symptoms. Starting treatment at an early stage can be very fruitful (AA, 2018).
· Victims can participate in research by volunteering for clinical trials. This helps in advancing the studies, and therefore it is a way of helping future victims.
· Patients get advised on living a healthy lifestyle. Some lifestyles can worsen dementia conditions, and therefore individuals need to understand the lifestyles that will favor them, such as quitting smoking and exercising regularly.
Emotional and social support
· Understanding the state of health removes the anxiety and stress that come with strange symptoms. When individuals learn they have Alzheimer's, they are advised to join different programs, and many positive changes happen (AA, 2018). 
Cost Savings
· Managing disease at an early stage is always cheaper compared to an advanced stage. It is challenging to manage victims who have lived with Alzheimer's disease for years. A study on the cost of treating Alzheimer's disease-related symptoms in the US showed that if an early diagnosis is made, a total of $7 trillion to $7.9 trillion would be saved (AA, 2018).
5. Intervention/help available for the affected person
Management procedures for helping individuals with untreatable cases should be put in place. Victims showing severe symptoms should receive first attention, but it is essential to help people with mild symptoms to stop advancement. A combination of the following measures can help in the management of dementia:
· Communication is on its psychological therapy. Having discussion helps the support team notice any changes in behavior to help in good time. Communication is also a way of testing whether other vital organs such as ears and eyes are functioning (BPS, 2007)
· people living with dementia should keep refreshing the everyday skills such as washing and dressing to promote self-reliance.
· Support technology can be used to improve the lives of people living with dementia. A good example is the use of reminder gadgets. Gadgets such as mobile phones can be set to remind people of different activities at different times.
· The family should adjust the environment to favor the victims. People living with dementia might face some challenges living in a normal environment, and therefore, it is important to make necessary modifications to ensure they are safe. Adaptive aids, such as sensory deficits, can make the victim's life easier.
· Promoting fitness is essential in dementia patients' life to ensure their body parts are active and strong. Being strong means a victim will be self-dependent, and they will only seek help where it is essential (BPS, 2007).
References
AA. (2017). What is Dementia. Retrieved from Alzheimer's Association: https://www.alz.org/alzheimers-dementia/what-is-dementia
AA. (2018). Why Get Checked? Retrieved from Alzheimer's Association: Why Get Checked?
AS. (n.d.). Normal aging vs. dementia. Retrieved from Alzheimer's Society: https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/about-dementia/symptoms-and-diagnosis/how-dementia-progresses/normal-ageing-vs-dementia
BPS. (2007). Dementia: A NICE-SCIE Guideline on Supporting People with Dementia and Their Carers in Health and Social Care. Leicester: British Psychological Society.
Burns, B. (2020, May 12). Researchers link high calcium levels in mitochondria to neuronal death in Alzheimer's disease. Retrieved from Media Press: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-05-link-high-calcium-mitochondria-neuronal.html
Harada, C., Love, M. N., & Triebel, K. (2014). Normal Cognitive Aging. Clin Geriatr Med., 737–752.
Larson, E., Kukull, W., & Katzman, R. (1992). Cognitive impairment: dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Annu Rev Public Health.
Liao, Y., Dong, Y., & Cheng, J. (2017). The Function of the Mitochondrial Calcium Uniporter in Neurodegenerative Disorders. Int J Mol Sci, 248.
MCS. (2018, December 08). Alzheimer's Disease. Retrieved from Mayo Clinic: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/alzheimers-disease/symptoms-causes/syc-20350447
NIA. (2017, May 16). What Is Alzheimer's Disease? Retrieved from National Institute of Health: https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/what-alzheimers-disease