Each study has a usefulness score out of 100 (rubric version 4.0). Tap a score to see what makes it up.
Highest usefulness score first. Studies without a score come last.
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Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia and is characterised by progressive impairment in cognitive function and behaviour.
Why it matters
This 2004 review surveys three ways researchers were trying to see amyloid plaques in the living brain: antibodies, which had "limited uptake by the brain"; an MRI agent, tested only in mice; and small-molecule tracers, which it calls the most successful approach so far. It reports that two PET tracers, FDDNP and PIB, "show more binding in the brains of patients with AD than in those of healthy people", but gives no accuracy figures. Its case for amyloid imaging is a hoped-for one, early diagnosis and judging new treatments, not a tested diagnostic or treatment result.
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Use of vitamin E and vitamin C supplements in combination is associated with reduced prevalence and incidence of AD.
Why it matters
In this study, combined use of vitamin E and C supplements was associated with reduced prevalence and incidence of Alzheimer disease. No evidence of a protective effect was seen with use of vitamin E or vitamin C supplements alone, or with multivitamins alone.
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Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of degenerative dementia and is characterized by progressive impairment in cognitive function during mid- to late-adult life.
Why it matters
This review presents evidence implicating the basal forebrain cholinergic system in Alzheimer's disease pathogenesis and its accompanying cognitive deficits. It discusses the relationship between beta-amyloid peptides, cognition, and treatment strategies targeting this system.
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Lipid peroxidation is one of the major outcomes of free radical-mediated injury that directly damages membranes and generates a number of secondary products, both from fission and endocyclization of oxygenated fatty acids that possess neurotoxic activity.
Why it matters
This 2002 review pulls together studies showing more lipid peroxidation (oxidative damage to cell membranes, mostly in neurons) in Alzheimer's brains than in age-matched controls, and says this damage is "not a significant feature of usual aging." It points to cerebrospinal-fluid isoprostanes as a possible lab marker: raised early in the dementia in a few studies, with one study suggesting better diagnostic accuracy. It also reports that blood and urine measurements were inconsistent. It tests no treatment, so it does not show that antioxidants or any other therapy help.
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The short and long term effects of CEIs were evaluated in 135 patients with probable Alzheimer's disease relative to 135 patients who were never exposed to CEIs matched by age, education, duration of the symptoms, and cognitive status.
Why it matters
This study compared 135 Alzheimer's patients taking cholinesterase inhibitors with 135 matched patients never exposed to them, measuring cognitive and functional change and outcomes such as nursing home admission and death over about three years. It examined whether these existing drugs alter the course of the disease, not whether they cure or prevent it.
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Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a genetically complex disorder that accounts for the majority of dementia in the elderly population.
Why it matters
This review states that over 100 rare mutations in three genes cause early-onset familial Alzheimer's disease, that a polymorphism in the apolipoprotein E gene is associated with increased susceptibility to late-onset disease, and that these four genes account for less than 30% of the genetic variance. It summarizes genetic knowledge but does not report a treatment, cure, or prevention.
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These are the first AD incidence rates to be reported from the Indian subcontinent, and they appear to be among the lowest ever reported.
Why it matters
The first Alzheimer's incidence figures reported from the Indian subcontinent: in rural Ballabgarh, about 4.7 new cases per 1,000 people aged 65+ per year (age-adjusted), against 17.5 in a Pennsylvania comparison community. The authors call these "among the lowest ever reported" but warn that the short 2-year follow-up, "cultural factors, and other potential confounders" mean the gap should be read with caution. It shows how often the disease appeared in two places; it does not show why, and tests no treatment or prevention.
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The development of novel treatments for Alzheimer's disease (AD), aimed at ameliorating symptoms and modifying disease processes, increases the need for early diagnosis.
Why it matters
In 26 people with mild Alzheimer's disease, 43 with questionable dementia, 37 with major depression and 39 healthy controls, a visuo-spatial associative learning test distinguished Alzheimer's disease from depressed and control subjects. This is a small diagnostic study and provides no information on treating, curing or preventing Alzheimer's disease.
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Hippocampal ADC was significantly different between control subjects and MCI patients, many of whom likely have preclinical Alzheimer disease.
