Alzheimer's and Other Dementias  

This LibGuide  is for researchers, students, practitioners, caregivers, and laypeople who want to know more about the dementias. The research tab includes links to both scholarly, peer-reviewed primary sources and articles about research written for laypeople or non-scientists.

Please send me your feedback by clicking on the Comments links.  If you know of good resources I have not included, feel free to let me know.  Thank you, Tina Peterson

When someone is told that he or she has Alzheimer’s disease, it affects the entire family. Beyond the basic memory decline, there are concerns about maintaining independence, long-term care and holding on to special moments. Here, people in the early stages of Alzheimer’s and loved ones who care for them speak about living with the disease.

Dementia is a word for a group of symptoms caused by disorders that affect the brain. It is not one specific disease. People with dementia may not be able to think well enough to do normal activities, such as getting dressed or eating. They may lose their ability to solve problems or control their emotions. Their personalities may change. They may become agitated or see things that are not there. Read more about different types of dementia from the MedLine Plus website.

Dementia warning signs from FamilyDoctor.org.

Specific dementias:

• Alzheimer's disease     
• Understanding Alzheimer's Disease  (Thank you Mrs McVey's 5th grade class for sending me this link to additional reliable information about Alzheimer's Disease!)
• Frontotemporal Dementia
  
• Lewy Body disease
• Pick's disease
• Vascular dementia
  

Talk to Me, Not to My Daughter
Hawthorne, Fran. New York Times [New York, N.Y] 10 May 2012: F.8.
[...]she's short-tempered." [...]the clerk, nurse, or other service worker is tempted to turn to the younger adult, who seems more likely to understand. "Health professionals are not immune from a certain amount of bias that the older person is not going to understand what you're talking about and it's going to be easier to get the information from the children," he said. [...]as soon as someone walks into a store or office with a grown child, Ms. Graham of AARP said, "the assumption is that the parent must need help understanding."

When Illness Makes a Spouse a Stranger
Grady, Denise. New York Times [New York, N.Y] 06 May 2012: A.1.
The scientific findings in frontotemporal dementia may also reshape thinking about the fundamental flaws involved in Alzheimer's disease. Looking back, Mrs. French, who is 66 and lives in Manhattan, recalled episodes of odd behavior over the years and realized that her husband's mind had probably begun to slip while he was in his 50s, at least a decade before the disease was diagnosed.

Old Drug, New Hope for Alzheimer's Disease
Strittmatter, Warren J., Science 23 March 2012: Vol. 335 no. 6075 pp. 1447-1448
Alzheimer's disease insidiously robs patients of the ability to remember, reason, and make informed judgments. Despite decades of research, no therapeutics are available that slow disease progression, and to date no “disease-modifying” drug has succeeded to show therapeutic benefit and to be safe. On page 1503 of this issue, Cramer et al. (1) show that a drug called bexarotene reverses the effects of neurodegeneration in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease. The study provides new hope that decades of research examining the molecular and cellular pathways in Alzheimer's disease may soon yield disease-modifying therapies.

Cancer drug shows promise as treatment for Alzheimer's
Sanders, Laura (2012). Science News, 181(5), 5-6.
The article discusses research on the cancer treatment drug bexarotene, which has been shown to clear plaque-forming protein in mice, by Paige Cramer and colleagues that was published in the February 9, 2012 issue of the journal "Science." Topics covered include how the drug clears amyloid-beta (A-beta) proteins in the brain, the behavior of mice with Alzheimer's-like conditions, and the behavior of mice treated with bexarotene.

SJSU Library Mobile Site