Serum tau protein as a marker for the diagnosis of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease

Total tau protein (t-tau) levels in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) (CSF-tau) are markedly elevated in patients with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD). Some CSF-tau may leak into the blood. We evaluated t-tau levels in serum (serum-tau) as a possible marker for the differential diagnosis of CJD from Alzheimer\u27s disease (AD) and other rapidly progressive dementias (RPD). Serum- and CSF-tau levels were determined in patients with sporadic CJD (n = 12), AD (n = 10) and RPD but no CJD (non-CJD-RPD; n = 9) who showed RPD fulfilling the World Health Organization (WHO) criteria for possible CJD at onset and had a final diagnosis other than CJD. We also analyzed serum-tau levels in healthy volunteers as a control group (n = 10). Serum- as well as CSF-tau levels were significantly elevated in CJD group compared to those in AD, non-CJD-RPD and healthy control groups. Serum-tau would be a simple and useful marker to distinguish CJD from AD and non-CJD-RPD, requiring further large study to confirm this. © 2011 Springer-Verlag

Medical procedures and risk for sporadic creutzfeldt-jakob disease, Japan, 1999-2008

金沢大学医薬保健研究域医学系To elucidate the association between medical procedures and sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (sCJD), we analyzed medical procedures (any surgical procedure, neu- rosurgery, ophthalmic surgery, and blood transfusion) for patients registered by the CJD Surveillance Committee in Japan during 1999-2008. We conducted an age-stratified case-control study with 753 sCJD patients and 210 controls and a study of patients who underwent neurosurgical or ophthalmic surgical procedures at the same hospital. Although the control group was relatively small, no evidence was found that prion disease was transmitted through the investigated medical procedures before onset of sCJD. After onset of sCJD, 4.5% of the sCJD patients underwent operations, including neurosurgical for 0.8% and ophthalmic for 1.9%; no special precautions against transmission of prion diseases were taken. Fortunately, we have not identified patients with prion disease attributed to these operations. Our findings indicate that surgical procedures or blood transfusion had little effect on the incidence of sCJD

Ophthalmic Surgery in Prion Diseases

Eleven (1.8%) of 597 patients underwent ophthalmic surgery within 1 month before the onset of prion disease or after the onset. All ophthalmologists reused surgical instruments that had been incompletely sterilized to eliminate infectious prion protein. Ophthalmologists should be aware of prion diseases as a possible cause of visual symptoms and use disposable instruments whenever possible

CSF tau protein is a useful marker for effective treatment of superficial siderosis of the central nervous system: Two case reports

金沢大学附属病院神経内科We report two cases of superficial siderosis (SS) of the central nervous system (CNS), which is caused by chronic haemorrhaging into the subarachnoid space with haemosiderin deposition in the superficial portion of the CNS. Patient 1 had fluid collection in the spinal canal, which was reported as the source of the chronic bleeding. Patient 2 was bleeding from thickened dura at the level of the sacral vertebrae. Both of the patients had xanthochromic cerebrospinal fluid. We surgically repaired the sources of bleeding. Subsequently the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) cleared and their symptoms were not aggravated for about 1 year. We measured several CSF markers of SS before and after surgery. Total tau protein (CSF-t-tau), phosphorylated tau protein (CSF-p-tau), iron (CSF-iron) and ferritin (CSF-ferritin) in the CSF were highly elevated at diagnosis. After surgery, the levels of CSF-t-tau and CSF-p-tau were markedly reduced while CSF-iron and CSF-ferritin had not decreased. It is suggested that CSF-t-tau and CSF-p-tau reflected the neural damage in SS and were useful to evaluate the effectiveness of SS therapies. © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

The Mechanisms of the Roles of α-Synuclein, Amyloid-β, and Tau Protein in the Lewy Body Diseases: Pathogenesis, Early Detection, and Therapeutics

Lewy body diseases (LBD) are pathologically defined as the accumulation of Lewy bodies composed of an aggregation of α-synuclein (αSyn). In LBD, not only the sole aggregation of αSyn but also the co-aggregation of amyloidogenic proteins, such as amyloid-β (Aβ) and tau, has been reported. In this review, the pathophysiology of co-aggregation of αSyn, Aβ, and tau protein and the advancement in imaging and fluid biomarkers that can detect αSyn and co-occurring Aβ and/or tau pathologies are discussed. Additionally, the αSyn-targeted disease-modifying therapies in clinical trials are summarized

Residents living in communities with higher civic participation report higher self-rated health.

It has been shown that community-level social capital may affect residents' health. The present mixed ecological study assesses the evidence for an association between the community-level social capital and the individual level of self-rated health. The Hakui City Health Interview Survey targeted 15,242 people aged 40 years and older from 11 communities. Among them, 6578 residents responded to the questionnaire (response rate, 43.2%). We examined whether the community-level social capital (general trust, norm, and civic participation) was associated with the individual level of self-rated health. Overall, 1919 (29.1%) answers of self-rated poor health were identified. Community-level civic participation was negatively associated with poor self-rated health after adjusting for individual demographic factors, individual social capitals, and community-level economic status, whereas community-level general trust, and norm were not significant. The findings suggest the importance of fostering communities with high civic participation to reduce the poor health status of residents

Exercise program to reduce the risk of cognitive decline and physical frailty in older adults: study protocol for an open label double-arm clinical trial

ObjectiveIt is a big problem that many older adults are physically inactive. Well-known benefits of physical exercise include a decrease in the risk of cognitive decline and physical frailty. Therefore, this study aims to examine whether our proposed exercise program can prevent cognitive decline and improve physical function in the elderly.MethodsThis study will include nondemented older adults (n = 103) without regular exercise habits. The trial will include a physical exercise training program (once a week) and nutritional lectures (once a month) over 5 months and follow-up for ≥1 year. The primary endpoint is the program’s efficacy in preventing cognitive decline, as assessed by changes in the memory performance index of the mild cognitive impairment (MCI) screen; the secondary endpoints are the incidence of MCI and dementia, physical testing, and frailty proportion. In the exploratory phase of the study, we will elucidate the underlying diseases causing MCI in community-dwelling older adults by neuroimaging.DiscussionThis double-arm trial that aims to assess the impact of physical exercise on nondemented older adults’ cognitive and physical function. Furthermore, our newly developed exercise program will be easy for older adults to undertake.Clinical Trial Registration: https://clinicaltrials.gov/, identifier [jRCT 1040220140]