综述:2型糖尿病与轻度认知障碍

阿尔茨海默病(Alzheimer's disease,AD)是一个连续的病理生理过程,包括轻度认知障碍前期(pre-MCI)、轻度认知障碍期(mild cognitive impairment,MCI)和痴呆期．AD临床期病程不可逆转,因此,pre-MCI和MCI的早期发现和干预就成为延缓和逆转AD发生的重要环节．大量研究表明,2型糖尿病(T2DM)胰岛素抵抗是导致MCI和AD的独立危险因素,T2DM与AD及AD前期认知功能障碍有密切关系．本文重点综述2型糖尿病与MCI及AD之间的相关性,探讨2型糖尿病治疗对AD的发生进行有效干预的可能性,为AD早期发现和临床治疗提供新线索．     

瘦素在脑老化认知发展不同阶段中的作用

脑老化过程中伴随脑结构、功能退化和认知能力减退,其认知发展呈异质性,即发展的不均一性,有成功脑老化、正常脑老化、轻度认知功能障碍和阿尔茨海默病等状态。瘦素在不同认知状态下含量不同。研究发现,无神经病理改变的老年人群瘦素水平高,认知功能减退不明显;多数轻度认知功能障碍者瘦素水平降低;瘦素可改善阿尔茨海默病患者的认知障碍,被认为是一种潜在的认知增强剂。瘦素水平降低在脑老化认知障碍的发展中起重要作用。     

线粒体结构和功能改变对阿尔茨海默病发生的影响

阿尔茨海默病(Alzheimer's disease,AD)是一种以进行性认知障碍和行为损害为主要特征的神经退行性疾病,主要临床表现为认知功能障碍,同时伴发精神障碍和情绪障碍.AD患者脑中早期即表现出细胞内线粒体功能紊乱和结构变化,纠正线粒体稳态失衡及由其引起的细胞病理改变可能是早期治疗AD的潜在靶点.该文主要对线粒体...     

综述:轻度认知障碍的神经心理损伤特征及其早期识别与干预——预防和延缓阿尔茨海默病的发生

轻度认知障碍(mild cognitive impairment,MCI)是介于正常老化和痴呆之间的过渡阶段,MCI患者是阿尔茨海默病(Alzheimer's disease,AD)的风险人群．本文介绍了国际上MCI诊断标准及其变化和修订,提出了理想的诊断模型．根据国内外研究,从认知和精神行为两个方面综述了MCI的神经心理损伤特征及其相应的诊断工具,简要回顾了现有针对MCI开展干预的各种方法．指出早期识别和干预研究需要从实验室小样本扩展到社区大样本老年人群,从横断研究扩展到纵向追踪,综合采用多种识别指标,并结合多种干预方法以达到最优效果．     

基于体素的形态测量学在阿尔茨海默病及轻度认知功能障碍研究中的应用

阿尔茨海默病(Alzheimer's disease,AD)是发生于老年和老年前期、以进行性认知功能障碍和行为异常为特征的中枢神经系统退行性疾病,是老年痴呆中最常见类型。轻度认知功能障碍(mild cognitive impairment,MCI)是介于正常衰老和痴呆之间的一种中间状态,指有轻度的记忆或认知损伤,但尚未达到痴呆程度的一种状态,日常生活和社会功能不受影响,其中很大一部分患者最终进展为AD。临床诊断AD患者多已达中晚期,为了能早期诊断AD及预测MCI的转归,有关AD的生物学标注物的研究成为近年来的科研热点。AD患者颅脑的大体病理特征为脑萎缩,其萎缩有别于正常老龄化所致的退行性改变,有其自身特点,这种特定形式的萎缩有可能成为AD早期诊断的生物学标志物。基于体素的形态测量学(voxel-based morphometry,VBM)是一种基于像素水平对脑核磁图像进行自动、全面、客观分析的技术,可以定量分析全脑结构、刻画出局部脑区结构特征,是一种较好的脑形态分析工具,广泛用于阿尔茨海默病及轻度认知功能障碍的研究中,本文综述了近年来其研究进展,期望为临床及科研提供参考。     

