Search results for "Dementia"

Relationship between Diabetes and Ischemic Stroke: Analysis of Diabetes- Related Risk Factors for Stroke and of Specific Patterns of Stroke Associate…

2015

Diabetes and ischemic stroke are common diseases that frequently occurring together. Among patients with diabetes mellitus several factors contribute in varying degrees to the overall cerebrovascular risk including hyperglycemia, vascular risk factors such as hypertension and dyslipidemia and also genetic, demographic, and lifestyle factors and several studies have shown that people with diabetes have approximately twice the risk of ischemic stroke compared with those without diabetes. The association between ischemic stroke and diabetes is bidirectional and it is not limited to acute ischemic stroke since diabetes may contribute to a more insidious brain damage represented by lacunar infar…

The burden of disease in Spain: Results from the Global Burden of Disease 2016

2018

Abstract Background and objectives The global burden of disease (GBD) project measures the health of populations worldwide on an annual basis, and results are available by country. We used the estimates of the GBD to summarise the state of health in Spain in 2016 and report trends in mortality and morbidity from 1990 to 2016. Material and methods GBD 2016 estimated disease burden due to 333 diseases and injuries, and 84 risk factors. The GBD list of causes is hierarchical and includes 3 top level categories, namely: (1) communicable, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional diseases; (2) non-communicable diseases (NCDs), and (3) injuries. Mortality and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), ris…

Type 2 diabetes mellitus and Alzheimer’s disease

2014

Epidemiological and biological evidences support a link between type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Persons with diabetes have a higher incidence of cognitive decline and an increased risk of developing all types of dementia. Cognitive deficits in persons with diabetes mainly affect the areas of psychomotor efficiency, attention, learning and memory, mental flexibility and speed, and executive function. The strong epidemiological association has suggested the existence of a physiopathological link. The determinants of the accelerated cognitive decline in DM2, however, are less clear. Increased cortical and subcortical atrophy have been evidenced after controlling fo…

Methodological matters on an Alzheimer's dementia trial: is a double-blind randomized controlled study design sufficient to draw strong conclusions o…

2007

Vasomotor reactivity in dementia of alzheimer type

1994

The objective of this study was to examine the cerebral blood flow and the vasomotor function of CO2-responsive intracerebral vessels in Alzheimer's disease. Patients met DSM-III-R criteria for dementia of Alzheimer type and had neither symptoms nor signs of cardiovascular or cerebrovascular disease. Blood flow velocities in both middle cerebral arteries (MCA) were recorded using transcranial Doppler sonography during hypercapnia, normocapnia and hypocapnia. Several psychometric tests were performed. Patients' age, disease duration and severity of dementia did not correlate with vasomotor reactivity. Exploratory analysis revealed that mean flow velocities under hypercapnia correlated with s…

Diabetes and Dementia

2015

Persons with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) have an increased incidence of cognitive decline and dementia. An increased cortical and subcortical atrophy has been found after controlling for vascular disease and inadequate cerebral circulation. A possible role of insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia has been suggested to mediate the link between DM2 and Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). Altered insulin signaling may contribute to AD biochemical and histopathological lesions. Both hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia may contribute to cognitive decline in DM2. Recurrent symptomatic and asymptomatic hypoglycemic episodes have been suggested to cause subclinical brain damage, and permanent cognitive impai…

Longitudinal investigation of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in older patients in the province of Palermo (So…

2020

IntroductionClinical presentation of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in old adults from Southern Italy is little known. This study aims to investigate the mortality risk related to risk factors, therapy and clinical course and to suggest prognostic indicators based on day-to-day follow-up of clinical and laboratory findings.Material and methodsIt was designed as a retrospective longitudinal cohort study of adult SARS-CoV-2 patients admitted at Partinico COVID Hospital in Palermo, Southern Italy. Patients were recruited between 4 March and 25 April and followed up until 31 May 2020, day-to-day until death or hospital discharge. Clinical data, laboratory…

Impact of ambulatory physiotherapy on motor abilities of elderly subjects with Alzheimer's disease

2013

AimWe investigated the impact of ambulatory physiotherapy (AP) on motor abilities in elderly subjects with Alzheimer's disease (AD). MethodsSubjects with mild to moderate AD were included and divided into physiotherapy group (PG) and no physiotherapy group (NPG) according to whether or not they received AP between inclusion (T0) and the second time of assessment, between 15 and 36months after inclusion (T1). The follow-up duration, Mini-Mental State Examination, Tinetti and mini motor test (MMT) scores, Timed Up & Go test (TUG), gait speed (GS), one-leg balance (OLB), history of falls within the last 6months (HF), ability to rise from the floor (RFF) and the use of a walking aid (UWA) were …

On the Randomisation Gallery:Random Reflections on a Popular Method in Medical Research

2016

Objective: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and meta-analysis are increasingly utilized methods in medicine. There is, however, substantial critique on both from the theoretical as well as from the practical side. Methods: Seven points on RCTs and three on meta-analysis were choosen to summarize the current critique. Studies critically reviewing the quality of meta-analyses in various fields of medicine were narratively reviewed. Results: The typical RCT is short, performed on a small group of selected patients without severe comorbidity. It is expensive and favors drugs over other forms of therapies. Furthermore, neither patients nor doctors much like RCTs, they feel restricted in their…

Diagnosis, treatment, and analysis of long-term outcomes in idiopathic normal-pressure hydrocephalus

2007

To the Editor:We read with interest the article by McGirt et al. (9) entitled“Diagnosis, Treatment, and Analysis of Long-term Outcomes inIdiopathic Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus.” The authors con-clude that gait impairment is the primary symptom that inde-pendently predicted improvement after shunting. The studyincluded 132 patients, 129 (98%) of whom had gait impairmentas a feature. We would like to comment on this particular selec-tion criterion, as well as improvements in the Mini Mental StateExamination (MMSE) as the sole measure of postoperative cog-nitive improvement.One of the inclusion criteria for this study was presentationwith two or more features of the classic triad. Thus, the …