BrainBlog

A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of simvastatin to treat Alzheimer disease. Neurology . 2011 Aug 9;77(6):556-63 Sano M, Bell KL, Galasko D, Galvin JE, Thomas RG, van Dyck CH, Aisen PS Abstract BACKGROUND: Lowering cholesterol is associated with reduced CNS amyloid deposition and increased dietary cholesterol increases amyloid accumulation in animal studies. Epidemiologic data suggest that use of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase inhibitors (statins) may decrease the risk of Alzheimer disease (AD) and a single-site trial suggested possible benefit in cognition with statin treatment in AD, supporting the hypothesis that statin therapy is useful in the treatment of AD. OBJECTIVE: To determine if the lipid-lowering agent simvastatin slows the progression of symptoms in AD. METHODS: This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of simvastatin was conducted in individuals with mild to moderate AD and normal lipid levels. Participants were...

Santoro A, Siviero P, Minicuci N, Bellavista E, Mishto M, Olivieri F, Marchegiani F, Chiamenti AM, Benussi L, Ghidoni R, Nacmias B, Bagnoli S, Ginestroni A, Scarpino O, Feraco E, Gianni W, Cruciani G, Paganelli R, Di Iorio A, Scognamiglio M, Grimaldi LM, Gabelli C, Sorbi S, Binetti G, Crepaldi G, & Franceschi C. Effects of donepezil, galantamine and rivastigmine in 938 italian patients with Alzheimer's disease: A prospective, observational study. CNS Drugs. 2010 Feb 1; 24(2): 163-176. doi: 10.2165/11310960-000000000-00000. Department of Experimental Pathology, University of Bologna, Via S. Giacomo 12, Bologna, Italy. Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (AChEIs) have been used to improve cognitive status and disability in patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, while the efficacy of AChEIs (i.e. how they act in randomized controlled trials) in this setting is widely accepted, their effectiveness (i.e. how they behave in the real world) remains controv...

Fleisher AS, Sun S, Taylor C, Ward CP, Gamst AC, Petersen RC, Jack CR, Aisen PS, & Thal LJ. Volumetric MRI vs clinical predictors of Alzheimer disease in mild cognitive impairment. Neurology. 2008 Jan 15; 70(3): 191-199. OBJECTIVE: To compare volumetric MRI of whole brain and medial temporal lobe structures to clinical measures for predicting progression from amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to Alzheimer disease (AD). METHODS: Baseline MRI scans from 129 subjects with amnestic MCI were obtained from participants in the Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study group's randomized, placebo-controlled clinical drug trial of donepezil, vitamin E, or placebo. Measures of whole brain, ventricular, hippocampal, and entorhinal cortex volumes were acquired. Participants were followed with clinical and cognitive evaluations until formal criteria for AD were met, or completion of 36 months of follow-up. Logistic regression modeling was done to assess the predictive value of all ...

Diamond EL, Miller S, Dickerson BC, Atri A, Depeau K, Fenstermacher E, Pihlajamäki M, Celone K, Salisbury S, Gregas M, Rentz D, & Sperling RA. Relationship of fMRI activation to clinical trial memory measures in Alzheimer disease. Neurology. 2007 Sep 25; 69(13): 1331-1341. Memory Disorders Unit, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, 221 Longwood Ave, Boston, MA 02115 BACKGROUND: Functional MRI (fMRI) has shown promise as a tool to characterize altered brain function in Alzheimer disease (AD) and for use in proof of concept clinical trials. FMRI studies of subjects with AD have demonstrated altered hippocampal and neocortical activation while encoding novel stimuli compared to older controls. However, the relationship between fMRI activation and performance on standardized clinical trial memory measures has not been fully investigated. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether patterns of activation during an associative-memory fMRI paradigm correlate with performance on memory measures used in A...