There is a keen interest in developing more direct measures of Alzheimer’s Disease-specific pathology, which has led to the emergence of several new PET ligands to measure amyloid deposition. Amyloid plaques, which are composed of Ab, and neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) are the pathological hallmarks of Alzheimer’s Disease. NFTs are correlated with the stage of Alzheimer’s Disease, and both pathological deposits appear before symptoms show themselves, perhaps decades before. This observation using amyloid imaging suggests that these deposits may be a good early marker for the disease. Based on the presence of diffuse plaques in neurologically normal individuals, it may be that Ab accumulation precedes other pathological features of Alzheimer’s Disease. (more…)

There is strong consensus among geriatricians and gerontologists that frailty is a clinical state of increased vulnerability and decreased ability to maintain homeostasis that is age-related problems and centrally characterized by declines in functional reserves across multiple physiologic systems. This vulnerability is age-related and also related to, but distinct from, disability and elderly disease states. (more…)

There are several dominant theories as to the underlying causes of physiologic vulnerability
and compromised homeostasis of frailty. The causes can be related or in some circumstances are separated from each other.

Frailty aging comes from accumulation of potentially unrelated diseases, subclinical dysfunctions, and disability across organs, parts, and systems of the body. (more…)