Indonesian Particpates in Copenhagen's Alzheimer Conference

Jakarta (Antara) - Indonesia's eminent neurologist, Dr Andreas Harry, has been invited to represent the country in the international Alzheimer conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, from July 12 to 17, 2014. "This time, the annual Alzheimer's Association International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease (AAICAD) held in Copenhagen is attended by some three thousand participants from all over the world," Andreas Harry from the Danish capital informed Antara on Tuesday. He explained that the participants of the conference comprised world's neurologists and researchers in the field of Alzheimer's disease (AD), a form of dementia that gradually worsens with the passage of time and affects memory, thinking, and behavior. According to Andreas, researchers are trying to determine when and how the brain's ability to function starts deteriorating, and they believe that if drugs can be administered sooner, then treatment can be more successful. AD is a progressive condition wherein the symptoms develop gradually and become more severe over the course of several years. The first signs of AD are usually minor memory problems such as failing to recall recent conversations or events and the names of places and objects. As the condition develops, memory problems become more severe and further symptoms such as confusion and disorientation, personality changes, hallucinations and delusions, and language and speech problems can develop. There is no cure for the disease, which worsens as it progresses and eventually leads to death. This progressive brain disorder was first described by German psychiatrist and neuropathologist, Alois Alzheimer, in 1906 and was named after him. Andreas Harry, the consultant neurologist at the Gading Pluit Hospital in Jakarta, remarked that the participants of the conference engaged in a serious debate on the onset of sporadic Alzheimer's disease (SAD) cases. "During the conference, the Alzheimer's disease mitochondrial cascade hypothesis was also presented to address how and why SAD cases develop," he noted. (*)