Synapses: The Good and the Demented

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N E U R O D E G E N E R A T I O N
Synapses The Good and the Demented
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N E U R O D E G E N E R A T I O N
Dementia progressive decline in cognitive
function
damage or disease in the brain beyond what might
be expected from normal ageing affected areas
may be memory, attention, language and problem
solving although particularly in the later
stages of the condition, affected persons may be
disoriented in time (not knowing what day, week,
month or year it is), place (not knowing where
they are), or person (not knowing who they are)
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N E U R O D E G E N E R A T I O N
Phineas Gage
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N E U R O D E G E N E R A T I O N
From the writings of Dr. Alois Alzheimer (1907)
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N E U R O D E G E N E R A T I O N
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N E U R O D E G E N E R A T I O N
a-sectetase non-pathologic protein
b and g secretase Ab plaque forming protein
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N E U R O D E G E N E R A T I O N
People with Alzheimers
George Balanchine Charlton Heston Frederick Law
Olmsted Ronald Reagan Norman Rockwell Jonathan
Swift E.B. White
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N E U R O D E G E N E R A T I O N
Abstract Expressionism
Excavation 1950
Composition 1950
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N E U R O D E G E N E R A T I O N
De Kooning
The Visit 1967
Woman Singing II 1966
Woman on Bicycle 1953
Marylin Monroe 1954
Pirate (untitled II) 1981
Woman I 1952
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N E U R O D E G E N E R A T I O N
TREATMENT
There are five FDA-approved drugs that can
control symptoms and slow the progression of
AD Cognex (tacrine) Aricept (donezepil)
Exelon (rivastigmine), Reminyl
(galantamine) slow the metabolic breakdown of
acetylcholine
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N E U R O D E G E N E R A T I O N
Parkinsons Disease
James Parkinson (1817) Bradykinesia Resting
tremor Postural Instability Extrapyramidal
rigidity
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N E U R O D E G E N E R A T I O N
Micrographia
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N E U R O D E G E N E R A T I O N
General H. Guderian, Hitler's Chief of Staff,
wrote, in Guderian Panzer General that in
February 1943 "Hitler's left hand trembled, his
back was bent, and his gaze was fixed. Albert
Speer, Hitler's architect and armaments minister
wrote in Inside the Third Reich "In 1944 Hitler
was shriveling up like an old man. His limbs
trembled, he walked stooped with dragging
footsteps.....His uniform, which in the-past he
had kept scrupulously neat was stained by the
food he had eaten with a shaking hands."
General von Cholitz, the German Commanding
General in Paris said, upon meeting Hitler in
1944 "Hitler had become an old man. His face was
worn..... His shoulders sagged. He cupped his
left hand in his right to hide the trembling of
his left arm. But above all, it was his voice
that shocked me. The hard raucous voice had faded
to a weak whisper. G. Boldt, an intelligence
officer on Hitler's staff, wrote in Hitler The
Last Ten Days, An Eyewitness Account, that in
February 1945 "Hitler's left arm hung limply by
his side, and his left hand trembled
perceptibly.....He was not the vigorous,
energetic Hitler the Germans knew, the Hitler
that Goebbels, Minister for Propaganda, still
depicted." S. Knappe, an SS officer wrote in
Soldat Reflections of a German Soldier that on
meeting Hitler in April 1945 "I was shocked by
his appearance. He was stooped, and his left arm
was bent, and shaking.....Both of his hands shook
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N E U R O D E G E N E R A T I O N
It has been proved that Adolf Hitler suffered
from idiopathic Parkinson's disease. Professor
Max de Crinis established his diagnosis of
Parkinson's disease in Hitler early in 1945 and
informed the SS leadership, who decided to
initiate treatment with a specially prepared
'antiparkinsonian mixture' to be administered by
a physician. However, Hitler never received the
mixture, this implies that the SS intended to
remove the severely diseased 'Leader'. Two
different character traits can be analysed in
Hitler's personality on the one hand the typical
premorbid personality of parkinsonian patients
with uncorrectable mental rigidity, extreme
inflexibility and insupportable pedantry. On the
other an antisocial personality disorder with
lack of ethical and social values, a deeply
rooted tendency to betray others and to deceive
himself and uncontrollable emotional reactions.
This combination in Hitler's personality
resulted in the uncritical conviction of his
mission and an enormous driving for recognition.
by the time of the Normandy invasion, Hitler had
suffered Parkinson's for 10 years, at which point
many with the disease have cognitive problems
such as an inability to process conflicting
information Hitler is said to have been so
convinced the Allies would attempt to invade
France at Calais that he initially refused to
release Panzer units that could have helped stop
Allied troops in Normandy "Hitler's slowness to
counterattack at Normandy may have been secondary
to mental inflexibility and difficulty in
shifting concepts due to Parkinsonism"
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N E U R O D E G E N E R A T I O N