Newest studies

The worldwide challenge of the dementias: a role for B vitamins and homocysteine?

59/100 ✓ Peer-reviewed Prevention and risk Food and nutrition bulletin

Key finding: Seventy-seven cross-sectional studies on more than 34,000 subjects and 33 prospective studies on more than 12,000 subjects have shown associations between cognitive deficit or dementia and homocysteine and/or B vitamins. +4 more findings

• Lifestyle

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Cardiovascular risk factors and dementia

46/100 ✓ Peer-reviewed Prevention and risk The American journal of geriatric pharmacotherapy

Key finding: From a clinical perspective, these data further support the rationale for physicians to provide effective management of CVD risk factors and for patients to be compliant with such recommendations to possibly prevent cognitive decline/dementia. +3 more findings

• Risk Factors
• Clinical Trials
• Prevention

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Effects of donepezil on verbal memory after semantic processing in healthy older adults

56/100 ✓ Peer-reviewed Treatments Cognitive and behavioral neurology : official journal of the Society for Behavioral and Cognitive Neurology

Key finding: Our results suggest that when using semantic encoding, older normal subjects may be aided by anticholinesterase treatment. +3 more findings

• Treatments
• Clinical Trials

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Methylphenidate for the treatment of apathy in Alzheimer disease: prediction of response using dextroamphetamine challenge

63/100 ✓ Peer-reviewed Treatments Journal of clinical psychopharmacology

Key finding: Apathy in AD and non-AD populations has been associated with dysfunction in the dopaminergic brain reward system, suggesting that pharmacotherapeutic targeting of this system may be an effective treatment for apathy in AD. +3 more findings

• Treatments
• Clinical Trials

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Effects of docosahexaenoic acid-rich n-3 fatty acid supplementation on cytokine release from blood mononuclear leukocytes: the OmegAD study

62/100 ✓ Peer-reviewed Treatments The American journal of clinical nutrition

Key finding: AD patients treated with DHA-rich n-3 FAs supplementation increased their plasma concentrations of DHA (and EPA), which were associated with reduced release of IL-1beta, IL-6, and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor from PBMCs. +4 more findings

• Clinical Trials

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EGCG redirects amyloidogenic polypeptides into unstructured, off-pathway oligomers

36/100 ✓ Peer-reviewed Brain tissue and pathology Nature structural & molecular biology

Key finding: The accumulation of beta-sheet-rich amyloid fibrils or aggregates is a complex, multistep process that is associated with cellular toxicity in a number of human protein misfolding disorders, including Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases.

• Brain Biology

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Toll-like receptor 4-dependent upregulation of cytokines in a transgenic mouse model of Alzheimer's disease

40/100 ✓ Peer-reviewed Biomarkers Journal of neuroinflammation

Key finding: This is the first demonstration of TLR4-dependent upregulation of cytokines in an AD mouse model. +4 more findings

• Brain Biology

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TDP-43 protein in plasma may index TDP-43 brain pathology in Alzheimer's disease and frontotemporal lobar degeneration

43/100 ✓ Peer-reviewed Disease mechanisms Acta neuropathologica

Key finding: Autopsy studies have shown that about 55% of patients with frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) and 25% of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) harbour TDP-43 immunoreactive pathological changes in their brains. +2 more findings

• Brain Biology
• Other Dementias

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Biochemical markers in persons with preclinical familial Alzheimer disease

54/100 ✓ Peer-reviewed Risk genes beyond APOE Neurology

Key finding: Persons at risk for familial Alzheimer disease (FAD) provide a model in which biomarkers can be studied in presymptomatic disease. +3 more findings

• Genetics

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Overexpression of Dyrk1A contributes to neurofibrillary degeneration in Down syndrome

46/100 ✓ Peer-reviewed Down syndrome and Alzheimer's FASEB journal : official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology

Key finding: These findings strongly suggest a novel mechanism by which the overexpression of Dyrk1A in DS brain causes neurofibrillary degeneration via hyperphosphorylating tau.

• Down Syndrome
• Brain Biology

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CSF beta-amyloid 1-42 and tau in Tunisian patients with Alzheimer's disease: the effect of APOE epsilon4 allele

39/100 ✓ Peer-reviewed Tau biomarkers Neuroscience letters

Key finding: Currently, no definitive diagnostic test for AD exists. +3 more findings

• Biomarkers
• Genetics

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Brain tissue volumes in relation to cognitive function and risk of dementia

60/100 ✓ Peer-reviewed Hippocampus size on brain scans Neurobiology of aging

Key finding: Larger volumes of CSF and WML were associated with worse performance on all neuropsychological tests, and an increased risk of dementia. +2 more findings

• Risk Factors
• Brain Scans

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Healthcare costs and utilization for Medicare beneficiaries with Alzheimer's

