What are the 7 Stages of Dementia?

The 7 Stages of Dementia

Dementia is not a one-size-fits-all condition. It presents itself differently in each individual and progresses at different rates. Where some can stay in a state of mild decline for a long period of time, others seem to develop every symptom at once.

Understanding each stage can help make these transitions a little easier on you and your loved one

Stage 1: No impairment

Everyone starts at stage 1. There are no symptoms of cognitive impairment, mental function is normal.

Stage 2: Very mild cognitive decline

This stage can vary between typical age-related memory problems that most seniors face (such as forgetting certain dates) or could include some of the beginning signs of Alzheimer’s disease. Some of the side effects that correspond with this stage include:

·         forgetting everyday phrases

·         forgetting the location of important objects (such as where your father left his keys)

Stage 3: Mild cognitive decline

Stage 3 is where symptoms of dementia or Alzheimer’s can become more noticeable to friends and family. This stage won’t have major impact on your loved one’s day-to-day life, but you may notice these signs:

·         Impaired work performance

·         Memory loss/forgetfulness

·         Verbal repetition

·         Poor organization and concentration

·         Trouble with complex tasks/problem solving

·         Difficulty driving

Stage 4: Moderate cognitive decline

This stage is commonly defined as early on set Alzheimer’s or dementia. Symptoms of cognitive decline are apparent and your loved one should be seeing a health care professional. Signs at this stage include:

·         Social withdrawal

·         Moodiness

·         Non-responsive

·         Trouble with routine tasks

·         Denial

Stage 5: Moderately severe cognitive decline

Stage 5 is when your loved one is likely to need help with routine tasks like dressing or bathing, requiring a home caregiver or a move to a memory care community. Other symptoms include:

·         Confusion/forgetfulness

·         Memory loss of personal details and current events

·         Reduced mental acuity and problem-solving capacity

Stage 6: Severe cognitive decline

Also known as middle dementia or moderately severe Alzheimer’s disease, this stage will find your loved one requiring help for Activities of Daily Living (ADL’s) such as using the bathroom or eating. Your loved one may also experience difficulty sleeping, increased paranoia or delusions, anxiety, and difficulty recognizing loved ones.

Stage 7: Very severe cognitive decline

Stage 7 is severe Alzheimer’s disease or late-stage dementia. Your loved one is unable to care for themselves, lives with severe motor and communication impairment, and may lose the ability to speak or walk.

Neuroinfectious Diseases

Neuroinfectious diseases affect the nervous system, from the brain and spinal cord to muscles and nerves.

There are a wide range of neuroinfectious diseases, including:

• Meningitis and encephalitis, in which inflammation of the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord caused by bacterial or viral infection may lead to disability or death.
• Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy, a viral infection that can lead to loss of coordination, language ability and memory.
• HIV-associated neurodegeneration, a dementia induced by HIV infection despite successful antiretroviral therapy.
• Neurosarcoidosis, an inflammatory disease of the nervous system marked by facial weakness and headache that may lead to a chronic condition.
• HTLV 1 myelopathy hereditary spastic paraparesis, a progressive disease of the spinal cord resulting in painfully stiff, weak legs.
• Transverse myelitis, an inflammation of both sides of the spinal cord that can cause pain, weakness, paralysis, sensory problems, or bladder and bowel dysfunction.

Treatments for these diseases may include antiviral, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory or anticonvulsive medicines, among other approaches.

Treatments in this area are complex and evolving. There are currently no cures.

Mysteries of Disease that Need to be Solved

How can we minimize the global burden of disability from neurological manifestations of infectious diseases?

Can we develop therapies for neuro-invasive viruses?

Can we improve diagnostics and laboratory science by using molecular diagnostics and serum DNA analysis for diagnosis of infectious disease?

What is Neurogenomics?

Neurogenomics is study that of how the genome of an organism influences the function of its nervous system and development. This field intends to unite neurobiology and functional genomics in order to understand the nervous system as a whole from a genomic perspective.

The nervous system in vertebrates is majorly made up of two types of cells – neuroglial cells and neurons. Hundreds of different types of neurons exist in humans, with varying functions – some of them process external stimuli; others generate a response to stimuli; others organize in centralized structures (brain, spinal ganglia) that are responsible for cognition, perception, and regulation of motor functions. Neurons in these centralized locations tend to organize in giant networks and communicate extensively with each other. Prior to the availability of expression arrays and DNA sequencing methodologies, researchers sought to understand the cellular behaviour of neurons (including synapse formation and neuronal development and regionalization in the human nervous system) in terms of the underlying molecular biology and biochemistry, without any understanding of the influence of a neuron's genome on its development and behaviour.

