Download or read book The Living Brain and Alzheimer’s Disease written by Bradley T. Hyman and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From large cross-sectional studies of autopsy material, it seems as if a time course of Alzheimer's Disease, at least on average, can be mapped out: a pattern of hierarchical vulnerability for neuronal loss and neurofibrillary tangles beginning in medial temporal lobe structures proceeding through association areas. Plaques follow their own temporal course, with widespread cortical deposits occurring even early in a disease process. The whole process may well take twenty years, the first half of which may be without overt symptoms.