Cerebrospinal Fluid Neurofilaments Light-Chain Differentiate Patients Affected by Alzheimer's Disease with Different Rate of Progression (RoP): A Preliminary Study.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common neurodegenerative disorder and a leading cause of dementia. One major challenge for clinicians is accurately assessing the rate of disease progression (RoP) early in the diagnostic process, which is crucial for patient management and clinical trial stratification. This study evaluated the role of cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers-Aβ42, t-Tau, pTau, Neurogranin (Ng), and Neurofilament light-chain (NF-L)-in predicting RoP at the time of AD diagnosis.

Psychotropic Polypharmacy Leading to Reversible Dementia: A Case Report.

Psychotropic polypharmacy presents a diagnostic challenge that may be further complicated by inadequate medication history and underappreciation of the cognitive effects of such polypharmacy. Here we present the case of a 57-year-old man who presented to our memory clinic with progressive cognitive decline and a prior neuropsychological evaluation supporting the diagnosis of a neurodegenerative disorder. He was taking multiple psychotropic medications at the time, but the exact dosages were unclear due to a lack of collateral history.

Translating NIA-AA criteria into usual practice: Report from the ReDeMa Project.

Introduction: Biomarker-informed criteria were proposed for the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) by the National Institute on Aging and the Alzheimer's Association (NIA-AA) in 2011; however, the adequacy of this criteria has not been sufficiently evaluated.

Methods: ReDeMa () is a regional cohort of patients attending memory and neurology clinics. Core cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers were obtained, NIA-AA diagnostic criteria were considered, and changes in diagnosis and management were evaluated.

A task force for diagnosis and treatment of people with Alzheimer's disease in Latin America.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) represents a substantial burden to patients, their caregivers, health systems, and society in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). This impact is exacerbated by limited access to diagnosis, specialized care, and therapies for AD within and among nations. The region has varied geographic, ethnic, cultural, and economic conditions, which create unique challenges to AD diagnosis and management.

Role of the immune system in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Analysis of the natural killer cells and other circulating lymphocytes in a cohort of ALS patients.

Aims: Neuroinflammation might be involved in the degeneration and progression of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). Here, we studied the role of the circulating lymphocytes in ALS, in particular the NK cells. We focused on the relationship between blood lymphocytes, ALS clinical subtype and disease severity.

Subtle Differences in Cognition in 70-Year-Olds with Elevated Cerebrospinal Fluid Neurofilament Light and Neurogranin: A H70 Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: Most research on cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) neurofilament light protein (NfL) as a marker for neurodegeneration and neurogranin (Ng) for synaptic dysfunction has largely focused on clinical cohorts rather than population-based samples.

Objective: We hypothesized that increased CSF levels of NfL and Ng are associated with subtle cognitive deficits in cognitively unimpaired (CU) older adults.

Methods: The sample was derived from the Gothenburg H70 Birth Cohort Studies and comprised 258 CU 70-year-olds, with a Clinical Dementia Rating score of zero.

Classification of Alzheimer's disease and frontotemporal dementia using routine clinical and cognitive measures across multicentric underrepresented samples: A cross sectional observational study.

Background: Global brain health initiatives call for improving methods for the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) in underrepresented populations. However, diagnostic procedures in upper-middle-income countries (UMICs) and lower-middle income countries (LMICs), such as Latin American countries (LAC), face multiple challenges. These include the heterogeneity in diagnostic methods, lack of clinical harmonisation, and limited access to biomarkers.

Feasibility, safety, and tolerability of two modalities of plasma exchange with albumin replacement to treat elderly patients with Alzheimer's disease in the AMBAR study.

Background: In the Alzheimer Management by Albumin Replacement (AMBAR) study, mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients were treated with a plasma exchange (PE) program. Feasibility and safety of PE in this specific population are poorly understood and were analyzed in detail in this study.

Methods: Qualified patients were treated with 6 weeks of weekly conventional therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) with albumin replacement followed by monthly low-volume plasma exchange (LVPE) for 12 months.

