Vegetative State     Alzheimer Disease
Neurogenic Program           RG-100j

Morris, M. C., D. A. Evans, et al. (2003).
Consumption of fish and n-3 fatty acids and risk of incident Alzheimer disease.
 Arch Neurol 60(7): 940-6.

 BACKGROUND: Dietary n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids improve brain functioning in animal studies, but there is limited study of whether this type of fat protects against Alzheimer disease. OBJECTIVE: To examine whether fish consumption and intake of different types of n-3 fatty acids protect against Alzheimer disease.

RESULTS: A total of 131 sample participants developed Alzheimer disease. Participants who consumed fish once per week or more had 60% less risk of Alzheimer disease compared with those who rarely or never ate fish (relative risk, 0.4; 95% confidence interval, 0.2-0.9) in a model adjusted for age and other risk factors. Total intake of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids was associated with reduced risk of Alzheimer disease, as was intake of docosahexaenoic acid (22:6n-3). Eicosapentaenoic acid (20:5n-3) was not associated with Alzheimer disease. The associations remained unchanged with additional adjustment for intakes of other dietary fats and of vitamin E and for cardiovascular conditions.

CONCLUSION: Dietary intake of n-3 fatty acids and weekly consumption of fish may reduce the risk of incident Alzheimer disease.
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Scarmeas, N., E. Zarahn, et al. (2003).
Association of life activities with cerebral blood flow in Alzheimer disease: implications for the cognitive reserve hypothesis.
 Arch Neurol 60(3): 359-65.

 BACKGROUND: Regional cerebral blood flow (CBF), a good indirect index of cerebral pathologic changes in Alzheimer disease (AD), is more severely reduced in patients with higher educational attainment and IQ when controlling for clinical severity. This has been interpreted as suggesting that cognitive reserve allows these patients to cope better with the pathologic changes in AD.

CONCLUSIONS: At any given level of clinical disease severity, there is a greater degree of brain pathologic involvement in patients with AD who have more engagement in activities, even when education and IQ are taken into account. This may suggest that interindividual differences in lifestyle may affect cognitive reserve by partially mediating the relationship between brain damage and the clinical manifestation of
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Reitz, C., M. X. Tang, et al. (2004).
Relation of plasma lipids to Alzheimer disease and vascular dementia.
Arch Neurol 61(5): 705-14.

 BACKGROUND: The relation between plasma lipid levels and Alzheimer disease (AD) and vascular dementia (VaD), and the impact of drugs to lower lipid levels remains unclear. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relation between plasma lipid levels and the risk of AD and VaD and the impact of drugs to lower lipid levels on this relationship.

CONCLUSIONS: We found a weak relation between non-HDL-C, LDL-C, and HDL-C levels and the risk of VaD. Lipid levels and the use of agents to lower them do not seem to be associated with the risk of AD.
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F., M. Alarcon, et al. (2004).
Association of the serotonin transporter and receptor gene polymorphisms in neuropsychiatric symptoms in Alzheimer disease.
 Arch Neurol 61(8): 1249-53.

 BACKGROUND: Serotonin has been linked to neuropsychiatric symptoms in Alzheimer disease, mainly agitation/aggression, depression, and psychosis. Neuropsychiatric symptoms have been associated with polymorphisms of the promoter region (5-HTTPR ) and intron 2 of the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTVNTR) or the 5-HT2A and 5-HT2C receptor genes in some but not all studies. OBJECTIVE: To examine the association of the serotonin promoter, transporter, and receptor genes with neuropsychiatric symptoms in patients with Alzheimer disease

CONCLUSIONS: The 5-HT2A receptor polymorphism may contribute to the expression of psychosis and agitation/aggression in patients with Alzheimer disease. Absence of other positive associations may be due to the relatively small sample size and/or potentially small effect size of the polymorphisms and requires further study.
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Gomez-Tortosa, E., I. Gonzalo, et al. (2003).
Cerebrospinal fluid markers in dementia with lewy bodies compared with Alzheimer disease.
Arch Neurol 60(9): 1218-22.

 BACKGROUND: Most patients with dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) exhibit diffuse plaque-only pathology with rare neocortical neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs), as opposed to the widespread cortical neurofibrillary-tau involvement in Alzheimer disease (AD). Another pathological difference is the astrocytic and microglial inflammatory responses, including release of interleukins (ILs), around the neuritic plaques and NFTs in AD brains that are absent or much lower in DLB. We analyzed cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) markers that reflect the pathological differences between AD and DLB. OBJECTIVE: To determine CSF concentrations of tau, beta-amyloid, IL-1beta, and IL-6 as potential diagnostic clues to distinguish between AD and DLB.

CONCLUSIONS: The tau levels in CSF may contribute to the clinical distinction between AD and DLB. Beta-amyloid CSF levels are similar in both dementia disorders and reflect disease progression better than tau levels. Interleukin CSF concentrations do not distinguish between AD and DLB.
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Maddalena, A., A. Papassotiropoulos, et al. (2003).
Biochemical diagnosis of Alzheimer disease by measuring the cerebrospinal fluid ratio of phosphorylated tau protein to beta-amyloid peptide42.
Arch Neurol 60(9): 1202-6.

BACKGROUND: The antemortem diagnosis of Alzheimer disease (AD) requires time-consuming and costly procedures. Therefore, biochemical tests that can direct the physician rapidly to the correct diagnosis are highly desirable. Measurement of single biochemical markers in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), such as total tau protein and beta-amyloid peptide42 (Abeta42), shows robust alterations that highly correlate with the clinical diagnosis of AD but generally lack sufficient diagnostic accuracy. OBJECTIVE: To study the combination of CSF phosphorylated tau protein (phospho-tau) and Abeta42 as biochemical markers for AD.

CONCLUSION: The diagnostic usefulness of the CSF ratio of phospho-tau to Abeta42 is superior to either measure alone and can be recommended as an aid to evaluating individuals suspected of having dementia.
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