Why it matters
Hippocampal apparent diffusion coefficient was higher in people with mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease than in controls, while anisotropy index showed no differences among groups except in the occipital region. The authors suggest elevated hippocampal ADC may reflect early ultrastructural changes in Alzheimer's disease progression.
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Physostigmine demonstrated a statistically significant benefit compared with placebo on a clinical global rating of change and an objective test of cognitive function.
Why it matters
Extended-release physostigmine scored better than placebo on two cognitive and global measures in people with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer disease, but showed no significant improvement on another global measure or secondary outcomes. Nausea and vomiting were common side effects.
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This study confirms the high prevalence of psychotic symptoms in AD patients encountered in clinical practice and suggests that individual psychotic symptoms have different associations.
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Prior studies report that subjects with neuropathologic evidence of AD and concomitant brain infarcts had poorer cognitive function and higher frequency of dementia than those with AD alone.
Why it matters
Among people whose Alzheimer's was confirmed at autopsy, the 32 who also had brain infarcts or lacunar lesions were older at death than the 74 with Alzheimer's alone, and their dementia was more severe at the final visit. The findings tie added vascular brain damage to more severe dementia in Alzheimer's, although the patients with both were also older.
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Two closely related genes, the presenilins ( PS ), located at chromosomes 14q24.3 and 1q42.1, have been identified for autosomal dominant Alzheimer disease (AD) with onset age below 65 years (presenile AD).
Why it matters
Researchers screened both presenilin genes (PS-1 and PS-2) in 101 unrelated people with Alzheimer's that began before age 65, drawn from a population-based series in which APP gene mutations had already been ruled out. They found four different PS-1 mutations in six people, all from familial cases (two from families with a clear dominant inheritance pattern). The study measures how often these genes are involved in early-onset disease; it does not apply to typical late-onset Alzheimer's and offers no treatment.
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50/100
A role for beta-amyloid precursor protein (beta-APP) in the development of Alzheimer's disease has been indicated by genetics, and many conditions in which beta-APP is raised have been associated with an increased risk of Alzheimer's disease or an Alzheimer's-like pathology.
Why it matters
In laboratory experiments, a secreted fragment of APP activated microglia and increased their production of neurotoxins, and this was blocked by apolipoprotein E3 but not E4. This suggests a possible link between APP, inflammation, and apolipoprotein E, but it is early laboratory work and no treatment was tested.
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Inheritance of specific apolipoprotein E (apoE) alleles determines, in large part, the risk and mean age of onset of late-onset familial and sporadic Alzheimer disease.
Why it matters
This review explains that inheriting specific apolipoprotein E alleles largely determines the risk and mean age of onset of late-onset Alzheimer disease, but the mechanism by which the apoE isoforms differentially contribute to disease expression is unknown. It describes isoform-specific interactions of apoE with tau and amyloid beta that give rise to testable hypotheses, but no treatment, cure, or prevention is established.
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A cohort of patients was followed up longitudinally and the likelihood of arriving at two cognitive end points was assessed using the Cox proportional hazards model and eight explanatory variables.
Why it matters
This cohort study followed 135 patients with Alzheimer's disease to identify clinical predictors of faster cognitive decline. It describes which symptoms predict decline and does not test any treatment, cure, or prevention.
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Correlational analysis of cerebral metabolic (rCMRglc) data obtained with positron emission tomography (PET) assesses group differences and has demonstrated reduced frontal-parietal rCMRglc interdependencies in Alzheimer's disease (AD).
Why it matters
Discriminant functions based on cerebral metabolic data classified all Down syndrome adults with dementia and some without dementia as having an Alzheimer's disease pattern. The authors suggest utility for early detection, which is about diagnosis rather than treatment or cure.
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50/100
The results suggest that the hippocampus and the temporal horn of the lateral ventricles may be useful as antemortem markers of AD in mildly impaired patients.
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Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) variants associated with Alzheimer disease (AD) and Parkinson disease (PD) were sought by restriction endonuclease analysis in a cohort of 71 late-onset Caucasian patients.
Why it matters
This study looked for mitochondrial DNA variants in 71 late-onset Caucasian patients and found a tRNA(Gln) variant at nucleotide pair 4336 in 5.2% of patients versus 0.7% of controls, plus other variants in individual patients. It reports genetic associations only and does not test any treatment, cure, or prevention.
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Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has shown a great reduction in medial temporal lobe and hippocampal volume of patients with Alzheimer's disease as compared to controls.