As our understanding of the genome has expanded, the role of networks of gene interactions in the maintenance of neuronal function and behaviour has garnered interest in the neuroscience research community. Neurogenomics allows scientists to study the nervous system of organisms in the context of these underlying regulatory and transcriptional networks. This approach is distinct from neurogenetics, which emphasizes the role of single genes without a network-interaction context when studying the nervous system

4th Annual Summit on Neurology and Psychiatry

4th Annual Summit on Neurology and Psychiatry

August 28-29, 2020

Singapore

About Larix International

Larix International is a group of prestigious publishers and global scientific conference organizers. Larix International is comprised of Doctors, Engineers, Scientists, and Industrialists administrates the conferences and journals by evaluating the scientific excellence and reviews the future proposals. Larix is an independent, self-governing organization propagates and promotes multi-disciplinary research on various fields of science. We are a non- profit organization, wholly owned by substantial and influential worldwide scientists. We are independent and innovative openness from researchers and academicians around the globe.

About Neurology 2020

Neurology 2020 provides a vibrant platform for sharing knowledge among the neurologists focusing on the New Research and Treatments. The workshops are designed for academic and industrial benefits who want to have updated knowledge on management and treatment techniques. The Conference gathers expert surgeons in the world to share their experience and guide participants to explore advanced surgical techniques.

Sessions

Neurology

Neurons

Neurological disorders

Central Nervous System

Spine and Spinal Disorders

Neuro-Degenerative Disorders

Pediatric Neurology

Neuro Epigenetics

Neuro Oncology

Clinical Neurology

Dementia

Parkinson’s disease

Alzheimer's disease

Spinal Bulber Muscular Atrophy (SBMA)

Neuronal Development and Regeneration

Molecular and cellular Neurobiology

Neurogenomics

Neuropsychiatry and Behavioural Science

Diagnosis and Imaging Techniques

Neuro-chemistry

Nursing and Neuroscience

Visit: http://neurology-conferences.com

What does 'non-specific shallow cortical hyper density in left post-central gyrus' mean?

Cortical means pertaining to the outer layer or rind of the cerebrum, the cerebral cortex. This is where most of the neuron cell bodies are—the centres of thought, sensation, memory, muscle control, speech, etc. It’s the “gray matter” of the brain (most of it, anyway).

Gyrus means one of the raised folds of the cerebral cortex, the wrinkles of the brain.

Post-central refers to one of the grooves between these gyri, called sulci. I’ve marked a few gyri and sulci on the textbook photo below.

One of these is called the central sulcus. It descends from the top of the brain toward the ear and separates the frontal lobe of the brain (centre of thought, memory, judgment, emotion, etc.) from the parietal lobe.

Post central gyrus means the first gyrus behind that central sulcus. I’ve circled the labels on this textbook photo and marked that gyrus with a row of asterisks.

This gyrus is where “general” sensory signals from the body arrive (not for vision, hearing, or other “special senses”). It serves such senses as touch, pain, heat, cold, pressure, itch, tickle, stretch, etc. Sensory signals from the lowest points on the body arrive in the uppermost part of the gyrus and down in the deep groove between the right and left cerebral hemispheres. The lowest part of the gyrus receives sensory input from the face. The diagram below shows the origins of the signals that arrive at different levels of that gyrus.

Hyper density means that the image you’re referring to (a CT scan?) shows a region of brain tissue a little more dense than usual. Here is a cerebral CT scan with an arrow indicating a hyper dense region in this patient. This particular patient was a 48-year-old man experiencing atypical headaches and left-sided muscle weakness after receiving a neck injury in a hockey game.

Putting it all together, your description means that there is a hyper dense region of cerebral cortex, not far below the brain surface, in the left post central (sensory) gyrus. I’m not a physician and can’t guess at a diagnosis (even a physician couldn’t diagnose anything from this limited information), but I think the nonspecific part of this just means that the hyper density seen in that image doesn’t point to any specific diagnostic conclusion. It might not be anything to be concerned about, or it might result in some sensory effects depending on which part of that gyrus is affected.

Reference: Ken Saladin

What are the early warning signs of a possible brain tumour?

