| 1. |
- Abdelnour, Carla, et al.
(author)
-
Parsing heterogeneity within dementia with Lewy bodies using clustering of biological, clinical, and demographic data
- 2022
-
In: Alzheimer's Research & Therapy. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1758-9193. ; 14:1
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) includes various core clinical features that result in different phenotypes. In addition, Alzheimer's disease (AD) and cerebrovascular pathologies are common in DLB. All this increases the heterogeneity within DLB and hampers clinical diagnosis. We addressed this heterogeneity by investigating subgroups of patients with similar biological, clinical, and demographic features.Methods: We studied 107 extensively phenotyped DLB patients from the European DLB consortium. Factorial analysis of mixed data (FAMD) was used to identify dimensions in the data, based on sex, age, years of education, disease duration, Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) levels of AD biomarkers, core features of DLB, and regional brain atrophy. Subsequently, hierarchical clustering analysis was used to subgroup individuals based on the FAMD dimensions.Results: We identified 3 dimensions using FAMD that explained 38% of the variance. Subsequent hierarchical clustering identified 4 clusters. Cluster 1 was characterized by amyloid-beta and cerebrovascular pathologies, medial temporal atrophy, and cognitive fluctuations. Cluster 2 had posterior atrophy and showed the lowest frequency of visual hallucinations and cognitive fluctuations and the worst cognitive performance. Cluster 3 had the highest frequency of tau pathology, showed posterior atrophy, and had a low frequency of parkinsonism. Cluster 4 had virtually normal AD biomarkers, the least regional brain atrophy and cerebrovascular pathology, and the highest MMSE scores.Conclusions: This study demonstrates that there are subgroups of DLB patients with different biological, clinical, and demographic characteristics. These findings may have implications in the diagnosis and prognosis of DLB, as well as in the treatment response in clinical trials.
|
|
| 2. |
- Cedres, Nira, et al.
(author)
-
Association of Cerebrovascular and Alzheimer Disease Biomarkers With Cholinergic White Matter Degeneration in Cognitively Unimpaired Individuals
- 2022
-
In: Neurology. - 0028-3878 .- 1526-632X. ; 99:15, s. e1619-e1629
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background and Objectives Several pathologic processes might contribute to the degeneration of the cholinergic system in aging. We aimed to determine the contribution of amyloid, tau, and cerebrovascular biomarkers toward the degeneration of cholinergic white matter (WM) projections in cognitively unimpaired individuals.Methods The contribution of amyloid and tau pathology was assessed through CSF levels of the Aβ42/40 ratio and phosphorylated tau (p-tau). CSF Aβ38 levels were also measured. Cerebrovascular pathology was assessed using automatic segmentations of WM lesions (WMLs) on MRI. Cholinergic WM projections (i.e., cingulum and external capsule pathways) were modeled using tractography based on diffusion tensor imaging data. Sex and APOE ε4 carriership were also included in the analysis as variables of interest.Results We included 203 cognitively unimpaired individuals from the H70 Gothenburg Birth Cohort Studies (all individuals aged 70 years, 51% female). WM lesion burden was the most important contributor to the degeneration of both cholinergic pathways (increase in mean square error [IncMSE] = 98.8% in the external capsule pathway and IncMSE = 93.3% in the cingulum pathway). Levels of Aβ38 and p-tau also contributed to cholinergic WM degeneration, especially in the external capsule pathway (IncMSE = 28.4% and IncMSE = 23.4%, respectively). The Aβ42/40 ratio did not contribute notably to the models (IncMSE<3.0%). APOE ε4 carriers showed poorer integrity in the cingulum pathway (IncMSE = 21.33%). Women showed poorer integrity of the external capsule pathway (IncMSE = 21.55%), which was independent of amyloid status as reflected by the nonsignificant differences in integrity when comparing amyloid-positive vs amyloid-negative women participants (T201 = −1.55; p = 0.123).Discussion In cognitively unimpaired older individuals, WMLs play a central role in the degeneration of cholinergic pathways. Our findings highlight the importance of WM lesion burden in the elderly population, which should be considered in the development of prevention programs for neurodegeneration and cognitive impairment.
|
|
| 3. |
- Cedres, Nira, et al.
