From: deputydawg23x@gmail.com   
      
   Types of Dementia   
      
   Tauopathies   
   Synucleinopathies   
   Vascular Dementia and Vascular Cognitive Impairment   
   Mixed Dementia   
   Various disorders and factors contribute to the development of dementia.   
   Neurodegenerative disorders such as AD, frontotemporal disorders, and Lewy   
   body dementia result in a progressive and irreversible loss of neurons and   
   brain functions. Currently,    
   there are no cures for these progressive neurodegenerative disorders.   
      
   However, other types of dementia can be halted or even reversed with   
   treatment. Normal pressure hydrocephalus, for example, often resolves when   
   excess cerebrospinal fluid in the brain is drained via a shunt and rerouted   
   elsewhere in the body. Cerebral    
   vasculitis responds to aggressive treatment with immunosuppressive drugs. In   
   rare cases, treatable infectious disorders can cause dementia. Some drugs,   
   vitamin deficiencies, alcohol abuse, depression, and brain tumors can cause   
   neurological deficits that    
   resemble dementia. Most of these causes respond to treatment.   
      
   Some types of dementia disorders are described below.   
      
   Tauopathies   
      
   In some dementias, a protein called tau clumps together inside nerve cells in   
   the brain, causing the cells to stop functioning properly and die. Disorders   
   that are associated with an accumulation of tau are called tauopathies.   
      
   Alzheimer's Cell. A neuron with neurofibrillary tangles inside and amyloid   
   plaques outside. A closeup of the axon shows tau protein clumps among   
   disintegrating microtubules.   
      
   In AD, the tau protein becomes twisted and aggregates to form bundles, called   
   neurofibrillary tangles, inside the neurons. Abnormal clumps (plaques) of   
   another protein, called amyloid, are prominent in spaces between brain cells   
   and are a hallmark of the    
   disease. Both plaques and tangles are thought to contribute to reduced   
   function and nerve-cell death in AD, but scientists do not fully understand   
   this relationship. It is not clear, for example, if the plaques and tangles   
   cause the disorder, or if their    
   presence flags some other process that leads to neuronal death in AD.   
      
   Other types of tauopathies include the following disorders:   
      
   Corticobasal degeneration (CBD) is a progressive neurological disorder   
   characterized by nerve-cell loss and atrophy (shrinkage) of specific areas of   
   the brain, including the cerebral cortex and the basal ganglia. The disorder   
   tends to progress gradually,    
   with the onset of early symptoms around age 60. At first, one side of the body   
   is affected more than the other side, but as the disease progresses both sides   
   become impaired. An individual may have difficulty using one hand, or one's   
   hand may develop an    
   abnormal position.   
      
   Other signs and symptoms may include memory loss; trouble making familiar,   
   focused movements (apraxia) such as brushing one's teeth; involuntary muscular   
   jerks (myoclonus) and involuntary muscle contractions (dystonia); alien limb,   
   in which the person    
   feels as though a limb is being controlled by a force other than oneself;   
   muscle rigidity (resistance to imposed movement); postural instability; and   
   difficulty swallowing (dysphagia). People with CBD also may have   
   visual-spatial problems that make it    
   difficult to interpret visual information, such as the distance between   
   objects.   
      
   There is no cure for CBD. Supportive therapies are available to reduce the   
   burden of certain symptoms. For example, botulinum toxin can help control   
   muscle contractions. Speech therapy and physical therapy may help one learn   
   how to cope with daily    
   activities.   
      
   Frontotemporal disorders (FTD) are caused by a family of brain diseases that   
   primarily affect the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain; they account for   
   up to 10 percent of all dementia cases. Some, but not all, forms of FTD are   
   considered tauopathies.   
    In some cases, FTD is associated with mutations in the gene for tau (MAPT),   
   and tau aggregates are present. However, other forms of FTD are associated   
   with aggregates of the protein TDP-43, a mutated protein found among people   
   with a type of ALS that is    
   inherited. Mutations in a protein called progranulin may also play a role in   
   some TDP43-opathies.   
      
   older African-American couple   
   Frontotemporal disorders can cause changes in behavior, personality, language,   
   and movement.   
   In FTD, changes to nerve cells in the brain's frontal lobes affect the ability   
   to reason and make decisions, prioritize and multitask, act appropriately, and   
   control movement. Some people decline rapidly over 2 to 3 years, while others   
   show only minimal    
   changes for many years. People can live with frontotemporal disorders for 2 to   
   10 years, sometimes longer, but it is difficult to predict the time course for   
   an affected individual. In some cases, FTD is associated with progressive   
   neuromuscular weakness    
   otherwise known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig's   
   disease). The signs and symptoms may vary greatly among individuals as   
   different parts of the brain are affected. No treatment that can cure or   
   reverse FTD is currently available.   
      
   Clinically, FTD is classified into two main types of syndromes:   
      
   Behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia causes a person to undergo behavior   
   and personality changes. People with this disorder may do impulsive things   
   that are out of character, such as steal or be rude to others. They may engage   
   in repetitive    
   behavior (such as singing, clapping, or echoing another person's speech). They   
   may overeat compulsively; lose inhibitions, causing them to say or do   
   inappropriate things (sometimes sexual in nature); or become apathetic and   
   experience excessive    
   sleepiness. While they may be cognitively impaired, their memory may stay   
   relatively intact.   
   older asian couple   
   Tauopathies are caused by abnormalities in the protein tau.   
   Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) causes a person to have trouble with   
   expressive and receptive speaking--finding and/or expressing thoughts and/or   
   words. Sometimes a person with PPA cannot name common objects. Problems with   
   memory, reasoning, and    
   judgment are not apparent at first but can develop and progress over time. PPA   
   is a language disorder not to be confused with the aphasia that can result   
   from a stroke. Many people with PPA, though not all, develop symptoms of   
   dementia. In one form of    
   PPA, called semantic PPA or semantic dementia, a person slowly loses the   
   ability to understand single words and sometimes to recognize the faces of   
   familiar people and common objects.   
   Other types of FTDs include:   
      
      
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