Journal of Alzheimer's Disease - Volume 40, issue 2

Authors: Rosa, Maria Inês | Perucchi, Josmar | Medeiros, Lidia Rosi | Fernandes, Bruna | Fernandes dos Reis, Maria Eduarda | Silva, Bruno Rosa

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: Background: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia, accounting for 65–70% of all dementia cases. Objective: We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to estimate the accuracy of cerebrospinal fluid Aβ1-42 for the diagnosis of AD. A comprehensive search of the Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, LILACS, Grey literature, and EMBASE was performed for papers published from January 1990 to August 2013. The following Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms were searched: “Alzheimer disease” or “AD” and “amyloid-β” or “Aβ1-42 ”. Methods: We included case-control and cross-sectional studies, prospective or retrospective, that evaluated Aβ1-42 …levels in AD. Statistical analysis was performed using REVMAN 5.2, Meta Disc, and Stata 11.0. Results: A total of 804 citations were identified by the search strategy and 41 studies were included. Meta-analysis showed a sensitivity of 84.3% (95% CI: 85.6%–81%) and specificity of 79.4% (95% CI: 77.6%–81.1%). The diagnostic odds ratio was 28.9 (95% CI: 21.2–39.5). Conclusion: Our study demonstrated that Aβ1-42 can discriminate AD from controls with good sensitivity and specificity. Show more

Keywords: Aβ1-42, Alzheimer's disease, meta-analyses, systematic review

DOI: 10.3233/JAD-132264

Citation: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, vol. 40, no. 2, pp. 443-454, 2014

Authors: Boccia, Maddalena | Silveri, Maria Caterina | Guariglia, Cecilia

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: In the past two decades research has highlighted how implicit memory processes are spared in degenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), which are characterized by the early onset of explicit memory deficits. However, according to recent studies, there may be dissociations among different types of implicit memory. Although several studies have shown selective sparing of lexical priming in AD, it is not completely clear what happens to other types of implicit memory processes, such as visuo-perceptual priming. The present study examines the possibility that the visuo-perceptual priming effect is spared in AD. We tested two groups of participants, i.e., …a group of AD patients and a group of healthy age-matched controls, using a visuo-perceptual priming task. The task required the identification of fragmented pictures. Results showed a deficient priming effect in AD patients when it was measured by an Identification of Fragmented Pictures task. We discuss our results in light of the current hypothesis of a functional segregation in priming processes. Show more

Keywords: Alzheimer's disease, implicit memory, neuropsychology, normal aging, visuo-perceptive priming

DOI: 10.3233/JAD-131775

Citation: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, vol. 40, no. 2, pp. 455-463, 2014

Authors: Romero, Juan Pablo | Benito-León, Julián | Louis, Elan D. | Bermejo-Pareja, Félix

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: Previous studies have shown that Alzheimer's disease (AD) is associated with a reduced risk of cancer. However, most studies exclude those with undiagnosed dementia. The only way to overcome this methodological issue is to examine all the participants or to screen the population for symptoms of dementia with a validated instrument and confirm any suspected dementia patients with a clinical examination (i.e., a two-phase investigation method). We used this methodology to estimate whether cancer-specific mortality is associated with AD and other types of dementia in a prospective population-based study (NEDICES) involving 5,278 elderly people. Community-dwelling subjects with and without dementia …were identified and followed for a median of 12.5 years, after which the death certificates of those who deceased were examined. A total of 1,976 (47.1%) died, including 277 who had possible or probable AD and 126 with non-AD dementia. Cancer was reported significantly less often in those with possible or probable AD (5.8%) or non-AD dementia (6.3%) than in those without dementia (26.5%). In an unadjusted Cox model, hazard ratio (HR) of cancer-specific mortality in participants with AD = 0.45 (p = 0.002) and HR in participants with non-AD dementia = 0.62 (p = 0.179) when compared to the non-demented group. In a Cox model that adjusted for a variety of demographic factors and co-morbidities, HRs of cancer-specific mortality in participants with AD = 0.50 (p = 0.028) and 0.97 (p = 0.942) in non-AD dementia. This study provides further evidence of an inverse association between cancer and AD. Show more

Keywords: Cancer, death certificates, dementia, elderly, epidemiology, population-based study

DOI: 10.3233/JAD-132048

Citation: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, vol. 40, no. 2, pp. 465-473, 2014

Article Type: Correction

Abstract: Erratum to: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease 38(4), 2014, 857-866, DOI 10.3233/JAD-13121

DOI: 10.3233/JAD-149001

Citation: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, vol. 40, no. 2, pp. 475-475, 2014

Article Type: Other

DOI: 10.3233/JAD-132049

Citation: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, vol. 40, no. 2, pp. 477-479, 2014