Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD
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Emotional blunting is a characteristic feature of behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) and can help discriminate between patients with bvFTD and other forms of younger-onset dementia. ⋯ Symptoms of emotional blunting were more prevalent in bvFTD than early-onset AD patients. These symptoms were particularly associated with right-sided atrophy, with significant involvement of the right anterior temporal region. Based on these findings, the SEB appears to measure symptoms of emotional blunting that are localized to the right anterior temporal lobe.
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Silent or asymptomatic lacunar infarcts (LACI) are common in elderly individuals, but it remains largely unclear how these often neglected silent brain infarcts lead to multiple domain cognitive deficits and even Alzheimer's disease (AD). In this study, we investigated the difference between patients with silent LACI in basal ganglia region and healthy controls for the structural and functional changes in the aspects of alterations of gray matter (GM) volume and intra-/inter-default mode network (DMN) and salience network (SN) connectivity. Thirty patients with silent LACI in the basal ganglia region and thirty healthy controls participated in the study. ⋯ The connectivity within and between two networks was also reduced in patients. Importantly, the disrupted connectivity correlated with the patients' cognitive performance. Our findings support the hypothesis that silent lacunar infarcts result in cognitive decline, GM, and functional connectivity loss.
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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. ⋯ Only three variants, R47H, H157Y, and L211P, were polymorphic (range of minor allele frequency [MAF], 0.0002-0.0059); however, no significant association with LOAD was observed in these variants. Considering low MAF of variants examined and our study sample size, further genetic analysis with a larger sample set is needed to firmly evaluate whether or not TREM2 is associated with LOAD in Japanese.
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Review
Influence of anesthetics on Alzheimer's disease: biophysical, animal model, and clinical reports.
Since the finding in the 1880 s that elderly patients may experience cognitive decline following surgery, the search for an understanding of this phenomenon has been underway. In the last decade, evidence from biophysical (light scattering and nuclear magnetic resonance), in vitro, in vivo animal studies, retrospective evaluations of human registries, and recently prospective randomized trials have explored the idea that various anesthetic agents play a role in this phenomenon by interacting with the biochemical mechanisms that are also responsible for the development of Alzheimer's disease. In the current review, we examine the evidence available and conclude that there is significant evidence to suggest an important role for this mechanism.
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To determine whether jugular venous reflux (JVR) is associated with cerebral white matter changes (WMCs) in individuals with Alzheimer's disease (AD), we studied 12 AD patients 24 mild cognitive impairment (MCI) patients, and 17 elderly age- and gender-matched controls. Duplex ultrasonography and 1.5T MRI scanning was applied to quantify cerebral WMCs [T2 white matter (WM) lesion and dirty-appearing-white-matter (DAWM)]. Subjects with severe JVR had more frequently hypertension (p = 0.044), more severe WMC, including increased total (p = 0.047) and periventricular DAWM volumes (p = 0.008), and a trend for increased cerebrospinal fluid volumes (p = 0.067) compared with the other groups. ⋯ These JVR-WMC association patterns were not seen in the control and MCI groups. Therefore, this pilot study suggests that there may be an association between JVR and WMCs in AD patients, implying that cerebral venous outflow impairment might play a role in the dynamics of WMCs formation in AD patients, particularly in the periventricular regions. Further longitudinal studies are needed to confirm and validate our findings.