Lower hippocampal volume predicts decrements in lane control among drivers with amnestic mild cognitive impairment.

Objectives: There are few methods to discern driving risks in patients with early dementia and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). We aimed to determine whether structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the hippocampus-a biomarker of probable Alzheimer pathology and a measure of disease severity in those affected--is linked to objective ratings of on-road driving performance in older adults with and without amnestic MCI.

Methods: In all, 49 consensus-diagnosed participants from an Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (15 diagnosed with amnestic MCI and 34 demographically similar controls) underwent structural MRI and on-road driving assessments.

MRI volume of the medial frontal cortex predicts financial capacity in patients with mild Alzheimer's disease.

Persons with mild Alzheimer's disease (AD) have significant deficits in financial abilities. This study examined the relationship between brain structure volumes, cognition, and financial capacity in patients with mild AD. Sixteen mild AD patients and 16 older adult comparisons completed the Financial Capacity Instrument (FCI), a psychometric measure of financial abilities, and also underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to obtain volumes of the bilateral hippocampi, angular gyri, precunei, and medial and dorsolateral frontal cortices.

Magnetic resonance imaging volume of the angular gyri predicts financial skill deficits in people with amnestic mild cognitive impairment.

Objectives: To better understand how brain atrophy in amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI) as measured using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) volumetrics could affect instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) such as financial abilities.

Design: Controlled, matched-sample, cross-sectional analysis regressing MRI volumetrics with financial performance measures.

Setting: University medical and research center.

Brain metabolic correlates of decision making in amnestic mild cognitive impairment.

Persons with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI) have subtle impairments in medical decision-making capacity (MDC). We examined the relationship between proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) and MDC in MCI. Twenty-nine MCI patients and 42 controls underwent MRS to obtain ratios of N-acetylaspartate (NAA)/Creatine (Cr), Choline (Cho)/Cr, and myo-Inositol (mI)/Cr of the posterior cingulate.

Neurocognitive predictors of financial capacity across the dementia spectrum: Normal aging, mild cognitive impairment, and Alzheimer's disease.

Financial capacity is a complex instrumental activity of daily living critical to independent functioning of older adults and sensitive to impairment in patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, little is known about the neurocognitive basis of financial impairment in dementia. We developed cognitive models of financial capacity in cognitively healthy older adults (n = 85) and patients with MCI (n = 113) and mild AD (n = 43).

Medical decision-making capacity in cognitively impaired Parkinson's disease patients without dementia.

Little is currently known about the higher order functional skills of patients with Parkinson disease and cognitive impairment. Medical decision-making capacity (MDC) was assessed in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) with cognitive impairment and dementia. Participants were 16 patients with PD and cognitive impairment without dementia (PD-CIND), 16 patients with PD dementia (PDD), and 22 healthy older adults.

Candidate gene discovery procedure after follow-up confirmatory analyses of candidate regions of interests for Alzheimer's disease in the NIMH sibling dataset.

The objective of this research was to develop a procedure to identify candidate genes under linkage peaks confirmed in a follow-up of candidate regions of interests (CRIs) identified in our original genome scan in the NIMH Alzheimer's diseases (AD) Initiative families (Blacker et al. [1]). There were six CRIs identified that met the threshold of multipoint lod score (MLS) of >or= 2.

Awareness of deficits in financial abilities in patients with mild cognitive impairment: going beyond self-informant discrepancy.

Objective: Self and informant reports of functional abilities are weighted heavily in diagnostic decision making regarding mild cognitive impairment (MCI). However, it is unclear whether patients with MCI are fully aware and provide reliable estimates of their functional status. In this study, the authors used three different approaches to examine accuracy of self-report of financial abilities among patients with MCI.

Genetic association of neurotrophic tyrosine kinase receptor type 2 (NTRK2) With Alzheimer's disease.

