Current Alzheimer Research - Volume 12, Issue 3, 2015

Aging-related major neurocognitive disorder (NCD), formerly named dementia, comprises of the different acquired diseases whose primary deficit is impairment in cognitive functions such as complex attention, executive function, learning and memory, language, perceptual/motor skills, and social cognition, and that are related to specific brain regions and/or networks. According to its etiology, the most common subtypes of Read More

Having a family history of Alzheimer’ s disease (AD) may potentiate cumulative risk associated with phenotypic expression of the ε-4 allele of the apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene. In this study, we compared the genotype distribution and allele frequencies of APOE ε-2 (rs7412) and ε -4 (rs429358) in 537 South African individuals participating in a chronic disease screening program, in order to establish whether AD family history mo Read More

APOE ε4 allele is a major risk factor in Late-Onset Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). Distinct phenotypes that depend on the APOE ε4 status have been demonstrated. The genetic etiology of APOE ε4 non-carriers is still elusive. Thus we investigated the genetic components of AD that is independent of APOE ε4 by combining genome association analysis with quantitative trait analyses in non-Hispanic Caucasian participants in the Alzh Read More

Objective: Recently, candidate genetic studies revealed the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of CUGBP2 (rs2242451) and DNMBP (rs11190305 and rs3740058) associated with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Due to genetic heterogeneity and different ethnic background, the purpose of our study was to confirm the association between these 3 SNPs with AD risk in the Chinese Han population. Methods: We investigated Read More

Previous studies have suggested that mild cognitive impairment (MCI) may be reflective of the early stages of neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The hypothesis was that cytokeratin (CK) 14 expression can be used as a biomarker in isolated buccal mucosa to identify individuals with MCI or AD from the Australian Imaging, Biomarkers and Lifestyle (AIBL) flagship study of aging. Visual assessment of buc Read More

Objective: Multiple lines of evidence indicate that pathological accumulation of amyloid beta (Aβ) peptide in the brain is linked to the pathophysiology of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Removal of Aβ from the brain by binding to anti-Aβ specific antibodies is under active investigation. Vaccination with a full-length Aβ42 peptide (AN1792) successfully elicited anti-Aβ antibodies in human subjects with AD, but was associat Read More

Previous studies have demonstrated that Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) exhibited anatomical and functional abnormalities in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and accumulating evidence supported the hypothesis that changes in the ACC predict the progression from aMCI to AD. In this study, we aimed to explore how the two functional and structural heterogeneous sub-re Read More

The current study aimed to assess the relationship between the neuropsychiatric symptoms in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and the regional grey matter (GM) volume using voxel based morphometry (VBM). Data of 85 AD patients, 208 subjects with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and 131 healthy controls were selected from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. Individual VBM models across the entire sample fo Read More

11C-Pittsburgh compound B (PiB) uptake in PET images is frequently used to analyze β amyloid (Aβ) deposition in living individuals, but its correlation with histologically determined Aβ has not been examined. Six individuals with dementia underwent PiB-PET imaging, and their brains were analyzed neuropathologically (mean interval between imaging and death: 816 days; PiB positive:negative, 3:3; male:female, 3:3; m Read More

Background: Stroke is a major cause of disability in the elderly and considerably increases the risk of dementia, which is another important source of disability. This population-based study aimed to examine the risk of dementia in patients with stroke compared with non-stroke cases with similar comorbidities. Methods: Using the Taiwan National Health Insurance databank covering the period 2001-2007, this retrospective cohort s Read More