Altered brain-ventricle coupling modes over Alzheimer's disease progression detected with fMRI.

The origins of resting-state functional MRI (rsfMRI) signal fluctuations remain debated. Recent evidence shows coupling between global cortical rsfMRI signals and cerebrospinal fluid inflow in the fourth ventricle, increasing during sleep and decreasing with Alzheimer's disease (AD) progression, potentially reflecting brain clearance mechanisms. However, the existence of more complex brain-ventricle coupling modes and their relationship to cognitive decline remains unexplored.

Rheumatoid arthritis and cognition dysfunction: lack of association with cumulative glucocorticoid use.

To study if cumulative glucocorticoid use could be related to cognitive impairment in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. A sample of 60 RA patients and 64 controls were studied for the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) and depression scale (using CES-D or Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale). RA patients also filled a visual analogic scale (VAS) of pain and had disease activity evaluated by DAS-28 ESR (disease activity score using erythrocyte sedimentation rate).