Ultrasensitive Assays Detect Different Conformations of Plasma β Amyloids.

With the developments of ultrasensitive technologies such as immunomagnetic reduction (IMR) assay, single molecule array (SIMOA) assay, electrochemiluminescence immunoassay (ECLIA), the assay of blood-based amyloid 1-42 (Aβ) becomes possible. However, the changes in measured plasma Aβ concentrations in Alzheimer's disease (AD) compared to cognitively unimpaired subjects (CU) are inconsistent. A possible reason for the inconsistency regarding various conformations of Aβ in plasma is explored in this study.

Survival After the Diagnosis of Mild-to-Moderate Alzheimer's Disease Dementia: A 15-Year National Cohort Study in Taiwan.

Objectives: Pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions are mostly designed for patients with early Alzheimer's disease (AD) dementia. Long-term case management and planning for the remainder of life with disability require an estimation of the survival duration.

Methods: This cohort study utilized data from the National Health Insurance Research Database, Taiwan, to identify incident cases of mild-to-moderate AD dementia diagnosed from 2000 to 2002, followed through December 31, 2017.

Interactive Healthcare Robot Using Attention-Based Question-Answer Retrieval and Medical Entity Extraction Models.

In healthcare facilities, answering the questions from the patients and their companions about the health problems is regarded as an essential task. With the current shortage of medical personnel resources and an increase in the patient-to-clinician ratio, staff in the medical field have consequently devoted less time to answering questions for each patient. However, studies have shown that correct healthcare information can positively improve patients' knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors.

A Multicomponent Cognitive Intervention May Improve Self-Reported Daily Function of Adults With Subjective Cognitive Decline.

Importance: Limited evidence exists to support cognitive intervention improving the daily function of adults with subjective cognitive decline (SCD).

Objective: To examine the preliminary efficacy of a group-based multicomponent cognitive intervention that integrates Lifestyle Redesign® (LR) techniques.

Design: Single-arm two-period crossover trial; 16-wk waiting period, 16-wk intervention, and 16-wk follow-up.

Substantia nigra nigrosome-1 imaging correlates with the severity of motor symptoms in Parkinson's disease.

Background: Nigrosome-1 imaging has been used for assisting the diagnosis of Parkinson's disease (PD). We aimed to examine the diagnostic performance of loss of nigrosome-1 in PD and the correlation between the size of the nigrosome-1 and motor severity of PD.

Methods: We included 237 patients with PD and 165 controls.

Safety, tolerability, immunogenicity, and efficacy of UB-311 in participants with mild Alzheimer's disease: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 2a study.

Background: Anti-amyloid vaccines may offer a convenient, affordable, and accessible means of preventing and treating Alzheimer's disease. UB-311 is an anti-amyloid-β active immunotherapeutic vaccine shown to be well-tolerated and to have a durable antibody response in a phase 1 trial. This phase 2a study assessed the safety, immunogenicity, and preliminary efficacy of UB-311 in participants with mild Alzheimer's disease.

Machine Learning-Based Classification of Subjective Cognitive Decline, Mild Cognitive Impairment, and Alzheimer's Dementia Using Neuroimage and Plasma Biomarkers.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) progresses relentlessly from the preclinical to the dementia stage. The process begins decades before the diagnosis of dementia. Therefore, it is crucial to detect early manifestations to prevent cognitive decline.

Relevance of plasma biomarkers to pathologies in Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and frontotemporal dementia.

Amyloid plaques and tau tangles are pathological hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Parkinson's disease (PD) results from the accumulation of α-synuclein. TAR DNA-binding protein (TDP-43) and total tau protein (T-Tau) play roles in FTD pathology.

White matter pathology in alzheimer's transgenic mice with chronic exposure to low-level ambient fine particulate matter.

Background: Air pollution, especially fine particulate matter (PM), can cause brain damage, cognitive decline, and an increased risk of neurodegenerative disease, especially alzheimer's disease (AD). Typical pathological findings of amyloid and tau protein accumulation have been detected in the brain after exposure in animal studies. However, these observations were based on high levels of PM exposure, which were far from the WHO guidelines and those present in our environment.

Evidence of plasma biomarkers indicating high risk of dementia in cognitively normal subjects.

Subjects with comorbidities are at risk for neurodegeneration. There is a lack of a direct relationship between comorbidities and neurodegeneration. In this study, immunomagnetic reduction (IMR) assays were utilized to assay plasma Aβ and total tau protein (T-Tau) levels in poststroke (PS, n = 27), family history of Alzheimer's disease (ADFH, n = 35), diabetes (n = 21), end-stage renal disease (ESRD, n = 41), obstructive sleep apnea (OSA, n = 20), Alzheimer's disease (AD, n = 65).

Assessment of High Risk for Alzheimer's Disease Using Plasma Biomarkers in Subjects with Normal Cognition in Taiwan: A Preliminary Study.

