85 results match your criteria: "Barcelona Down Medical Center[Affiliation]"

Down syndrome (DS) is strongly associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD) due to APP overexpression, exhibiting Amyloid-β (Aβ) and Tau pathology similar to early-onset (EOAD) and late-onset AD (LOAD). We evaluated the Aβ plaque proteome of DS, EOAD, and LOAD using unbiased localized proteomics on post-mortem paraffin-embedded tissues from four cohorts (n = 20/group): DS (59.8 ± 4.

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Globally, individuals with Down syndrome (DS) face profound inequities in social and health care access. These challenges are further compounded by racial disparities as well as a lack of awareness, research, and support, particularly in the Global South. This commentary discusses the multifaceted challenges and disparities encountered by people with DS in South Africa, highlighting the need for targeted interventions.

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Down syndrome (DS) or trisomy 21 (T21) is present in a significant number of children and adults around the world and is associated with cognitive and medical challenges. Through research, the T21 Research Society (T21RS), established in 2014, unites a worldwide community dedicated to understanding the impact of T21 on biological systems and improving the quality of life of people with DS across the lifespan. T21RS hosts an international conference every two years to support collaboration, dissemination, and information sharing for this goal.

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Posterior Cortical Atrophy Due to Alzheimer Disease in a Person With Down Syndrome: A Case Report.

Neurology

January 2025

Sant Pau Memory Unit, Department of Neurology, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Biomedical Research Institute Sant Pau (IIB Sant Pau), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.

Objectives: Atypical variants are rare in genetically determined Alzheimer disease (AD). This case describes a patient with Down syndrome-associated Alzheimer disease (DSAD) who presented with symptoms of posterior cortical atrophy (PCA).

Methods: We conducted a clinical and cognitive evaluation, genotyping, determination of AD biomarkers in CSF, structural MRI, [18F]FDG-PET, and tau-PET ([18F]PI2620) scans.

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Article Synopsis
  • * A new plasma test measuring p-tau212 levels shows high accuracy in detecting AD-related changes and was tested in 245 plasma and 114 cerebrospinal fluid samples using advanced technology.
  • * Results indicate a strong correlation between plasma and CSF p-tau212 levels, with elevated levels in individuals with prodromal and dementia stages of DS, demonstrating high diagnostic accuracy in distinguishing between asymptomatic and symptomatic cases.
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Amyloid-lowering treatment in Alzheimer's disease.

Lancet

November 2024

Sant Pau Memory Unit, Department of Neurology, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica Sant Pau, Facultad de Medicina, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; Center of Biomedical Investigation Network for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Madrid, Spain; Barcelona Down Medical Center, Fundació Catalana de Síndrome de Down, Barcelona, Spain.

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Article Synopsis
  • Blood-based biomarkers are being studied to improve the detection and monitoring of Alzheimer's Disease in individuals with Down Syndrome, as current clinical diagnostics are challenging.
  • Key biomarkers like phosphorylated tau (p-tau217, p-tau181) have shown strong connections to disease progression in Down Syndrome, suggesting they could be valuable in clinical settings.
  • The research emphasizes the need for more understanding of biomarker variability, particularly regarding sex differences and the appropriate contexts for their clinical application in Alzheimer's diagnosis and treatment.
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Diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease using plasma biomarkers adjusted to clinical probability.

Nat Aging

November 2024

Translational Neuroimaging Laboratory, McGill Research Centre for Studies in Aging, Alzheimer's Disease Research Unit, Douglas Research Institute, Centre intégré universitaire de santé et de services sociaux de l'Ouest-de-l'Île-de-Montréal, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Article Synopsis
  • Recent advancements in Alzheimer's treatment now require verification of amyloid-β pathology using PET scans or cerebrospinal fluid, but blood tests could simplify this process.* -
  • A study involving nearly 7,000 individuals identified that the plasma biomarker p-tau217 can reliably indicate amyloid-β pathology, especially in patients with probable Alzheimer’s dementia.* -
  • The findings suggest that combining p-tau217 results with clinical assessments may allow for accurate diagnoses without the need for more invasive PET or CSF tests.*
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What Can We Learn About Alzheimer's Disease from People with Down Syndrome?

Curr Top Behav Neurosci

November 2024

Sant Pau Memory Unit, Department of Neurology, Facultad de Medicina, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica Sant Pau (IIB SANT PAU), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.