阿尔茨海默病和轻度认知损伤计算机辅助诊断模型（英文）

阿尔茨海默病的早期诊断对于患者具有重要意义,然而轻度认知损伤患者与早期阿尔茨海默病患者十分相似的临床症状却让阿尔茨海默病的早期诊断变得异常困难。通过对391例包括正常人、阿尔茨海默病患者以及轻度认知损伤患者的33项临床指标的研究,用逐步Fisher判别分析构建不同优先级的分类器,筛选出11项指标建立综合诊断模型,对于正常人、轻度认知损伤患者以及阿尔茨海默病患者诊断的平均正确率达到77.16%,最高正确率达到81.68%,提高了阿尔茨海默病患者以及轻度认知损伤的诊断正确率,为科研和临床诊断提供了一种新途径.     

阿尔茨海默病生物标志物研究进展

阿尔茨海默病(Alzheimer's disease,AD)是一种常见的神经退行性疾病,以胞外淀粉样蛋白(amyloid-β,Aβ)沉积和胞内神经纤维缠结为主要病理特征.AD发病机理尚未完全探明,并且缺乏有效的早期临床诊断方法,AD患者往往在轻度认知障碍(mild cognitive impairment,MCI)和痴...     

Drebrin与认知功能障碍

树突棘和突触的病理改变在认知功能障碍发病机制中具有十分重要的作用,研究表明大脑发育调节蛋白（developmentregulationbrainprotein,Drebrin）能够调节树突棘和突触的形态和重塑。Drebrin的减少可能通过树突棘内细胞骨架变化,使树突棘的形态结构受到影响,导致突触功能和结构的变化。但目前阿尔茨海默病（Alzheimer’Sdisease,AD）脑内突触病理变化的具体机制及Drebrin和突触之间的关系仍不明确。探讨Drebrin与认知功能的关系及其机制,对临床上早期干预认知功能障碍、寻找AD的有效诊断治疗措施具有重要意义。     

基于脑-肠轴理论探讨针灸治疗认知障碍的机制

认知障碍是一种主要影响认知能力（包括学习、记忆、感知和问题解决等）的心理健康障碍。认知障碍常见于阿尔茨海默病、血管性痴呆、轻度认知障碍等患者。与药物治疗相比，针灸治疗具有低成本、可耐受性和安全等特点，已成为改善认知功能的潜在工具。许多研究表明，在认知障碍的患者中，针灸治疗具有明显改善认知功能的作用。但针灸改善认知功能的机制仍不清楚。基于中医从肠治脑的理论基础以及目前实验研究，脑-肠轴与针灸改善大脑认知功能关系密切。对于针灸改善认知的脑-肠轴机制的理解能促进肠道微生物微观机制研究，但肠道微生物存在个体差异、动态变化、种类繁多等特征，以肠道稳态为调控目标的新针灸方案有待研究完善与规范。本文综述了针灸干预脑-肠轴治疗认知障碍，针灸通过维持肠道生态平衡、保持肠道菌群多样性、调整有益菌群丰度、调节代谢、促进生成脑源性神经营养因子（BDNF）、抑制小胶质细胞激活、降低神经炎症反应、减少Aβ蛋白沉积等机制，实现对认知障碍的治疗。     

阿尔茨海默病早期诊断的体液生物标志物

阿尔茨海默病(Alzheimer’s disease,AD)是目前发病率较高的神经退行性疾病,主要临床表现为不可逆的记忆力丧失与认知功能的衰退。AD起病隐秘,不易察觉,病程长达数十年,尚无有效治疗手段,因此AD早期的诊断与干预尤为重要;但是,当前AD早期诊断缺乏灵敏、简便的检测方案。体液(特别是血液)中的生物标志物受到了越来越多的关注,可能成为AD早期诊断的有效手段。现主要综述了与AD病理进程相关的脑脊液、血液、尿液中的生物标志物,并对其应用与前景做一展望。     

