Hell J Nucl Med
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The objective of this study was to examine sedation practices for paediatric nuclear medicine examinations. ⋯ The sedation practices varied considerably among Danish nuclear medicine departments. The sedation of children in clinical practice seemed to be more prevalent than is recommended by guidelines.
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Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of irreversible dementia, affecting mostly the presenile and senile age, shaping a tragic profile in the epilogue of the life of the suffering people. Due to the severity and the social impact of the disease an ongoing research activity is in climax nowadays, associated with many legal, social, ethical, humanitarian, philosophical and economic considerations. From the neuropathological point of view the disease is characterized by dendritic pathology, loss of synapses and dendritic spines, affecting mostly selective neuronal networks of critical importance for memory and cognition, such as the basal forebrain cholinergic system, the medial temporal regions, the hippocampus and many neocortical association areas. ⋯ Pericytes may serve as integrators, coordinators and effectors of blood-brain barrier structure and maintenance, and play a key role in microvascular stability, capillary density and angiogenesis. The correlation between AD pathology and vascular pathology, at the level of brain capillaries and BBB, raises the rational question, whether the efficient treatment of the vascular factor might be beneficial for the patients who suffer from AD. It is reasonable that any protection of the brain capillaries at the initial stages of the disease might contribute in the abbreviation of the long chain of pathological alteration, which occur following the disruption of the BBB, which serves as the essential interface between the vascular system and the brain.