Article Synopsis
  • Down syndrome (DS) is a common genetic disorder that causes intellectual disability, affecting about 1 in 700 births globally, with significant populations in Europe and the U.S.
  • Advances in healthcare have increased the lifespan of those with DS, leading to new challenges related to aging, particularly the risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD).
  • The chapter will discuss the importance of studying DS to better understand AD biology and the potential insights that could benefit both individuals with DS and the broader population, while also outlining future research objectives.
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Biomarkers have been instrumental in population selection and disease monitoring in clinical trials of recently FDA-approved drugs targeting amyloid-β to slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD). As new therapeutic strategies and biomarker techniques emerge, the importance of biomarkers in drug development is growing exponentially. In this emerging landscape, biomarkers are expected to serve a wide range of contexts of use in clinical trials focusing on AD and related dementias.

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Clinical and research application of fluid biomarkers in autosomal dominant Alzheimer's disease and Down syndrome.

EBioMedicine

October 2024

Alzheimer's Disease and Other Cognitive Disorders Unit, Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, Fundació de Recerca Clínic Barcelona-IDIBAPS, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address:

Article Synopsis
  • Autosomal dominant Alzheimer's disease (ADAD) and Down syndrome (DS) are genetic forms of Alzheimer's that help researchers explore biomarker changes and disease progression in Alzheimer's overall.
  • The study highlights that biomarkers in genetic cases have unique characteristics and a predictable onset, making their context of use different from sporadic Alzheimer's cases.
  • Understanding these distinctions is crucial for research and clinical practices, ultimately leading to more personalized treatment strategies for individuals affected by genetically determined Alzheimer's.
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Clinical value of plasma pTau181 to predict Alzheimer's disease pathology in a large real-world cohort of a memory clinic.

EBioMedicine

October 2024

Research Center and Memory Clinic, Ace Alzheimer Center Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; Biomedical Research Networking Centre in Neurodegenerative Diseases (CIBERNED), Madrid, Spain; Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer's & Neurodegenerative Diseases, University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, TX, USA.

Background: The identification of patients with an elevated risk of developing Alzheimer's disease (AD) dementia and eligible for the disease-modifying treatments (DMTs) in the earliest stages is one of the greatest challenges in the clinical practice. Plasma biomarkers has the potential to predict these issues, but further research is still needed to translate them to clinical practice. Here we evaluated the clinical applicability of plasma pTau181 as a predictive marker of AD pathology in a large real-world cohort of a memory clinic.

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Characterization of white matter hyperintensities in Down syndrome.

Alzheimers Dement

September 2024

Sant Pau Memory Unit, Department of Neurology, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Biomedical Research Institute Sant Pau, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.

Introduction: In Down syndrome (DS), white matter hyperintensities (WMHs) are highly prevalent, yet their topography and association with sociodemographic data and Alzheimer's disease (AD) biomarkers remain largely unexplored.

Methods: In 261 DS adults and 131 euploid controls, fluid-attenuated inversion recovery magnetic resonance imaging scans were segmented and WMHs were extracted in concentric white matter layers and lobar regions. We tested associations with AD clinical stages, sociodemographic data, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) AD biomarkers, and gray matter (GM) volume.

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Associations of Microbleeds and Their Topography With Imaging and CSF Biomarkers of Alzheimer Pathology in Individuals With Down Syndrome.

Neurology

August 2024

From the Sant Pau Memory Unit (S.E.Z., A.O.M.-N., M.R.A., I.A., J.E.A.-I., L.V.-A., V.M., J.P., J.A., Í.R.-B., L.M.B., L.V., I.B., L.H.S., B.B., A.S.H., S.G., D.A., O.B., A.L., J.F., M.C.-I., A.B.), Department of Neurology, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Biomedical Research Institute Sant Pau, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona; Department of Medicine (L.V.-A., N.B.), Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Institute of Neurosciences, University of Barcelona; Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Barcelona; Center of Biomedical Investigation Network for Neurodegenerative Diseases (CIBERNED) (V.M., J.P., L.V., I.B., D.A., O.B., A.L., J.F., M.C.-I., A.B.), Madrid; Barcelona Down Medical Center (L.V., B.B., S.F., A.S.H., J.F., M.C.-I.), Fundació Catalana Síndrome de Down; Radiology department (N.B., S.G.-O.), Centre de Diagnostic per la Imatge. Hospital Clínic de Barcelona; and Multidisciplinary Sleep Unit. Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau (S.G.), Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica Sant Pau (IIB SANT PAU), Barcelona, Spain.

