Articles related to ALZHEIMER'S/DEMENTIA

Plasma P-tau217 significantly predicted longitudinal cognitive decline in both cohorts in this prognostic study of data from two preclinical AD cohort studies involving 171 cognitively unimpaired individuals with cerebrospinal fluid or positron emission tomographic measures of β-amyloid positivity. These findings imply that plasma P-tau217 could be used in clinical trials of novel disease-modifying treatments as a supplement to CSF or PET for participant selection.

Only 5 to 10 percent of Alzheimer’s cases are diagnosed in people under the age of 65. However, a BCBS report shows that from 2013 to 2017, there was a 200 percent increase in Alzheimer’s diagnoses in people ages 30 to 64. This case reports the youngest patient yet diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

Yes, you read that right. According to a recent study in Scientific Reports, Chlamydia pneumoniae assaults the central nervous system by traveling up via the nose canal and into the brain. When the bacteria reach the brain, they encourage the production of amyloid beta protein, which is regarded to be a defining feature of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

This neurology news roundup from MedPage Today includes four highlights of note: First, a JAMA Internal Medicine article pointing out that gabapentin will not solve the opioid crisis in the US. Second, ublituximab, approved for relapsing MS at the end of December, has been included in the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review’s report on comparative effectiveness. Third, the same organization says that the newly approved Alzheimer’s drug lecanemab will need to be priced below $21,000 per year to be cost effective. And finally, a link to Neurology‘s crystal ball view into neurology education in the coming decade.

The presence of vitamin D in the brain and its link to improved cognitive performance in aged subjects was originally discovered by a Tufts University study. Higher vitamin D concentrations were linked to a 25% to 33% decreased risk of dementia or mild cognitive impairment in four different brain areas. Authors did note, however, that the observational nature of the study and the lack of a diverse subject population were two of its drawbacks, and there may be further explanations for the results.

Using data from nearly 450,000 people in the UK, a model that scores individuals based on a suite of variables found in combination to be highly predictive of dementia risk. These included age, low education level, sleep patterns, and comorbidities such as diabetes and cerebrovascular, cardiovascular, and respiratory disease.