Alzheimers Disease Neurobiology, Causes And Treatments Of Essays

Alzheimers Disease : Neurobiology, Causes And Treatments Of Alzheimers disease : Neurobiology, causes and treatments of Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is one of the most common of the dementing illnesses. A progressive, degenerative disease that attacks the brain, causing impaired memory, thinking and behavior. A person with Alzhiemers Disease may experience personality and behavior changes, impaired judgment, confusion and difficulty finishing thoughts, following directions or even finding the right word to say in a conversation. Once advanced the sufferer may require a caretaker as daily chores become very difficult to accomplish. Evidence points toward amyloid as one of the main causes for the occurring cytotoxic processes. Researchers have found that degeneration appears to be caused by interference with intracellular calcium homeostasis via activation of calcium channels, intracellular calcium stores, and further production of free radicals by calcium-sensitive enzymes. The glutamatergic system seems to be involved in mediating the toxic processes. In the brain, the nerve cells in the part that controls memory and thinking are damaged, this interrupts the passage of messages between communicating cells. The cells undergo distinctive changes, these are called neuritic plaques (groups of degenerating nerve cell ends) and neurofibrillary tangles (groups of twisted filaments which accumulate in previously healthy nerve cells). The cortex (used for thinking) of the brain shrinks, the spaces in the center of the brain become enlarged causing reduction of the surface area in the brain. Symptoms of AD usually occur in older adults and are the ones most at risk, although people in their 40s and 5Os may also be affected. The symptoms include a loss of intellectual capacity, loss of language skills which may include having trouble finding words, poor or decreased judgment, problems with abstract thinking, disorientation in place and time, changes in mood or behavior and changes in personality. AD does not discriminate, it affects any race, socio background or sex equally. The classic symptom of forgetfulness is part of the normal aging process and usually begins in early middle age, however, normal forgetfulness differs from Alzheimer's Disease in many important ways. The cause of Alzheimer's Disease is not exactly known. Suspected causes undergoing research are neurological damage, chemical deficiencies, viruses, environmental toxins and malfunctions in the body's disease defense systems and genetics. There is also evidence of a slightly increased risk of heridity of AD amongst children, brothers and sisters of patients with this disease. It is also important to note that AD can only be diagnosed 100% after death through an autopsy of the affected subjects brain tissue. About a third of autopsies turn up a different diagnosis and thus family members are encouraged to ask for an autopsy as a contribution to the study of the disease and about the genetics of AD. There is no single clinical test for AD. It is usually diagnosed by ruling out all other curable or incurable causes of memory loss. A positive diagnosis of this disease can only be made by microscopically studying a small piece of brain tissue after death. The cerebral cortex of an Alzheim er sufferers brain will have characteristic abnormalities such as cells marred by plaques and tangles. A working diagnosis can be made though through various testing procedures that include a complete physical as well as neurological and psychological examinations. At this time there is no definite cure or treatment for AD, although there are many suppliers of products which claim to help sufferers, but the products are more like over-priced placebos with no documented evidence of alleviation of the illness amongst sufferers, but glutamate receptor-selective drugs, some antioxidants, nitric oxide synthase inhibitors, calcium channel antagonists, receptor or enzyme inhibitors, and growth factors promise future help in curing this disease. Combinations of drugs that act at different levels may also prolong the sufferers life/health. People diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease can live anywhere from 2 to 20 years after memory loss symptoms start to surface. It shortens the sufferers expected life span, but through appropriate care and medical attention the patients oftenlive for many years. Death can't usually be predicted until the end stages where symptoms are nearing their worse. Some patients in late or terminal-stage Alzheimer's tend to lose weight and have difficulty swallowing, difficulties with bladder control, walking and talking. They are also known to curl into a

