Resources of Austrian hospital-based departments of neurology and psychiatry for new amyloid-antibody therapies in early Alzheimer dementia : A survey of the Austrian Alzheimer Society.

Background: Disease-modifying therapies with amyloid-antibodies will soon be available for patients with early Alzheimer's disease, which necessitates diagnostic and therapeutic resources in hospital and outpatient settings.

Methods: The Austrian Alzheimer Society developed an online questionnaire to survey Austrian hospital-based departments of neurology and psychiatry regarding resources for amyloid-antibody therapies.

Results: Between May and October 2023, 30 out of 41 neurology (73%) and 12 out of 33 psychiatry departments (36%) responded.

Phospho-tau 181 is enhanced in saliva and plasma of edentulous patients: a first sign of dementia?

Objectives: There is evidence that periodontitis can enhance the progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The biomarkers beta-amyloid (40 and 42), total tau, and phospho-tau181 (pTau181) in cerebrospinal fluid help to diagnose AD. Saliva is an easy-to-collect fluid and we aim to analyze these biomarkers in patients with periodontitis.

An accelerated human in-vitro aging model mimicsin-vivo aging and facilitates dynamic testing of anti-aging compounds.

Biological aging drives cellular dysfunction and human disease, yet studying human-specific aging dynamics remains challenging due to limited experimental platforms. Here we show that long-term post-mitotic culture of human fibroblasts authentically recapitulates and accelerates in-vivo aging signatures. Longitudinal paired transcriptomic-epigenetic analyses revealed that in-vitro aging mirrors in-vivo primary fibroblasts aging, with concordant transcriptional aging pathways and accelerated epigenetic clock aging patterns.

Psychological telephone triage system for outpatient memory clinics - a way for adaptation to new challenges of increasing dementia prevalence and new treatment options?

Background: The increasing prevalence of dementia and new therapeutic developments for Alzheimer's disease (AD) have created an urgent need for rapid and cost-effective methods to diagnose those affected in the early stages of the disease. Unlike emergency departments, memory clinics lack triage systems, e.g.

Combined cognitive assessment and automated MRI volumetry improves the diagnostic accuracy of detecting MCI due to Alzheimer's disease.

Background: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) confers a high annual risk of 10-15 % of conversion to Alzheimer's disease (AD) dementia. MRI atrophy patterns derived from automated ROI analysis, particularly hippocampal subfield volumes, were reported to be useful in diagnosing early clinical stages of Alzheimer's disease.

Objective: The aim of the present study was to combine automated ROI MRI morphometry of hippocampal subfield volumes and cortical thickness estimates using FreeSurfer 6.

Predictive value of somatic and functional variables for cognitive deterioration for early-stage patients with Alzheimer's Disease: Evidence from a prospective registry on dementia.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) imposes a major burden on affected individuals, their caregivers and health-care systems alike. Though quite many risk factors for disease progression have been identified, there is a lack of prospective studies investigating the interplay and predictive value of a wide variety of patient variables associated with cognitive deterioration (defined as key feature of AD progression). Study participants were patients with probable and possible AD, that were assessed at four time points over a period of two years (T1-T4).

COVID-19 restrictions promoted the newly occurring loneliness in older people - a prospective study in a memory clinic population.

Introduction: A high burden and many negative outcomes for older people were associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Social isolation and loneliness are prevalent health problems impacting well-being and quality of life and may have increased due to pandemic-related restrictions. Methods: This study investigate the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on loneliness in people visiting a mem40ory clinic between March 2020 and September 2022.

Sleep features and long-term incident neurodegeneration: a polysomnographic study.

Study Objectives: Sleep is altered early in neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs) and may contribute to neurodegeneration. Long-term, large sample-size studies assessing NDDs association with objective sleep measures are scant. We aimed to investigate whether video-polysomnography (v-PSG)-based sleep features are associated with long-term NDDs incidence.

Consequences and Perception of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Patients and Caregivers in an Austrian Memory Clinic Population One Year After Pandemic Onset.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic was associated with high mortality and negative consequences for patients with Alzheimer's disease or dementia and their caregivers. Memory clinics play an important role in enabling early dementia diagnosis and providing support for patients and their caregivers.

Objective: This study investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and its restrictions on patients of a memory clinic and their caregivers between March 2020 and March 2021.

Saliva tau and phospho-tau-181 measured by Lumipulse in patients with Alzheimer's disease.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a severe neurodegenerative brain disorder. The determination of beta-amyloid (Aβ)-40, -42, total tau, and phospho-tau-181 (pTau181) in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) using Lumipulse technology has been established as biomarkers for AD in recent years. As CSF collection is an invasive procedure, one aims to find biomarkers in blood or other human fluids, such as saliva.

Why do we climb mountains? An exploration of features of behavioural addiction in mountaineering and the association with stress-related psychiatric disorders.

