Study shows where Alzheimer's starts and how it spreads
Using high-resolution functional MRI (fMRI) imaging in patients with Alzheimer's disease and in mouse models of the disease, Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) researchers have clarified three fundamental issues about Alzheimer's: where it starts, why it starts there, and how it spreads. In addition to advancing understanding of Alzheimer's, the findings could improve early detection of the disease, when drugs may be most effective. The study was published today in the online edition of the journal Nature Neuroscience.
"It has been known for years that Alzheimer's starts in a brain region known as the entorhinal cortex," said co-senior author Scott A. Small, MD, Boris and Rose Katz Professor of Neurology, professor of radiology, and director of the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center. "But this study is the first to show in living patients that it begins specifically in the lateral entorhinal cortex, or LEC. The LEC is considered to be a gateway to the hippocampus, which plays a key role in the consolidation of long-term memory, among other functions. If the LEC is affected, other aspects of the hippocampus will also be affected."
The study also shows that, over time, Alzheimer's spreads from the LEC directly to other areas of the cerebral cortex, in particular, the parietal cortex, a brain region involved in various functions, including spatial orientation and navigation. The researchers suspect that Alzheimer's spreads "functionally," that is, by compromising the function of neurons in the LEC, which then compromises the integrity of neurons in adjoining areas.
A third major finding of the study is that LEC dysfunction occurs when changes in tau and amyloid precursor protein (APP) co-exist. "The LEC is especially vulnerable to Alzheimer's because it normally accumulates tau, which sensitizes the LEC to the accumulation of APP. Together, these two proteins damage neurons in the LEC, setting the stage for Alzheimer's," said co-senior author Karen E. Duff, PhD, professor of pathology and cell biology (in psychiatry and in the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain) at CUMC and at the New York State Psychiatric Institute.
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So you understand what it is like to lose them twice.
And that money could be used for medicine, science and technology.
I won't names any names. 
Loosing your Dad is a difficult time too.
long before it was recognized as it is today. I was single so I spent several years helping to take care of her at night when everyone else was gone. I'm a guy and it was like I had a baby to take care of in that the slightest sound from her and I'd wake up no matter how long I'd been asleep. luckily for the most part all I had to do was hold her hand in reassurance that I was there and she'd drift back off to sleep.
I miss my Mom and its been 33 years. She never judged nor had any doubts about me and I knew that all those years she was raising me, rather she lead me to be the person I am today.
Do you ever get over your Mother? I don't think I will.
Merry Christmas to you all
Peace 
She had Alzheimer's. She was in a home for the last 6 or so years. It's a horrible disease. I was mourning the loss of her long before she dies. 
I also worked in home health and hospice care long ago. Most of my patients had Alzheimer's or other forms of dementia. Such terrifyingly sad diseases. I want a cure, yesterday.
