Trial of Deferiprone in Parkinson's Disease.

Background: Iron content is increased in the substantia nigra of persons with Parkinson's disease and may contribute to the pathophysiology of the disorder. Early research suggests that the iron chelator deferiprone can reduce nigrostriatal iron content in persons with Parkinson's disease, but its effects on disease progression are unclear.

Methods: We conducted a multicenter, phase 2, randomized, double-blind trial involving participants with newly diagnosed Parkinson's disease who had never received levodopa.

Validity and Performance of Blood Biomarkers for Alzheimer Disease to Predict Dementia Risk in a Large Clinic-Based Cohort.

Background And Objective: Blood biomarkers for Alzheimer disease (AD) have consistently proven to be associated with CSF or PET biomarkers and effectively discriminate AD from other neurodegenerative diseases. Our aim was to test their utility in clinical practice, from a multicentric unselected prospective cohort where patients presented with a large spectrum of cognitive deficits or complaints.

Methods: The MEMENTO cohort enrolled 2,323 outpatients with subjective cognitive complaint (SCC) or mild cognitive impairment (MCI) consulting in 26 French memory clinics.

Diabetes Mellitus and Cognition: Pathway Analysis in the MEMENTO Cohort.

Objective: To assess the role of biomarkers of Alzheimer disease (AD), neurodegeneration, and small vessel disease (SVD) as mediators in the association between diabetes mellitus and cognition.

Methods: The study sample was derived from MEMENTO, a cohort of French adults recruited in memory clinics and screened for either isolated subjective cognitive complaints or mild cognitive impairment. Diabetes was defined based on blood glucose assessment, use of antidiabetic agent, or self-report.

Prospective associations between white matter hyperintensities and lower extremity function.

Objective: To evaluate the relationship of white matter hyperintensities (WMH) with decline in lower extremity function (LEF) over approximately 3 years in dementia-free older adults with memory complaints.

Methods: We obtained brain MRI data from 458 community-dwelling adults, aged 70 years or over, at baseline, and from 358 adults over an average follow-up of 963 days. We evaluated LEF using the Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB).

Lower Magnetization Transfer Ratio in the Forceps Minor Is Associated with Poorer Gait Velocity in Older Adults.

Background And Purpose: Gait disturbances in the elderly are disabling and a major public health issue but are poorly understood. In this multimodal MR imaging study, we used 2 voxel-based analysis methods to assess the voxelwise relationship of magnetization transfer ratio and white matter hyperintensity location with gait velocity in older adults.

Materials And Methods: We assessed 230 community-dwelling participants of the Austrian Stroke Prevention Family Study.

Prediction of 3-year clinical course in CADASIL.

Objective: To obtain simple models predicting disease evolution at 3 years for a given patient with cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL).

Methods: Based on data obtained in a prospective study of 236 patients, we built and validated models predicting, at the individual level, 3-year changes in Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Mattis Dementia Rating Scale (MDRS), Trail Making Test version B (TMTB), and modified Rankin Scale (mRS). These models were based on different sets of predictors obtained at baseline, including either clinical data (epidemiologic data and cardiovascular risk factors) or clinical data and quantitative MRI markers (volume of lacunes [LL], volume of white matter hyperintensities, normalized brain volume [BPF], number of microbleeds).

Features and Determinants of Lacune Shape: Relationship With Fiber Tracts and Perforating Arteries.

Background And Purpose: Lacunes are a major manifestation of cerebral small vessel disease. Although still debated, the morphological features of lacunes may offer mechanistic insights. We systematically analyzed the shape of incident lacunes in cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy, a genetically defined small vessel disease.

Shape of the Central Sulcus and Disability After Subcortical Stroke: A Motor Reserve Hypothesis.

Background And Purpose: Both brain and cognitive reserves modulate the clinical impact of chronic brain diseases. Whether a motor reserve also modulates the relationships between stroke and disability is unknown. We aimed to determine whether the shape of the central sulcus, a marker of the development of underlying motor connections, is independently associated with disability in patients with a positive history of small subcortical ischemic stroke.

White matter edema at the early stage of cerebral autosomal-dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy.

Background And Purpose: Recently, in a mouse model of cerebral autosomal-dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy, a monogenic cerebral small vessel disease, intramyelinic edema was detected in the white matter (WM) early during the course of the disease. We hypothesized that if this mechanism holds true in patients, it would translate in larger WM volume. We aimed to measure WM volume in patients with cerebral autosomal-dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy in comparison with age- and sex-matched controls, along with the ratio of cortical surface area to the volume of brain hemispheres as an indirect measure that should be reduced in patients.

Automatized clustering and functional geometry of human parietofrontal networks for language, space, and number.

Human functional MRI studies frequently reveal the joint activation of parietal and of lateral and mesial frontal areas during various cognitive tasks. To analyze the geometrical organization of those networks, we used an automatized clustering algorithm that parcels out sets of areas based on their similar profile of task-related activations or deactivations. This algorithm allowed us to reanalyze published fMRI data (Simon, O.