ANP 652 FINAL PAPER 2025/2026 QUESTIONS AND
ANSWERS RATED A+
✔✔Alzheimer's disease. This is the most common cause of dementia. - ✔✔Although not
all causes of Alzheimer's disease are known, experts do know that a small percentage
are related to mutations of three genes, which can be passed down from parent to child.
While several genes are probably involved in Alzheimer's disease, one important gene
that increases risk is apolipoprotein E4 (APOE).
Alzheimer's disease patients have plaques and tangles in their brains. Plaques are
clumps of a protein called beta-amyloid, and tangles are fibrous tangles made up of tau
protein. It's thought that these clumps damage healthy neurons and the fibers
connecting them.
✔✔Vascular Dementia (VaD) - ✔✔This type of dementia is caused by damage to the
vessels that supply blood to your brain. Blood vessel problems can cause strokes or
affect the brain in other ways, such as by damaging the fibers in the white matter of the
brain.
The most common signs of vascular dementia include difficulties with problem-solving,
slowed thinking, and loss of focus and organization. These tend to be more noticeable
than memory loss.
✔✔Lewy body dementia. - ✔✔Lewy bodies are abnormal balloonlike clumps of protein
that have been found in the brains of people with Lewy body dementia, Alzheimer's
disease and Parkinson's disease. This is one of the more common types of progressive
dementia.
Common signs and symptoms include acting out one's dreams in sleep, seeing things
that aren't there (visual hallucinations), and problems with focus and attention. Other
signs include uncoordinated or slow movement, tremors, and rigidity (parkinsonism).
✔✔Frontotemporal Dementia - ✔✔This is a group of diseases characterized by the
breakdown of nerve cells and their connections in the frontal and temporal lobes of the
brain. These are the areas generally associated with personality, behavior and
language. Common symptoms affect behavior, personality, thinking, judgment, and
language and movement.
✔✔Mixed Dementia - ✔✔Autopsy studies of the brains of people 80 and older who had
dementia indicate that many had a combination of several causes, such as Alzheimer's
disease, vascular dementia and Lewy body dementia. Studies are ongoing to determine
how having mixed dementia affects symptoms and treatments.
✔✔Huntington's Disease (HD) - ✔✔Caused by a genetic mutation, this disease causes
certain nerve cells in your brain and spinal cord to waste away. Signs and symptoms,
including a severe decline in thinking (cognitive) skills, usually appear around age 30 or
40.
, ✔✔Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) - ✔✔This condition is most often caused by repetitive
head trauma. Boxers, football players or soldiers might develop TBI.
Depending on the part of the brain that's injured, this condition can cause dementia
signs and symptoms such as depression, explosiveness, memory loss and impaired
speech. TBI may also cause parkinsonism. Symptoms might not appear until years after
the trauma.
✔✔Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) - ✔✔This rare brain disorder usually occurs in
people without known risk factors. This condition might be due to deposits of infectious
proteins called prions. Signs and symptoms of this fatal condition usually appear after
age 60.
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease usually has no known cause but can be inherited. It may also
be caused by exposure to diseased brain or nervous system tissue, such as from a
cornea transplant
✔✔Risk Factors for Dementia - ✔✔1. Age. The risk rises as you age, especially after
age 65. However, dementia isn't a normal part of aging, and dementia can occur in
younger people.
2. Family history. Having a family history of dementia puts you at greater risk of
developing the condition. However, many people with a family history never develop
symptoms, and many people without a family history do. There are tests to determine
whether you have certain genetic mutations.
3.Down syndrome. By middle age, many people with Down syndrome develop early-
onset Alzheimer's disease.
✔✔Modifiable risk factors for Dementia - ✔✔1. Diet and exercise. Research shows that
lack of exercise increases the risk of dementia.
2. Excessive alcohol use. Drinking large amounts of alcohol has long been known to
cause brain changes.
3. Depression.
4. Diabetes.
5. Smoking. Smoking might increase your risk of developing dementia and blood vessel
diseases.
6. Air pollution.
7. Head trauma. People who've had a severe head trauma have a greater risk of
Alzheimer's disease. Several large studies found that in people age 50 years or older
who had a traumatic brain injury (TBI), the risk of dementia and Alzheimer's disease
increased.
8. Sleep disturbances.
9. Vitamin and nutritional deficiencies. Low levels of vitamin D, vitamin B-6, vitamin B-12
and folate can increase your risk of dementia.
10. Medications that can worsen memory. Try to avoid over-the-counter sleep aids that
contain diphenhydramine (Advil PM, Aleve PM) and medications used to treat urinary
urgency such as oxybutynin (Ditropan XL).