Why it matters
Visual rating of medial temporal lobe atrophy on plain MRI films distinguished 21 people with Alzheimer's disease from 21 age-matched controls, and the degree of atrophy correlated with mini-mental state examination and memory scores. The authors conclude this atrophy can be assessed quickly and easily and strongly supports a clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer's.
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50/100
A higher prevalence of dementia in individuals with fewer years of education has suggested that education may protect against Alzheimer's disease (AD).
Why it matters
Patients with probable Alzheimer's who had similar symptom severity but more years of education showed a larger blood-flow deficit in the parietotemporal region (the brain area this pattern links to Alzheimer's), while overall brain blood flow was similar across groups. The authors read this as more advanced disease hidden behind the same symptoms, and propose that education "or its covariates or both" may provide a reserve that delays symptoms. This is a one-time comparison of patient groups using blood flow as a stand-in for pathology. It does not show that education prevents Alzheimer's or that any intervention helps.
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To determine whether neurodegeneration in Alzheimer disease brain is associated with degradation of structural cell membrane molecules, we measured tissue levels of the major membrane phospholipids and their metabolites in three cortical areas from postmortem brains of Alzheimer disease patients and matched controls.
Why it matters
This study found lower levels of certain structural membrane fats and higher levels of their breakdown products in Alzheimer's brain tissue, suggesting increased breakdown of cell membranes. These findings come from examining brain tissue after death and do not show whether this breakdown causes Alzheimer's or is a result of it.
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We studied the prevalence of different types of dementia in an elderly population in Stockholm, Sweden, in relation to age, sex, and education.
Why it matters
In an elderly Stockholm population, Alzheimer's disease was the most common type of dementia and dementia became more common with age, even in the oldest groups. In contrast to earlier reports, the share of Alzheimer's and vascular dementia was the same across age groups and there were no sex differences by dementia type. Less educated people had more dementia overall, mainly alcoholic and unspecified dementia, but Alzheimer's itself was similarly common at every education level. This prevalence survey shows associations only and does not test treatment or prevention.
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We compare clinicopathologic data from 10 subjects identified in the very mild stage of senile dementia of the Alzheimer type with findings from similar studies in four cognitively normal subjects.
Why it matters
In 10 people identified in the very mild stage of Alzheimer-type dementia, memory, language, and speeded psychomotor deficits were found, and plaques and tangles were present in the neocortex in all 10 but essentially absent in four cognitively normal controls. The authors conclude that even questionable dementia can be diagnostic for Alzheimer's disease and that these lesions should suggest clinically undetected disease, but no treatment, cure, or prevention was tested.
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50/100
In the brains of aged humans and cases of Alzheimer disease, deposits of amyloid in senile plaques are located in proximity to nerve processes.
Why it matters
This study found that amyloid precursor protein undergoes fast anterograde axonal transport in neurons. It describes a basic biological process that may be relevant to how amyloid deposits form, but it does not test any treatment or prevention.
From across this topic
10 of the 5,172 studies in this topic, picked by a fixed rule (a hash of each study's address), not by score or date; each page of this list shows a different 10. The same 10 appear here every time.
- Quantification of plasma phosphorylated tau to use as a biomarker for brain Alzheimer pathology: pilot case-control studies including patients with Alzheimer's disease and down syndrome
- Technology literacy and access to digital resources for remote assessment among adults enrolled in Alzheimer's disease research
- Probiotic Supplementation in Patients with Alzheimer's Dementia - An Explorative Intervention Study
- Bile acid synthesis, modulation, and dementia: A metabolomic, transcriptomic, and pharmacoepidemiologic study
- Comparative methods for determining MoCA, MMSE, and CDR cut‐offs in Alzheimer's disease: insights from the ADNI study
- Aducanumab, gantenerumab, BAN2401, and ALZ-801-the first wave of amyloid-targeting drugs for Alzheimer's disease with potential for near term approval
- Executive function and activities of daily living in Alzheimer's disease: a correlational meta-analysis
- Update on hypertension and Alzheimer's disease
- Rheumatoid arthritis: Extra-articular manifestations and comorbidities
- Optimizing Plasma p-tau217 Thresholds for Detection of Preclinical Alzheimer’s Disease Across Different Racial and Ethnic Backgrounds (P10-13.011)