title: Cognitive decline: mechanisms and proposed role of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system.
abstract: Cognition is derived from the Latin 'cognitio', meaning the process of acquiring knowledge, with related meanings such as study, recognition, social connectivity and discovery. The most crucial components of cognition are the ability to learn and remember new information, and to function adequately in daily intellectual and interactive aspects of life.Maintenance of normal functional cognitive activity is vitally important in everyday activities. Conversely, cognitive decline, as normally occurs during the ageing process, is a handicap. Such decline varies from moderately inconvenient benign forgetfulness to the devastating losses associated with Alzheimer's disease and brain ischaemia.
authors.affiliation: Hatter Institute for Cardiovascular Research in Africa, Groote Schuur Hospital and University of Cape Town Medical School, Cape Town, South Africa. Lionel.opie@uct.ac.za.
authors.forename: Lionel H
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Opie
mesh_terms: D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D012084:Renin-Angiotensin System / Q000502:physiology*