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Biomedical subjects

J Palo

Publications and source records attributed to J Palo.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
PubMed1985

CSF in Alzheimer's disease. Studies on blood-brain barrier function and intrathecal protein synthesis.

Serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from 22 ambulatory and 10 institutionalised patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and 22 age-matched controls were assayed nephelometrically for concentrations of IgG, IgA, IgM, haptoglobin, transferrin, prealbumin and albumin. The CSF/serum ratio and index were calculated for each protein. In the CSF of ambulatory patients IgG, transferrin and albumin were elevated while the institutionalised patients had higher IgG and IgA levels compared to the controls. The CSF haptoglobin was elevated in institutionalised AD patients compared to those who were ambulatory. The CSF/serum ratio for albumin was elevated in both groups. An increase in the IgG ratio was also found in both groups. The ratios for haptoglobin and prealbumin were markedly increased in the institutionalised patients. CSF indices gave no evidence for increased intrathecal synthesis of any of the proteins investigated. The increased CSF/serum ratios for IgG and albumin and also the higher CSF albumin in patients with AD suggest an increased blood-brain barrier permeability in this disease. The high prealbumin ratio may be related to amyloidogenesis often present in AD.

Aged↗
PubMed1985

Prevalence of severe dementia in Finland.

A sample of 8,000 subjects to represent the population of Finland aged 30 years and over was used to identify patients with severe dementia; 141 cases were found. The prevalence of all types of severe dementia was 1.8% in the whole study population and 6.7% in the population aged 65 years and over. The prevalence increased with advancing age to 17.3% in the age group 85 years and over. Primary degenerative dementia constituted 50% of all cases; multi-infarct and combined dementia, 39%; and secondary dementia, 11%. Fifty-seven percent of the patients lived in institutions.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Dolichols are elevated in brain tissue from Alzheimer's disease, but not in urinary sediment from Alzheimer's disease and Down's syndrome.

Long-chain polyisoprenoid alcohols (dolichols) were measured in different brain regions dissected postmortem from 26 histopathologically confirmed cases of Alzheimer's disease and 24 age-matched nonAlzheimer control patients. They were significantly elevated in all parts of the cerebrum, but not in the cerebellum, of Alzheimer patients. The highest values were found in the temporal cortex and hippocampus. Out of the individual dolichol molecular species, the one with the most isoprene units (C105) was significantly increased in the temporal cortex, hippocampus, and basal forebrain of Alzheimer patients, compared with the controls. Dolichols were normal in the urinary sediment of 10 Alzheimer patients and nine patients with Down's syndrome, in comparison to age-matched controls for both groups. This is in contrast to neuronal ceroid-lipofuscinosis patients in whom dolichols are elevated in cerebral cortex, as well as in the cells of the urinary sediment, indicating generalized ceroid-lipofuscin storage.

Aged↗
PubMed1984

Neuronal intranuclear inclusion disease in identical twins.

A pair of female identical twins exhibited slurred speech, nystagmus, and oculogyral spasms starting at age 11. The patients then had episodic rage, extrapyramidal and lower motor neuron abnormalities, and grand mal seizures, but retained largely normal intelligence, until death at age 21. Severe loss of nigral and craniospinal motor neurons was noted postmortem. Round, eosinophilic, autofluorescent inclusion bodies, 3 to 10 microns in diameter, were observed in the nuclei of most nerve cell types of the central and peripheral nervous systems and retina. Ultrastructurally the inclusions appeared as masses of filaments without a limiting membrane, the constituent filaments having a diameter of 8.5 to 9.5 nm. Histochemical results suggested the presence of proteins with a high content of tryptophan. Four similar cases have been reported previously under various designations. We propose the name neuronal intranuclear inclusion disease for the disorder.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Neurofilament subunit--related proteins in neuronal intranuclear inclusions.

