Four-repeat tauopathies and late-onset psychiatric disorders: Etiological relevance or incidental findings?

Argyrophilic grain disease (AGD), progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and corticobasal degeneration are four-repeat (4R) tauopathies that develop in the presenium or later. Whether these diseases are associated with the occurrence of late-onset psychiatric disorders remains unclear. To facilitate the accumulation of clinicopathological findings regarding this issue, we here present a selected series of 11 cases that clinically developed psychotic disorder (n = 7; age at onset: 41-75 years), depressive disorder (n = 1; 49 years), bipolar disorder (n = 2; 32 and 37 years) and somatoform disorder (n = 1; 88 years), and had at least one pathological hallmark of these tauopathies.

Aberrant interaction between FUS and SFPQ in neurons in a wide range of FTLD spectrum diseases.

Fused in sarcoma (FUS) is genetically and clinicopathologically linked to frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). We have previously reported that intranuclear interactions of FUS and splicing factor, proline- and glutamine-rich (SFPQ) contribute to neuronal homeostasis. Disruption of the FUS-SFPQ interaction leads to an increase in the ratio of 4-repeat tau (4R-tau)/3-repeat tau (3R-tau), which manifests in FTLD-like phenotypes in mice.

Factors associated with development and distribution of granular/fuzzy astrocytes in neurodegenerative diseases.

Granular/fuzzy astrocytes (GFAs), a subtype of "aging-related tau astrogliopathy," are noted in cases bearing various neurodegenerative diseases. However, the pathogenic significance of GFAs remains unclear. We immunohistochemically examined the frontal cortex, caudate nucleus, putamen and amygdala in 105 cases composed of argyrophilic grain disease cases (AGD, N = 26), and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP, N = 10), Alzheimer's disease (AD, N = 20) and primary age-related tauopathy cases (PART, N = 18) lacking AGD, as well as 31 cases bearing other various neurodegenerative diseases to clarify (i) the distribution patterns of GFAs in AGD, and PSP, AD and PART lacking AGD, (ii) the impacts of major pathological factors and age on GFA formation and (iii) immunohistochemical features useful to understand the formation process of GFAs.

Cognitive and behavioral status in Japanese ALS patients: a multicenter study.

Objectives: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients may present with cognitive and behavioral abnormalities similar to frontotemporal dementia (FTD). In this multicenter study we examined Japanese ALS patients with and without FTD in order to characterize the full extent of cognitive and behavioral abnormalities, including associations with functional motor status, anxiety and depression.

Methods: Patients were evaluated using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, ALS Functional Rating Scale-Revised, spirometry, and verbal fluency tests.

Morphological characterisation of glial and neuronal tau pathology in globular glial tauopathy (Types II and III).

Aims: Globular glial tauopathy (GGT) is a new category within the 4-repeat tauopathies that is characterised neuropathologically by tau-positive globular glial inclusions (GGIs), namely, globular oligodendrocytic and astrocytic inclusions (GOIs and GAIs). Occurrence of tau-positive neuronal cytoplasmic inclusions (NCIs) is also a feature. GGT is classified into three pathological subtypes (Types I, II and III).

Clinical features of the behavioural variant of frontotemporal dementia that are useful for predicting underlying pathological subtypes of frontotemporal lobar degeneration.

Background: The behavioural variant of frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) is the most common phenotype of frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD). FTLD is divided into three main pathological subtypes: tau-positive FTLD (FTLD-tau), FTLD-TAR DNA-binding protein (TDP), and FTLD-Fused in sarcoma (FUS). At present, it is difficult to predict the underlying pathological subtypes of sporadic bvFTD before a patient's death.

Tube feeding decreases pneumonia rate in patients with severe dementia: comparison between pre- and post-intervention.

Background: It is widely supposed that there is no benefit, including extended survival and decreased rate of pneumonia, in patients with severe dementia receiving enteral tube feeding (TF). However, there have been few studies comparing the frequency of pneumonia before and after TF in severe dementia.

Methods: Nine psychiatric hospitals in Okayama Prefecture participated in this retrospective survey.

Frontotemporal lobar degeneration due to P301L tau mutation showing apathy and severe frontal atrophy but lacking other behavioral changes: A case report and literature review.

