The Ageing Brain

by Sachdev,Perminder S.

• ISBN13: 9789026519437
• ISBN10: 9026519435
• eBook ISBN(s): 9781482296822
• Additional ISBN(s): 9780203970973
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-01-01
• Publisher: CRC Press

Summary

When confronted with a neurological or psychiatric in an elderly individual, a clinician or researcher is likely to ask how the processes of ageing have influenced the aetiology and presentation of the disorder, and will impact on its efficent management. There are many urban myths about ageing, and some of these apply to the brain. The reviews included in this book are an attempt to flush out these myths, and arm the clinician and general researcher with the empirical facts that can be mustered to substantiate claims about ageing. There are many salient questions: Is cognitive change to be expected in an elderly individual? Is this change progressive, relentless and unselective, or is it focal and constrained? Would every person who lived long enough develop Alzhiemer's disease? Do our neurones die as we grow old? What happens to the size of the brain and its metabolic activity? How do our hormones change with age? Can antioxidants slow or even stop the process of ageing? Are genes important forthe ageing brain, or is it all in the environment? how much of what we are is due to what we eat? The contributors to this book, each an expert in his field, have addressed some of these questions in a language simple enough for a general reader to understand. The book also deals with some of the most prominent brain disorders of old age - Alzheimer's disease, parkinson's disease, Vascular dementia and Depression. The focus is on the impact of ageing on these disorders. The discussion lay out a broad map for the clinician dealing with neuropsychiatric disorders, and the future researcher of brain ageing. In a field in which the developments are too numerous for any any one individual to keep pace with, this book presents up-to-date summmaries that can be a useful starting point. The field of brain ageing abounds in tabloid science. This book counters this by providing a strong empircial grounding and considered synthesis of the research.

Table of Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS	ix
Section I Introduction	1	(32)
CHAPTER 1: THE AGEING BRAIN	3	(8)
Perminder S Sachdev
CHAPTER 2 POPULATION AGEING, HUMAN LIFESPAN AND NEURODEGENERATIVE DISORDERS: A FIFTH EPIDEMIOLOGIC TRANSITION	11	(22)
G Anthony Broe
Section II Characteristics of the ageing brain	33	(138)
CHAPTER 3 STRUCTURAL CHANGES IN THE AGEING HUMAN BRAIN	35	(14)
Julian J Kril
CHAPTER 4 STRUCTURAL NEUROIMAGING OF THE AGEING BRAIN	49	(14)
Jeffrey CL Looi and Perminder S Sachdev
CHAPTER 5 NEUROPHYSIOLOGICAL, SENSORY AND MOTOR CHANGES WITH AGEING	63	(12)
Stephen R Lord and Rebecca St George
CHAPTER 6 COGNITIVE CHANGES AND THE AGEING BRAIN	75	(22)
Helen Christensen and Rajeev Kumar
CHAPTER 7 AGEING OF THE HUMAN BRAIN AS STUDIED BY FUNCTIONAL NEUROIMAGING	97	(42)
Julian N Trollor and Perminder S Sachdev
CHAPTER 8 NEUROENDOCRINE ASPECTS OF BRAIN AGEING	139	(14)
George A Smythe
CHAPTER 9 CEREBROVASCULAR SYSTEM AND THE AGEING BRAIN	153	(18)
Valendai K Srikanth and Geoffrey A Donnan
Section III Factors influencing brain ageing	171	(70)
CHAPTER 10 THE MOLECULAR BASIS OF ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE AND FRONTOTEMPORAL DEMENTIA	173	(14)
John BJ Kwok and Peter R Schofield
CHAPTER 11 OXIDATIVE AND FREE RADICAL MECHANISMS IN BRAIN AGEING	187	(18)
Judy de Haan, Rocco C Iannello, Peter J Crack, Paul Hertzog and Ismail Kola
CHAPTER 12 THE ROLE OF NUTRITIONAL FACTORS IN COGNITIVE AGEING	205	(18)
Janet Bryan
CHAPTER 13 THE BRAIN RESERVE HYPOTHESIS	223	(18)
Peter W Schofield
Section IV Clinical interface	241	(86)
CHAPTER 14 WILL WE ALL DEMENT IF WE LIVE LONG ENOUGH?	243	(16)
Carol Brayne
CHAPTER 15 DETECTING ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE AT THE PRE-SYMPTOMATIC STAGE	259	(16)
Gary W Small
CHAPTER 16 PARKINSONISM AND AGEING	275	(8)
John GL Morris, Mariese A Hely and Glenda M Halliday
CHAPTER 17 AGE VARIATION IN THE PREVALENCE OF DEPRESSION: ARE STUDY FINDINGS MEANINGFUL?	283	(16)
John Snowdon
CHAPTER 18 VASCULAR DEMENTIA	299	(24)
Perminder S Sachdev
CHAPTER 19 CONCLUSION	323	(4)
Perminder S Sachdev
CONTRIBUTORS ADDRESS LIST	327	(6)
SUBJECT INDEX	333
AUTHOR INDEX