Abstract
Dementia is a neurological illness that causes diversion from a variety of important cognitive activities. Common examples include memory, reasoning, orientation, understanding, computation, verbal communication, and decision making. Alzheimer's disease (AD) is one of the most common dementias affecting the elderly. It was projected that more than 47 million people globally will be affected by dementia in 2015; these predictions were verified, and forecasts for 2050 are much more concerning, with 131 million people living with dementia. The basic objective of AI is to improve human decision-making and automate operations that are too time-consuming or resource-intensive for people to accomplish. AI can operate as a fast, accurate, and in the long run, cost-effective method to assist human experience and intuition through predictive analytics. AI is an effective technique for AD detection as these methods are employed as a computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) system in clinical practices and play a crucial role in identifying variations in the brain images to detect AD.
TopBackground
The aberrant accumulation of proteins within and around brain cells is suspected to be the origin of Alzheimer's disease. A protein known as amyloid, which forms plaques around brain cells, is significant. Brain cells are tangled with the presence of a protein called tau. Scientists have discovered that this process begins years before symptoms ever arise. However, they do not know the specific mechanism that triggers it. Neurons become weakened, causing chemical messengers neurotransmitters, which are used to carry messages between brain cells, to drop as well. People with Alzheimer's disease have notably reduced levels of acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter, in their brains. The brain atrophies, shrinking with time. The first afflicted regions are generally associated with memories.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Aphasia: The earliest changes are word finding difficulties and at this stage syntax may appear superficially intact, but close analyses may reveal unfinished sentences, inappropriate usage of tense and other minor errors.
Cognition: Is defined as the mental processes used to obtain knowledge or to become aware of and interact with the environment. These processes include perception, imagination, judgement, memory, and language.
Agnosia: The failure to correctly interpret a sensory input, or agnosia , is common in AD.
Apraxia: Difficulties with complex motor tasks not due to primary motor deficits resulting in increasingly poor self-care and risk of harm.