No abstract

Background/Aims: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia. Neuropsychological assessment of individuals with AD primarily focuses on tests of cortical functioning. However, in clinical practice, the underlying pathologies of dementia are unknown, and a focus on cortical functioning may neglect other domains of cognition, including subcortical and executive functioning. The current study aimed to improve the diagnostic discrimination ability of the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease - Neuropsychological Assessment Battery (CERAD-NAB) by adding three tests of executive functioning and mental speed (Trail Making Tests A and B, S-Words). Methods: Logistic regression analyses of 594 normal controls (NC), 326 patients with mild AD and 224 patients with other types of dementia (OD) were carried out, and the area under the curve values were compared to those of CERAD-NAB alone. Results: All comparisons except AD-OD (65.5%) showed excellent classification rates (NC-AD: 92.7%; NC-OD: 89.0%; NC-all patients: 91.0%) and a superior diagnostic accuracy of the extended version. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that these three tests provide a sensible addition to the CERAD-NAB and can improve neuropsychological diagnosis of dementia.

Abstract. We investigated the earliest neuropsychological changes in Alzheimer's disease (AD) by comparing the baseline performance of 29 individuals who subsequently developed AD within an average of 7.91 ± 2.70 years with 29 pairwisematched individuals who remained cognitively healthy (NC). We hypothesized that subtle, qualitative changes in cognition precede clinical AD by several years, and therefore examined subjective as well as standard quantitative measures of cognition, in addition to subjective estimates of mood and medical status. Participants were selected from the 825 members of the longitudinal BASEL study (BAsel Study on the ELderly), all of whom had been ApoE-genotyped and received comprehensive bi-annual neuropsychological assessments. Within 13 years, 29 were diagnosed with probable AD. Each individual who progressed to AD (AD-P) was pairwise matched to a NC participant based on age, education, demographic status, observation period, and, importantly, ApoE genotype. A regression analysis using the lasso technique identified which of 115 neuropsychological variables best discriminated baseline NC from baseline AD-P performance. This analysis yielded eleven neuropsychological variables that optimally discriminated the two groups (correct classification rate: 60.4%): 1) Intrusions and 2) response bias in verbal learning and memory tasks; 3) delayed figure recall; 4-6) three Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) Block Design subtest variables; 7-8) number of errors and repetitions on letter fluency; and 9-11) self-report of memory problems, a feeling of sadness, and cardiac problems. These results suggest that the preclinical neuropsychological cascade to AD includes subtle but identifiable qualitative impairments in verbal and visual memory, visuospatial processing, error control, and subjective neuropsychological complaints.

No abstract

Babesia divergens-like organisms from free-ranging chamois (Rupicapra r. rupicapra) and roe deer (Capreolus c. capreolus) are distinct from B. divergens of cattle origin -an epidemiological and molecular genetic investigation Schmid, N Schmid, N. Babesia divergens-like organisms from free-ranging chamois (Rupicapra r. rupicapra) and roe deer (Capreolus c. capreolus) are distinct from B. divergens of cattle origin -an epidemiological and molecular genetic investigation. 2008 Babesia divergens-like organisms from free-ranging chamois (Rupicapra r. rupicapra) and roe deer (Capreolus c. capreolus) are distinct from B. divergens of cattle origin -an epidemiological and molecular genetic investigation AbstractIn 2005 and 2006, three adult female chamois (Rupicapra r. rupicapra) were found dead with signs of acute babesial infection in the eastern Swiss Alps. PCR on DNA extracted from blood or spleen of the carcasses revealed sequence identity of the amplified part of the 18S rRNA gene with GenBank entries attributed to Babesia divergens of cattle origin or B. capreoli of wild ruminant origin which have never been described before in this region. Examination of 424 blood samples from 314 head of cattle from this area by IFAT, microscopy and PCR provided no evidence for babesial infection. Six of 887 ticks collected from cattle were PCR-positive, and sequencing revealed Babesia sp. genotype EU1 in five and B. divergens/B. capreoli in one of them. A Babesia isolate of chamois, two isolates of roe deer from the same region and one isolate of a roe deer from the north-western Swiss Alps were genetically compared with two Swiss B. divergens isolates of cattle origin by analysing the genomic rDNA locus. Whereas the near full length sequences of the 18S rRNA gene were virtually identical among all six isolates (>99.4% identity), distinct differences between the two isolates from cattle on the one hand and the four isolates from free-ranging ruminants on the other hand were observed in the sequences of the internal transcribed spacers 1 and 2 (ITS1, ITS2) and part of the 28S rRNA gene. These results indicate that, albeit genetically very closely related, these babesial organisms from cattle and from free-ranging ruminants indeed are distinguishable organisms with different host specificities, and they support the use of the discrete species name B. capreoli for the B. divergens-like organisms from chamois and roe deer. were virtually identical among all six isolates (>99.4% identity), distinct differences between the two isolates from cattle on the one hand and the four isolates from freeranging ruminants on the other hand were observed in the sequences of the internal transcribed spacers 1 and 2 (ITS1, ITS2) and part of the 28S rRNA gene. These results indicate that, albeit genetically very closely related, these babesial organisms from cattle and from free-ranging ruminants indeed are distinguishable organisms with different host specificities, and they support the use of the discrete species name B. capreoli for the B. ...