History
Frederic Lewy (1885–1950) was first to discover the abnormal protein deposits ("Lewy body inclusions") in the early 1900s. Dementia with Lewy bodies only started to be diagnosed in the mid-1990s after the discovery of alpha-synuclein staining first highlighted Lewy bodies in the cortex of post mortem brains of a subset of dementia patients. Because it was only recently discovered, DLB is not a recognized diagnosis in DSM-IV, which was published in 1994. It is, however, briefly mentioned in the DSM-IV-TR (published in 2000) under "Dementia Due to Other General Medical Conditions". In 1996, a consortium of scientists initially proposed and later revised diagnostic guidelines.
Attention was drawn to DLB following the 2008 death of actress Estelle Getty, who had previously been diagnosed with both Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases before her true condition was discovered. Fellow Golden Girls cast members noted, years earlier, Getty had severe trouble remembering her lines during the filming of the show. Another victim of DLB was William Stiles Bennet II, 1934-2009, a grandson and a son of US Congressmen who represented the area that includes Orange County, NY. Known as "Billo" to his friends, the younger Bennet was a successful businessman, and was one of the original developers of the Yoplait yogurt line.
Read more about this topic: Dementia With Lewy Bodies
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“To history therefore I must refer for answer, in which it would be an unhappy passage indeed, which should shew by what fatal indulgence of subordinate views and passions, a contest for an atom had defeated well founded prospects of giving liberty to half the globe.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
“The steps toward the emancipation of women are first intellectual, then industrial, lastly legal and political. Great strides in the first two of these stages already have been made of millions of women who do not yet perceive that it is surely carrying them towards the last.”
—Ellen Battelle Dietrick, U.S. suffragist. As quoted in History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 4, ch. 13, by Susan B. Anthony and Ida Husted Harper (1902)
“... all big changes in human history have been arrived at slowly and through many compromises.”
—Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962)