A Mini-Mental State Examination Formula May Help to Distinguish Alzheimer's Disease from Dementia with Lewy Bodies.

Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) differ in their memory, attention, and visuoconstructional characteristics. The subscales of the well-known Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) provide an opportunity to assess these characteristics. Previous research has shown that analysis of the MMSE subscale performance of AD and DLB patients helps to differentiate them.

Donepezil May Reduce Insulin-Like Growth Factor-1 (IGF-1) Levels in Alzheimer's disease.

Objective: Determine if donepezil will raise the insulin-like growth factor-1 levels of patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease.

Design: In an outpatient setting, recruit amnestic mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease patients who were to start treatment with donepezil. Measure total serum insulin-like growth factor-1 levels before and after 3-6 months of treatment.

Raloxifene for women with Alzheimer disease: A randomized controlled pilot trial.

Objective: To determine whether raloxifene, a selective estrogen receptor modulator, improves cognitive function compared with placebo in women with Alzheimer disease (AD) and to provide an estimate of cognitive effect.

Methods: This pilot study was conducted as a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, with a planned treatment of 12 months. Women with late-onset AD of mild to moderate severity were randomly allocated to high-dose (120 mg) oral raloxifene or identical placebo provided once daily.

A validity study of the Working Group's Autobiographical Memory Test for individuals with moderate to severe intellectual disability.

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the validity of the Working Group's Autobiographical Memory Test as a dementia screening tool for individuals with moderate to severe intellectual disabilities (ID). Twenty-one participants with Dementia of Alzheimer's Type (DAT) and moderate to severe ID and 42 controls with similar levels of ID were tested. The majority were re-tested one year after the initial evaluation.

Is brain amyloid production a cause or a result of dementia of the Alzheimer's type?

The amyloid cascade hypothesis has guided much of the research into Alzheimer's disease (AD) over the last 25 years. We argue that the hypothesis of amyloid-β (Aβ) as the primary cause of dementia may not be fully correct. Rather, we propose that decline in brain metabolic activity, which is tightly linked to synaptic activity, actually underlies both the cognitive decline in AD and the deposition of Aβ.

A pilot study of a test for visual recognition memory in adults with moderate to severe intellectual disability.

Objective assessment of memory functioning is an important part of evaluation for Dementia of Alzheimer Type (DAT). The revised Picture Recognition Memory Test (r-PRMT) is a test for visual recognition memory to assess memory functioning of persons with intellectual disabilities (ID), specifically targeting moderate to severe ID. A pilot study was performed to investigate whether the r-PRMT could differentiate DAT-related memory decline from pre-existing poor memory functioning of persons with moderate to severe ID.