(author)
-
The interplay between gray matter and white matter neurodegeneration in subjective cognitive decline
- 2021
-
In: Aging. - : Impact Journals, LLC. - 1945-4589. ; 13:16, s. 19963-19977
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Aims: To investigate the interplay between gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) neurodegeneration in subjective cognitive decline (SCD), including thickness across the whole cortical mantle, hippocampal volume, and integrity across the whole WM.Methods: We included 225 cognitively unimpaired individuals from a community-based cohort. Subjective cognitive complaints were assessed through 9 questions covering amnestic and non-amnestic cognitive domains. In our cohort, 123 individuals endorsed from one to six subjective cognitive complaints (i.e. they fulfilled the diagnostic criteria for SCD), while 102 individuals reported zero complaints. GM neurodegeneration was assessed through measures of cortical thickness across the whole mantle and hippocampal volume. WM neurodegeneration was assessed through measures of mean diffusivity (MD) across the whole WM skeleton. Mediation analysis and multiple linear regression were conducted to investigate the interplay between the measures of GM and WM neurodegeneration.Results: A higher number of complaints was associated with reduced hippocampal volume, cortical thinning in several frontal and temporal areas and the insula, and higher MD across the WM skeleton, with a tendency to spare the occipital lobe. SCD-related cortical thinning and increased MD were associated with each other and jointly contributed to complaints, but the contribution of cortical thinning to the number of complaints was stronger.Conclusions: Neurodegeneration processes affecting the GM and WM seem to be associated with each other in SCD and include brain areas other than those typically targeted by Alzheimer's disease. Our findings suggest that SCD may be a sensitive behavioral marker of heterogeneous brain pathologies in individuals recruited from the community.
|
|
| 4. |
- Chiotis, Konstantinos, et al.
(author)
-
Dual tracer tau PET imaging reveals different molecular targets for C-11-THK5351 and C-11-PBB3 in the Alzheimer brain
- 2018
-
In: European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1619-7070 .- 1619-7089. ; 45:9, s. 1605-1617
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Several tau PET tracers have been developed, but it remains unclear whether they bind to the same molecular target on the heterogeneous tau pathology. In this study we evaluated the binding of two chemically different tau-specific PET tracers (C-11-THK5351 and C-11-PBB3) in a head-to-head, in vivo, multimodal design. Nine patients with a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment or probable Alzheimer's disease and cerebrospinal fluid biomarker evidence supportive of the presence of Alzheimer's disease brain pathology were recruited after thorough clinical assessment. All patients underwent imaging with the tau-specific PET tracers C-11-THK5351 and C-11-PBB3 on the same day, as well as imaging with the amyloid-beta-specific tracer C-11-AZD2184, a T1-MRI sequence, and neuropsychological assessment. The load and regional distribution of binding differed between C-11-THK5351 and C-11-PBB3 with no statistically significant regional correlations observed between the tracers. The binding pattern of C-11-PBB3, but not that of C-11-THK5351, in the temporal lobe resembled that of C-11-AZD2184, with strong correlations detected between C-11-PBB3 and C-11-AZD2184 in the temporal and occipital lobes. Global cognition correlated more closely with C-11-THK5351 than with C-11-PBB3 binding. Similarly, cerebrospinal fluid tau measures and entorhinal cortex thickness were more closely correlated with C-11-THK5351 than with C-11-PBB3 binding. This research suggests different molecular targets for these tracers; while C-11-PBB3 appeared to preferentially bind to tau deposits with a close spatial relationship to amyloid-beta, the binding pattern of C-11-THK5351 fitted the expected distribution of tau pathology in Alzheimer's disease better and was more closely related to downstream disease markers.
|
|
| 5. |
- Ekman, Urban, et al.
(author)
-
Evaluation of a Novel Psychological Intervention Tailored for Patients With Early Cognitive Impairment (PIPCI) : Study Protocol of a Randomized Controlled Trial
- 2020
-
In: Frontiers in Psychology. - : Frontiers Media SA. - 1664-1078. ; 11
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Individuals with early phase cognitive impairment are frequently affected by existential distress, social avoidance and associated health issues (including symptoms of stress, anxiety, and depression). The demand for efficient psychological support is crucial from both an individual and a societal perspective. We have developed a novel psychological intervention (Psychological Intervention tailored for Patients with Cognitive Impairment, PIPCI) manual for providing a non-medical path to enhanced psychological health in the cognitively impaired population. The current article provides specific information on the randomized controlled trial (RCT)-design and methods. The main hypothesis is that participants receiving PIPCI will increase their psychological flexibility (the ability to notice and accept interfering thoughts, emotions, and bodily sensations without acting on them, when this serves action in line with personal values) compared to participants in the active control (cognitive training) group and the waiting list control group. The secondary hypotheses are that participants receiving PIPCI will improve psychological health (stress measures, quality of life, depression, and general health) compared to participants in the active control group and the waiting list control group.Materials and Methods: This three-arm RCT will recruit participants from the cognitive centers at Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm and randomize approximately 120 individuals in the early phase of cognitive impairment to either an experimental group (psychological intervention once a week for 10 weeks), an active control group (cognitive training once a week for 10 weeks) or a waiting list control group. Intervention outcome will be evaluated with self-report questionnaires on physical and psychological aspects of health, cognitive assessment, biological markers (obtained from blood and saliva) and health care costs. Assessments will be performed at pre- (1 week before the interventions) and post-intervention (1 week after the interventions), as well as at a 6-month follow-up.Discussion: The development of a potentially feasible and effective psychological intervention tailored for early phase cognitive impairment (PIPCI) has the potential to advance the non-pharmacological intervention field. This is especially important given the extensive burden for many affected individuals and their families and the current lack of effective treatments. If the psychological intervention discussed here shows feasibility and efficacy, there is potential for far-reaching healthcare implications for patients with early cognitive impairment at risk of developing dementia.
|
|
| 6. |
- Ferreira, Daniel, et al.
