A new test has been developed that measures amyloid-beta oligomers in the cerebrospinal fluid, promising a reliable means of early diagnosis. In a comparison of patients with Alzheimer’s, patients with MCI that later developed into Alzheimer’s, and controls, levels of these protein fragments directly correlated with Alzheimer’s, and was more accurate than levels of the more usual amyloid plaques.
New test to diagnose early stage Alzheimer's disease
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Late-life depression increases dementia risk
Late-life depression is associated with an increased risk for all-cause dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, and, most predominantly, vascular dementia, a new study shows.
A new meta-analysis extends previous research showing a link between depression and Alzheimer’s disease to late-life depression and dementia. The analysis of 23 studies concluded that those with late-life depression were significantly more likely to develop dementia (1.85 times more likely), and that the risk of developing vascular dementia was significantly greater than that of developing Alzheimer’s (2.52 vs 1.65).
Alzheimer's disease symptoms more subtle in people over 80
A study involving 105 people with Alzheimer's disease and 125 healthy older adults has compared cognitive function and brain shrinkage in those aged 60-75 and those aged 80+.
Diagnosis and prevalence of dementia & MCI — recent reports
Functional impairment good indicator of mild cognitive impairment
Alzheimer's diagnostic guidelines updated
For the first time in 27 years, clinical diagnostic criteria for Alzheimer's disease dementia have been revised, and research guidelines updated. They mark a major change in how experts think about and study Alzheimer's disease.
The updated guidelines now cover three distinct stages of Alzheimer's disease:
Review confirms early diagnosis tool
A survey of more than 100 studies involving PIB-PET, a diagnostic tool that involves injecting a radiotracer called Pittsburgh compound B into the brain via the bloodstream, and imaging the brain with positron emission tomography (PET), has confirmed its sensitivity in detecting amyloid-beta protein plaques. The tool is not yet commercially available. The study also provides strong evidence supporting the theory that accumulation of amyloid-beta protein plaques in the brain is central to the development of Alzheimer’s.
Down Syndrome risk of Alzheimer’s connected to white matter integrity
Brain scans of 10 persons with Down syndrome but no dementia, 10 persons with Down syndrome and dementia, and 10 healthy controls, have revealed a linear correlation between cognitive ability and compromised white matter connections in the frontal lobes among those with Down syndrome. Those with higher cognitive ability and motor skill coordination had healthier white matter integrity, and those with additional dementia showed the most deterioration.
Adults with Down Syndrome are known to be at high risk of developing Alzheimer’s after age 40.
‘Lopsided’ test scores may predict Alzheimer’s sooner
Cognitive testing for dementia has a problem in that low scores on some tests may simply reflect a person's weakness in some cognitive areas, or the presence of a relatively benign form of mild cognitive impairment (one that is not going to progress to dementia). A 2008 study found that one of every six healthy adults scored poorly on two or more of 10 tests in a brief cognitive battery. Following this up, the same researchers now show that a more holistic view might separate those who are on the path to dementia from those who are not.
New biomarkers for early Alzheimer's diagnosis
Analysis of 40 spinal marrow samples, 20 of which belonged to Alzheimer’s patients, has identified six proteins in spinal fluid that can be used as markers for Alzheimer's. The analysis focused on 35 proteins that are associated with the lysosomal network — involved in cleaning and recycling beta amyloid. None of the six proteins had previously been linked to Alzheimer’s.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-10/lu-ast102313.php
Early detection and treatment of Alzheimer's makes a difference
A Finnish project (ALSOVA) has been following 240 patient-caregiver pairs, where the patient had very mild or mild Alzheimer's disease at the beginning of the study and had a family caregiver. A three-year follow-up of 115 patients has found that those diagnosed and treated very early were able to manage their everyday activities longer and suffered from less psychological and behavioral symptoms, compared to those diagnosed later.
Brain changes linked with Alzheimer's years before symptoms appear
A very long-running study involving 290 people at risk of Alzheimer's has found that, in those 81 people who developed MCI or dementia, subtle changes in cognitive test scores were evident 11 to 15 years before the onset of clear cognitive impairment. They also showed increases in the rate of change of tau protein in cerebrospinal fluid an average of 34.4 years (for t-tau, or total Tau) and 13 years (for a modified version called p-tau) before the beginning of cognitive impairment.
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