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35/100

✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 35 out of 100. Tau biomarkers

Topic: Amyloid, tau and blood-test diagnosis

Plain-language summary

Background Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) amyloid-beta (Aβ) 42/40 ratio, threonine-181-phosphorylated-tau (p-tau), and total-tau (t-tau) represent core biomarkers of Alzheimer disease (AD). The recent availability of automated platforms has represented a significant achievement for reducing the pre-analytical variability of these determinations in clinical setting. With respect to classical manual ELISAs, these platforms give us also the possibility to measure any single sample and to get the result within approximately 30 min.

What this study adds

Evidence grade: Low

This work checked whether Alzheimer's biomarker values measured in fresh spinal fluid samples match those measured in frozen samples. It is a laboratory methods question about testing, with no bearing on treating or curing the disease.

Taken from this record’s own fields, not from reading the paper. The grade is assigned from the abstract’s wording; what that means.

Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris

APA 7th

Bellomo, G., Cataldi, S., Paciotti, S., Paolini Paoletti, F., Chiasserini, D., & Parnetti, L. (2020). Measurement of CSF core Alzheimer disease biomarkers for routine clinical diagnosis: do fresh vs frozen samples differ? Alzheimer's research & therapy. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13195-020-00689-0

Vancouver

Bellomo G, Cataldi S, Paciotti S, Paolini Paoletti F, Chiasserini D, Parnetti L. Measurement of CSF core Alzheimer disease biomarkers for routine clinical diagnosis: do fresh vs frozen samples differ? Alzheimer's research & therapy. 2020. doi:10.1186/s13195-020-00689-0. PMID: 32993776.

BibTeX

@article{bellomo2020-32993776,
  author  = {Bellomo, G. and Cataldi, S. and Paciotti, S. and Paolini Paoletti, F. and Chiasserini, D. and Parnetti, L.},
  title   = {{Measurement of CSF core Alzheimer disease biomarkers for routine clinical diagnosis: do fresh vs frozen samples differ?}},
  journal = {Alzheimer's research \& therapy},
  year    = {2020},
  doi     = {10.1186/s13195-020-00689-0},
  pmid    = {32993776},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.1186/s13195-020-00689-0}
}

Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. Check the citation against the original before you use it.

How to read this study

Design: our record does not state a study design, so check the methods section of the original before weighing the result.
Size: the record gives no participant count. Look for one in the original before trusting a pattern.
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.

New to reading papers? Six questions to ask of any Alzheimer’s study · how we score.

Key findings

The recent availability of automated platforms has represented a significant achievement for reducing the pre-analytical variability of these determinations in clinical setting.
With respect to classical manual ELISAs, these platforms give us also the possibility to measure any single sample and to get the result within approximately 30 min.
So far, reference values have been calculated from measurements obtained in frozen samples.
In this work, we wanted to check if the values obtained in fresh CSF samples differ from those obtained in frozen samples, since this issue is mandatory in routine diagnostic work.

Why it matters

New to this subject? Start with our plain-English guide: Blood tests & biomarkers →

Study details

Evidence strengthLow

How this study scored 35/100

Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, effect reported, studied in people and randomized / blinded because the record does not state it.

Component	Points	Why
Journal tier	7 / 10	Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Alzheimer's research & therapy)
Journal's citation record	1 / 4	Alzheimer s Research & Therapy: journal h-index 146 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29)
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	2 / 5	2020 — within 10 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	2 / 7	Cited 13 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10)
Citations per year	1 / 5	1.6 citations a year over 8 year(s) since 2020
Impact for its field and year	1 / 6	Cited 0.8× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI)
Cited by studies here	1 / 6	Cited by 1 other studies in this library
Still being cited	1 / 4	Cited 7 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex)
Senior author's track record	3 / 4	Last-listed author Lucilla Parnetti: h-index 86 (OpenAlex, whole career)
Institution's track record	1 / 3	University of Perugia: institution h-index 747 (OpenAlex)
Multicenter collaboration	0 / 3	OpenAlex lists 1 institution(s) in 1 country — scores zero (affiliation lists can be incomplete)
Indexed in PubMed	2 / 2	Indexed in PubMed (PMID 32993776)
Free to read	2 / 2	Free to read
Total	35 / 100	—

What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →

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