Multiple Causes of Dementia as Engineered Senescence

Mario Dominic Garrett
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Mario Dominic Garrett: San Diego State University, USA.

European Journal of Medical and Health Sciences, 2020, vol. 2, issue 2

Abstract: All traumas—cranial, cardiovascular, hormone, viral, bacterial, fungi, parasites, misfolded protein, genetic, behavior, environmental and medication—affect the brain. This paper itemizes studies showing the many different causes of dementia including Alzheimer’s disease. Causes interact with each other, act sequentially by preparing the optimal conditions for its successor, initiate other diseases, allow for other traumas to accumulate and degrade protective features of the brain. Since such age-related cognitive impairment is not exclusively a human attribute there might be support for an evolutionary theory of dementia. Relying on theories of antagonistic pleiotropy and polymorphism, the brain has been designed to sequester trauma. Because of increased longevity, the short-term tactic of sequestering trauma becomes a long-term liability. We are engineered to sequester these insults until a tipping point is reached. Dementia is an evolutionary trade-off for longevity. We cannot cure dementia without understanding the overall biology of aging.

Keywords: Dementia; etiology; engineered senescence; evolution; Alzheimer’s (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:epw:ejmed0:v:2:y:2020:i:2:id:40227

DOI: 10.24018/ejmed.2020.2.2.227

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