Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Introduction

Hi There,

Welcome to the Alzheimer's 101 blog. I am a graduate student studying this fascinating and debilitating disorder, and am often asked about the current status of the Alzheimer's field. From many conversations with friends, I have come to realize that there is a great deal of confusion about the disorder in the general public.

Well, that's not surprising. Because, the world of Alzheimer's research is riddled with conflicting data and competing theories exploring the underlying causes of the disorder.

So, why am I blogging about this? Well, I have certain goals. --

1. To explain the important concepts in the Alzheimer's field in a manner understandable to the general public -

2. To improve my own scientific writing and challenge myself to synthesize scientific ideas in a coherent yet scientifically accurate way.

3. To use my blog as evidence of my interest in science writing (as a possible career).

Future blog posts will address -
a) What is Alzheimer's Disease?
b) What are amyloid plaques?
c) What are tau tangles?
d) How is Alzheimer's Disease diagnosed?
e) What is the reported efficacy of medications for Alzheimer's?
f) What is the status of Alzheimer's vaccines?


So, if you are interested in learning about Alzheimer's Disease, and some general concepts in neuroscience along the way, please subscribe to my blog. If you have friends that you think might be interested in this, please share this with them.

(Photo credit - http://act-ad.org/)

4 comments:

  1. Can't wait to read more. I think you'll be great at this. All the best of luck with this venture.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, brother!! If you and Akhli would like to contribute, we'd be lucky to have you!

      Delete
  2. Hi Nipun. I think this is a great initiative. Please try to keep it as simple and non-nerdy as possible so it's suitable for a younger audience. I say this because of my personal experience with taking care of an Alzheimers patient. My grandfather had Alzheimers for the last 7 years of his life. He lived with us & despite having live-in nurses, looking after him was really hard for us. I was in school then, so what the doctors told us about the disease didn't make much sense to me, and explaining it to my younger sister was impossible! It used to scare the hell out of me when he'd get abusive/violent with me when I was only trying to help him. If someone had been able to explain it to me in simple terms, I would probably have been better prepared for his behaviour.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Soheni, Thanks for your feedback. I aim to explain it in simple terms, but I can always do better. Sorry about your grandfather - I can only imagine how difficult that must have been for you and your family.

      Delete