Validation of the five-item geriatric depression scale in elderly subjects in three different settings.

Objectives: To test the effectiveness of a five-item version of the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) for the screening of depression in community-dwelling older subjects, hospitalized older patients, and nursing home residents.

Design: A cross-sectional study.

Setting: A geriatric acute care ward, a geriatric outpatient clinic, and a nursing home.

High vitamin E plasma levels and low low-density lipoprotein oxidation are associated with the absence of atherosclerosis in octogenarians.

Objectives: To identify the biological characteristics of older subjects with vascular successful aging (VASA), defined as the absence of instrumental signs and clinical symptoms of atherosclerosis in the extracoronary and coronary vessels.

Design: A cross-sectional study.

Setting: A university-affiliated outpatient clinic.

Antioxidant profile and early outcome in stroke patients.

Background And Purpose: Experimental studies provide evidence of an association between ischemic stroke and increased oxidative stress, but data in humans are still limited and controversial. The purpose of this study was to investigate the time course of plasma antioxidant changes in ischemic stroke patients.

Methods: Plasma antioxidants, including water-soluble (vitamin C and uric acid) and lipid-soluble (vitamins A and E) compounds as well as antioxidant enzyme activities in plasma (superoxide dismutase [SOD] and glutathione peroxidase) and erythrocytes (SOD), were measured by high-performance liquid chromatography (antioxidant vitamins) and by spectrophotometry (antioxidant enzymes) in 38 subjects (25 men and 13 women aged 77.

Tau protein in cerebrospinal fluid: a new diagnostic and prognostic marker in Alzheimer disease?

Tau is the main protein of paired helical filaments. It can be detected and measured in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and for this reason it has been proposed as a possible in vivo marker of Alzheimer disease (AD). To evaluate the usefulness of CSF tau in the diagnosis of AD we measured it in patients with AD, frontal lobe dementia (FLD), vascular dementia (VD), and in healthy controls by means of a specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay test.