A woman at the Cihui Rehabilitation Center for the Aged in Guangzhou, China, spends time playing with a doll as part of the center's therapy program for senile dementia. One common cause of dementia is a degenerative nerve condition known as Alzheimer's disease. Degenerative nerve diseases affect the nervous system, deteriorating the victim's ability to perform common tasks like walking, speaking and eating. Read on for more about degenerative nerve conditions.
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The Bielschowsky stain above provides a magnified view of brain cells affected by Alzheimer's disease. This section of brain tissue shows the characteristic dark spots of amyloid plaque that manifest between neurons in a person suffering from Alzheimer's dementia. Next, you'll see some famous people who have been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
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The American movie star Charlton Heston was known for his leading roles in films like Ben Hur (1959) and Planet of the Apes (1968), as well as an active role in U.S. politics. While still serving as the president of the National Rifle Association, Heston announced publicly in 2002 that he had been suffering from symptoms consistent with Alzheimer's disease. He died in 2008.
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Sugar Ray Robinson (1921 - 1989) was an American boxing champion. Over the course of his career, he logged 174 victories in the ring, and more than 100 of those were by knockout. In his later years, Robinson was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Many medical experts claim there is evidence of a link between cranial injuries -- like those sustained in boxing -- and an increased risk of developing Alzheimer's and dementia later in life.
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Taken in November 2011 in Wolfratshausen, Germany, this photo reveals the therapeutic value of artwork for a resident in an Alzheimer's care home. Art therapy is just one of the many treatments commonly used to stimulate and empower people suffering from neurodegenerative dementia. In the next slide, you'll see another method.
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Recent studies show that all kinds of brain-stimulating activities, including games like the one underway in this round of ludo, can help stave off the onset of Alzheimer's disease and dementia. In the same way that physical exercise is good for the body, mental exercise is good for the brain.
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Felix Slamovics suffers from a currently incurable degenerative nerve condition known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also called Lou Gehrig's disease. ALS attacks the neurons that allow your brain to communicate with the rest of your body, leading to a loss of muscle control. Here, Slamovics is hoisted up the side of the Azrieli Center building in Tel Aviv, Israel, to raise awareness for ALS. Next, you'll see a folk icon who suffered from a degenerative nerve condition.
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Woody Guthrie (1912-1967) was a popular American folk songwriter, troubadour and political advocate. Seen here in the last years of his life, Guthrie sits with his former wife Marjorie and his son Arlo. After Woody passed away from a degenerative nerve condition called Huntington's disease in the year following this photograph, Marjorie founded the organization that would become the Huntington's Disease Society of America, which still fights the disease today.
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A 5-year-old girl named Morgan Fritz appears in promotion of a telethon fundraiser for the Muscular Dystrophy Association in 2004. Fritz suffers from spinal muscular atrophy, a degenerative nerve disease in which motor neurons in the spinal cord slowly die, causing loss of motor function and muscle mass.
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These are the four actresses who played the Golden Girls, with Estelle Getty on the bottom left. Getty died in 2008 of Lewy body dementia -- a degenerative nerve condition similar to both Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. In Getty's case, her condition was misdiagnosed as each of these before it was correctly identified. Lewy body disease often results in confusion, hallucinations and difficulty with movement. Next, you'll see two well-known men fighting to promote medical research.
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Champion boxer Muhammad Ali and actor Michael J. Fox, both of whom suffer from the degenerative nerve condition known as Parkinson's disease, prepare to appeal to a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee in 2002 for increased federal grants and subsidies for Parkinson's research. There are effective treatments for the symptoms of Parkinson's, which include tremors, slow movement and loss of muscular coordination, but there is currently no cure.
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Current research may help us find more potent treatments and perhaps even cures for the world's most vicious degenerative nerve conditions, such as Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease. Above, Yale researchers sedate an African green monkey in preparation for an experimental procedure. Next, you'll see a device that is used to treat Parkinson's.