(author)
-
The interactive effect of demographic and clinical factors on hippocampal volume : A multicohort study on 1958 cognitively normal individuals
- 2017
-
In: Hippocampus. - : Wiley. - 1050-9631 .- 1098-1063. ; 27:6, s. 653-667
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Alzheimer's disease is characterized by hippocampal atrophy. Other factors also influence the hippocampal volume, but their interactive effect has not been investigated before in cognitively healthy individuals. The aim of this study is to evaluate the interactive effect of key demographic and clinical factors on hippocampal volume, in contrast to previous studies frequently investigating these factors in a separate manner. Also, to investigate how comparable the control groups from ADNI, AIBL, and AddNeuroMed are with five population-based cohorts. In this study, 1958 participants were included (100 AddNeuroMed, 226 ADNI, 155 AIBL, 59 BRC, 295 GENIC, 279 BioFiNDER, 398 PIVUS, and 446 SNAC-K). ANOVA and random forest were used for testing between-cohort differences in demographic-clinical variables. Multiple regression was used to study the influence of demographic-clinical variables on hippocampal volume. ANCOVA was used to analyze whether between-cohort differences in demographic-clinical variables explained between-cohort differences in hippocampal volume. Age and global brain atrophy were the most important variables in explaining variability in hippocampal volume. These variables were not only important themselves but also in interaction with gender, education, MMSE, and total intracranial volume. AddNeuroMed, ADNI, and AIBL differed from the population-based cohorts in several demographic-clinical variables that had a significant effect on hippocampal volume. Variability in hippocampal volume in individuals with normal cognition is high. Differences that previously tended to be related to disease mechanisms could also be partly explained by demographic and clinical factors independent from the disease. Furthermore, cognitively normal individuals especially from ADNI and AIBL are not representative of the general population. These findings may have important implications for future research and clinical trials, translating imaging biomarkers to the general population, and validating current diagnostic criteria for Alzheimer's disease and predementia stages.
|
|
| 7. |
- Gyllenhammar, Måns, et al.
(author)
-
The Association Between Temporal Atrophy and Episodic Memory Is Moderated by Education in a Multi-Center Memory Clinic Sample
- 2023
-
In: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease. - 1387-2877 .- 1875-8908. ; 92:2, s. 605-614
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Cognitive reserve (CR) is hypothesized to partially explain the discrepancy between Alzheimer’s disease related brain pathology and cognitive performance. Educational attainment is often used as a proxy for CR.Objective: To examine the association of years of education and the relationship between atrophy in the medial temporal lobe and episodic memory, in a cross-sectional ecological multi-center memory clinic cohort.Methods: Included patients (n = 702) had undergone memory clinic examination and were diagnosed with subjective cognitive impairment (n = 99), mild cognitive impairment (n = 471), or dementia (n = 132). Total years of education were used as a moderating variable and neuropathology was operationalized as visual ratings of medial temporal lobe atrophy (MTA) on magnetic resonance imaging and computer tomography images. Weighted least squares regression and multiple regression were used to analyze moderation and the effect of education separately by diagnostic group. A composite score of two episodic memory tests constituted the dependent variable.Results: After controlling for age and gender the interaction term between MTA and years of education was significant indicating moderation. In particular, the regression model showed that at low levels of MTA, high education individuals had better episodic memory performance. However, at higher MTA levels, high education individuals had the lowest episodic memory performance. Education had a significant positive effect on episodic memory in SCI and MCI, but not dementia.Conclusion: These results extend the findings of education moderating the effect of MTA on cognition to a naturalistic memory clinic setting. Implications of the findings for theories on CR are discussed.
|
|
| 8. |
- Hedberg, Linn, et al.