Background: In Alzheimer's disease (AD), cognitive impairment begins 10-15 years later than neurodegeneration in the brain. Plasma biomarkers are promising candidates for assessing neurodegeneration in people with normal cognition. It has been reported that subjects with the concentration of plasma amyloid-β 1-42×total tau protein higher than 455 pg/ml are assessed as having a high risk of amnesic mild impairment or AD, denoted as high risk of AD (HRAD).

Investigation of the Number of Tests Required for Assaying Plasma Biomarkers Associated with Alzheimer's Disease Using Immunomagnetic Reduction.

Introduction: Concentrations of plasma biomarkers associated with Alzheimer's disease have been reported to be as low as several tens of picograms/milliliter (pg/ml). However, in assays measuring these biomarkers, it is likely that repeated measurements are necessary to obtain reliable values.

Methods: We performed assays as a single test or as duplicate, quadruplicate, fivefold and tenfold repeated tests, on samples spiked with different concentrations of amyloid β 1-40 (Aβ; 1-1000 pg/ml), Aβ (1-30,000 pg/ml) and total Tau protein (T-Tau; 0.

Prognostic Features of Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease: An Analysis of Taiwan's Nationwide Surveillance.

Objectives: To study the prognostic features of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) and shed light on its future therapy.

Design: Retrospective cohort study of a longitudinal national cohort of the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control.

Setting And Participants: All patients with suspected CJD are reported to the CJD surveillance unit of the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control.

Integrated F-T807 Tau PET, Structural MRI, and Plasma Tau in Tauopathy Neurodegenerative Disorders.

Tau-specific positron emission topography (PET) imaging enables assessment of Alzheimer's disease (AD). We aimed to investigate its performance in combination with plasma tau levels in patients with non-AD tauopathy. A total of 47 participants were enrolled, including 10 healthy controls, 16 with tauopathy parkinsonism syndromes (9 with corticobasal syndrome [CBS], 7 with progressive supranuclear palsy [PSP]), 9 with frontotemporal dementia (FTD), 4 with AD, and 8 with Parkinson's disease (PD).

Rural-urban Disparities in the Prevalence of Mild Cognitive Impairment and Dementia in Taiwan: A Door-to-door Nationwide Study.

Background: Screening or diagnosis for the elderly with dementia in rural regions might be delayed and underestimated due to limited utilization of healthcare resources. This study aimed to evaluate the disparities of prevalence and risk factors of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia between urban and rural residence.

Methods: In this nationwide door-to-door survey, 10,432 participants aged 65 years and more were selected through computerized random sampling from all administrative districts in Taiwan and were assessed using an in-person interview.

Synergistic Association between Plasma Aβ and p-tau in Alzheimer's Disease but Not in Parkinson's Disease or Frontotemporal Dementia.

Beta-amyloid (Aβ) triggers the phosphorylation of tau protein in Alzheimer's disease (AD), but the relationship between phosphorylated tau (p-tau) and Aβ in the blood is not elucidated. We investigated the association in individuals with AD ( = 62, including amnesic mild cognitive impairment and dementia), Parkinson's disease ( = 30), frontotemporal dementia ( = 25), and cognitively unimpaired controls ( = 41) using immunomagnetic reduction assays to measure plasma Aβ and p-tau181 concentrations. Correlation and regression analyses were performed to examine the relation between plasma levels, demographic factors, and clinical severity.

An Exploration of the Own-Age Effect on Facial Emotion Recognition in Normal Elderly People and Individuals with the Preclinical and Demented Alzheimer's Disease.

Background: The issue of whether there exists an own-effect on facial recognition in the elderly remains equivocal. Moreover, currently the literature of this issue in pathological aging is little.

Objective: Our study was thus to explore the issue in both of healthy older people and patients with ADMethods:In study 1, 27 older and 31 younger healthy adults were recruited; in study 2, 27 healthy older adults and 80 patients (including subjective cognitive decline (SCD), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and Alzheimer's disease (AD) groups) were recruited.

Boundary extension as a tool for detection of cognitive change among individuals with mild cognitive impairment: A preliminary study.

Objectives: Recent neuropathological research suggests that recognition memory supported by familiarity rather than recollection may be the earliest cognitive change in course of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Nonetheless, the findings on the issue of familiarity capacity in the prodromal AD remain inconsistent. Boundary extension (BE), in which the view recollected by the subject covers a wider angle than was actually observed, is a form of false memory.

Incidence of and Mortality Due to Human Prion Diseases in Taiwan: A Prospective 20-Year Nationwide Surveillance Study from 1998 to 2017.

Introduction: Epidemiologic studies of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) have been undertaken worldwide since the new variant CJD outbreak in 1996 in the United Kingdom. A nationwide report system, the Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Surveillance Unit (CJDSU), directed by the Centers for Disease Control of Taiwan, was established in 1997 to identify human prion diseases.

Methods: From 1998 to 2017, 647 cases were referred to the committee for confirmation.