Common knowledge implies that individuals engaging in outdoor sports and especially in regular and extreme mountaineering are exceptionally healthy and hardened. Physical activity in outdoor environments has a positive effect on physical and mental health. However, regular and/or extreme mountaineering might share similarities with behavioural addictions and could thus also have a negative impact on health.

Generation of the human induced pluripotent stem cell line (IBKMOLi002-A) from PBMCs of a patient carrying the heterozygous L271H mutation of the voltage-gated calcium channel subunit Ca1.3-encoding CACNA1D gene.

Congenital hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia (HH) is the most frequent cause of persistent and recurrent hypoglycemia. Peripheral mononuclear blood cells (PBMCs) from a patient diagnosed with HH, alongside autism-spectrum-disorder (ASD), carrying a heterozygous c.812 T>A (L271H) mutation in the voltage-gated calcium channel subunit Ca1.

Dietary spermidine improves cognitive function.

Decreased cognitive performance is a hallmark of brain aging, but the underlying mechanisms and potential therapeutic avenues remain poorly understood. Recent studies have revealed health-protective and lifespan-extending effects of dietary spermidine, a natural autophagy-promoting polyamine. Here, we show that dietary spermidine passes the blood-brain barrier in mice and increases hippocampal eIF5A hypusination and mitochondrial function.

Plasma phosphatidylcholines and vitamin B12/folate levels are possible prognostic biomarkers for progression of Alzheimer's disease.

Objectives: In clinical practice it is important to identify patients suffering from mild cognitive impairment (MCI) who will progress to Alzheimer's disease (AD). The purpose of this study is to investigate whether lipid metabolites and vitamin B12 and folate levels are effective biomarker for an accurate prediction of MCI-to-AD conversion.

Methods: During the standard diagnostic assessment at our memory clinic 48 cognitively healthy subjects and MCI patients were recruited.

[Position paper of the Austrian Alzheimer Association (Österreichische Alzheimer Gesellschaft, ÖAG) : Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in Austria on people with dementia and their care environment-problem areas, recommendations, and strategies].

Older adults are particularly affected by the current COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic. The risk of dying from COVID-19 increases with age and is often associated with pre-existing health conditions. Globally, more than 50 million-in Austria currently approximately 140,000 people-suffer from dementia.

Cannabinoid as Beneficial Replacement Therapy for Psychotropics to Treat Neuropsychiatric Symptoms in Severe Alzheimer's Dementia: A Clinical Case Report.

Alzheimer's Dementia (AD) is a devastating neurodegenerative disease that affects approximately 17% of people aged 75-84. Neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) such as delusions, agitation, anxiety, and hallucinations are present in up to 95% of patients in all stages of dementia. To date, any approved and effective pharmacological interventions for the treatment of NPS are still not available.

Specific Neuropsychiatric Symptoms Are Associated with Faster Progression in Alzheimer's Disease: Results of the Prospective Dementia Registry (PRODEM-Austria).

Background: Neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) occur frequently in the course of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and are suspected to be associated with a faster dementia progression. Numerous reports have defined specific subsyndromes, summarized in clusters of items of the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI).

Objective: This study investigated the influence of specific NPI subsyndromes and clinical patient characteristics on dementia progression.

What Characterizes Depression in Old Age? Results from the Bruneck Study.

Introduction: Depression in old age is associated with functional disabilities, cognitive impairment, lower self-rated quality of life, and increased mortality. The aim of the study was to reveal the prevalence of depression and to investigate the characteristics of patients treated with antidepressants.

Methods: We analyzed data from the Bruneck Study 2010.

Reduced beta-amyloid sensitivity for platelet-monocyte aggregates in EDTA blood of alzheimer patients.

Alzheimer´s disease (AD) is a severe neurodegenerative brain disorder characterized by beta-amyloid plaques, Tau pathology, inflammation, neurodegeneration, and cerebrovascular dysfunction. Besides that, alterations in monocytes and platelets have been reported in the blood of Alzheimer patients. In the present study, we measured circulating levels of platelet-monocyte aggregates in EDTA blood of cognitively healthy participants and 40 AD patients, and examined their changes induced by stimulation with beta-amyloid peptides.

Severity of Depression Impacts Imminent Conversion from Mild Cognitive Impairment to Alzheimer's Disease.

Background: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) has been suggested to represent a prodromal stage of dementia and to confer a high risk for conversion to dementia Alzheimer's type (DAT).

Objectives: In this study, we examined the predictive value of depressive symptoms and neuropsychological variables on conversion of MCI to DAT.

Methods: Neuropsychological and clinical follow-up data of 260 MCI patients seen at the Psychiatric Memory Clinic of the Medical University of Innsbruck between 2005 and 2015 were analyzed retrospectively.