Article Synopsis
  • This study investigates the occurrence and characteristics of cerebral microbleeds in adults with Down syndrome (DS), a population at risk for Alzheimer's disease (AD), to understand their relationship with clinical variables and cognitive outcomes.
  • The research involves a cross-sectional analysis of 276 individuals with DS and 158 healthy controls, using neuroimaging, genetic testing, and cognitive assessments to evaluate microbleed prevalence and its associations with AD biomarkers.
  • Results show that individuals with DS are more likely to have microbleeds compared to controls, with prevalence increasing with age and severity of AD, particularly in those carrying the ε4 allele, but not linked to common vascular risk factors.
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Article Synopsis
  • Recent advances in blood markers for Alzheimer's disease detection show high accuracy, but their practicality in clinical settings remains uncertain due to the need for sensitive equipment.
  • A study of 290 participants at a specialized memory clinic revealed that plasma pTau levels were significantly higher in those with amyloid-positive results compared to amyloid-negative individuals, indicating potential for blood tests in diagnosis.
  • The automated platform demonstrated a strong capacity to accurately differentiate between amyloid-positive and amyloid-negative patients, with pTau showing the highest accuracy and a low misclassification rate, suggesting it could be a reliable diagnostic tool.
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Occurrence of mosaic Down syndrome and prevalence of co-occurring conditions in Medicaid enrolled adults, 2016-2019.

Am J Med Genet C Semin Med Genet

December 2024

Sant Pau Memory Unit, Department of Neurology, Hospital de la Santa Creu Sant Pau, Biomedical Research Institute Sant Pau, Barcelona, Spain.

Article Synopsis
  • Mosaic Down syndrome involves a partial triplication of chromosome 21 found in some cells and is less understood epidemiologically; a study analyzed its prevalence among 94,533 Medicaid adults from 2016 to 2019.
  • The research identified 1,966 individuals with mosaic Down syndrome, finding no significant differences in prevalence by sex or race/ethnicity, but noted higher rates of autism and ADHD in this group compared to those with nonmosaic Down syndrome.
  • The study suggests that mosaicism might increase the risk for certain neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders, particularly Alzheimer's dementia, indicating a need for further research to understand these correlations better.
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Objective: Preclinical research implicates hypothalamic inflammation (HI) in obesity and type 2 diabetes pathophysiology. However, their pathophysiological relevance and potential reversibility need to be better defined. We sought to evaluate the effect of bariatric surgery (BS) on radiological biomarkers of HI and the association between the severity of such radiological alterations and post-BS weight loss (WL) trajectories.

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This study aimed to evaluate the impact of APOE4 homozygosity on Alzheimer's disease (AD) by examining its clinical, pathological and biomarker changes to see whether APOE4 homozygotes constitute a distinct, genetically determined form of AD. Data from the National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center and five large cohorts with AD biomarkers were analyzed. The analysis included 3,297 individuals for the pathological study and 10,039 for the clinical study.

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Cortical microinfarcts in adults with Down syndrome assessed with 3T-MRI.

Alzheimers Dement

June 2024

Sant Pau Memory Unit, Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica Sant Pau (IIB SANT PAU), Barcelona, Spain.

Background: Cortical microinfarcts (CMI) were attributed to cerebrovascular disease and cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA). CAA is frequent in Down syndrome (DS) while hypertension is rare, yet no studies have assessed CMI in DS.

Methods: We included 195 adults with DS, 63 with symptomatic sporadic Alzheimer's disease (AD), and 106 controls with 3T magnetic resonance imaging.

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Introduction: People with Down syndrome (DS) have high risk of developing Alzheimer's disease (AD). This study examined mean ages of AD diagnosis and associations with co-occurring conditions among adults with DS from five European countries.

Methods: Data from 1335 people with DS from the Horizon 21 European DS Consortium were used for the analysis.

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Background: Evidence regarding cortical atrophy patterns in Parkinson's disease (PD) with probable rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder (RBD) (PD-pRBD) remains scarce. Cortical mean diffusivity (cMD), as a novel imaging biomarker highly sensitive to detecting cortical microstructural changes in different neurodegenerative diseases, has not been investigated in PD-pRBD yet.

Objectives: The aim was to investigate cMD as a sensitive measure to identify subtle cortical microstructural changes in PD-pRBD and its relationship with cortical thickness (CTh).

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