Anosognosia in Dementia: Evaluation of Perfusion Correlates Using 99mTc-HMPAO SPECT and Automated Brodmann Areas Analysis.

(1) Background: Considerable inconsistency exists regarding the neural substrates of anosognosia in dementia in previous neuroimaging studies. The purpose of this study was the evaluation of anosognosia perfusion correlates across various types of dementia using automated Brodmann areas (BAs) analysis and comparison with a database of normal subjects. (2) Methods: We studied 72 patients: 32 with Alzheimer's disease, 26 with frontotemporal dementia-FTD (12 behavioral FTD, 9 semantic FTD, 5 Progressive Non-Fluent Aphasia), 11 with corticobasal syndrome, and 3 with progressive supranuclear palsy.

Clinical Trajectories of Neuropsychiatric Symptoms in Mild-Moderate to Advanced Dementia.

Background: There is high prevalence of neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) among dementia patients. NPS are correlated with dementia progression, functional decline, early institutionalization, and death. There is scarce evidence on the progression of NPS in the latest stages of dementia.

Correlation of Neuropsychiatric Symptoms in Dementia with Brain Perfusion: A 99mTc-SPECT-HMPAO Study with Brodmann Areas Analysis.

Background: Neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPSs) are common in dementia. Their evaluation is based on Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI). Neuroimaging studies have tried to elucidate the underlying neural circuits either in isolated NPSs or in specific forms of dementia.

Neuropsychological, neuropsychiatric, and quality-of-life assessments in Alzheimer's disease patients treated with plasma exchange with albumin replacement from the randomized AMBAR study.

Introduction: We report the effects of plasma exchange (PE) with albumin replacement on neuropsychological, neuropsychiatric, and quality-of-life (QoL) outcomes in mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients in a phase 2b/3 trial (Alzheimer's Management by Albumin Replacement [AMBAR] study).

Methods: Three hundred forty-seven patients were randomized into placebo (sham-PE) and three PE-treatment arms with low/high doses of albumin, with/without intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG). Specific test measurements were performed at baseline; month 2 (weekly conventional PE); months 6, 9, and 12 (monthly low-volume PE [LVPE]); and month 14.

CHROME Criteria and Quality of Life: A Pilot Study from Maria Wolff-Albertia.

Background: Over- and potentially inappropriate prescribing of psychotropic medications is a major public health concern among people with dementia.

Objective: Describe the emical estraints avidance thodology (CHROME) criteria and evaluate its effects on psychotropic prescribing and quality of life (QoL).

Methods: Observational, prospective, two-wave study conducted in two nursing homes.

Syndrome-Based Prescription to Optimize Psychotropics: Are CHROME Criteria a Game Changer?

A variety of medical and social factors have contributed over the last decades to the overuse of psychotropic drugs in people with dementia. One social factor is probably the frequent failure to provide adequate person-centered care, be it in the community or in institutional settings. This unfortunate reality has been reacted upon with numerous guidelines to reduce prescriptions of the most dangerous drugs (e.

Eating Disorders in Frontotemporal Dementia and Alzheimer's Disease: Evaluation of Brain Perfusion Correlates Using 99mTc-HMPAO SPECT with Brodmann Areas Analysis.

Background: Eating disorders (ED) in dementia represent a significant impairment affecting patients' and caregivers' lives. In frontotemporal dementia (FTD), ED include overeating, sweet food preference, stereotypical eating, and hyperorality, while in Alzheimer's disease (AD), anorexia and appetite loss are the most common ED.

Objective: The aim of our study was to highlight Brodmann areas (BAs) implicated specifically in the appearance of ED in FTD and AD.

Differences of apathy perfusion correlates between Alzheimer's disease and frontotemporal dementia. A 99mTc-HMPAO SPECT study with automated Brodmann areas analysis.

Objectives: To explore differences of apathy perfusion correlates between Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) using perfusion SPECT.

Methods: We studied 75 FTD and 66 AD patients. We evaluated apathy using Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI).

The Cognitive Difficulties Scale (CDS): Psychometric Characteristics in a Clinical Referral Sample.

