ath of these cells causes an interruption of the
             electrochemical signals between neurons that are a key to cognitive as well as bodily
             functioning. Currently Alzheimer's disease can only be confirmed at autopsy. After death
             the examined brain of an Alzheimer victim shows two distinct characteristics. The first is
             the presence of neurotic plaques in the cerebral cortex and other areas of the brain
             including cerebral blood vessels. These plaques consist of groups of neurons surrounded
             by deposits of beta-amyloid protein. The presence of these plaques is also common to
             other types of dementia. The second characteristic, neurofibliary tangles, is what separates
             Alzheimer's disease from all other forms of dementia. Neurofibliary tangles take place
             within the disconnected brain cells themselves. When examined under a microscope,
             diseased cells appear to contain spaghetti-like tangles of normally straight nerve fibers.
             The presence of these tangles was first discovered in 1906 by the German neurologist
             Alois Alzheimer, hence the name Alzheimer's disease. Although the characteristics listed
             above are crucial to the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease upon death, the clinical diagnosis
             involves a different process. The diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease is only made after all
             other illnesses, which may have the same symptoms, are ruled out. The initial symptoms of
             Alzheimer's disease are typical of other treatable diseases. Therefore doctors are hesitant
             to give the diagnosis of Alzheimer's in order to save the patient from the worsening of a
             treatable disease through a misdiagnosis. Some of the initial symptoms include an
             increased memory loss, changes in mood, personality, and behavior, (symptoms that are
             common in depression) prescription drug conflict, brain tumors, syphilis, alcoholism, other
             types of dementia, and many other conditions. The onset of these symptoms usually brin...