WHAT IS ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE? Alzheimer's disease is a degenerative disease of the brain from which there is no recovery. Slowly and inexorably, thedisease attacks nerve cells in all parts of the cortex of the brain, as well as some surrounding structures, therebyimpairing a person's abilities to govern emotions, recognize errors and patterns, coordinate movement, and remember.At the last, an afflicted person loses all memory and mental functioning.

WHAT CAUSES ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE? Researchers are finding specific biologic factors involved with Alzheimer's disease. Various environmental and geneticplayers appear to contribute to or trigger the process by which these factors destroy nerve cells leading to this disease. Biologic Factors in the Brain Imaging techniques in patients with Alzheimer's disease have found significant loss of cells and volume in the regionsof the brain devoted to memory and higher mental functioning. Important abnormalities have specifically been observedduring biopsies: Twisted nerve cell fibers, known as neurofibrillary tangles. • A sticky protein called beta amyloid.