The clinical features in cases that have mutations in the microtubule-associated protein tau gene but lack prominent behavioral changes remain unclear. Here, we describe detailed clinical and pathological features of a case carrying the P301L tau mutation that showed only apathy until the middle stage of the course. The mother of this case was suspected to have mild cognitive decline at age 46.

Neuropathological comorbidity associated with argyrophilic grain disease.

Argyrophilic grain disease (AGD) is a common four-repeat tauopathy in elderly people. While dementia is a major clinical picture of AGD, recent studies support the possibility that AGD may be a pathological base in some patients with mild cognitive impairment, late-onset psychosis, bipolar disorder and depression. AGD often coexists with various other degenerative changes.

Pick's disease with neuronal four-repeat tau accumulation in the basal ganglia, brain stem nuclei and cerebellum.

It is very rare that cases of Pick's disease, a representative three-repeat (3R) tauopathy, also have significant four-repeat (4R) tau accumulation. Here, we report a Pick's disease case that clinically showed behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia without motor disturbance during the course, and pathologically had 3R tau-positive Pick bodies as well as numerous 4R tau-positive neuronal cytoplasmic inclusions (NCIs). Abundant 3R tau-positive 4R tau-negative spherical or horseshoe-shaped Pick bodies were found in the frontotemporal cortex, limbic region, striatum and pontine nucleus.

Long-Term Survival of Patients Receiving Artificial Nutrition in Japanese Psychiatric Hospitals.

Background/aims: Most patients with dementia suffer from dysphagia in the terminal stage of the disease. In Japan, most elderly patients with dysphagia receive either tube feeding or total parenteral nutrition.

Methods: In this study, we investigated the factors determining longer survival with artificial nutrition.

Behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia: Fundamental clinical issues associated with prediction of pathological bases.

Behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) is a clinical syndrome characterized mainly by behavioral symptoms due to frontal dysfunction. Major neurodegenerative bases of bvFTD include Pick's disease, frontotemporal lobar degeneration with trans-activation response DNA protein 43-positive inclusions, corticobasal degeneration, and progressive supranuclear palsy. Early disinhibition characterized by socially inappropriate behaviors, loss of manners, and impulsive, rash and careless actions is the most important clinical feature of bvFTD.

Heterogeneity of patients receiving artificial nutrition in Japanese psychiatric hospitals: a cross-sectional study.

Aim: Artificial nutrition, including tube feeding, continues to be given to dementia patients in numerous geriatric facilities in Japan. However, the clinical characteristics of patients receiving artificial nutrition have not been fully investigated. Therefore, we tried to evaluate the clinical features of those patients in this study.

The Relationship Between Development of Neuronal and Astrocytic Tau Pathologies in Subcortical Nuclei and Progression of Argyrophilic Grain Disease.

Progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) cases frequently have argyrophilic grain disease (AGD). However, the PSP-like tau pathology in AGD cases has not been fully clarified. To address this, we examined tau pathologies in the subcortical nuclei and frontal cortex in 19 AGD cases that did not meet the pathological criteria of PSP or corticobasal degeneration, nine PSP cases and 20 Braak NFT stage-matched controls.

Lack of genetic association between TREM2 and late-onset Alzheimer's disease in a Japanese population.

Rare non-synonymous variants of TREM2 have recently been shown to be associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD) in Caucasians. We here conducted a replication study using a well-characterized Japanese sample set, comprising 2,190 late-onset AD (LOAD) cases and 2,498 controls. We genotyped 10 non-synonymous variants (Q33X, Y38C, R47H, T66M, N68K, D87N, T96K, R98W, H157Y, and L211P) of TREM2 reported by Guerreiro et al.

Increased insulin levels after OGTT load in peripheral blood and cerebrospinal fluid of patients with dementia of Alzheimer type.

An investigation was carried out to determine whether a disturbance of glycometabolism is associated with dementia of Alzheimer type (AD). The first part of the study was carried out on 108 AD patients and 57 normal controls (NCs). Neither the plasma level of insulin nor that of glucose differed significantly between the two groups before the oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), whereas there was a significantly greater increase of the plasma insulin in the AD group than in the NC group after the OGTT.