Prediction of psychosis onset in Alzheimer disease: The role of cognitive impairment, depressive symptoms, and further evidence for psychosis subtypes.

BACKGROUND: Psychotic symptoms in Alzheimer disease (AD+P) identify a heritable phenotype associated with more rapid cognitive decline. The authors have proposed that AD+P is itself a composite of a misidentification and a paranoid subtype with increased cognitive impairment restricted to the misidentification type. Most prior studies of the clinical correlates of AD+P have been limited, however, by the inclusion of prevalent cases. METHODS: Subjects with possible or probable AD or mild cognitive impairment (MCI) without psychosis at study entry were assessed at the time of initial presentation and then annually. Psychotic symptoms were assessed using the CERAD Behavioral Rating Scale. Survival analyses used Cox proportional hazard models with time-dependent covariates to examine the predictors of psychosis onset. RESULTS: A total of 288 subjects completed at least one follow-up examination. Mean duration of follow-up was 22.1 months. The incidence of psychosis was 0.19 per person-year. Cognitive impairment was associated with onset of psychosis, largely as a result of its association with onset of the misidentification, but not the paranoid, subtype. Including psychotropic medication use in the model revealed an association of antidepressant use with the onset of psychosis. This latter association appeared to arise from an underlying association between depression and the risk of psychosis onset rather than from antidepressant treatment. CONCLUSION: These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that the misidentification and the paranoid subtypes each define a more biologically homogeneous group than AD+P as a whole. Further exploration of the relationship between depressive symptoms and psychosis in patients with AD is warranted.     

Decreased corpus callosum size in sickle cell disease: relationship with cerebral infarcts and cognitive functioning.

We assessed midsagittal corpus callosum size in sickle cell disease (SCD) and its relationship to lesion volume, lesion location, and cognitive functioning. Twenty-eight children with SCD and 16 demographic controls completed magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and neuropsychological testing. Corpus callosum (CC) size was smaller for children with silent infarcts (n = 8) or overt stroke (n = 8) than for those without visible infarcts (n = 12) or control participants. Lesion volume was a robust predictor of IQ and other cognitive scores; total CC size did not typically add explanatory power for these measures. The size of the rostral body of the CC, however, independently predicted measures of distractibility, speeded production, and working memory. Posterior CC size was also decreased among many of the children with SCD, even in the absence of visible infarcts in this region. Brain morphology appears to provide additional information about SCD-related effects on the brain above and beyond visible infarcts.     

Perspectives on Health Among Adult Users of Illicit Stimulant Drugs in Rural Ohio

CONTEXT: Although the nonmedical use of stimulant drugs such as cocaine and methamphetamine is increasingly common in many rural areas of the United States, little is known about the health beliefs of people who use these drugs. PURPOSE: This research describes illicit stimulant drug users' views on health and health-related concepts that may affect their utilization of health care services. METHODS: A respondent-driven sampling plan was used to recruit 249 not-in-treatment, nonmedical stimulant drug users who were residing in 3 rural counties in west central Ohio. A structured questionnaire administered by trained interviewers was used to collect information on a range of topics, including current drug use, self-reported health status, perceived need for substance abuse treatment, and beliefs about health and health services. FINDINGS: Participants reported using a wide variety of drugs nonmedically, some by injection. Alcohol and marijuana were the most commonly used drugs in the 30 days prior to the interview. Powder cocaine was used by 72.3% of the sample, crack by 68.3%, and methamphetamine by 29.7%. Fair or poor health status was reported by 41.3% of the participants. Only 20.9% of the sample felt they needed drug abuse treatment. Less than one third of the sample reported that they would feel comfortable talking to a physician about their drug use, and 65.1% said they preferred taking care of their problems without getting professional help. CONCLUSIONS: Stimulant drug users in rural Ohio are involved with a range of substances and hold health beliefs that may impede health services utilization.     

Irritable bowel syndrome and health-related quality of life: a population-based study in Calgary, Alberta.

