There are many measures that can improve the quality of life of people with dementia and their caregivers. Cognitive and behavioral interventions may be appropriate for treating associated symptoms of depression. Signs and symptoms
The signs and symptoms of dementia are termed as the neuropsychiatric symptoms, also known as the behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia. Behavioral symptoms can include agitation, restlessness, inappropriate behavior, sexual disinhibition, and aggression, which can be verbal or physical. These symptoms may result from impairments in cognitive inhibition. Psychological symptoms can include depression, psychotic hallucinations and delusions, apathy, and anxiety. The most commonly affected areas include memory, visuospatial function affecting perception and orientation, language, attention and problem solving. The rate at which symptoms progress occurs on a continuum over several stages, and they vary across the dementia subtypes. Most types of dementia are slowly progressive with some deterioration of the brain well established before signs of the disorder become apparent. Often there are other conditions present such as high blood pressure, or diabetes, and there can sometimes be as many as four of these comorbidities.People with dementia are also more likely to have problems with incontinence: they are three times more likely to have urinary and four times more likely to have fecal incontinence compared to people of similar ages.Dementia symptoms can vary widely from person to person. It affects memory, attention span, communication, reasoning, judgement, problem solving and visual perception, etc.
Netherton syndrome is a severe, autosomal recessive form of ichthyosis associated with mutations in the SPINK5 gene. It is named after Earl W. Netherton (1910–1985), an American dermatologist who discovered it in 1958. Signs and symptoms
Netherton syndrome is characterized by chronic skin inflammation, universal pruritus (itch), severe dehydration, and stunted growth. Patients with this disorder tend to have a hair shaft defect (trichorrhexis invaginata), also known as "bamboo hair". The disrupted skin barrier function in affected individuals also presents a high susceptibility to infection and allergy, leading to the development of scaly, reddish skin similar to atopic dermatitis. In severe cases, these atopic manifestations persist throughout the individuals life, and consequently post-natal mortality rates are high. In less severe cases, this develops into the milder ichthyosis linearis circumflexa.Netherton syndrome has recently been characterised as a primary immunodeficiency, which straddles the innate and acquired immune system, much as does Wiskott–Aldrich syndrome. A group of Netherton patients have been demonstrated to have altered immunoglobulin levels (typically high IgE and low to normal IgG) and immature natural killer cells. These Natural Killer cells have a reduced lytic function; which can be improved with regular infusions of immunoglobulin (see Treatment); although the mechanism for this is not clear.Patients are more prone than healthy people to infections of all types, especially recurrent skin infections with staphylococcus. They may have more severe infections; but are not as vulnerable to opportunistic pathogens as patients with true Natural Killer cell deficiency-type SCID.