The Forgetting: A protrait of Alzheimer's (Documentary Video)

The Forgetting, A Portrait of Alzheimer’s was shown in class.  If you wish to watch this video, click here.

Colloquium Questions

1. After viewing the video, The Forgetting: A Portrait of Alzheimer’s, please consider the questions below. These questions will be discussed in the next session on January 26, 2012 by Dr. Buckwalter.
2. What signs and symptoms do family members recall their loved one manifesting during the various stages of dementia?
3. Describe how AD “robs those afflicated of who they are.”
4. Discuss how familes are affected by AD in a loved one.What challenges do they face and in what ways do caregivers cope with these challenges?
5. Why has AD been labelled a “public health disaster” and a “social and economic tragedy?” Why do some consider it a chronic illness, and call it “the long goodbye?”
6. Identify 3 features of Dr. DeKosky’s clinical assessment of Mrs. Gladys Fugate.
7. Describe some of the emotional symptoms associated with AD.
8. Discuss the roles of synaptic disruption,  placque (beta amyloid) deposits and neurofibrillary tangles play in the onset of AD.
9. Do you think AD can be prevented?  slowed down? why or why not?
10. Identify some of the challenges researchers face in developing mechanisms to treat AD. Describe recent research and drug development advances in AD. Have they been successful?  What are the next steps and when, if ever, can we expect a “cure?”
11. Discuss the genetic component of early onset AD.  In what way are Down’s Syndrome and AD related?