I am contacting you to express my support of Dr. Marilyn Carter. Having followed her career since she began doctoral studies at Case Western Reserve University, I can personally attest to her innovations in the field of Alzheimer’s research.
First, I would like to offer my credentials, validating my endorsement of Dr. Carter. With a Bachelors degree in both Chemistry and Biochemistry from the University of Michigan, I earned my doctorate in Neuroscience from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 1979. Subsequently, I accepted a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Harvard School of Medicine, in the Department of Neurobiology, where I studied for three years before becoming Professor of Neurosciences and Neurology at Case Western Reserve University.
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Although Alzheimer’s disease is sporadic in nature with no specific genetic cause, studies have identified Apolipoprotein E genetic variance as a major genetic risk factor for the disease. Apolipoprotein E alleles lead to increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease and act as an aggravating factor with regard to the disease’s progression. Dr. Carter, working under my supervision at Case Western Reserve University, has provided breakthroughs in therapy for Alzheimer’s disease that were previously unnoticed in the field of Alzheimer’s research. As an undergraduate student, Dr. Carter earned her Bachelors degree and a Masters in Neuroscience from the Department of Zoology at Taiwan University. After earning her Masters, Dr. Carter gained admittance to Case Western Reserve University’s doctoral program in pursuit of her Ph.D in Neuroscience, with a focus on Alzheimer’s research. Dr. Carter’s studies, based on Apolipoprotein E genetic variance as a major risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease, have revolutionized Alzheimer …show more content…
Carter discovered that increasing Apolipoprotein E levels and lipidation in the Alzheimer afflicted brain helps to facilitate the elimination of Aβ—the aggregated protein that forms amyloid plaque in the Alzheimer afflicted brain—in mice. Additionally, she uncovered utilizing Bexarotene, which increases Apolipoprotein E expression and lipidation in the Alzheimer afflicted brain, serves as a catalyst to the reduction of the presence of Aβ in the Alzheimer brain. In testing her hypothesis, she was able to successfully reduce the presence of Aβ in the Alzheimer afflicted brains of mice, mitigating any neural deficits. Furthermore, she and a fellow graduate student invented a biochemical method to monitor the clearance of Aβ that has since become standard in Alzheimer therapy. Over the past thirteen years, Dr. Carter’s work has been published in several academic journals and notable publications, including the Journal of Neuroscience, FEBS Journal, Science, and Neuron. In total, her publications have been cited over a thousand times. Additionally, she has presented at the Society for Neuroscience four times, in consecutive years between 2007 and 2010, as well as at the International Conference on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases in
Lisa Genova, the author of Still Alice, a heartbreaking book about a 50-year-old woman's sudden diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease, graduated valedictorian from Bates College with a degree in Biopsychology and holds a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Harvard University. She is a member of the Dementia Advocacy, Support Network International and Dementia USA and is an online columnist for the National Alzheimer's Association. Genova's work with Alzheimer's patients has given her an understanding of the disorder and its affect not only on the patient, but on their friends and family as well (Simon and Schuster, n.d.).
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Memory plays a significant role in the everyday lives of people of all ages. It allows them to recall information and remember skills that were learned in the past. Memory also organizes past information to help people make current and future decisions. However, imagine forgetting the names of close family members or not having the ability to find your keys every time you want to leave the house. These are some of the struggles that people with Alzheimer’s disease face daily. Alzheimer’s disease was first identified by German neurologist Alois Alzheimer in 1906, and was discovered to have an overpowering effect on explicit memory loss (Gruetzner, 1988). There are two types of Alzheimer’s disease – early onset and late onset. Early onset occurs in patients who are diagnosed before the age of 65 whereas late onset occurs in patients who are diagnosed after the age of 65. In the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, short-term memory is often lost. As Alzheimer’s disease progresses, problems with long-term memory begin to develop, in addition to short-term memory impairments. Although a lot is known about the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, the cause has not been conclusively identified. However, as research continues, new theories about the cause of Alzheimer’s disease are being proposed. This has led to a controversy over whether Alzheimer’s disease is caused by genetics or environmental influences (Gruetzner, 1988).
Alzheimer’s disease is a complex illness that affects the brain tissue directly and undergoes gradual memory and behavioral changes which makes it difficult to diagnose. It is known to be the most common form of dementia and is irreversible. Over four million older Americans have Alzheimer’s, and that number is expected to triple in the next twenty years as more people live into their eighties and nineties. (Johnson, 1989). There is still no cure for Alzheimer’s but throughout the past few years a lot of progress has been made.
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Nerney, C. (2014, April). Dementia. Lecture conducted from Massachusetts’s College of Liberal Arts, North Adams, MA.
Retinoids can be used as a therapy to prevent Alzheimer’s disease. Vitamin A has an effect on many of the metabolic markers of Alzheimer’s disease. These include inflammation, oxidative stress, and amyloid β in the extracellular. Targeting the receptors for these processes may slow down or reverse Alzheimer’s disease.
Alzheimer’s disease is a neurodegenerative disorder that is on the rise among ageing populations worldwide. Alzheimer’s disease leads to the death of neurons in numerous areas of the brain, including the hippocampus and cerebral cortex, which are two areas of the brain correlated with memory. (5) According to the Alzheimer’s Association, the number of people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease could rise from 5 million to 16 million in the United States and by 2050 the total worldwide is predicted to rise to 100 million. This could relentlessly strain health-care systems because the
Alzheimer's disease is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States(1). Alzheimer's has no cure or any way of preventing it from occurring. Life expectancy continues to grow due to improvements in medicine, and so Alzheimer's Disease will continue to be a problem in the elderly. Looking at figure 1(3), it shows that from the year 2000, cases of Alzheimer's disease are estimated to double by the year 2040, which is most likely due to the fact that medicine will continue to improve. Despite not knowing the causes of Alzheimer’s, there have been studies(2 and 7) showing that high cholesterol or high blood pressure can increase the risk...
It is said that memory declines as people age, and this can be just a natural part of life. However, in many cases as people grow older, they develop a mental disorder known as Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s is a disease that causes problems with memory, thinking, and overall behavior, and progressively becomes a bigger problem. Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia and is a very common disease in people over the age of 65. This terminal disease puts tremendous stress on the victim and the victim’s family. A cure for Alzheimer’s has yet to be discovered; however, through healthy and constant use of the brain and the aid of certain drug treatments, Alzheimer’s disease can be both naturally and medically prevented.
Since ancient times, it has been clear that some people lose mental sharpness (cognitive function) as they age. However, in 1906, the German neurologist Alois Alzheimer began an autopsy of a woman from Frankfurt, that had died after several years of progressive mental deterioration. From the accounts of the doctor, family, and friends of the woman, Alzheimer put together her mental state prior to death, and described the woman as being marked by increased confusion, disorientation, and memory loss.Taking advantage of staining techniques that had recently been established, Alzheimer noticed an odd disorganization of the nerve cells in the womanís cerebral cortex, the part of the brain...
...nd to increase the risk of developing Alzheimers. But many people develop the disease withouth inheriting APOƐ4 so APOƐ4 is not a consistent marker.
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (2011). National Institutes of Health. Retrieved [18th April 2011] from http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/picks/picks.htm.