BACKGROUND: Little is known about the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of nonclinical samples of people with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) in Canada. In a pilot survey, the impact of IBS on HRQOL using a population-based, urban sample was examined. METHODS: A random sample of Calgary residents (18 years of age or older), selected by random digit dialing (n=1521), completed a structured questionnaire including ROME II Criteria and Medical Outcomes Study Short-Form 12-Item Health Survey, version 2 (SF-12v2). The mean scale and summary scores of SF-12v2 for those who did and did not meet ROME II criteria and for those who met ROME II criteria with and without visiting a physician in past three months were determined and compared using multiple regression analyses. RESULTS: Of the 951 households successfully contacted, 590 (62%) were willing to participate, of which 437 (74%) individuals were recruited. One hundred ten IBS cases (81 of which were women) and 327 non-IBS controls (180 of which were women) were identified. All of the eight mean scale scores and the two mean summary scores were significantly lower in people with IBS than in those without, whether or not adjusting for demographics. Forty-four of the 110 IBS cases (40%) sought medical help. Significantly lower mean physical component score and three scale scores (general health, social functioning and role physical) were found in those who sought medical help than in those who did not. CONCLUSIONS: People with IBS experience significant impairment in HRQOL, including both physical and mental well-being. People with IBS who seek medical help report worse physical health than those who do not, but their mental health is no different.     

The Neurosteroid Allopregnanolone Is Reduced in Prefrontal Cortex in Alzheimer’s Disease

BACKGROUND: Few data are currently available investigating neurosteroids (NS) in Alzheimer's disease (AD). The NS allopregnanolone may be decreased in serum and plasma in patients with AD, but it is unclear if allopregnanolone is also reduced in brain. Because a number of NS exhibit neuroprotective effects and impact cognitive performance in rodent models, these molecules may be relevant to the pathophysiology of neurodegenerative disorders. We therefore investigated prefrontal cortex (PFC) NS levels in AD. METHODS: Neurosteroid levels (allopregnanolone, pregnenolone, dehydroepiandrosterone [DHEA]) were determined in postmortem PFC in 14 male subjects with AD and 15 cognitively intact male control subjects by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry preceded by high-performance liquid chromatography purification. RESULTS: Subjects with AD exhibit significant reductions in allopregnanolone compared with cognitively intact control subjects (median levels = 2.50 ng/g vs. 5.59 ng/g, respectively; p = .02). Allopregnanolone levels are inversely correlated with neuropathological disease stage (Braak), r = -.49, p = .007. Median DHEA levels are elevated in subjects with AD (p = .01). CONCLUSIONS: Subjects with AD demonstrate significant reductions in PFC allopregnanolone levels, a finding that may be relevant to neuropathological disease stage severity. Neurosteroids may have utility as candidate biomarkers in AD.     

Diagnostic accuracy of lower extremity X-ray interpretation by 'specialized' emergency nurses.

OBJECTIVES: In the quest for a cost-effective and quality-preserving solution to manage crowding in the emergency department, the possibility of deploying regular emergency nurses for the treatment of acute ankle injuries was investigated. The aim of this study is to compare the diagnostic accuracy of emergency nurses with that of senior house officers in interpreting ankle and foot radiographs. METHODS: A prospective study comparing the assessment of 60 radiographs (30 feet and 30 ankles) by 16 emergency nurses before and after an educational session was performed. Each subset of 30 radiographs contained 12 fractures, hand-picked by a radiologist to represent everyday traumatology in the emergency department. The control group consisted of eight senior house officers representing everyday expertise. The outcome of the diagnostic assessment, represented as the pooled sensitivity and specificity for both groups, was compared using Z-statistics. RESULTS: Before the training session, the specialized emergency nurse group showed a sensitivity of 0.87 (confidence interval 0.83-0.91) compared with 0.93 (confidence interval 0.88-0.96) for the control group (P = 0.05). The specificity of specialized emergency nurses was 0.87 (confidence interval 0.81-0.92) compared with 0.93 (confidence interval 0.89-0.95) for the senior house officers (P < 0.05). After the training session, specialized emergency nurse diagnostic parameters did not differ significantly from the control group, displaying a sensitivity of 0.89 (confidence interval 0.86-0.92) and specificity of 0.92 (confidence interval 0.87-0.95). CONCLUSION: Before the training session, the specialized emergency nurse group showed a significantly lower accuracy than the SHO group. After training, however, the diagnostic accuracy did not differ significantly between groups. Therefore, we conclude that emergency nurses are able to accurately interpret foot and ankle radiographs after a short educational session.