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40/100

✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 40 out of 100. Brain scans and imaging

Topic: Amyloid, tau and blood-test diagnosis

Plain-language summary

Objective To test the hypothesis that beta-amyloid (Abeta) burden is associated with rates of brain atrophy. Methods Forty-five subjects who had been prospectively studied, died, and had an autopsy diagnosis of low, intermediate, or high probability of Alzheimer's disease who had two volumetric head magnetic resonance imaging scans were identified. Compact and total (compact + diffuse) Abeta burden was measured using a computerized image analyzer with software program to detect the proportion of gray matter occupied by Abeta. Visual ratings of Abeta burden were also performed. The boundary shift integral was used to calculate change over time in whole-brain and ventricular volume. All boundary shift integral results were annualized by adjusting for scan interval. Demographics, cognitive measures, clinical diagnoses, apolipoprotein E genotype, neurofibrillary tangle (NFT) pathology, and vascular lesion burden were determined. Results There was no correlation between compact or total Abeta burden, or visual Abeta ratings, and rates of brain loss or ventricular expansion in all subjects. However, significant correlations were observed between rates of brain loss and age, Braak NFT stage, and change over time in cognitive measures. These features also correlated with rates of ventricular expansion. The rates of brain loss and ventricular expansion were greater in demented compared with nondemented subjects. Interpretation These findings suggest that rate of brain volume loss is not determined by the amount of insoluble Abeta in the gray matter.

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APA 7th

Josephs, K. A., Whitwell, J. L., Ahmed, Z., Shiung, M. M., Weigand, S. D., Knopman, D. S., et al. (2008). Beta-amyloid burden is not associated with rates of brain atrophy. Annals of neurology. https://doi.org/10.1002/ana.21223

Vancouver

Josephs KA, Whitwell JL, Ahmed Z, Shiung MM, Weigand SD, Knopman DS, et al. Beta-amyloid burden is not associated with rates of brain atrophy. Annals of neurology. 2008. doi:10.1002/ana.21223. PMID: 17894374.

BibTeX

@article{josephs2008-17894374,
  author  = {Josephs, K. A. and Whitwell, J. L. and Ahmed, Z. and Shiung, M. M. and Weigand, S. D. and Knopman, D. S. and Boeve, B. F. and Parisi, J. E. and others},
  title   = {{Beta-amyloid burden is not associated with rates of brain atrophy}},
  journal = {Annals of neurology},
  year    = {2008},
  doi     = {10.1002/ana.21223},
  pmid    = {17894374},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.1002/ana.21223}
}

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Effect: the record gives no effect size, so the summary above cannot say how large any difference was.

What the evidence grade means here

This page is graded low. alzhub.org assigns the grade automatically from keywords in the abstract, not from reading the paper. Low means the abstract matched neither pattern. It is the default label, and it does not mean the work is poor; many sound lab and imaging papers land here. It can add at most 5 of the 100 points in the study score, and it is a label about design, not a verdict on whether the findings are true.

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Key findings

Objective To test the hypothesis that beta-amyloid (Abeta) burden is associated with rates of brain atrophy.
All boundary shift integral results were annualized by adjusting for scan interval.
Results There was no correlation between compact or total Abeta burden, or visual Abeta ratings, and rates of brain loss or ventricular expansion in all subjects.
However, significant correlations were observed between rates of brain loss and age, Braak NFT stage, and change over time in cognitive measures.
The rates of brain loss and ventricular expansion were greater in demented compared with nondemented subjects.

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Study details

Evidence strengthLow

How this study scored 40/100

Published in a leading specialty journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, effect reported, studied in people and randomized / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on journal's citation record, times cited, citations per year, impact for its field and year, cited by studies here, still being cited, senior author's track record, institution's track record and multicenter collaboration, so those were left out: it earned 23 of the 58 points we could judge it on, which is 40 out of 100.

Component	Points	Why
Journal tier	9 / 10	Tier 2 — leading specialty journal (Annals of neurology)
Journal's citation record	— / 4	No journal record from OpenAlex — left out of this score
Study design	0 / 12	No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Strength of evidence	1 / 5	Rated “low” in our summary
Peer-review validation	10 / 10	Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal.
How recent	1 / 5	2008 — within 20 year(s) of the newest study here
Sample size	0 / 4	Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Effect reported	0 / 3	No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Studied in people	0 / 3	Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Randomized / blinded	0 / 2	No randomization or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Times cited	— / 7	No citation count (not found in OpenAlex) — left out of this score
Citations per year	— / 5	No citation count or no year — left out of this score
Impact for its field and year	— / 6	No field-weighted citation impact (OpenAlex has none yet) — left out of this score
Cited by studies here	— / 6	Not yet checked against this library's citation graph — left out of this score
Still being cited	— / 4	No yearly citation counts — left out of this score
Senior author's track record	— / 4	Senior author's record not available — left out of this score
Institution's track record	— / 3	No institution listed in OpenAlex — left out of this score
Multicenter collaboration	— / 3	Institutions not listed — left out of this score
Indexed in PubMed	2 / 2	Indexed in PubMed (PMID 17894374)
Free to read	0 / 2	Behind a paywall — scores zero
Points	23 / 58	Scored on 11 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 23 of the 58 points we could judge it on is 40 out of 100.
Total	40 / 100	—

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