Plasma homocysteine and risk of coexisting silent brain infarction in Alzheimer's disease.

Background: Cerebrovascular disease is common in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Elevated plasma homocysteine (pHcy) levels are reported to be associated with an increased risk of poor cognition and dementia.

Objective: To determine whether high pHcy levels are associated with an increased risk of coexisting silent brain infarctions (SBIs) in AD.

[Diagnosing the mild cognitive impairment stage of Alzheimer's disease].

Recently, it has become important to diagnose Alzheimer's Disease (AD) at an early stage due to the development of AD therapy. Also, there is increasing recognition of a class of elderly people with complaints of memory loss but who nevertheless do not meet the criteria for dementia. "Mild cognitive impairment" (MCI) is the term used for this disorder, and amnestic MCI is highly converted to AD.

Cerebrospinal fluid tau protein and periventricular white matter lesions in patients with mild cognitive impairment: implications for 2 major pathways.

Background: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) may be a heterogeneous condition rather than a uniform disease entity.

Objective: To develop reliable tools that aid in identifying patients at risk of developing Alzheimer disease (AD) among heterogeneous populations with MCI to maximize the benefits of emerging therapies for AD.

Design: A 2-year prospective study.

[A case of post-traumatic autobiographic amnesia].

A 23-year-old woman who was in the ninth month of pregnancy suffered a head injury by falling from the stairs. She regained consciousness in the ambulance car, however, could not recall anything about herself. The morning after, her neurological examination disclosed no abnormal findings.

[The effects of prostaglandin E1 infusion during cardiopulmonary bypass on cardiac and renal function in the early postoperative period].

Postoperative complications after cardiac surgery are mainly caused by the detrimental effects of cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) on hemodynamics and humoral factors. We studied the effects of prostaglandin E1 (PGE1) infusion on CPB induced organ failure. Twenty-four patients who underwent coronary bypass surgery with normal preoperative cardiac and renal function were divided into two groups.

[Relations between neuropsychological findings and lateral asymmetries of cerebral blood flow measured by SPECT in dementia of Alzheimer type].

We studied 16 right-handed patients clinically diagnosed as dementia of Alzheimer type (6 men, 10 women; aged 63-85, mean 72.8 years). The average duration of symptoms was 2.

Hyperresponsibility to exogeneous interleukin 4 in atopic dermatitis.

Many humoral and cellular immunological abnormalities have been reported in atopic dermatitis (AD). Since interleukin 4 (IL-4) enhances IgE production and IgE-Fc receptor expression by B cells as well as [3H]-TdR incorporation by T cells, we hypothesized that IL-4 may play an important role in the regulation of the immune response in AD. We examined [3H]-TdR incorporation by peripheral blood lymphocytes from AD patients or from non-AD controls in the presence or absence of IL-4 or interleukin 2 (IL-2).

A enzymatic and fluorimetric determination of total bile acid sulfates in human urine.

A simple, precise and sensitive method for separation and determination of total bile acid sulfates in human urine is described. The sulfate fraction of urinary bile acids was separated with lipophilic anion exchange gel, piperidinohydroxypropyl Sephadex LH-20 after sample clean-up with Sep-Pak C18 cartridge. The obtained sulfate fraction was submitted to solvolysis with a small volume of dimethoxypropane-HCl solution and subjected to enzymatic-fluorimetrical assay using 3 alpha-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase and resazurin.