Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD
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The overlap between frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and primary psychiatric disorders has been brought to light by reports of prominent neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) in FTD-related genetic mutations, particularly among C9orf72 and GRN carriers. It has been recently demonstrated that early neuroanatomical changes in genetic FTD may be different across the major disease-causing mutations. ⋯ Neuroanatomical correlates of NPS appear to be distinct across the main forms of genetic FTD. Overall, our findings support overlapping brain structural changes between FTD and primary psychiatric disorders.
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Neuroimaging techniques have demonstrated over the years their ability to characterize the brain abnormalities associated with different neurodegenerative diseases. Among all these techniques, magnetoencephalography (MEG) stands out by its high temporal resolution and noninvasiveness. The aim of the present study is to explore the coupling patterns of resting-state MEG activity in subjects with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). ⋯ However, only Granger causality revealed statistically significant differences between groups (p-values < 0.05, FDR corrected Mann-Whitney U-test), mainly in the beta band. Our results support the role of MCI as a disconnection syndrome, which elicits early alterations in effective connectivity patterns. These findings can be helpful to identify the neural substrates involved in prodromal stages of dementia.
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Chronic neuroinflammation has been implicated in Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology. ⋯ CSF CCL2 levels are associated with the degree of medial temporal lobe and gray matter atrophy, and cognitive decline in AD.
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Studies on subjective cognitive impairment (SCI) and neural activation report controversial results. ⋯ These preliminary findings suggest that the amplitude of N170 elicited after negative facial stimuli could be modulated by the decline related to pathological cognitive aging and can contribute in distinguishing HC from SCI, MCI, and AD.
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The phenomena of severe agitation is not well understood and often not adequately treated. ⋯ Severe agitation in nursing home residents with dementia is a relevant clinical issue as approximately 70% of residents have a dementia. Residents with elation/euphoria and delusions may have a stronger risk of showing severe agitation. We consider delusions as a possible cause of agitation and therefore a prelude to agitation. Although it might be possible that elation/euphoria follows from agitation, we hypothesize that the residents first experience elation/ euphoria and exhibit agitation afterwards.