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An implantable deep brain stimulation device delivers carefully controlled electrical pulses to precisely targeted areas of the brain involved in motor control. These pulses cannot reverse the degenerative process that causes Parkinson's disease, but they can alleviate some of the symptoms. Click ahead to see a brilliant jazz musician who suffered from ALS.
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Charles Mingus (1922-1979) was a virtuoso jazz bassist, bandleader and composer. In his later years, Mingus contracted ALS, gradually losing muscle mass and eventually becoming unable to play his instrument. Despite this, Mingus continued to compose music until the time of his death. To see another genius diagnosed with ALS, head over to the next page.
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The acclaimed astrophysicist Stephen Hawking gives a lecture at the University of California, Berkeley. Hawking was diagnosed with ALS at the age of 21. While the disease proves fatal for many, the renowned scientist has survived with the nerve condition for many years. Hawking relies on a motorized wheelchair and a speech synthesizer in order to remain mobile and continue his work.
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ALS is often called Lou Gehrig's disease, after the American Major League Baseball player who was diagnosed with the condition in 1938. Gehrig played for the New York Yankees through the 1920s and '30s. In '38, it became apparent that Gehrig's skills were suffering for reasons unknown -- his strength at bat was low, and he had trouble crossing base plates in time. Mayo Clinic experts identified his disease later that year, and Gehrig died in 1941.
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Mao Zedong (1893-1976), leader of the People's Republic of China, watches a rally for the Communist Party in Tiananmen Square. Chairman Mao occupied the highest position of power in China for more than two decades, until he came down with ALS in his later years and succumbed to the disease in 1976. In the next slide, you'll see another dictator who suffered from a degenerative nerve condition.
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This is the Spanish dictator General Francisco Franco (1892-1975), shown before his death in 1975. Franco seized power by leading a military revolt against Spain's elected government in 1936. Later in his life, Franco suffered from Parkinson's disease. To see one of the most important avenues of research in curing degenerative nerve conditions like ALS and Parkinson's, click ahead.
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The Institute for Stem Cell Research released this photo in 2005, which shows an extreme close-up of a cluster of red neurons and green astrocytes. These cells, crucial to the nervous system, can be replicated by neural stem cell division, which means that stem cell research could lead to a cure for neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson's, ALS and Huntington's.
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The dopamine-producing neurons that die off under Parkinson's disease may be replaceable with the help of stem cells. In 2011, researchers at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York claimed that they were finally discovering how to use stem cells like the one above to regenerate the brain cells needed to counteract Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and other nerve conditions. Next, you'll see how one of these diseases affected a former American leader.
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Above, former President Ronald Reagan (1911-2004) delivers the State of the Union address in 1985. Ronald Reagan suffered from Alzheimer's disease for nearly a decade before it ended his life. Next, see how Reagan's death caused members of his family to take up the banner of advocacy on one particular issue.
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Ronald Reagan's wife, Nancy, is seen above, expressing grief over her husband's flag-draped coffin during his state funeral in June 2004. Since the former president's passing, Nancy Reagan has spoken on behalf of the stem cell research that she believes could help cure the disease that killed her husband. Next, you'll learn about the consequences of Friedreich's ataxia.
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Friedreich's ataxia is a degenerative nerve condition that attacks the spinal cord and the nerves that control movement. Typically, Friedreich's ataxia causes the sufferer to rely on a wheelchair within 15 to 20 years of the time the symptoms first manifest. Next, you'll see a fundraiser on behalf of alleviating this disease.
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In Melbourne, Australia, 2008, a group of celebrities participated in the "Go the Tan" race. The event was designed to increase awareness and collect money for Friedreich's ataxia. Unlike some similar conditions, Friedreich's ataxia tends to strike children when they are still young. Hopefully, funds raised at this event and others can help researchers find a way to defeat this tragic disease.
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In this photo, U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron speaks with a neuroscientist at London's National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in 2012. Though many degenerative nerve conditions offer a bleak outlook, the medical research community is fighting constantly to alleviate the symptoms of these diseases and eventually find ways to reverse or cure the neural destruction.
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