Alzheimers Disease Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Alzheimers Disease - Essay Example Alzheimer’s disease is defined as a progressive, degenerative brain disorder manifested by memory loss, impaired thinking, difficulty in finding the right word when speaking, and personality changes and which eventually lead to cases of dementia (Harvard Health Publications, 2009, p. 2). Continual loss of nerve cells and synapses and decreasing levels of neurotransmitters which are crucial to memory, mental functions, and relaying of complex messages to the nerve cells in the body affects not only the cognitive aspect but also the activities of daily living and one’s personality. The prevalence rate of diagnosed Alzheimer’s disease is approximately more than five million and by 2050, 11 to 16 million of the American population will be probably diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease; that is, one in eight people ages 65 and above is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s disease cause financial and emotional strain to families and is estimated to have caused the nation a $148 billion health costs annually (Lu & Bludau, 2011, 3). When a person was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, it usually takes 8-10 years to death. Because there is no cure or prevention for the disease, it is essential that different warning signs of Alzheimer’s disease are noted in order to prompt early diagnosis and care and to temporarily stabilize or delay worsening of symptoms through drug interventions. In line with this, the Harvard Health Publications (2009) identified seven warning signs of Alzheimer’s disease, which includes: trouble remembering things starting from short-term memory such as a new acquaintance then progressing to loss of long-term memory such as recognition of family members; mood or personality changes (very angry to sad, socially-outgoing to withdrawn, and signs of depression); trouble completing ordinary tasks such as simple tooth brushing; difficulty expressing thoughts particularly in language (e.g. ringer for telephone); impaired judgments such as inability to balance a checkbook; di sorientation manifested by losing track of date and time; and unusual behavior like wandering in the community (p. 3).

Humanism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Humanism - Essay Example In contrast to the medieval humanists, the scholars of the new Humanist culture greatly popularized learning, because they focused on the way people describe the world rather than on its reality, and they are known as nominalists. They denied the existence or the knowability of the universal forms that supposedly make up the world It is important to comprehend the late medieval mystic and pious revivals as partly a reaction to the late medieval church hierarchy and the disorder of the church. These revivals as well as the ill-fated movements of doctrinal reform were characterized by lay mysticism and piety, female piety, the mystics, brethren of the common life, the Lollards etc. Therefore, the late medieval mystic and pious revivals reflected the widespread dissatisfaction with official teachings in the late 1300s and 1400s. Mysticism, or the interior sense of the direct presence and love of God, was an important consequence of the late medieval mystic and pious revivals, and it was illustrated by confraternities, or the religious guilds founded for laypersons. "The growth of lay piety was, in essence, an effort to give everyone access to forms of faith that hitherto had been restricted to a spiritual elite. Frightened by the disasters of the age, people hungered for emotional reassurance, for evidence of Go d's love and redeeming grace within themselves." (Tradition and Change in Europe Culture, 1300-1500).