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Prdidas de memoria,
normales y patolgicas
Dnde he dejado las llaves? Dnde aparqu el coche?
Nos inquietan esos fallos de memoria. Pueden ser el aviso
de la enfermedad de Alzheimer?
Gal Chetelat y Catherine Laleve

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PRIMEROS SNTOMAS PREOCUPANTES

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Cuando la memoria falla, podran

hallarse alterados varios mecanismos cerebrales: adquisicin de
recuerdos, evocacin de los mismos
o capacidad de pasar de un tema
de reflexin a otro. La enfermedad
de Alzheimer se caracteriza por
lesiones simultneas de tales
facultades.

B! !#

891):41:1);4)4<!8=!>?@A);4)8!)4AB4CD4;!;);4)!8EF4?D4C
<
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Tests de diversa ndole sirven para

diagnosticar una enfermedad de
Alzheimer y evaluar su gravedad. En el
primer test de arriba, el paciente debe
vincular mediante lneas las cifras con
las letras, de manera que el nmero uno
se una con la primera letra en orden
alfabtico, la segunda cifra con la
segunda letra, y as sucesivamente. En
el test de abajo, o prueba de Stroop, el
paciente debe decir lo ms rpidamente
posible el color de las palabras, algo que
resulta difcil porque las palabras no
estn escritas con una tinta del mismo
color que el que ellas designan.

8
B

E
A

A
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Tipos de prdidas de memoria

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La atrofia y la disfuncin cerebral pueden ser argumentos suplementarios que avalen un diagnstico de la enfermedad de
Alzheimer. El hipocampo de un paciente afectado por la enfermedad de Alzheimer (b) presenta una atrofia, si se compara con
el de una persona sana (a). Por otra parte, el crtex temporoparietal derecho (c) y el crtex cingular posterior (d) estn menos
activos en personas afectadas por la enfermedad de Alzheimer que en las personas sanas.

ANBLOK!LPQRS!TNAULOBAMJM!ML!EJLN

EXPLORACIN NEUROPSICOLGICA

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B! !!

A P R E N D E R Y O LV I DA R

Por qu se pierde la memoria con la edad?

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COLABORADORES DE ESTE NMERO

Asesoramiento y traduccin:
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PORTADA: iStockphoto / Xavier Arnau
INVESTIGACIN Y CIENCIA
DIRECTORA GENERAL Pilar Bronchal Garfella
DIRECTORA EDITORIAL Laia Torres Casas
EDICIONES Anna Ferran Cabeza, Ernesto Lozano Tellechea, Yvonne Buchholz
PRODUCCIN M.a Cruz Iglesias Capn, Albert Marn Garau
SECRETARA Purificacin Mayoral Martnez
ADMINISTRACIN Victoria Andrs Laiglesia
SUSCRIPCIONES Concepcin Orenes Delgado, Olga Blanco Romero

EDITA
Prensa Cientfica, S.A.
Muntaner, 339 pral. 1.a
08021 Barcelona (Espaa)
Telfono 934 143 344 Fax 934 145 413
e-mail precisa@investigacionyciencia.es
www.investigacionyciencia.es

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN
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