55/100 ✓ Peer-reviewed Costs and economics BMC health services research

Key finding: Patients with AD have significantly more co-morbid medical conditions and higher healthcare costs and utilization than demographically-matched Medicare beneficiaries. +4 more findings

• Policy

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The effects of environmental neurotoxicants on the dopaminergic system: A possible role in drug addiction

36/100 ✓ Peer-reviewed Risk factors Biochemical pharmacology

Key finding: Exposure to the heavy metal lead enhances dopaminergic activity and has been associated with attention deficits, Alzheimer's disease, and increased drug sensitivity. +1 more finding

• Treatments

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Clearance and deposition of extracellular alpha-synuclein aggregates in microglia

43/100 ✓ Peer-reviewed Inflammation and the immune system Biochemical and biophysical research communications

Key finding: Recently, evidence has emerged that this protein and its aggregates are secreted from neuronal cells, and this extracellular protein may contribute to the pathogenic process. +3 more findings

• Brain Biology
• Other Dementias

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Evaluation of plasma Abeta(40) and Abeta(42) as predictors of conversion to Alzheimer's disease in patients with mild cognitive impairment

41/100 ✓ Peer-reviewed Mild cognitive impairment Neurobiology of aging

Key finding: In contrast, low levels of Abeta(1-42) in CSF were strongly associated with increased risk of future AD. +1 more finding

• Early Stage
• Biomarkers

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Enhanced oxidative stress is an early event during development of Alzheimer-like pathologies in presenilin conditional knock-out mice

37/100 ✓ Peer-reviewed Biomarkers Neuroscience letters

Key finding: Lipid peroxidation (MDA as the measure) and protein oxidation (protein carbonyl as the measure) were found to be significantly increased in PS cDKO mice over the age points examined, notably in those at 2-month, suggesting that oxidative stress is an early event in response to PS loss-of-function. +2 more findings

• Brain Biology
• Genetics

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Assessment of pain

36/100 ✓ Peer-reviewed Risk factors British journal of anaesthesia

Key finding: Valid and reliable assessment of pain is essential for both clinical trials and effective pain management. +4 more findings

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Notch signaling regulates platelet-derived growth factor receptor-beta expression in vascular smooth muscle cells

36/100 ✓ Peer-reviewed Vascular contributions Circulation research

Key finding: Notch signaling is critically important for proper architecture of the vascular system, and mutations in NOTCH3 are associated with CADASIL, a stroke and dementia syndrome with vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) dysfunction. +1 more finding

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Curcuminoids inhibit multiple human cytochromes P450, UDP-glucuronosyltransferase, and sulfotransferase enzymes, whereas piperine is a relatively selective CYP3A4 inhibitor

36/100 ✓ Peer-reviewed Disease mechanisms Drug metabolism and disposition: the biological fate of chemicals

Key finding: Piperine was a relatively selective noncompetitive inhibitor of CYP3A (IC(50) 5.5 +/- 0.7 microM, K(i) = 5.4 +/- 0.3 microM) with less effect on other enzymes evaluated (IC(50) > 29 microM). +4 more findings

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Ultrasound enhanced delivery of molecular imaging and therapeutic agents in Alzheimer's disease mouse models

40/100 ✓ Peer-reviewed Treatments PloS one

Key finding: MRI guidance permitted selective treatment and monitoring of plaque-heavy anatomical regions, such as the hippocampus. +4 more findings

• Treatments
• Brain Biology
• Brain Scans

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Multiplicity of cerebrospinal fluid functions: New challenges in health and disease

40/100 ✓ Peer-reviewed Tau biomarkers Cerebrospinal fluid research

Key finding: Accordingly the altered CSF composition in neurodegenerative diseases and senescence, because of adverse effects on neural processes and cognition, needs more effective clinical management. +3 more findings

• Biomarkers

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The accuracy of the MMSE in detecting cognitive impairment when administered by general practitioners: a prospective observational study

44/100 ✓ Peer-reviewed Cognitive tests and assessment BMC family practice

Key finding: The Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) has contributed to detecting cognitive impairment, yet few studies have evaluated its accuracy when used by general practitioners (GP) in an actual public-health setting. +2 more findings

• Diagnosis

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Invited Article: Nervous system pathology in sporadic Parkinson disease

40/100 ✓ Peer-reviewed Brain tissue and pathology Neurology

Sporadic Parkinson disease (PD) is, after Alzheimer disease (AD), the second most frequent neurodegenerative disorder.1 The pathologic process in PD is progressive and takes years to reach its full extent.

• Other Dementias
• Brain Biology

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Integrating palliative medicine into the care of persons with advanced dementia: identifying appropriate medication use

44/100 ✓ Peer-reviewed End-of-life care Journal of the American Geriatrics Society

Key finding: Based on these preliminary findings, consensus criteria for prescribing in advanced dementia are needed to decrease polypharmacy and reduce the use of medications that are of minimal benefit or high risk. +1 more finding

• End-of-Life Care
• Treatments

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