The Association Between Clusterin and APOE Polymorphisms and Late-Onset Alzheimer Disease in a Turkish Cohort.

Previous studies have demonstrated that clusterin (CLU), which is also known as apolipoprotein J, is involved in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer disease (AD). In this study, we investigated the association between rs2279590, rs11136000, and rs9331888 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in CLU and apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotypes in a cohort of Turkish patients with late-onset AD (LOAD). There were 183 patients with LOAD and 154 healthy controls included in the study.

A fatal case of urosepsis due to Corynebacterium riegelii.

Corynebacterium species other than Corynebacterium diphtheriae rarely cause infections in human but rather reside in flora, however they have been reported to cause opportunistic infections in both immunocompromised and immunecompetent patients. Here we report for the first time a case of an elderly female patient presenting with a fatal urosepsis caused by a recently defined pathogen, Corynebacterium riegelii, identified on second day after patient hospitalization leading to a progressive worsening and death of the patient on 6th day.

Vitamin D receptor gene haplotype is associated with late-onset Alzheimer's disease.

Vitamin D(3) is a neurosteroid that mediates its effects via the vitamin D receptor (VDR). The VDR gene is located on chromosome 12q13 and consists of 9 exons. VDR contains the DNA-binding site encoded by exons 2 and 3 and the ligand-binding site encoded by exons 4 - 9.

Interleukin-1alpha -889 C/T polymorphism in Turkish patients with late-onset Alzheimer's disease.

Background/aims: The polymorphism (rs1800587) in the 5'-flanking regulatory region at -889 of the interleukin-1alpha gene has been shown to be associated with inflammatory diseases and Alzheimer's disease (AD). The aim of the current study is to determine whether there is an association between the promoter region polymorphism of the interleukin-1alpha gene and late-onset AD in a cohort of Turkish patients.

Methods: One hundred and four subjects with dementia of the Alzheimer type and 103 age-matched controls were genotyped according to the PCR with confronting two-pair primers method.

Presenilin-1 gene intronic polymorphism and late-onset Alzheimer's disease.

Presenilin-1 is known to contribute to the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease. The association of an intronic polymorphism (rs165932) of the presenilin-1 gene with late-onset Alzheimer's disease has been documented. However, contradicting results have been shown in different populations.

Knowledge and attitudes of doctors toward the sexuality of older people in Turkey.

Background: Few studies have looked at healthcare professionals' knowledge of and attitudes to later life sexuality in both Western and Eastern cultures. Here we examine the attitudes and knowledge of Turkish medical doctors toward sexuality in older people.

Method: Eighty-seven doctors, from various specialties, who were directly involved in the care of older people, were contacted by post and asked to complete the Turkish version of the Aging Sexual Knowledge and Attitudes Scale (ASKAS).

Nutritional approach to metabolic changes arising out of schizophrenia therapy: case report.

The case of a 35-year-old female patient who was diagnosed as schizophrenia treated with psychotrophic drugs nearly for 15 years is presented here. After the disease was diagnosed, the patient quit her university education and began to live inactively far from her social environment, usually spending lazy time at home. During this period, due to either the effects of drugs which have to be used on hormones affecting appetite and body weight or her decreased physical activity, her body weight increased by nearly 30 kg.

Association between vitamin D receptor gene polymorphism and Alzheimer's disease.

Vitamin D(3) is known to be involved in neuroprotection and exert its neuroprotective effects by modulating neuronal calcium homeostasis and production of neurotrophins. The single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene which can influence the affinity of vitamin D(3) to its receptor may be related to neurodegenerative diseases and neuronal damage by altering the vitamin D-mediated pathways. In this study, our aim was to determine whether there is an association between VDR gene and late-onset Alzheimer's disease (AD) in order to see if vitamin D contributes to AD or not.

Depression and sex hormones in elderly women.

We aimed to study the relation between sex hormones and depression among elderly women. The study was carried out on 74 volunteered female subjects above 60 years of age. Each subject was asked to fulfill the geriatric depression scale (GDS) questionnaire and further evaluated for clinical depression by a psychiatrist using the DSM IV diagnostic criteria.

Case series with late-onset psychosis hospitalized in a geriatric psychiatry unit in Turkey: experience in 9 years.

In this article we report the first series of Turkish inpatients with late-onset psychosis, and describe our 9-year experience at the only inpatient geriatric psychiatry department in Turkey. Among 420 patients hospitalized between 1993 and 2002, 27 were psychotic. In this group, eight patients were diagnosed as having late-onset schizophrenia (LOS) and six very-late-onset schizophrenia-like psychosis (VLOSLP).

[Reliability and validity of the standardized Mini Mental State Examination in the diagnosis of mild dementia in Turkish population].

Objective: Reliability and validity of the Mini Mental State Examination in differentiating mild dementia from normal controls in Turkish population.

Method: The Standardized Mini Mental State Examination (SMMSE) and its instruction were translated into Turkish. A total of 212 subjects with mean age of 77 +/- 6, were recruited for the study.