(author)
-
White matter abnormalities mediate the association between masticatory dysfunction and cognition among older adults
- 2023
-
In: Journal of Oral Rehabilitation. - : John Wiley & Sons. - 1365-2842. ; 50:12, s. 1422-1431
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Masticatory parameters, such as reduced number of teeth and posterior contacts, have been shown to be associated with reduced cognitive status. The underlying mechanisms that affect these associations, are however, not well understood. Objectives: The study aims to investigate the association between masticatory dysfunction and cognition and explore the mediating effect of brain structure. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 45 older adults with subjective masticatory dysfunction (mean age 72.3 +/- 4.0 years) were included. Mini-Mental State Examination score <25, brain trauma, neurological disease, neurodegenerative disorders, depression or poor Swedish language skills were criteria for exclusion. Cognitive functions (executive function and episodic memory) and masticatory dysfunction defined by functional occluding status (FOS; the number of occluding units and number of remaining teeth) were analysed with partial correlation models. Structural magnetic resonance imaging was performed on 28 feasible participants. Multiple regression analyses were performed to evaluate the predictive value of brain structure and white matter hypointensities (WM-hypo) on cognitive functions. A mediation analysis was applied to assess significant predictor/s of the association between FOS and cognition. Results: Both episodic memory and executive functions were positively correlated with FOS. WM-hypo predicted cognitive status (executive function, p = .01). WM-hypo mediated 66.6% (p = 0.06) of the association between FOS and executive functions. Conclusion: Associations between FOS and cognitive functions are reported, where FOS, a potential modifiable risk factor, was related to both episodic memory and executive functions. The mediating effect of WM-hypo on the association between FOS and executive functions highlights the impact of the vascularisation of the brain on the link between mastication and cognition. The present study provides increased knowledge that bridges the gap between masticatory dysfunction and cognition.
|
|
| 9. |
- Khan, Wasim, et al.
(author)
-
A Multi-Cohort Study of ApoE epsilon 4 and Amyloid-beta Effects on the Hippocampus in Alzheimer's Disease
- 2017
-
In: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease. - 1387-2877 .- 1875-8908. ; 56:3, s. 1159-1174
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene has been consistently shown to modulate the risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Here, using an AD and normal aging dataset primarily consisting of three AD multi-center studies (n = 1,781), we compared the effect of APOE and amyloid-beta (A beta) on baseline hippocampal volumes in AD patients, mild cognitive impairment (MCI) subjects, and healthy controls. A large sample of healthy adolescents (n = 1,387) was also used to compare hippocampal volumes between APOE groups. Subjects had undergone a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan and APOE genotyping. Hippocampal volumes were processed using FreeSurfer. In the AD and normal aging dataset, hippocampal comparisons were performed in each APOE group and in epsilon 4 carriers with positron emission tomography (PET) A beta who were dichotomized (A beta+/A beta-) using previous cut-offs. We found a linear reduction in hippocampal volumes with epsilon 4 carriers possessing the smallest volumes, epsilon 3 carriers possessing intermediate volumes, and epsilon 2 carriers possessing the largest volumes. Moreover, AD and MCI epsilon 4 carriers possessed the smallest hippocampal volumes and control epsilon 2 carriers possessed the largest hippocampal volumes. Subjects with both APOE epsilon 4 and A beta positivity had the lowest hippocampal volumes when compared to A beta-epsilon 4 carriers, suggesting a synergistic relationship between APOE epsilon 4 and A beta. However, we found no hippocampal volume differences between APOE groups in healthy 14-year-old adolescents. Our findings suggest that the strongest neuroanatomic effect of APOE epsilon 4 on the hippocampus is observed in AD and groups most at risk of developing the disease, whereas hippocampi of old and young healthy individuals remain unaffected.
|
|
| 10. |
- Li, Xiaozhen, et al.
(author)
-
The Effects of Gene Mutations on Default Mode Network in Familial Alzheimer’s Disease
- 2017
-
In: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease. - 1387-2877 .- 1875-8908. ; 56:1, s. 327-334
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Familial Alzheimer’s disease (FAD) mutations have very high penetrance but age at onset and rate of disease progression differ. Neuroimaging and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) examinations in mutation carriers (MCs) may provide an opportunity to identify early biomarkers that can be used to track disease progression from presymptomatic to the dementia stages of disease. The default mode network (DMN) is a resting state neuronal network composed of regions known to associate with amyloid deposition in AD. We hypothesized that functional connectivity in the DMN might change at pre-clinical stages in FAD MCs and correlate with changes in CSF biomarkers as a consequence of AD brain pathology. To test the hypothesis, we compared the functional connectivity in DMN between pre-MCs/MCs and non-carriers (NCs). No significant differences between pre-MCs and NCs were observed. When comparing all MCs with NCs, significant decreased functional connectivity in the right inferior parietal lobule, right precuneus, and left posterior cingulate cortex were found. We also found statistically significant correlations between CSF amyloid-β 42 and tau protein levels and average Z-score, a resting-state functional MRI measurement reflecting the degree of the correlation between a given voxel’s time courses and the time courses corresponding to DMN, from the region with statistical difference. The observed disruption of DMN and pathological levels of AD CSF-biomarkers in FAD MCs are similar to the changes described in sporadic AD, which give further support that amyloid and tau pathology impairs neuronal and synaptic function.
|
|
