Is Dementia a Disease? Peng, Fred C.C.
Gerontology (Basel),
2003 Nov-Dec, Letnik:
49, Številka:
6
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Background: It is customary for many neurologists to think that dementia is a disease. This view is based on the following reasons: (1) a brain disease is the cause of cognitive impairment; (2) ...therefore, such cognitive impairment is substituted for the disease, becoming dementia, which is then also regarded as a mental disease. Objective: In this brief article, I take exception to such a view, contrary to the common belief in the medical field, on the ground that senile plaques and/or neurofibrillary tangles or any other factors cause neuronal apoptosis but they do not cause dementia directly. Methods: Literature on dementia and aphasia are critically and briefly reviewed to get the historical perspective that it is the progressive neuronal losses, losing brain functions as a result, that cause dementia; that is, brain diseases cause neuronal losses which then result in the decrease of brain functions, thereby leading to dementia. Results: There is no direct cause-effect relationship between brain disease, be it caused by vascular factors or not, and dementia which is the consequence or sequela of neuronal losses. Conclusions: It is concluded that dementia is not a disease and yet it occurs not only in Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Huntington’s disease and Pick’s disease, but also in any other neurodegenerative disease, e.g., spinocerebellar ataxia, or vascular disease, e.g., Binswanger’s disease, as part of the process of aging; in fact, AD is now regarded by some as a vascular disorder with neurodegenerative consequence, rather than a neurodegenerative disorder with vascular consequence. But vascular disorder is misleading if AD includes both neurofibrillary tangles and senile plaques; on the other hand, AD cannot be a vascular disorder if it includes only neurofibrillary tangles, as it should. Dementia, in this context, is re-defined as the differential manifestation of deteriorating brain functions over time as a part of aging due to cell deaths in the brain caused by any neurodegenerative disease. Its prominent symptoms are language disorders which must be distinguished from aphasias. It is also suggested that in fairness to Fischer, senile plaques be designated as Fischer’s disease separate from neurofibrillary tangles for which AD was originally named as an eponym.
Discusses the close relationship between historical linguistics and dialectology, pointing out, through analysis and reconstruction of Taiwanese dialects, that the tasks of dialectologists do not ...stop at the making of linguistic atlases and must go beyond those tasks to reconstruct the proto-forms. (two references) (Author/CB)
A discussion of the development & regional flavor of sociolinguistics in Japan. The traditional Japanese approach to linguistics is traced from WWII to 1974, when the field was stimulated by the ...International Christian U Symposium on Sociolinguistics, which produced most of the papers published in this issue of the International Journal of the Sociology of Language. The current state of the art of Japanese sociolinguistics is outlined, singling out trends toward ethnolinguistics & comparative language study, study of bilingualism in Japan, study of Japanese honorifics, research on "new dialects," historical linguistics, & construction of a theory of social structure based on sociolinguistic materials. 43 References. R. Wright
On the Context of Situation Peng, Fred C C
International journal of the sociology of language,
01/1986
58
Journal Article
Recenzirano
An attempt to characterize & refine the concept of "context of situation" in sociolinguistics. A historical perspective of the concept is provided, outlining the contributions of Bronislaw ...Malinowski, J. R. Firth, & Michael A. K. Halliday. The context of situation for linguistic work includes: the relevant features of participants (eg, verbal & nonverbal actions), relevant objects, & effects of verbal & nonverbal action. It is suggested that the psychological concepts of insight & purpose, & focus by rotation also be incorporated. The usefulness of the context of situation is illustrated by a discussion of interactions in social & psychotherapeutic settings. 2 Figures, 8 References. R. Wright
A recent article by L. Johnson (Language Sciences, 1976, 165, no additional publication information available) stated that in language change 'the time span considered can be across several centuries ...or as few as two demographic generations.' He thus concludes that 'specifying the term 'fast' & 'slow' we have given some support to the claim that change begins slowly & accelerates in succeeding generations, & we have given evidence that change advances more rapidly in urban than in rural communities.' The validity of these claims is examined. An alternative theory is proposed in which language change is viewed as a result of the accumulation of changes in language behavior among living humans, ie, a change in the norm of individual speech activities within a language community. In light of this view, language change can not only be observed & captured while in progress, but can also be taken as a manifestation of the process of human change in general within each generation. Concrete evidence is provided from Japanese in the realms of sound, vocabulary, & grammar. Modified HA.
This is a study of the effects of the economic policies of the Japanese government on Ainu social structure. These policies were designed for the long-term development of Hokkaidō and the ...stabilization of its Ainu population. They included land redistribution and an emphasis on agriculture at the expense of hunting and fishing. However, land redistribution did not stabilize the Ainu population because farming was the traditional occupation of the women, not the men. When Ainu men were forced to give up their traditional hunting and fishing activities, they became seasonal migrant laborers instead of farmers. The result was a redistribution of the populations of traditional Ainu communities and some major changes in social structure. Thus the present social organization of the Ainu is the outcome of the interaction of internal and external socioeconomic factors over a long period of time.
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