Alzheimer's Causes, Cures Are Topic of Free Talk
Scholars who studies the disease tells what scientists are doing about it.
June 27, 2007 :: No. 239
What Alzheimer’s disease is, what lifestyle factors can affect it positively or negatively and some of the novel approaches that scientists are employing to cure the disease will be explained during a free lecture at 1:15 p.m. June 28 at the Ruby Gerontology Center at Cal State Fullerton.
The talk, sponsored by the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI), will be given by Nilay Patel, an assistant professor of biological science at Cal State Fullerton whose research focuses on Alzheimer’s disease (AD).
“Advances in various branches of medicine during the 20th century have pushed the average lifespan upwards of 75 years. This has dramatically increased the incidence of neurodegenerative diseases,” Patel said. “Only a few individuals in previous generations lived to an old enough age to face these illnesses, while many in current and future generations will live long enough to be affected by a neurodegenerative diseases.
“The most common neurodegenerative disease is Alzheimer’s disease,” he said. “It is estimated that more than four million U.S. citizens are currently afflicted by AD, and this number is expected to grow to 14 million by the year 2050.”
Patel said AD arises due to overproduction of a particular peptide that is continuously produced in the brain. More than 99 percent of it is rapidly cleared, but very small amounts escape the clearance process. How much escapes is due, in part, to lifestyle factors.
The Ruby Gerontology Center is on the east side of the campus near Lot E, which can be reached from Nutwood Avenue by turning north onto Folino Drive and proceeding to just south of the Fullerton Arboretum.
Day parking passes are $5 and available at vending machines in Lot A and G at State College Boulevard and Yorba Linda Boulevard or at the Visitor Information Center on the frontage road just north of Nutwood Avenue.
For more information about the event, call OLLI at 657-278-2446.
Additional information about parking is available at 657-278-3001 or
657-278-3082.
| Media Contact: |
Russ L. Hudson, Public Affairs, 657-278-4007 or rhudson@fullerton.edu |
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