Alzheimer's Disease

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Other
diseases that have "paired helixes" include Parkinson's disease, Down's
Syndrome, and Dementia Pugilistica. Scientists are not sure how the paired
helixes are related in these very different diseases.

Neuritic Plaques are patches of clumped material lying outside the
bodies of nerve cells in the brain. They are mainly found in the cerebral
cortex, but have also been seen in other areas of the brain. At the core of
each of these plaques is a substance called amyloid, an abnormal protein
not usually found in the brain. This amyloid core is surrounded by cast off
fragments of dead or dying nerve cells. The cell fragments include dying
mitochondria, presynaptic terminals, and paired helical filaments identical
to those that are neurofibrillary tangles. Many neuropathologists think
that these plaques are basically clusters of degenerating nerve cells. But
they are still not sure of how and why these fragments clustered together.

Congophilic Angiopathy is the ...

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