Mild cognitive impairment: searching for the prodrome of Alzheimer's disease

The concept of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) identifies persons who are neither cognitively normal nor demented. There is increasing evidence that MCI defines a group of persons who are at near-term risk of developing dementia and particularly Alzheimer''s disease (AD). MCI thus constitutes an attractive target population for preventive treatments of AD. MCI is associated with aging and is more prevalent than dementia. There are several clinical and biological markers that are predictive of MCI prognosis, including depressive symptoms, cognitive deficits, brain imaging and neurochemical findings. The clinician needs to be especially alert to depressive and other mood symptoms which are common in MCI and potentially treatable. Trials of current medications for prevention of MCI progression to dementia have been largely negative. There are observational data suggesting that lifestyle modifications including exercise, leisure activities, cognitive stimulation, and social activities may be effective for prevention of MCI progression. There are many novel therapies currently in trials for early AD, and if effective they may prove to be helpful in prevention of MCI progression as well.     

Déficit cognitif léger : mythe ou réalité ?

The concept of mild cognitive impairment, MCI, has been proposed by Petersen and described like a state between the cognitive changes of normal aging and very early dementia. However, MCI appears to be a heterogeneous clinical syndrome in term of etiological factors, clinical patterns or clinical course. New criteria of MCI are proposed for use in clinical research. Identification of patients at risk for Alzheimer disease, AD, is an important goal. Ongoing clinical and neuroimaging (magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT),¹⁸F flouorodeoxyglucose-photo emission tomography (FDG-PET)) studies are focusing on the identification of those individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) who are most likely to convert to AD.     

The influence of smoking on plasma folate and lipoproteins in Alzheimer disease, mild cognitive impairment and depression

The risk for Alzheimer's disease (AD) is associated with lifestyle factors, especially cigarette smoking. In this study we investigated the influence of smoking on the serum levels of folic acid, LDL and HDL in AD patients, patients with minimal cognitive impairment (MCI) and patients with major depression. We investigated a total of n = 374 patients in the diagnostic categories:, AD: n = 272, MCI: n = 60, Major depression: n = 42. We found significantly lower HDL levels in smokers and previous smokers in comparison to non-smokers, p<0,05. The LDL: HDL ratio in smokers was significant higher (+20%) compared to previous smokers and non-smokers, p < 0.05. The mean levels of folic acid were statistically significant (p<0.05) lower (-24%) in smokers compared to non-smokers. Patients with MCI and Alzheimer;s disease (and also major depression) who are "smokers" show serum levels of HDL and folic acid that are known to be strong risk factors for vascular damage and increased risk for vascular brain damage and impaired cognitive function. Therefore cessation of smoking, substitution with folate or statin therapy of smoking patients with MCI or AD might be beneficial to slow down further cognitive decline.     

Atrophic Patterns of the Frontal-Subcortical Circuits in Patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer’s Disease

Atrophy of the cortical thickness and gray matter volume are regarded as sensitive markers for the early clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). This study aimed to investigate differences in atrophy patterns in the frontal-subcortical circuits between MCI and AD, assess whether these differences were essential for the pathologic basis of cognitive impairment. A total of 131 individuals were recruited, including 45 with cognitively normal controls (CN), 46 with MCI, and 40 with AD. FreeSurfer software was used to perform volumetric measurements of the frontal-subcortical circuits from 3.0T magnetic resonance (MR) scans. Data revealed that both MCI and AD subjects had a thinner cortex in the left caudal middle frontal gyrus and the left lateral orbitofrontal gyrus compared with CN individuals. The left lateral orbitofrontal gyrus was also thinner in AD compared with MCI patients. There were no statistically significant differences in the cortical mean curvature among the three groups. Both MCI and AD subjects exhibited smaller bilateral hippocampus volumes compared with CN individuals. The volumes of the bilateral hippocampus and the right putamen were also smaller in AD compared with MCI patients. Logistic regression analyses revealed that the left lateral orbitofrontal gyrus and bilateral hippocampus were risk factors for cognitive impairment. These current results suggest that atrophy was heterogeneous in subregions of the frontal-subcortical circuits in MCI and AD patients. Among these subregions, the reduced thickness of the left lateral orbitofrontal and the smaller volume of the bilateral hippocampus seemed to be markers for predicting cognitive impairment.     

