Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0004153 (atherosclerosis)
 77,401 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The characteristic morphologic changes frequently observed in the brain of an old adult include a decrease in weight and volume, a change in the pattern of cerebral cortical convolutions, and an increase in ventricular size. Cell loss varies from region to region in the brain, and may be intensified in Alzheimer's disease and other disorders associated with senile dementia. Among the neuroglial cells, the microglia undergo the most significant changes with age. Although senile brain disease previously has been regarded as secondary to atherosclerosis, recent neuropathologic studies indicate that only 30 to 40 percent of senile brain disease arises from cerebrovascular pathologic lesions. The dilemma remains, however, of how much of the deterioration observed in the aged is related to disease and how much to senescence. The interaction between gene expression and environmental conditions in aging is another important question for the geriatrician. Progress in the control and treatment of disorders associated with old age depends upon further research into the mechanisms that underlie the process of aging in the brain.
 ...
PMID:How the human brain responds to aging. 17 40

The incidence of both atherosclerosis and demential increases with age and therefore the terms "cerebral atherosclerosis" or "cerebro-vascular dementia" are commonly used for any mental deterioration in elderly persons. These names depend on the proposition of a gradual narrowing of cerebral arteries as an inevitable accompaniement of ageing which ends in dementia through a progressive reduction of cerebral blood flow. This apparently reasonnable hypothesis has now been shown to be wrong. ;t has been established that first, senile dementia is not due to cerebral atherosclerosis in spite of the frequent coexistence of degenerative and vascular lesions; and secondly, true cerebro vascular dementia results from the destruction of brain tissue following cerebral infarction; hence the proper term is "multi-infarct dementia". This neuronal destruction leads to decrease in cerebral metabolism and blood flow and to intellectual deterioration. The diagnostic criteria are therefore those of cerebral infarcts i.e: arterial hypertension and/or signs of atherosclerosis, sudden onset and/or stepwise progression, and focal neurological signs. If one follow those criteria, multi-infarct dementia accounts for only about 10% of all dementias; if one does not, the diagnosis will continue to be made to the exclusion of other potentially curable causes of dementias. Five clinico-pathological forms can be distinguished according to the size, number and site of the infarcts: lacunar state, large multiple infarcts, watershed infarction, single infarct and Binswanger's encephalopathy. This distinction is always arbitrary because the association of lacunes and large infarcts is very common in multi-infarct dementia. The almost invariable failure of all therapeutic measures once multi-infarct dementia has been established stresses the importance of prevention. This depends on prevention of cerebral infarcts, i.e. on the correction of risk factors amongst which arterial hypertension is by far, the most important. Some cases benefit also from carotid surgery, anticoagulants, and antiplatelet drugs but antihypertensive drugs are the most essential part. It is very likely that if all cases of arterial hypertension are properly treated, the incidence of multi-infarct dementia will decrease greatly.
 ...
PMID:[Modern concepts of "cerebrovascular dementia"]. 61 Oct 16

With the aid of a clinico-statistical method the authors studied 1514 patients older than 60 years. The following facts were found. There was prevalence of females in schizophrenia, circular psychoses, neurosis, atherosclerosis and senile dementia. Depressive syndromes were more often seen in females, subaffective and paranoid--in males (these syndromes were most linked with sex). In aging schizophrenic patients there waa a significant increase of hallucinatory-delusional syndromes (both in males and females), depressions in females, a tendency towards a drop in the frequency of depression in males. The linkage of syndromes with sex decreased along with aging.
 ...
PMID:[The sex factor and mental disorders of advanced age]. 64 21

A neurolinguistical analysis of speech by the articulation method of E. N. Vinarskaya in patients with senile dementia (4 cases) and its combination with cerebral atherosclerosis (4 cases) permitted to detect a primary "level" defect in the speech functional system. The study demonstrated a prevalent lesion of the lower, gnostico-praxis level in combination of 2 processes and prevalence of disorders of a higher, phenological (lingual)--in cases of "pure" senile dementia. A comparison of the clinical stage of the disease and the level of lesion in the speech functional system showed a possibility of an unusual (from lower to higher) destruction in patients with senile dementia with preservation of the "ordinary" regularity from the higher to lower) in memory and intellectual impairment. The detected characters of a primary speech defect in senile atrophy permitted to allocate speech disorders in such cases to genuine aphatical (focal)--the syndrome of superior-temporal area of the left hemisphere of the temporal-acoustical aphasia according to A.R. Luria. It is demonstrated that in this defect there is an involvement and disturbance of the subcortical structures as an expression of a diffusion of the destructive process.
 ...
PMID:[Speech disorders in senile dementia]. 69 16