Common symptoms include:

• Headache, which can be severe and worsening with activity or in the morning
• Seizures. People may have different types of seizures. Some medicines can help prevent or control them. Motor seizures, also known as convulsions, are sudden involuntary movements of a person's muscles. The different types of seizures and what they look like are listed below:
• Myclonic
• Single or multiple muscle tweaks, jerks, cramps
• Tonic-clonic
• Decreased consciousness and body tone, followed by twitch and resting muscles called contractions.
• Loss of control of body functions, such as loss of bladder control
• Breathing may be of short duration of 30 seconds and a person's skin may be blue, purple, brown, white or green.
• After this type of seizure, a person may be sleepy and may experience headaches, confusion, weakness, numbness, and sore muscles.
• Receptive
• Changes in sensation, vision, smell and / or hearing without losing consciousness
• Complex partial
• Loss of awareness or partial or total loss of consciousness may occur
• Repetition may be associated with unintentional movements, such as repetition
• Personality or memory changes
• Vomiting or nausea
• Fatigue
• Sleepiness
• Sleep problem
• Memory problem
• Changes in ability to walk or perform daily activities

Symptoms specific to the location of the tumour may include:

• Pressure or headache near the tumour
• Loss of balance and difficulty with fine motor skills is associated with a tumour in the cerebellum.
• Changes in judgment, including loss of initiative, lethargy, and muscle weakness or paralysis are associated with a tumour in the frontal lobe of the brain.
• Partial or complete loss of vision is caused by a tumour in the occipital lobe or temporal lobe of the cerebrum.
• Changes in speech, hearing, memory, or emotional state, such as aggression and understanding problems or retrieving words can develop from a tumour in the frontal and temporal lobe of the brain.
• Touch or pressure on 1 side of the body, altered perception of weakness of the hands or feet or confusion with the left and right parts of the body is associated with a tumour in the frontal or parietal lobe of the cerebrum.
• Inability to look up may be due to a tumour of the pineal gland.
• Lactation, which is the secretion of breast milk, and menstrual changes in women, and growth in hands and feet in adults are associated with a pituitary tumour.
• Difficulty swallowing, facial weakness or numbness or double vision is a symptom of a tumour in the brain stem.
• Vision changes, including loss of part of vision or double vision, may result from a tumour in the temporal lobe, occipital lobe, or brain stem.

 Reference: Vineet Rana

Does a lack of white matter in the brain cause movement disorders?

White matter refers to the myelin sheath around a nerve.

In the picture below, the top part shows a myelinated nerve - which looks like a long sausage. The spaces between each sausage link is called a node of Ranvier. The node is an open area - the only place on the axon where the exchange of Na+ and K+ ions) necessary to propagate an action potential) can occur. This means that for the action potential to travel down the nerve, it must “re-ignite” at each node. That makes it like an express train, with the action potential jumping from node to node.

The bottom portion of the picture is an unmyelinated nerve. It is more like a local train, making all the stops. This means the impulse travels more slowly.

Because various functions require the contributions of hundreds of nerves, the slowing down of too many of them may mean the loss of the function- as happens in multiple sclerosis.

The process of myelination occurs with development. All the milestones, sitting up, standing, walking, talking etc, are a consequence of myelination. Loss of myelin means a reversal of ability. The genetic disorder adrenoleukodystrophy (ADL) portrayed in the movie “Lorenzo’s Oil” renders the victim a “basket case”, unable to move, speak, see, eat etc. It is always fatal.

A familiar example of a myelinated vs unmyelinated experience occurs in the pain system. If you hit your finger with a hammer, you first experience “fast pain” which travels quickly to your brain along a myelinated pathway. The pain is short lasting and precisely localized. It will cause you to stop hammering and to swear at yourself for being a jerk. It also gives you enough time to run to the faucet and start the cold water running in preparation for the arrival of the slow pain.

Slow pain travels along an unmyelinated system and stops off in your limbic system to make you feel sorry for yourself- maybe even cry. Because the pathway is recurrent (meaning it recycles the activity), it doesn’t go away anytime soon. In addition, it is less localized so you become protective, not just of your finger, but your whole hand. (In fact, some of these circuits cause you to withdraw your entire limb out of harm’s way and to limp).

(Because anesthesia affects unmyelinated nerves, this explains why blocking them eliminates pain)

Your question regarding which function affected with demyelination depends upon the LOCATION of the myelin loss. Whichever subway line switches from express to local, means that those passengers are the ones to be late.

An early symptom of multiple sclerosis (MS) is blurred vision when exercising (because the vision fibers are demyelinating) or dizziness when immersed in a hot tub. Heat exacerbates demyelinating disorders because the normal nerves conduct MORE efficiently when warm, giving them a greater advantage over the damaged nerves, which by contrast are slower still.

Reference: Joyce Schenkein