Efficacy of Memantine for Agitation in Alzheimer’s Dementia: A Randomised Double-Blind Placebo Controlled Trial

Agitation in Alzheimer's disease (AD) is common and associated with poor patient life-quality and carer distress. The best evidence-based pharmacological treatments are antipsychotics which have limited benefits with increased morbidity and mortality. There are no memantine trials in clinically significant agitation but post-hoc analyses in other populations found reduced agitation. We tested the primary hypothesis, memantine is superior to placebo for clinically significant agitation, in patients with moderate-to-severe AD

Increased EEG gamma band activity in Alzheimer’s disease and mild cognitive impairment

High frequency (30–70 Hz) gamma band oscillations in the human electro-encephalogram (EEG) are thought to reflect perceptual and cognitive processes. It is therefore interesting to study these measures in cognitive impairment and dementia. To evaluate gamma band oscillations as a diagnostic biomarker in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI), 15 psychoactive drug naïve AD patients, 20 MCI patients and 20 healthy controls participated in this study. Gamma band power (GBP) was measured in four conditions viz. resting state, music listening, story listening and visual stimulation. To evaluate test–retest reliability (TRR), subjects underwent a similar assessment one week after the first. The overall TRR was high. Elevated GBP was observed in AD when compared to MCI and control subjects in all conditions. The results suggest that elevated GBP is a reproducible and sensitive measure for cognitive dysfunction in AD in comparison with MCI and controls

Study design and methods of the Ansan Geriatric Study (AGE study)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The overall objective of the Ansan Geriatric Study (AGE study) was to describe the prevalence, incidence, and related risk factors for geriatric diseases in elderly Koreans.</p> <p>Methods/Design</p> <p>The AGE study was designed as a population-based prospective cohort study on health, aging, and common geriatric diseases of elderly Koreans aged 60 to 84 years. The inception cohort was recruited in May 2002. The first-wave and second-wave studies were performed using uniform and structured procedures. At the screening study, 2,767 participants were enrolled. Participants (1391 in the first wave study and 841 in the second wave study) were recruited and completed the evaluation. The prevalence of geriatric disease and related factors in elderly Koreans were estimated.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>Here, we report the design and sampling participants, measurement tools, and characteristics of the AGE study. This cohort study will allow a detailed study of the longitudinal comprehensive data on health information of elderly Koreans, thereby contributing to policy formulation and planning of health, welfare management, and other social services in Korea.</p

The Rotterdam Scan Study: design and update up to 2012

Neuroimaging plays an important role in etiologic research on neurological diseases in the elderly. The Rotterdam Scan Study was initiated as part of the ongoing Rotterdam Study with the aim to unravel causes of neurological disease by performing neuroimaging in a population-based longitudinal setting. In 1995 and 1999 random subsets of the Rotterdam Study underwent neuroimaging, whereas from 2005 onwards MRI has been implemented into the core protocol of the Rotterdam Study. In this paper, we discuss the background and rationale of the Rotterdam Scan Study. We also describe the imaging protocol and post-processing techniques, and highlight the main findings to date. Finally, we make recommendations for future research, which will also be the main focus of investigation in the Rotterdam Scan Study