| Alzheimer´s
disease
Alzheimer´s
disease is a progressive brain disorder named after
Alois Alzheimer, a german neurologist who first described
the symptoms and neuropathological features in 1907.
Alzheimer´s disease affects memory and mental
functions and can also lead to confusion, disorientation
and frequent mood changes. During disease progression
symptoms increase in severity and subsequently interfere
with a patients work and social life. Alzheimer´s
is a terminal disease causing overall deterioration
including not only the brain but also the immune system.
As a consequence most of the patients die due to pneumonia
or other infectious diseases.
Alzheimer´s disease is the most common dementia
(50-70% of all known cases for dementia) and the risk
to develop Alzheimer´s disease increases dramatically
with age reaching from 2% of people at the age of 65
up to 30% by the age of 85. There are however also genetic
risk factors beside age. These genetic alterations can
lead to a manifestation of Alzheimer´s below the
age of 40.
It is currently believed that the main cause of Alzheimer´s
disease is the formation of amyloid deposits and tangles
in the brain. These alterations subsequently lead to
the symptoms and pathological alterations typical for
Alzheimer´s. Currently no effective treatment
is available to stop the progressive neurodegeneration
in these patients. Using its proprietary platform technologies,
AFFiRiS aims to stop or revert disease progression.
Further
Links:
www.alzheimer-selbsthilfe.at
www.alzforum.org
www.alzheimer-europe.org
|
| Atherosclerosis
The term atherosclerosis
is derived from the Greek words athero (paste) and sclerosis
(hardness). Atherosclerosis involves a process that
causes a build-up of deposits on artery walls called
plaque. The plaques contain fatty substances, cholesterol,
cellular waste products, fibrin (found in blood), and
calcium and can become large enough to partially or
totally block the flow of blood through an artery. Dislodged
plaque material can travel to other parts of the body,
resulting in serious injury to tissues and organs. Atherosclerosis
is involved in several conditions including coronary
heart disease (CHD), myocardial infarction (MI), angina
pectoris and cerebral vascular disease (CVD).
One of the primary risk factors for Atherosclerosis
is a high blood level of LDL-cholesterol in conjunction
with low levels of HDL-Cholesterol. In the western world
atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease account for
up to 50% of all reported death cases. With its proprietary
platform technologies AFFIRIS aims at altering the ratio
of HDL / LDL-cholesterol levels to prevent disease progression
or to even reverse atherosclerosis.
http://www.lipidforum.at/
http://www.americanheart.org
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/
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