Enrichment and Stratification for Predementia Alzheimer Disease Clinical Trials

The tau and amyloid pathobiological processes underlying Alzheimer disease (AD) progresses slowly over periods of decades before clinical manifestation as mild cognitive impairment (MCI), then more rapidly to dementia, and eventually to end-stage organ failure. The failure of clinical trials of candidate disease modifying therapies to slow disease progression in patients already diagnosed with early AD has led to increased interest in exploring the possibility of early intervention and prevention trials, targeting MCI and cognitively healthy (HC) populations. Here, we stratify MCI individuals based on cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers and structural atrophy risk factors for the disease. We also stratify HC individuals into risk groups on the basis of CSF biomarkers for the two hallmark AD pathologies. Results show that the broad category of MCI can be decomposed into subsets of individuals with significantly different average regional atrophy rates. By thus selectively identifying individuals, combinations of these biomarkers and risk factors could enable significant reductions in sample size requirements for clinical trials of investigational AD-modifying therapies, and provide stratification mechanisms to more finely assess response to therapy. Power is sufficiently high that detecting efficacy in MCI cohorts should not be a limiting factor in AD therapeutics research. In contrast, we show that sample size estimates for clinical trials aimed at the preclinical stage of the disorder (HCs with evidence of AD pathology) are prohibitively large. Longer natural history studies are needed to inform design of trials aimed at the presymptomatic stage.     

Can mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease be diagnosed by monitoring a miRNA triad in the blood?

Objectively diagnosing age‐related cognitive impairment (ACI), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and early‐stage Alzheimer''s disease (AD) is a difficult task, as most cognitive impairment is clinically established via questionnaires, history, and physical examinations. A recent study has suggested that monitoring a miRNA triad, miR‐181a‐5p, miR‐146a‐5p, and miR‐148a‐3p can identify ACI and its progression to MCI and AD (Islam et al., EMBO Mol Med. 13: e14997, 2021). This commentary deliberates findings from this article, such as elevated levels of the miRNA triad in the brain impairing neural plasticity and cognitive function, the efficiency of measuring the miRNA triad in the circulating blood diagnosing MCI and AD, and the promise for improving cognitive function in MCI and AD by inhibiting this miRNA triad. Additional studies required prior to employing this miRNA triad in clinical practice are also discussed.     

Memory Concerns,Memory Performance and Risk of Dementia in Patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment

Background

Concerns about worsening memory (“memory concerns”; MC) and impairment in memory performance are both predictors of Alzheimer''s dementia (AD). The relationship of both in dementia prediction at the pre-dementia disease stage, however, is not well explored. Refined understanding of the contribution of both MC and memory performance in dementia prediction is crucial for defining at-risk populations. We examined the risk of incident AD by MC and memory performance in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI).

Methods

We analyzed data of 417 MCI patients from a longitudinal multicenter observational study. Patients were classified based on presence (n = 305) vs. absence (n = 112) of MC. Risk of incident AD was estimated with Cox Proportional-Hazards regression models.

Results

Risk of incident AD was increased by MC (HR = 2.55, 95%CI: 1.33–4.89), lower memory performance (HR = 0.63, 95%CI: 0.56–0.71) and ApoE4-genotype (HR = 1.89, 95%CI: 1.18–3.02). An interaction effect between MC and memory performance was observed. The predictive power of MC was greatest for patients with very mild memory impairment and decreased with increasing memory impairment.

Conclusions

Our data suggest that the power of MC as a predictor of future dementia at the MCI stage varies with the patients'' level of cognitive impairment. While MC are predictive at early stage MCI, their predictive value at more advanced stages of MCI is reduced. This suggests that loss of insight related to AD may occur at the late stage of MCI.