Diseases that directly affect the brain cause structural, biochemical or electrical changes in the brain or the spinal cord. When some of neurological diseases affect the body, different symptoms appear. The challenge for science is to discover a way to reverse them. So far, the symptoms can only be reduced.

ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE 

Alzheimer's disease, which has no cure, affects mostly persons over the 60 years of age. Age and ageing process are determining factors. The cortex of the brain suffers atrophy, which is permanent because nerve cells cannot regenerate. In a brain affected by Alzheimer's, the abnormal deposit of amyloid protein forms neuritic plaques in the brain tissue. Tangles of degeneration form, which progressively damage the brain's functioning. 

Deterioration

As the disease progresses, the brain loses volume, and the sections of the cortex that carry out different processes are progressively damaged. The areas of the cortex shrink.

• Memory becomes progressively damaged. In the beginning, close relatives might not be recognized. Later, memory loss is complete.
• The language region of the brain also deteriorates. People who suffer from Alzheimer's tend to have trouble carrying out and expressing complex reasoning. Language disorders include lack of initiative in speaking and slowness to respond to the listener.

Symptoms of Alzheimer's Disease 

The first manifestations of the disease are linked to the loss of ability for verbal expression. There is also a gradual loss of memory as the disease progresses. In later phases, people with Alzheimer's can become incapable of taking care of themselves because of damage to the motor cortex.

PARKINSON'S DISEASE 

Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disease that attacks one in 200 people, mostly over 60 years of age. This neurological disorder, which affects more men than women, progressively deteriorates the central nervous system. The cause of the disease is unknown. Its appearance is related to the reduction of dopamine in certain brain structures. Among the main noticeable effects are tremors, muscle rigidity and a slowing of body movements. Parkinson's also causes complications in speech, walking and carrying out daily chores. Progressively tremors in the arms and legs occur, followed by facial inexpressiveness and repetition of movements.

Symptoms

Muscle rigidity and slowing movement. Body posture is characterized by a forward bending of the head and trunk.

MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS

A common neurological disorder that appears sometime between the ages of 20 and 40, it can cause distorted or double vision, paralysis of the lower limbs or one-half of the body, clumsy movements and difficulty in walking. Multiple sclerosis occurs when the immune system damages the layers of myelin that cover nerve fibres.