Exploring Alzheimers Disease Essay -- Alzheimers Disease Essays

Exploring Alzheimer's Disease Diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders requires several criteria for the diagnosis of Alzheimer's dementia. These include impairment in memory, disturbances in cognitive and executive functioning, and impairment in occupational or social functions. Cognitive disturbances may include one or more of the following: aphasia, apraxia, and agnosia. Cognitive deficits must demonstrate decline from previous levels of functioning and are characterized by gradual onset. Furthermore, cognitive disturbances must not be due to other central nervous system and or systemic disorders that are known to cause dementia or are accounted for by another psychiatric disorder. It is important to note that a definite diagnosis of Alzheimer's can only be made post-mortem. Facts about Alzheimer's Disease Alzheimer's disease is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States and is becoming a larger problem as the life expectancy increases. It is the most prevalent of cognitive impairments in older people. Alzheimer's shortens life expectancy substantially: the typical duration is 8 to 10 years. Deaths are attributable to intervening illnesses unrelated or indirectly related to the disease and terminal complications. An even more devastating feature of Alzheimer's is the impact it has on the patient's family. Caregivers report feeling helpless, frustrated and irritable. Families often become impoverished before the patient is eligible to receive financial support. Furthermore, almost half of the family caregivers become clinically depressed. In the last few years, research has made great strides in understanding this Alzheimer's. Specifically, in the areas of ne... ...acetylcholine is released into a synapse and then connects with a receptor. Works Cited Connor, B.; Young, D.; Yan, Q.; Faull, R.L.M.; Synek, B.; Dragunow, M. (1997). Brain-derived neurotrophic factor is reduced in Alzheimer's disease. Molecular Brain Research. 49:1-2 (Oct 3); 71-81. Gonzalez-Salvador, M. T.; Arango, C.; Lyketsos, C. G.; Barba, A. C. (1999). The stress and psychological morbidity of the Alzheimer patient caregiver. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry. 14, 701-710. Reiman, E. M.; & Caselli, R. J. (1999). Alzheimer's disease. Maturitas: the European menopause journal. 31, 185-200. Richard, F.; & Amouyel, P. (2001). Genetic susceptibility factors for Alzheimer's disease. European Journal of Pharmacology. 412:1 (Jan 19); 1-12 For more information regarding Alzheimer's Disease: http://webmd.lycos.com/condition_center?doi=alz

Meno-Plato Essay

Meno begins his quest to have Socrates explain virtue by nature by stating that having beautiful things is to have virtue. â€Å"So I say that virtue is to desire beautiful things and have the power to acquire them† (77b). To help him to understand that this statement is not complete, Socrates inquires about specific characteristics that might comprise having something beautiful. These characteristics include wealth, a position of honor, justice, and the pursuit of happiness. Only in perfect combination to all of these specific characteristics assert â€Å"virtue as a whole† (77a) To desire beautiful things means to secure a good thing for oneself, according to Socrates. Under this explanation, all men desire good things and the men who desire bad things want to attain bad things for some benefit despite the fact that misery is a potential result. Therefore the act of desiring is with the intention of pursuing happiness as a virtue. â€Å"No one then wants what is bad, Meno, unless he wants to be such. For what else is being miserable but to desire bad things and secure them? † (78a). This characteristic of attempting to have happiness through securing good things and having power over them is a component of â€Å"virtue as a whole† (77a). Wealth and positions of power, under Socrates’ definition of â€Å"virtue as a whole† (77a), are only considered to be components of the nature of virtue if they are accomplished through just means. â€Å"It seems then that the acquisition must be accompanied by justice or moderation or piety or some other part of virtue; if it is not, it will not be virtue, even though it provides good things. † (78d-e) this reveals that the intention and process of acquiring good things is important to the nature of virtue as a whole. Without just process wealth nor positions of honor are not attributes of virtue because regardless of their significance as good or beautiful, they cannot be truly appreciated as virtuous without morally righteous intentions. â€Å"Then to provide these goods would not be virtue anymore than not to provide these goods would not to be virtue any more than not to provide them, but apparently whatever is done with justice will be virtue†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (79a) justice and good intention are required to be the basis of any good thing in order for it to be considered truly virtuous. However, in true response to Meno’s search to know the nature of virtue Socrates states that although that virtue as a whole is still under question. In order to understand virtue you must understand each characteristic that makes up virtue. â€Å"†¦that by answering in terms of the parts of virtue you can make its nature clear†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (79e) Virtue is not defined by any one definition, rather it is the characteristics and process of attaining these characteristics that comprises the nature of virtue. Socrates refutes Meno’s assertion that to attain beautiful things is to have virtue. Through this rejection he goes on to examine this differences between wanting good and beautiful things and, attaining bad things under the belief or idea that they are, in some way, good. However, having good things is not enough. These good things must be attained justly otherwise their significance to â€Å"virtue as a whole† (77a) is obsolete. These characteristics of wealth, a position of honor, justice, and the pursuit of happiness are mutually inclusive and together, begin to describe the nature of virtue.