Well-preserved nuclei were isolated from the brain of a patient with neuronal intranuclear inclusion disease ( NIID ). The inclusions in situ stained for proteins and, by immunohistochemical techniques, for the 200K and 68K components of the neurofilament protein triplet but were negative for the 145K neurofilament protein. At the electron microscopic level the inclusions were seen to consist of straight, randomly arranged tubular filaments 8.5 to 9.5 nm in diameter. They were resistant to extraction with hot buffer containing sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and 2-mercaptoethanol, indicating that the proteins of NIID inclusions are probably cross-linked by covalent bonds other than disulfide. This feature is also exhibited by the paired helical filaments occurring in brain in Alzheimer's disease. No major differences were found in the polypeptide composition of nuclei in NIID and control nuclei resolved by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The inclusions isolated from SDS-extracted nuclei were shown by immunohistochemical techniques to stain for all three neurofilament subunits, indicating that 145K -related antigenic sites were uncovered during the extraction procedure.

Aged↗
PubMed1984

Somatostatin-like immunoreactivity in lumbar cerebrospinal fluid from neurohistologically examined demented patients.

The concentration of somatostatin-like immunoreactivity (SLI) in lumbar cerebrospinal fluid was measured in clinically suspected examples of either Alzheimer's disease (AD) or Pick's disease and controls. No significant correlation was found between the concentration of SLI and the age (22-73 years) of controls. Histological examination of brain material from the demented patients enabled the samples to be divided into AD and examples of clinically suspected AD or Pick's disease without specific histological change. The mean concentration of SLI was only slightly reduced in patients with AD in the presenium compared to control, and was unaltered from control in the examples of AD of senile age. The group of demented patients without specific histological change had a reduced concentration of SLI in lumbar CSF compared to control patients.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1984

Glucose tolerance in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Blood glucose and plasma insulin during an oral glucose tolerance test were determined in 21 patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and in 10 control patients matched for age, obesity and physical activity. In addition, 125I-insulin binding to circulating erythrocytes were studied in a subgroup of 4 ALS patients and 8 controls. Both impaired glucose tolerance and diabetes mellitus were evenly distributed between the study groups, and no difference in mean blood glucose levels during the OGTT was found between ALS and control patients. Fasting plasma immunoreactive insulin concentration was significantly higher in ALS patients as compared to controls, but plasma IRI increments to the glycemic stimulus were similar in the 2 groups. The number of insulin binding sites per cell appeared lower in patients with ALS, but the difference in receptor concentration was not statistically significant. In addition, the specific bound fraction of 125I-insulin showed no difference between ALS and control patients. In conclusion, we were unable to demonstrate any marked deterioration of glucose tolerance or increase in insulin resistance in patients with ALS.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Monoamine metabolite concentrations in lumbar cerebrospinal fluid of patients with histologically verified Alzheimer's dementia.

Concentrations of 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol (MHPG), 5-hydroxy indoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) and homovanillic acid (HVA) were determined in lumbar cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from control subjects and patients of both presenile and senile age with histologically verified Alzheimer's dementia. CSF HVA increased with age in control but not in Alzheimer patients. HVA and 5-HIAA in the CSF of presenile Alzheimer patients was lower than that of age matched control subjects.

Aged↗
PubMed1984

Pinoline, a beta-carboline derivative in the serum and cerebrospinal fluid of patients with schizophrenia.

Baseline levels of pinoline, 6-methoxy-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro-beta-carboline (6-MeOTHBC) in the serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) were determined with GLC-mass spectrometry in 13 unmedicated schizophrenic patients and 18 non-psychiatric controls. A detectable concentration of 6-MeOTHBC was always present, but no differences were found between the schizophrenic and the control groups. The serum and the CSF levels of 6-MeOTHBC were not significantly related to such variables as sex, age, subtype of schizophrenia, the quality and/or intensity of the psychopathological symptoms, or the duration of illness. The role of the indoleamines in the aetiopathogenesis of schizophrenia is discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

A post-mortem comparison of the cortical cholinergic system in Alzheimer's disease and Pick's disease.

Assessment of neurochemical markers in the frontal cortex indicates that choline acetyltransferase is significantly decreased in Alzheimer's and Gerstmann-Straussler dementias but not in Pick's dementia. It therefore appears that the cholinergic innervation of the cortex from the basal forebrain is intact in Pick's disease. Cortical somatostatin was decreased only in Alzheimer's disease (AD), indicating that loss of somatostatin is not a constant feature in different forms of dementia. Muscarinic binding sites were unaltered in Pick's disease and Gerstmann-Straussler syndrome but were decreased in a subpopulation of AD patients. These data suggest that in some cases of AD a significant loss of cholinoceptive neurones in the cortex is evident.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

Immunocytochemical studies of Alzheimer neuronal perikarya with intermediate filament antisera.