How to Get Students to Talk in Your Class

How to Get Students to Talk in Your Class Most elementary students like to talk, so it usually isnt a problem when you ask a question that you will have a lot of hands go up into the air. However, most activities in an elementary classroom are teacher-directed, which means the teachers does most of the talking. While this traditional way of teaching has been a staple in classrooms for decades, todays teachers are trying to steer away from these methods and do more student-directed activities. Here are a few suggestions and strategies to get your students talking more, and you talking less. Give Students Time to Think When you ask a question, dont expect an immediate answer. Give your students some time to gather their thoughts and really think about their answer. Students can even write down their thoughts on a graphic organizer or they can use the think-pair-share cooperative learning method to discuss their thoughts and hear the views of their peers. Sometimes, all you need to do to get students talking more is just let it be silent for a few extra minutes so they can just think. Use Active Learning Strategies Active learning strategies like the one mentioned above is a great way to get students talking more in class. Cooperative learning groups offer students the opportunity to work together with their peers and discuss what they are learning, rather than having to take notes and listen to the teacher lecture. Try using the Jigsaw method where each student is responsible for learning part of the task, but must discuss what they learned within their group. Other techniques are round robin, numbered heads, and team-pair-solo. Use Tactical Body Language Think about the way students see you when you are in front of them. When they are talking, do you have your arms folded or are you looking away and are distracted? Your body language will determine how comfortable the student is and how long they will talk. Make sure that you are looking at them when they speak and that your arms are not folded. Nod your head when you agree and do not interrupt them. Think about Your Questions Take some time to form the questions that you ask students. If you are always asking rhetorical, or yes or no questions then how can you expect your students to talk more? Try having students debate an issue. Formulate a question so that students will have to choose a side. Divide students into two teams and have them debate and discuss their views.   Instead of telling a student to look over their answer because it may be incorrect, try asking them how they came to get their answer. This will not only give them a chance to self-correct and figure out what they did wrong, but it will also give them the opportunity to talk with you. Create a Student-Led Forum Share your authority by having students pose questions. Ask students what they want to learn about the subject that you are teaching, then ask them to submit a few questions for classroom discussions. When you have a student-led forum students will feel more free to talk and discuss because the questions were posed from themselves, as well as their peers.

A Good Man is Good to Find by Flannery O'Connor Essay

A Good Man is Good to Find by Flannery O'Connor - Essay Example Written in 1953, this selection is a realistic short story because it illustrates the characteristics of realism. In â€Å"A Good Man is Hard to Find†, the grandmother attempts to persuade her son, Bailey, and his wife to take the family to east Tennessee for holiday instead of Florida. Finally, on the day of the journey, grandmother puts out of sight her cat, Pitty Sing, by putting her in a basket in the car. She dons a dress and a hat adorned with flowers on it so that people will realize she is a lady if there is an accident. As the story develops, the family stops at a restaurant known as the Tower, owned by Red Sammy Butts. Red Sammy grumbles that people are had to trust, remarking that he lately let two men purchase gas on credit. Grandmother informs him he’s a good man for doing it. Contrary, Red Sammy’s wife declares she does not trust anyone, including her husband. When the grandmother asks Red Sam’s wife whether she has heard about the Misfit, th is makes her somewhat apprehensive and starts to worry that he’ll rob them. Red Sammy then remarks: â€Å"A good man is hard to find.† He and grandmother grieve the state of the world. The first characteristic of realism is that the story is the story takes place in a recognizable, common setting. A Good Man is Hard to Find is set the rural Southern American in the fall of 1953. Flannery O’Connor does not however give exact town name. This story takes place in numerous states as the family travels by vehicle toward a vacation. Further, the author puts, believable characters living ordinary, believable lives. The Baileys are very ordinary family of five—a grandmother, a wife, two kids-an eight old boy and a daughter. All great mix up of a happy, stable ordinary family. A perfect example of a realistic fiction, right? Realistic writing puts a lot of focus on the characters more than it does on the plot. In fact, there is a lot more action in this story. The grandmother views herself morally superior to others by her virtue of being a lady, and she freely often passes judgment on others. She asserts that her scruples are the guiding forces in her life, such as when she informs Bailey that her conscience would not permit her to the take the kids in the same direction as the Misfit. She admonishes Bailey’s wife for not vacationing to a place that would open new ideas for the kids. The grandmother also criticizes Bailey for not having more reverence for Georgia, his place of birth. Even so, she also takes the chance to judge the lack of decency in people in the world. As result, the grandmother unwillingness to turn her decisive eyes on herself to examine her mistakes reveals to the readers her hypocrisy, dishonesty and selfishness. Another characteristic of realism is presence of conflicts between people and society. Of course, the major conflict starts when the family’s enjoyable vacation has taken an abrupt turn for the w orse. However, the high of the conflict starts back in the car, when the grandmother wakes from a snooze and notices that a plantation she had once vacationed was nearby. She explains that the house had six white columns and was at the edge of an oak tree-lined driveway. The grandmother deceives the family that the house had a surreptitious pane to make the house appear more interesting. Overwhelmed, the children plead until their father finally gives in. The family drives through the clump of woods. The grandmother then suddenly recalls that the house was in Tennessee, not in Georgia. At this point, we suspect that something bad is about to happen until the accident happens. Furthermore, in realistic fiction there is complication also. The Misfit turns up, exacerbating a bad situation. The grandmother puts the family squarely in jeopardy by