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)/tyrosine receptor kinase (TRK) signaling pathway activates a wide range of downstream intracellular cascades, regulating neuronal development and plasticity, long-term potentiation, and apoptosis. The NTRK family encodes the receptors TRKA, TRKB, and TRKC, to which the neurotrophins, nerve growth factor (NGF), BDNF and neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) bind, respectively, with high affinity. Signaling through these receptors appears to be compromised in Alzheimer's disease (AD).

Executive function is associated with brain proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy in amnestic mild cognitive impairment.

Persons with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI) show deficits on executive function measures, although the neuroanatomic basis of executive function in MCI is unknown. We investigated cognitive correlates of 3-tesla proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) of the posterior cingulate gyrus in 26 MCI patients. Posterior cingulate ratio of myo-inositol to creatine (mI/Cr) was negatively correlated (-.

Effects of chronic stress and interleukin-10 gene polymorphisms on antibody response to tetanus vaccine in family caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's disease.

Objective: To assess the effects of psychological stress on the antibody response to tetanus vaccine adjusting for cytokine gene polymorphisms and other nongenetic factors in caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD).

Methods: A family-based follow-up study was conducted in 119 spouses and offspring of community-dwelling patients with AD. Psychological stress was measured by the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) scale at baseline and 1 month after the vaccination.

Elevated brain scyllo-inositol concentrations in patients with Alzheimer's disease.

in vivo (1)H MRS reveals reduced N-acetylaspartate (NAA) and elevated myo-inositol (mI) in patients with mild Alzheimer's disease (AD) and patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI). We are unaware of studies that have documented abnormal scyllo-inositol (sI) levels in patients with AD or patients with MCI, although a previous MRS study in older adults has indicated that sI is a peak of interest to measure in AD. Fifteen patients with mild AD, 26 patients with amnestic MCI, and 19 healthy older adults were recruited to this study.

Hemoglobin binding to A beta and HBG2 SNP association suggest a role in Alzheimer's disease.

From a normal human brain phage display library screen we identified the gamma (A)-globin chain of fetal hemoglobin (Hb F) as a protein that bound strongly to A beta1-42. We showed the oxidized form of adult Hb (metHb A) binds with greater affinity to A beta1-42 than metHb F. MetHb is more toxic than oxyhemoglobin because it loses its heme group more readily.

Follow-up mapping supports the evidence for linkage in the candidate region at 9q22 in the NIMH Alzheimer's disease Genetics Initiative cohort.

Other than the APOE peak at 19q13, the 9q22 region was identified in our original genomic scan as the candidate region with the highest multipoint lod score (MLS) in the subset of late onset Alzheimer's Disease (AD) families (MLS = 2.9 at 101 cM) from the NIMH Genetics Initiative sample. We have now genotyped an additional 12 short tandem repeats (STR) in this region.

Declining medical decision-making capacity in mild AD: a two-year longitudinal study.

This is a report of a two-year longitudinal study comparing healthy older adult subjects (n = 15) and mild Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients (n = 20) using an objective performance measure of medical decision-making capacity (MDC). Capacity to consent to medical treatment was measured using the Capacity to Consent to Treatment Instrument (CCTI). The CCTI is a psychometric measure that tests MDC using a series of four core capacity standards: S1 (evidencing/communicating choice), S3 (appreciating consequences), S4 (providing rational reasons), and S5 (understanding treatment situation), and one experimental standard [S2] (making the reasonable treatment choice).

Sympathetic sprouting drives hippocampal cholinergic reinnervation that prevents loss of a muscarinic receptor-dependent long-term depression at CA3-CA1 synapses.

Degeneration of septohippocampal cholinergic neurons results in memory deficits attributable to loss of cholinergic modulation of hippocampal synaptic circuits. A remarkable consequence of cholinergic degeneration is the sprouting of noradrenergic sympathetic fibers from the superior cervical ganglia into hippocampus. The functional impact of sympathetic ingrowth on synaptic physiology has never been investigated.