Predictors of behavioral disturbance in Alzheimer's disease
Article Abstract:
Although behavioral abnormalities are common among patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), there is little research on this aspect of the condition. The only predictor that has been identified for behavioral disturbances is the severity of the disease, because behavioral symptoms usually appear only in the later stages. General agreement on the definition and measurement of behavioral disturbances in AD is lacking, and there is not even an agreed-upon scale of disease severity. Two of the most prominent types of Alzheimer's disease are early age at onset (AAO) and the presence of extrapyramidal symptoms (involuntary movements, such as tremors). Because of deficiencies in existing scales, the authors developed the Rush Patient Behavior Checklist (RPBC) to measure behavioral disturbance. The scale will require further research to establish whether it measures what it is supposed to. The results of three studies of suspected AD, involving 146, 60 and 40 patients, were analyzed. The relationship between behavioral disturbances and progression of AD is complex, and no meaningful associations were found, except for a modest correlation between apathy and dementia severity. This indicates that behavioral disturbances are not reactions to dementia, and they are not caused by the same mechanism. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)
Publication Name: Journals of Gerontology
Subject: Seniors
ISSN: 0022-1422
Year: 1991
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
Identification of disease genes and somatic gene therapy: an overview and prospects for the aged
Article Abstract:
Disease genes may be identified through genetic linkage analysis in disease families and identification of persons in whom the disease is associated with aspecific chromosomal anomaly. Somatic gene therapy may then be used by introducing cloned genes or replacing defective genes through either DNA- or viral-mediated techniques. Gene therapy trials may be applied to chronic and disabling diseases in the aged.
Publication Name: Journals of Gerontology
Subject: Seniors
ISSN: 0022-1422
Year: 1993
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
DNA repair and Alzheimer's disease
Article Abstract:
The genetic basis of familial Alzheimer's disease may be rooted in deficient base excision repair in the brain as well as in fibroblast and lymphoid cells. The absence of efficient DNA repair causes accumulation of misrepaired or nonrepaired DNA damage and ultimately results inneuronal damage. The specific DNA damage in neuronal degeneration may be testedby measuring the amount of DNA lesions.
Publication Name: Journals of Gerontology
Subject: Seniors
ISSN: 0022-1422
Year: 1992
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
- Abstracts: Sleep disturbances in patients with mild-stage Alzheimer's disease. The immunohistochemical evidence of amyloid diffuse deposits as a pathological hallmark in Alzheimer's disease
- Abstracts: Economic evaluation of donepezil for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease in Canada. A double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter study of Cerebrolysin for Alzheimer's disease
- Abstracts: Thanks, Janet, for your courage and humor. The romance of the rails. Bargains across the border; thanks to today's genereous exchange rate, Canada can be a traveler's dream come true
- Abstracts: Disability, residential mobility, and changes in living arrangements. Age-related changes of sympathetic outflow to muscles in humans
- Abstracts: A typology of social climates in group residential facilities for older people. Centrality of the grandfather role among older rural black and white men