Compared with the MMSE, the MoCA-P is significantly better for detecting MCI in the elderly, particularly in the oldest old population, and it also displays more effectiveness in detecting dementia.

cognitive stimulation therapy has significant efficacy in lowering apathy and depression symptomatology and in the Mini Mental State Examination in patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease.

No abstract

Anti-Sry-like high mobility group box (SOX) 1 antibodies (abs) are partly characterized onconeural autoantibodies (autoabs) due to their correlation with neoplastic diseases. Anti-SOX1 abs are associated with various clinical manifestations, including Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome (LEMS) and paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration (PCD). However, the clinical characteristics of patients with anti-SOX1 abs have not been described in detail. This review systematically explores the reported patients with anti-SOX1 abs and analyzes these cases for demographic characteristics, clinical features, coexisting neuronal autoabs, neuroimaging findings, treatment, and clinical outcomes. In addition, considering that PCD is the most common paraneoplastic neurological syndrome and that the association between PCD and anti-SOX1 abs remains unclear, we focus on the presence of autoabs in relation to PCD and associated tumors. PCD-associated autoabs include various intracellular autoabs (e.g., anti-Hu, anti-Yo, anti-Ri, and anti-SOX1) and cell-surface autoabs (anti-P/Q-type voltage-gated calcium channel). Commonly involved tumors in PCD are small-cell lung cancer (SCLC), gynecological, and breast tumors. LEMS is the most common clinical symptom in patients with anti-SOX1 abs, followed by PCD, and multiple neuronal autoabs coexist in 47.1% of these patients. SCLC is still the predominant tumor in patients with anti-SOX1 abs, while non-SCLC is uncommon. No consistent imaging feature is found in patients with anti-SOX1 abs, and there is no consensus on either the therapy choice or therapeutic efficacy. In conclusion, the presence of anti-SOX1 abs alone is a potential predictor of an uncommon paraneoplastic neurological disorder, usually occurring in the setting of LEMS, PCD, and SCLC. The detection of anti-SOX1 abs contributes to an early diagnosis of underlying tumors, given the diversity of clinical symptoms and the absence of characteristic neuroimaging features.

No abstract

The present study aimed to evaluate the association between rs11136000 in clusterin (CLU) and late-onset Alzheimer's disease (LOAD) by meta-analysis. Several databases including PubMed, EMbase, CBMdisc and CMCC were searched for relevant case-control studies based on defined selection criteria. Odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) of the rs11136000 genotype and allele distribution were analyzed with RevMan and Stata software. The control population and heterogeneity between populations were examined in the selected studies using the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Overall OR among the frequencies of the genotype and allele in both patients with AD and controls was estimated using fixed or random effect models. The summary of the OR and 95% CI were then analyzed to obtain the effects across the studies. Publication bias was examined using a funnel plot, Egger's test and Begg's test, and a Fail-safe Number (Nfs). A total of 20 reports were used. The summary OR for studies in the Caucasian population with a frequency of TT+TC/CC genotype and T/C allele at rs11136000 locus in CLU were 0.79 (95% CI, 0.73–0.86; P<0.00001) and 0.87 (95% CI, 0.85–0.90; P<0.00001). The summary OR for the studies conducted in the Asian population were 0.90 (95% CI, 0.81–0.99; P=0.04) and 0.87 (95% CI, 0.81–0.93; P<0.0001). The summary OR in other mixed ethnic groups with regards to the frequency of T/C allele was 0.82 (95% CI, 0.68–0.99; P=0.04). These results demonstrated the presence of a statistically significant difference in LOAD susceptibility between individuals with the T allele CLU rs11136000 polymorphism and those without. The studies conducted in populations of African descent or Hispanics showed no statistically significant difference. Negligible publication bias was present, with Nfs being 750.604. In summary, polymorphism rs11136000 in the CLU gene may contribute to susceptibility to LOAD, and the presence of the T allele may reduce the risk of LOAD in Caucasian and Asian populations. However, no definitive association was found between the presence of the CLU rs11136000 polymorphism and LOAD in populations of African or Hispanic descent.

No abstract

Latent genetic variations of cholesterol metabolism-related genes in late-onset Alzheimer’s disease, especially, as well as in mild cognitive impairment pathogenesis are still to be studied extensively. Thus, we performed the targeted-sequencing of 12 nuclear receptor genes plus APOE which were involved in cholesterol content modulation to screen susceptible genetic variants and focused on a new risk variant ESR1 rs9340803 at 6q25.1 for both late-onset Alzheimer’s disease (OR=3.30[1.84~4.22], p<0.001) and mild cognitive impairment (OR=3.08[1.75~3.89], p<0.001). This low-frequency variant was validated in three independent cohorts totaling 854 late-onset Alzheimer’s disease cases, 1059 mild cognitive impairment cases and 1254 controls from nine provinces of China mainland. Preliminary functional study on it revealed decreased ESR1 expression in vitro. Besides, we detected higher serum Aβ1-40 concentration in participants carrying this variant (p=0.038) and lower plasma total cholesterol level in this variant carriers with late-onset Alzheimer’s disease (p=0.009). In summary, we identified a susceptible variant which might contribute to developing mild cognitive impairment at earlier stage and Alzheimer’s Disease later. Our study would provide new insight into the disease causation of late-onset Alzheimer’s disease and could be exploited therapeutically.