Title: The Alzheimer Conundrum
Description: Based on a careful study of the history of Alzheimer's disease and extensive in-depth interviews with clinicians, scientists, epidemiologists, geneticists, and others, Margaret Lock highlights the limitations and the dissent implicated in this approach. She stresses that one major difficulty is the well-documented absence of behavioral signs of Alzheimer's disease in a significant proportion of elderly individuals, even when Alzheimer neuropathology is present in their brains. This incongruity makes it difficult to distinguish between what counts as normal versus pathological and, further, makes it evident that social and biological processes contribute inseparably to aging. Lock argues that basic research must continue, but it should be complemented by a realistic public health approach available everywhere that will be more effective and more humane than one focused almost exclusively on an increasingly frenzied search for a cure.
Subjects: Older people, mental health, Brain, aging, Alzheimer's disease, Age factors, Older people, Mental health, Brain, Aging, Molecular aspects, Age factors in disease, Risk assessment, Physiology, Alzheimer Disease, Diagnosis, Epidemiology, Maladie d'Alzheimer, Facteurs liés à l'âge, Personnes âgées, Santé mentale, Cerveau, Vieillissement, Aspect moléculaire, Maladies, Évaluation du risque, POLITICAL SCIENCE, Public Policy, Social Security, Social Services & Welfare, MEDICAL, General, Biomedizin, Gerontologie, Demenz, Alzheimerkrankheit, Neuropathologie, Diagnose, Amyloidose, Humangenetik, Alzheimers sjukdom, Demens, Äldre, Åldrande, Aged