Search results for "DEMENTIA"

People with memory illnesses and their spouses as actors in the hybrid care model

2023

Objective: The study analysed how its participants positioned themselves and other people as actors in daily life, and what matters they portrayed as meaningful in seeking and receiving support in daily life. Background: Family care has traditionally played an important role in elder care in Finland. Current policy goals will further increase the importance of family care, yet research on how people with memory illnesses and their spouses perceive care arrangements is scarce. Method: The study drew from theory of relational agency and positioning theory. The data came from semi-structured, in-depth interviews (10) of home-dwelling people diagnosed with a memory illness and their spouses. Th…

REM sleep behavior disorder in a patient with frontotemporal dementia

2010

We describe a patient with frontotemporal dementia (FTD), a tauopathy, who also showed clinical and polysomnographic features of REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD). The patient is a 78-year-old male with a 1 year history of behavioral dysfunction involving emotion, character and social functioning. Brain imaging and the results of neuropsychological testing were consistent with a diagnosis of FTD. Sleep symptom onset occurred some years before the behavioral changes, and consisted of unpleasant dreams, vocalization, and prominent motor behaviors. A polysomnography confirmed the diagnosis of RBD. Our findings support the hypothesis that RBD, although more frequent in synucleinopathies, might …

Dietary Patterns and Healthy Ageing

2021

Ageing is a complex process in which multiple factors are involved that can contribute to determine whether a person will or not be affected by diseases that are more frequently observed in advanced age. The factors involved comprise genetic, environmental, behavioural, and dietary factors, which influence pathways that regulate the ageing process and the life expectancy, rendering longevity a multifaceted phenomenon. Even if a miraculous elixir or pill is not yet available, there is general agreement that nutrition has a major impact on the overall mortality and on the development of age-related chronic non-communicable diseases. Nutrition research has focused for decades on single nutrien…

Randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled, multicentre study of idebenone in patients suffering from multi-infarct dementia

1992

Abstract In this randomized double-blind, placebo controlled, multicentre study on 108 elderly patients with mild to moderate mental deterioration of vascular origin, idebenone — a benzoquinone derivative with a hydroxyalkyl side chain — proved to be therapeutically effective in the treatment of multi-infarct dementia. The oral administration of idebenone 45 mg/day b.i.d. for 120 days significantly improved the scores of the following test in comparison with placebo: Mini Mental State, Randt Memory Test, Gottfries Rating Scale, Token Test, Toulouse Pieron Test, indicating improvements in memory attention and cognitivity. The drug was well tolerated and effective in patients with multi-infar…

From obesity to Alzheimer's disease through insulin resistance

2021

Alzheimer's disease is one of the most frequent forms of dementia. It is a progressive neurodegenerative disease, characterized by presence of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles in the brain. Obesity is regarded as abnormal fat accumulation with deleterious impact on human health. There is full scientific evidence that obesity and the metabolic comorbidities (e.g., insulin resistance, hyperglycaemia, and type 2 diabetes) are related to Alzheimer's disease and likely in the causative pathway. Numerous studies have identified several overlapping neurodegenerative mechanisms, including oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, and inflammation. In this review, we present how obesit…

Microvascular brain damage with aging and hypertension

2011

Loss of cognitive function and hypertension are two common conditions in the elderly and both significantly contribute to loss of personal independency. Microvascular brain damage - the result of age-associated alteration in large arteries and the progressive mismatch of their cross-talk with small cerebral arteries - represents a potent risk factor for cognitive decline and for the onset of dementia in older individuals. The present review discusses the complexity of factors linking large artery to microvascular brain disease and to cognitive decline and the evidence for possible clinical markers useful for prevention of this phenomenon. The possibility of dementia prevention by cardiovasc…

Centenarians in Western Sicily

1998

Progressive aging of general population recorded in Italy has caused an increase of the number of centenarians. Such high age is often associated with failure of many psychic and physical functions, and centenarians are therefore often not independent (partially or completely) and require particular care.

Does angioedema influence the quality of life in patients with chronic spontaneous urticaria?

2019

Choice of reference area in studies of Alzheimer's disease using positron emission tomography with fluorodeoxyglucose-F18

2007

At present, there is still no consensus on the choice of the reference area in positron emission tomography (PET) studies of Alzheimer's disease (AD). In this study, PET scans with fluorodeoxyglucose-F18 were carried out in the following groups of subjects: 47 patients with probable AD, 8 patients with mild cognitive impairment, and 15 age-similar healthy subjects. Scans normalized to the cerebral global mean (CGM), cerebellum (CBL), and the primary sensorimotor cortex (SMC). We evaluated the effect of the different count normalization procedures on the accuracy of (18)F-FDG PET to detect AD-specific metabolic abnormalities (voxel-based group comparison) and to differentiate between patient…

The association between objective vision impairment and mild cognitive impairment among older adults in low- and middle-income countries

2021

Aim: The association between visual impairment and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) has not been investigated to date. Thus, we assessed this association among older adults from six low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) (China, India, Ghana, Mexico, Russia, and South Africa) using nationally representative datasets. Methods: Cross-sectional, community-based data from the WHO Study on global AGEing and adult health (SAGE) were analyzed. Visual acuity was measured using the tumbling ElogMAR chart, and vision impairment (at distance and near) was defined as visual acuity worse than 6/18 (0.48 logMAR) in the better-seeing eye. The definition of MCI was based on the National Institute on Aging…