Objective: To evaluate the psychometric characteristics of the Cognitive Difficulties Scale (CDS), a 39-item Likert-type self-report instrument that requires a fifth grade reading level. The CDS is a popular instrument that has been shown to predict cognitive decline in older persons.

Method: Participants were 512 consecutive outpatient referrals (71% women, mean age 60.

Autosomal dominant VCP hypomorph mutation impairs disaggregation of PHF-tau.

Neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's disease (AD) is closely associated with the accumulation of pathologic tau aggregates in the form of neurofibrillary tangles. We found that a p.Asp395Gly mutation in (valosin-containing protein) was associated with dementia characterized neuropathologically by neuronal vacuoles and neurofibrillary tangles.

Agitation and impulsivity in mid and late life as possible risk markers for incident dementia.

To identify knowledge gaps regarding new-onset agitation and impulsivity prior to onset of cognitive impairment or dementia the International Society to Advance Alzheimer's Research and Treatment Neuropsychiatric Syndromes (NPS) Professional Interest Area conducted a scoping review. Extending a series of reviews exploring the pre-dementia risk syndrome Mild Behavioral Impairment (MBI), we focused on late-onset agitation and impulsivity (the MBI impulse dyscontrol domain) and risk of incident cognitive decline and dementia. This scoping review of agitation and impulsivity pre-dementia syndromes summarizes the current biomedical literature in terms of epidemiology, diagnosis and measurement, neurobiology, neuroimaging, biomarkers, course and prognosis, treatment, and ongoing clinical trials.

Depressive symptoms, memory complaints, and memory test performance.

The impact of emotional factors on subjective cognitive complaints and memory test performance has been a topic of extensive research, produced conflicting results. Investigators typically used self-report inventories that lack measures of response bias. Studies have also neglected to use performance validity tests (PVTs) to screen participants for incomplete effort.

Do painters need their whole brain to excel?

Skilled professional artists are sometimes able to maintain their talents while other cognitive functions deteriorate due to brain diseases. The objective of this study is to asses the preserved artistry of a professional painter in spite of the presence of strokes affecting brain areas implicated in art expression. She had a neurologic evaluation and brain imaging after the stroke; painter-curators analyzed and compared the painter's pictorial artwork created before and after the stroke.

Neural Basis of Long-term Musical Memory in Cognitively Impaired Older Persons.

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine whether exposure to long-known music would evoke more extensive activation of brain regions minimally affected by Alzheimer disease (AD) pathology and outside traditional memory networks using a functional magnetic resonance imaging paradigm involving listening to long-known and recently-learned music in older adults with cognitive impairment to provide insight into mechanisms of long-term musical memory preservation in cognitively impaired older persons.

Methods: Seventeen subjects with a diagnosis of mild AD or mild cognitive impairment were recruited for this study. Subjects were scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging while they performed a music listening task, which included short clips of personally selected music from the patient's past and newly-composed music heard for the first time 60 minutes before scanning.

An enhanced delayed recognition measure for the Logical Memory subtest of the Wechsler Memory Scale - IV.

We provide a supplemental measure based on the Logical Memory (LM) subtest of the Wechsler Memory Scale - IV (Wechsler, 2008) to assist in distinguishing deficient memory storage from compromised retrieval operations. A 20-item five-option multiple choice delayed recognition test for the LM stories is described, followed by descriptive data based on a normative sample of 273 neuropsychologically normal outpatient referrals to a neuropsychology clinic. The analysis indicated that about 43% to 48% of the neuropsychology referrals exhibited retrieval difficulties and were able to store more information in long-term memory than they were able to retrieve on the delayed free recall trial.

Depressive symptoms as a factor in neuropsychological test performance: MMPI-2 and selected tests of the Halstead-Reitan/Halstead-Russell Battery.

The potential impact of depressive symptoms on neuropsychological test performance has been studied extensively yielding mixed results. Self-report depression inventories have been most often used, without a means to screen participants for response bias. Studies have also neglected to screen participants for incomplete effort in testing.