Current Alzheimer Research - Volume 2, Issue 5, 2005

During normal development of the nervous system, a major reduction occurs in the initially excessive number of neurons and synapses. This "pruning" process is heavily influenced by patterns of electrical activity in the synaptic circuits being pruned. Many of the cell biological and molecular mechanisms involved in this activity-dependent modification of nervous system structure and function have been explicated, Read More

Programmed cell death (PCD) also called apoptosis, is a normal and genetically controlled event that could play, when mis-regulated, a pivotal role in the development of several neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's disease. Sporadic Alzheimer's disease is one of the most prominent age-related syndromes whose etiology, although still unknown, could be related to biochemical or environmental causes. A few cases of Read More

Early stage Alzheimer disease patients and matched elderly unaffected controls (n=16/group) were evaluated with the P300 event-related brain potential (ERP). All subjects performed four oddball tasks that varied systematically in task difficulty and were each presented in the auditory and visual modalities. P300 amplitude was smaller and peak latency longer for the Alzheimer patients compared to elderly control subjects a Read More

Cholesterol clearly plays an influential role in promoting the production of amyloid β (Aβ) and possibly the progression of Alzheimer's Disease (AD). The AD Cholesterol-Lowering Treatment trial (ADCLT; 1 year duration) tested atorvastatin and found significant benefit on measures of cognition and depressive symptoms in treated patients (N=32) compared to placebo (N=31). We assessed the circulating levels of Aβ1-40, Aβ1-42 Read More

Context: Previous studies of Ginkgo biloba extract (GbE) in patients with various forms of cognitive impairment or dementia have shown promising results. Objective: To determine the clinical efficacy of GbE in mild to moderate dementia of the Alzheimer type. Design: Randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, parallel-group, multicenter trial. Setting: Outpatient clinics of universities and private research centers specializ Read More

OBJECTIVE: The Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study (ADCS) is conducting a clinical trial to address whether chronic valproate treatment can delay emergence of behavioral symptoms in outpatients with AD. Since there were no data on the safety and tolerability of divalproex sodium in outpatients with dementia, we undertook a pilot study to inform the design of the ADCS study. METHODS: We recruited 20 outpatients wi Read More

Novel experiments with Ultrasound Associated with High Frequency Electromagnetic Field (UAHFEMF) irradiation on rats and mice found evidences of characteristic Alzheimer's disease (AD) degenerations including neurite plaques, beta-amyloid, TAU plaque and deposition in cells, Neuro-Fibrillary Tangle and Paired Helical Filament (PHF) with rats and mice irradiated up to 2454 hours. Concomitant passive avoidance test w Read More

To compare differences in evolutionary progressions from Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) to dementia of Alzheimer's type (DAT) or to vascular dementia (VaD) versus normal aging, subjects identified as MCI or as cognitively normal (CN) during standard cognitive evaluations among a large epidemiological study designed to determine prevalence and incidence of dementia and its major subtypes in Beijing, China were re-exa Read More

Background and Objectives: Mild Cognitive Impairments (MCIs) are identifiable clinical entities, in neurodegenerative forms, as prodromal for Alzheimer's type (DAT) or in vascular forms, as prodromal for vascular dementia (VaD). The present longitudinal study compares and contrasts MRI abnormalities among MCI subjects as they progress to DAT versus VaD. Subjects converting to DAT and VaD confirmed ultimate diagnosi Read More