When Was the Pager Invented

Long before email and long before texting, there were pagers, portable mini radio frequency devices that allowed for instant human interaction. Invented in 1921, pagers—or beepers as they are also known—reached their heyday in the 1980s and 1990s. To have one hanging from a belt loop, shirt pocket, or purse strap was to convey a certain kind of status—that of a person important enough to be reached at a moments notice. Like todays emoji-savvy texters, pager users eventually developed their own form of shorthand communications. The First Pagers The first pager-like system was put into use by the Detroit Police Department in 1921. However, it was not until 1949 that the very first telephone pager was patented. The inventors name was Al Gross, and his pagers were first used in New York Citys Jewish Hospital. Al Gross pager was not a consumer device available to everyone. In fact, the FCC did not approve the pager for public use until 1958. The technology was for many years reserved strictly for critical communications between emergency responders like police officers, firefighters, and medical professionals. Motorola Corners the Market In 1959, Motorola produced a personal radio communications product that they called a pager. The device, about half the size of a deck of cards, contained a small receiver that delivered a radio message individually to those carrying the device. The first successful consumer pager was Motorolas Pageboy I, first introduced in 1964. It had no display and could not store messages, but it was portable and it notified the wearer by the tone what action they should take. There were 3.2 million pager users worldwide at the beginning of the 1980s. At that time pagers had a limited range and were used mostly in on-site situations—for example, when medical workers needed to communicate with each other within a hospital. At this point, Motorola was also producing devices with alphanumeric displays, which allowed users to receive and  send a message through a digital network. A decade later, wide-area paging had been invented and over 22 million of the devices were in use. By 1994, there were over 61 million  in use, and pagers became popular for personal communications as well. Now, pager users could send any number of messages, from I Love You to Goodnight, all using a set of numbers and asterisks. How Pagers Work The paging system is not only simple, but its also reliable. One person sends a message using a touch-tone  telephone  or even an email, which in turn is forwarded to the pager of the person they want to talk to. That person is notified that a message is incoming, either by an audible beep or by vibration. The incoming phone number or text message is then displayed on the pagers LCD screen. Heading for Extinction? While Motorola stopped producing pagers in 2001, they are still being manufactured. Spok is one company that provides a variety of paging services, including one-way, two-way, and encrypted. Thats because even todays smartphone technologies cant compete with the reliability of the paging network. A cell phone is only as good as the cellular or Wi-Fi network off of which it operates, so even the best networks still have dead zones and poor in-building coverage. Pagers also instantly deliver messages to multiple people at the exact same time—no lags in delivery, which is critical when minutes, even seconds, count in an emergency. Finally, cellular networks quickly become overloaded during disasters. This doesnt happen with paging networks. So until cellular networks become just as reliable, the little beeper that hangs from a belt remains the best form of communication for those working in the critical communications fields.