1,720,962 research outputs found
Lower lean mass and higher percent fat mass in patients with Alzheimer's disease
No full textIn this study we analyzed body composition in relation to cognitive and functional status, in a cross-sectional sample of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD).Seventy individuals (27 men, 78.1 ± 6.5. years; 43 women, 80.4 ± 5.6. years) with mild-moderate stages of AD (clinical dementia ratings 1 and 2) were selected from the Alzheimer Center, SS. Trinità Hospital, ASL 8 of Cagliari (Italy). Cognitive and psycho-functional status was evaluated using mini-mental state examination (MMSE), activities of daily living (ADL) scale, and geriatric depression scale (GDS). Mini-nutritional assessment (MNA) was applied. Anthropometric measurements were taken and body mass index (BMI) was calculated. Body composition was assessed by means of specific bioelectrical impedance vector analysis (BIVA), using the references for the elderly. In comparison with the reference group, patients with AD showed similar BMI and MNA, but peculiar bioelectrical characteristics: lower phase angles and longer vectors (p. <. 0.05). According to specific BIVA, this bioelectrical pattern is indicative of a reduction of lean tissue mass and an increase of percent fat mass (FM%). A more accentuated lean mass reduction (p < 0.05) was observed in women with worse cognitive status and a FM% increase (p < 0.01) in women with worse functional status. In conclusion, patients with AD had lower lean tissue mass and higher percent fat mass than healthy elderly individuals. In women, this pattern was associated with cognitive and functional decline, as indicated by MMSE and ADL values. Specific BIVA showed to be a suitable technique in the elderly, that could enhance BMI and MNA information in the evaluation of nutritional status
The association between nutritional status and cognitive, depressive and functional conditions in Alzheimer’s disease patients
No full textBehave-AD-FW Behavioral Pathology in Alzheimer’s Disease Rating Scale: studio di attendibilità della versione italiana della scala
No full textContext: The new Behave-AD-FW is an instrument, appositively designed to access potentially remediable symptoms in Alzheimer’s disease patients, it also evaluates the outcome of pharmacological and non pharmacological treatments. It consists of 25 items grouped into 7 categories. Each symptom is scored on severity and on its frequency on four-point scales. The instrument is administered to a well informed caregiver and symptoms are referred to the previous two week. Its reliability, construct validity and criterion validity have already
been demonstrated in its original version by Prof. B. Reisberg. Objective: Objective of the present study is to describe the Italian version of the scale and evaluate its reliability. Method: The scale has been administered to 40 caregiver of 40 patients who attended the Alzheimer Center. Different types of dementia were included in the sample of patients. Two clinicians separately and independently rates the responses on the scale in order to evaluate the intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs). Results: ICCs for severity score in the categories had a range between 0.96 to 1.00; ICCs calculated on frequency had a range between 0.98 and 1.00; ICCs for total frequency-weighted score for the seven categories ranged from 0.94. to 0.99 (P < 0.001). Conclusion: Results indicates that Italian version of Behave-AD-FW is a reliable instrument
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Nutritional and psycho-functional status in elderly patients with Alzheimer’s disease
No full textObjectives: Analysis of variations of nutritional status in relation to psycho-functional conditions in elderly patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease (AD) by means of bioelectrical impedance vector analysis (BIVA). Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Alzheimer Center, SS. Trinita Hospital, Cagliari (Italy). Participants: 83 free-living patients (29 men, 54 women) with mild-moderate Alzheimer's disease, aged 66 to 96 years, and 91 age-matched controls (37 men and 54 women). Measurements: Nutritional status was evaluated by anthropometry (weight, height, waist and upper arm circumferences, triceps skinfold; body mass index, BMI; arm muscle area, AMA); Mini Nutritional Assessment, MNAR; bioelectrical impedance vector analysis, BIVA. Psycho-functional status was assessed by the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), Activities of Daily Living (ADL), and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL). Results: Compared to the control groups, patients with Alzheimer's disease had a worse psycho-functional and nutritional status. BIVA detected lower body cell mass in Alzheimer's patients with respect to controls (men: T2= 23.4; women: T2=27.3; p<0.01), as well as in the female patients with lower levels of IADL and MMSE (respectively, T2= 8.0; T2=7.4; p<0.05). In patients with AD, a worse psycho-functional status was associated with obesity. Conclusion: The psycho-functional decline of patients with AD is related to body composition variations, with a relative increase of fat mass with respect to the muscle component. The BIVA technique distinguished patients from controls and patients with different levels of cognitive decline. Therefore, it is a suitable tool for the screening and monitoring of nutritional status in Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease and genes involved in neuronal cholinergic transmission: A case-control association study in a Sardinian sample
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