Isolated neuronal perikarya from the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease were examined in indirect immunofluorescence microscopy with different types of specific antisera against the subunit proteins of cytoskeletal intermediate filaments. From 30 to 50% of the neurofibrillary tangles were stained with antisera against each of the neurofilament triplet proteins, but not with antisera against glial fibrillary acidic protein, vimentin, desmin or cytokeratin. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of Alzheimer perikaryal fractions showed polypeptide patterns markedly similar to control neuronal fractions. Our results thus suggest either that the Alzheimer neurofibrillary tangles and the antigenic neurofilament triplet protein fractions may contain related antigenic determinants or that unaffected perikaryal neurofilament material is associated with the tangles.

Alzheimer Disease↗
PubMed1983

Lack of cholinergic deficit in the neocortex in Pick's disease.

Choline acetyltransferase activity was decreased in the frontal cortex in Alzheimer's and Gerstmann-Straussler dementias but not in Pick's disease. Cortical somatostatin was only decreased in Alzheimer's dementia. Postsynaptic muscarinic binding sites appeared to be decreased in a subpopulation of Alzheimer's patients. Our data indicate that a loss of cholinergic innervation of the cortex is not common to all dementias.

Choline O-Acetyltransferase↗
PubMed1983

High levels of brain dolichols in neuronal ceroid-lipofuscinosis and senescence.

Dolichols as unesterified alcohols were identified as significant components of lipid extracts from storage cytosomes isolated post-mortem from the brains of patients with the infantile, late infantile, and juvenile types of neuronal ceroid-lipofuscinosis (NCL). Very small amounts of dolichols were present in the corresponding subcellular fractions of non-NCL brains. The nuclear fraction from NCL cerebral cortex contained the highest dolichol content expressed per milligram protein or lipid, whereas the crude mitochondrial fraction was the richest in normal brain. Highly significant elevations of dolichol levels were found in human cerebral cortex of patients with NCL and Alzheimer's disease compared with age-matched controls, but the levels were normal in Pick's disease. In human non-NCL cerebral cortex, dolichols increased from 16 micrograms/g at age 5 to over 200 at age 81. Rat cerebral cortex showed a similar progressive increase in dolichol content with age. The high dolichol values in NCL, Alzheimer's disease, and senescence appears to be related to the increase of lipofuscin in brain. This is the first time a uniform biochemical abnormality has been found in all childhood forms of NCL, but the enzyme defect is still unidentified. It may lie on pathways where dolichols and retinyl compounds are recycled in Golgi membranes and derived organelles during the biosynthesis of glycoproteins.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

The epidemiology of multiple sclerosis in Finland: increase of prevalence and stability of foci in high-risk areas.

Reliable data on the epidemiology of multiple sclerosis (MS) in Finland are available from 1964 and 1972. They show that the whole country is a high-risk area of MS with clustering in the western part. A reassessment of the prevalence data was carried out in the southern province of Uusimaa and in the western province of Vaasa, the prevalence day being January 1, 1979. The age-adjusted prevalence was 52.9 per 100,000 in Uusimaa and 92.9 per 100,000 in Vaasa, figures that were three times higher than those recorded for the same areas in 1964. The communities with the highest prevalence rates in the province of Vaasa were the same as those in the survey of 1972; some rates exceeded 200 per 100,000. The increase in the prevalence rates may be due to a better registration of MS cases, but it may also represent a true increase, a possibility that only can be answered by further incidence studies.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

Accuracy of clinical diagnosis in primary degenerative dementia: correlation with neuropathological findings.

Neuropathological features and causes of death are presented in 27 deceased patients belonging to a prospective series of 71 hospitalised patients with primary degenerative dementia. The clinical criteria for primary degenerative dementia used in the present study were accurate enough to exclude patients with multi-infarct dementia. At necropsy, 82% of the cases had neuropathological changes of Alzheimer's disease. The clinical features of patients with other neuropathological changes are described. The most common immediate cause of death was bronchopneumonia which accounted for 59% of deaths in Alzheimer's disease.

Aged↗