The paper is concerned with a study of confabulation seen in 95 patients. A gradual development of the confabulatory syndrome (from mnemonic confabulations to ecmnestic) was seen in senile dementia (5 cases) and in its combination with vascular atherosclerosis (61 cases). An acute development of confabulations (with a prevalence of mnemonic false reminiscence over ecmnestic) was seen in cerebral atherosclerosis (9 cases). Rudimentary ecmnestic confabulations, without mnemonic were seen in Alzheimer's disease (20 cases). The author established a certain correlation between ecmnestic confabulations and disturbances of fixation, between mnemonic confabulations and disorders of selective reproductivity, between their expressiveness and emotional liveliness and the degree of actualization of the past events. In a complacent-euphoric and anxiety affect the confabulations were spontaneous and were accompanied by psuedoactivity. In depressive states they were fragmentary and were detected only in response to questions. Aphatic disorders and the severity of dementia influence the mnestic confabulations making them poorer and incomplete.
 ...
PMID:[Confabulation in atrophic and vascular disease of old age (clinico-psychopathologic findings)]. 97 23

Levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol were found to be significantly lower in 5 men with multi-infarct dementia than in 12 men with senile dementia of the Alzheimer type. The large difference between the groups suggests that levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol may be useful in differential diagnosis of these two kinds of senile dementia. The finding also supports the theory that multi-infarct dementia may be a complication of atherosclerosis.
 ...
PMID:High-density lipoprotein cholesterol in differential diagnosis of senile dementia. 286 Mar 90

Fifty patients with endogenous and age-related organic psychoses (10 with schizophrenia, 6 with maniac-depressive psychosis, 11 with involution psychoses, 18 with cerebral atherosclerosis, 5 with senile dementia) were under this investigation. Characteristic of these were distinct depressions with suicidal tendencies. Clinical features of depression and suicidal manifestations were closely linked to age-related influences. Irrespective of nosology, depressive constructs simplified in aging with melancholic-dysphoric affect getting more and more pronounced. Distinct hypochondriac and relation delusions evolved and the feeling of solitude increased. Suicidal intentions became simple and primitively stereotyped, suicidal preparedness fell and suicidal attempts acquired increasingly impulsive nature. Severity and acuity of depressive experiences and suicidal attempts did not enhance with age.
 ...
PMID:[Suicidal tendencies in endogenous and organic depression in elderly patients]. 323 62

The author has studied 17 patients with senile dementia and its combination (in case of an underlying atrophic process) with cerebral atherosclerosis but without local pathomorphological changes. It has been found that in senile dementia the multilevel and multiaspect functional system of speech is impaired at both, a lower, phonetic, and higher speech (a phonological analysis) levels. Other findings with regard to the speech level include disturbances of programming a speech statement or internal speech (dynamic aphasia), impairment of grammatical structuring and damaged lexical choice. The above disturbances (above all programming of the internal speech) are linked with intellectual deviations and are secondary to atrophy of the frontal lobes.
 ...
PMID:[Psycholinguistic analysis of the speech of senile dementia patients]. 382 79

Using a linguistic statistical method the speech of 14 patients suffering from senile dementia and its combination with cerebrovascular atherosclerosis was examined. A substantial diminution of the use of nouns, a relative preservance of the frequency of using verbs, and a more frequent use of adverbs, pronouns, and particles were revealed: this is characteristic of both acoustico-mnestic and sensor aphasia. It points to a greater activity of the secondary speech zones in the temporal lobe of the dominant hemisphere. It is assumed that the breakdown of the functional semantic connections between the verbs and the nouns in long-term memory forms the basis of verbal paraphasias. The indices of the lexic diversity and mean length of word demonstrate a pronounced impoverishment of the vocabulary and use of simple short words, as the dementia progresses. The substantial diminution of the frequency of using prepositions and conjunctions pointed to an impairment of the grammatical development stage in the mechanism of speech.
 ...
PMID:[Speech production in senile dementia]. 716 84

Evidence is accumulating that most of the degenerative diseases that afflict humanity have their origin in deleterious free radical reactions. These diseases include atherosclerosis, cancer, inflammatory joint disease, asthma, diabetes, senile dementia and degenerative eye disease. The process of biological ageing might also have a free radical basis. Most free radical damage to cells involves oxygen free radicals or, more generally, activated oxygen species (AOS) which include non-radical species such as singlet oxygen and hydrogen peroxide as well as free radicals. The AOS can damage genetic material, cause lipid peroxidation in cell membranes, and inactivate membrane-bound enzymes. Humans are well endowed with antioxidant defences against AOS; these antioxidants, or free radical scavengers, include ascorbic acid (vitamin C), alpha-tocopherol (vitamin E), beta-carotene, coenzyme Q10, enzymes such as catalase and superoxide dismutase, and trace elements including selenium and zinc. The eye is an organ with intense AOS activity, and it requires high levels of antioxidants to protect its unsaturated fatty acids. The human species is not genetically adapted to survive past middle age, and it appears that antioxidant supplementation of our diet is needed to ensure a more healthy elderly population.
 ...
PMID:The role of free radicals in disease. 761 52


1 2 Next >>