ANSWERS RATED A+
✔✔Alzheimer's disease. This is the most common cause of dementia. - ✔✔Although not
all causes of Alzheimer's disease are known, experts do know that a small percentage
are related to mutations of three genes, which can be passed down from parent to child.
While several genes are probably involved in Alzheimer's disease, one important gene
that increases risk is apolipoprotein E4 (APOE).
Alzheimer's disease patients have plaques and tangles in their brains. Plaques are
clumps of a protein called beta-amyloid, and tangles are fibrous tangles made up of tau
protein. It's thought that these clumps damage healthy neurons and the fibers
connecting them.
✔✔Vascular Dementia (VaD) - ✔✔This type of dementia is caused by damage to the
vessels that supply blood to your brain. Blood vessel problems can cause strokes or
affect the brain in other ways, such as by damaging the fibers in the white matter of the
brain.
The most common signs of vascular dementia include difficulties with problem-solving,
slowed thinking, and loss of focus and organization. These tend to be more noticeable
than memory loss.
✔✔Lewy body dementia. - ✔✔Lewy bodies are abnormal balloonlike clumps of protein
that have been found in the brains of people with Lewy body dementia, Alzheimer's
disease and Parkinson's disease. This is one of the more common types of progressive
dementia.
Common signs and symptoms include acting out one's dreams in sleep, seeing things
that aren't there (visual hallucinations), and problems with focus and attention. Other
signs include uncoordinated or slow movement, tremors, and rigidity (parkinsonism).
✔✔Frontotemporal Dementia - ✔✔This is a group of diseases characterized by the
breakdown of nerve cells and their connections in the frontal and temporal lobes of the
brain. These are the areas generally associated with personality, behavior and
language. Common symptoms affect behavior, personality, thinking, judgment, and
language and movement.
✔✔Mixed Dementia - ✔✔Autopsy studies of the brains of people 80 and older who had
dementia indicate that many had a combination of several causes, such as Alzheimer's
disease, vascular dementia and Lewy body dementia. Studies are ongoing to determine
how having mixed dementia affects symptoms and treatments.
✔✔Huntington's Disease (HD) - ✔✔Caused by a genetic mutation, this disease causes
certain nerve cells in your brain and spinal cord to waste away. Signs and symptoms,
including a severe decline in thinking (cognitive) skills, usually appear around age 30 or
40.
, ✔✔Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) - ✔✔This condition is most often caused by repetitive
head trauma. Boxers, football players or soldiers might develop TBI.
Depending on the part of the brain that's injured, this condition can cause dementia
signs and symptoms such as depression, explosiveness, memory loss and impaired
speech. TBI may also cause parkinsonism. Symptoms might not appear until years after
the trauma.
✔✔Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) - ✔✔This rare brain disorder usually occurs in
people without known risk factors. This condition might be due to deposits of infectious
proteins called prions. Signs and symptoms of this fatal condition usually appear after
age 60.
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease usually has no known cause but can be inherited. It may also
be caused by exposure to diseased brain or nervous system tissue, such as from a
cornea transplant
✔✔Risk Factors for Dementia - ✔✔1. Age. The risk rises as you age, especially after
age 65. However, dementia isn't a normal part of aging, and dementia can occur in
younger people.
2. Family history. Having a family history of dementia puts you at greater risk of
developing the condition. However, many people with a family history never develop
symptoms, and many people without a family history do. There are tests to determine
whether you have certain genetic mutations.
3.Down syndrome. By middle age, many people with Down syndrome develop early-
onset Alzheimer's disease.
✔✔Modifiable risk factors for Dementia - ✔✔1. Diet and exercise. Research shows that
lack of exercise increases the risk of dementia.
2. Excessive alcohol use. Drinking large amounts of alcohol has long been known to
cause brain changes.
3. Depression.
4. Diabetes.
5. Smoking. Smoking might increase your risk of developing dementia and blood vessel
diseases.
6. Air pollution.
7. Head trauma. People who've had a severe head trauma have a greater risk of
Alzheimer's disease. Several large studies found that in people age 50 years or older
who had a traumatic brain injury (TBI), the risk of dementia and Alzheimer's disease
increased.
8. Sleep disturbances.
9. Vitamin and nutritional deficiencies. Low levels of vitamin D, vitamin B-6, vitamin B-12
and folate can increase your risk of dementia.
10. Medications that can worsen memory. Try to avoid over-the-counter sleep aids that
contain diphenhydramine (Advil PM, Aleve PM) and medications used to treat urinary
urgency such as oxybutynin (Ditropan XL).
