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Alzheimer’s Disease

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Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology

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Definition

A neurodegenerative disease of the brain characterized clinically by insidious, chronic, and progressive cognitive decline, and histologically by cerebral accumulations of the proteins beta amyloid (plaques) and tau (tangles).

Historical Background

In 1902, a woman called Auguste D. came under the care of Dr. Alois Alzheimer, then at the University of Frankfurt. The patient manifested changes in behavior and cognition. Her clinical course was characterized by progressive paranoia, delusional thinking, disorientation, and poor memory. She was institutionalized for the last 3 years of her life. Upon her death, Alzheimer analyzed her brain using a silver stain, and described both extracellular and intracellular protein accumulations. The extracellular protein accumulations were termed plaques and the intraneuronal protein accumulations were called tangles. Alzheimer presented the results of this autopsy in 1906. Several other similar cases of relatively “presenile” (i.e.,...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Kansas School of Medicine, Landon Center on Aging, MS 2012, 3901 Rainbow Blvd, 66160, Kansas City, KS, USA

    Russell H. Swerdlow

  2. Department of Neurology, University of Kansas School of Medicine, 3599 Rainbow Blvd., MS 2012, 66160, Kansas City, KS, USA

    Heather Anderson

  3. Department of Neurology, University of Kansas School of Medicine, 3901 Rainbow Boulevard, 66160, Kansas City, KS, USA

    Jeffrey M. Burns

Authors
  1. Russell H. Swerdlow
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  2. Heather Anderson
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  3. Jeffrey M. Burns
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and Professor of Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry Virginia Commonwealth University – Medical Center Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, VCU, 980542, Richmond, Virginia, 23298-0542, USA

    Jeffrey S. Kreutzer

  2. Kessler Foundation Research Center, 1199 Pleasant Valley Way, West Orange, NJ, 07052, USA

    John DeLuca

  3. Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and Neurology and Neuroscience, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey – New Jersey Medical School, New Jersey, USA

    John DeLuca

  4. Independent Practice, 564 M.O.B. East, 100 E. Lancaster Ave., Wynnewood, PA, 19096, USA

    Bruce Caplan

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Swerdlow, R.H., Anderson, H., Burns, J.M. (2011). Alzheimer’s Disease. In: Kreutzer, J.S., DeLuca, J., Caplan, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-79948-3_290

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-79948-3_290

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-387-79947-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-0-387-79948-3

  • eBook Packages: Behavioral Science

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