Speaking of Dementia: How to Refer to Dementia in Racial-Ethnic Minority Community-Facing Communications

Abstract What do you call “dementia”? In academic writing, researchers often chose the inclusive, “Alzheimer’s Disease and Alzheimer’s Disease Related Dementias (AD/ADRD)”. When referring to the people experiencing dementia, the person-centered language: “persons living with dementia (PLWD)” is preferred. This is a welcome departure from the antiquated disease-centered language of “dementia patients” or “the demented”. Still, AD/ADRD and PLWD may be less fitting in community-facing education or participant recruitment. For instance, community-facing materials may benefit from choosing terms like “memory loss”, “issues related to memory or aging”, or “changes in ability, behavior, or judgment”. In this symposium we present a range of viewpoints focused on how to refer to “dementia” in community-facing materials/conversations. These viewpoints include those of several racial and ethnic groups (i.e., African Americans, African Immigrants, American Indians, Asians, Hispanics/Latinos/as/x/e, and Whites). We also include viewpoints from people interfacing with many different diseases that cause dementia (i.e., Alzheimer’s disease, dementia with Lewy bodies, Early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, and Parkinson’s disease dementia) because of the different manifestations of dementia that can arise from those diseases. Viewpoints were gathered through 1) a nation-wide community advisory board, 2) community conversations with African Immigrants, 3) a national effort to increase the representation of Hispanics/Latinos/as/x/e PLWD in AD/ADRD research, and 4) eight community projects exploring the African American AD/ADRD experience. These talks will present possible terms to use within groups, considerations to increase inclusiveness, issues with translation into native languages, considerations surrounding symptoms that may be most recognizable to community members, and stigmatized terminology.

Download Full-text

Assessment of suspected dementia in older people

Reviews in Clinical Gerontology ◽

10.1017/s0959259808002372 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 17 (1) ◽

pp. 63-73

Author(s):

EH Fletcher ◽

HJ Woodford ◽

J George

Keyword(s):

Alzheimer’S Disease ◽

Alzheimer's Disease ◽

Vascular Dementia ◽

Daily Living ◽

Memory Loss ◽

Lewy Bodies ◽

The Elderly ◽

Brain Dysfunction ◽

Mood Changes ◽

Gradual Loss

Dementia is a syndrome describing progressive and largely irreversible brain dysfunction. Symptoms are varied but commonly include memory loss, mood changes and difficulties with language and judgement. Delusions and hallucinations can also occur. With disease progression there is a gradual loss of ability to perform tasks of daily living. A range of illnesses, most of which are currently incurable, can cause dementia. These include Alzheimer's disease (AD), vascular dementia (VaD), dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Mixed patterns of dementia also exist, typically Alzheimer's disease overlapping with vascular dementia. This combination of pathologies is probably much commoner in the elderly than traditionally thought.

Download Full-text

The Therapeutic Potential of Purinergic Receptors in Alzheimer’s Disease and Promising Therapeutic Modulators

Mini-Reviews in Medicinal Chemistry ◽

10.2174/1389557520999201209211610 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 20 ◽

Author(s):

Lili Pan ◽

Yu Ma ◽

Yunchun Li ◽

Haoxing Wu ◽

Rui Huang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Alzheimer’S Disease ◽

Alzheimer's Disease ◽

Purinergic Receptors ◽

Therapeutic Potential ◽

Purinergic Signaling ◽

Memory Loss ◽

Related Research ◽

Central Nervous System Disorders ◽

G Protein Coupled

Abstract:: Recent studies have proven that the purinergic signaling pathway plays a key role in neurotransmission and neuromodulation, and is involved in various neurodegenerative diseases and psychiatric disorders. With the characterization of the subtypes of receptors in purinergic signaling, i.e. the P1 (adenosine), P2X (ion channel) and P2Y (G protein-coupled), more attentions were paid to the pathophysiology and therapeutic potential of purinergic signaling in central nervous system disorders. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive and deadly neurodegenerative disease that is characterized by memory loss, cognitive impairment and dementia. However, as drug development aimed to prevent or control AD follows a series of failures in recent years, more researchers focused on the neuroprotection-related mechanisms such as purinergic signaling in AD patients to find a potential cure. This article reviews the recent discoveries of purinergic signaling in AD, summaries the potential agents as modulators for the receptors of purinergic signaling in AD related research and treatments. Thus, our paper provided an insight for purinergic signaling in the development of anti-AD therapies.

Download Full-text

Different Morphology of Neuritic Plaques in the Archicortex of Alzheimer’s Disease with Comorbid Synucleinopathy: A Pilot Study

Current Alzheimer Research ◽

10.2174/1875692117999201215162043 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 17 ◽

Author(s):

Nikol Jankovska ◽

Tomas Olejar ◽

Jaromir Kukal ◽

Radoslav Matej

Keyword(s):

Alzheimer’S Disease ◽

Alzheimer's Disease ◽

Pilot Study ◽

Time Course ◽

Clinical Course ◽

Lewy Bodies ◽

Dystrophic Neurites ◽

Neuritic Plaques ◽

Structural Differences ◽

Lewy Body Variant

Background: Bulbous neuritic changes in neuritic plaques have already been described, and their possible effect on the clinical course of the disease has been discussed. OBJECTIVE: In our study, we focused on the location and density of these structures in patients with only Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and patients with AD in comorbidity with synucleinopathies. Methods: Utilizing immunohistochemistry and confocal microscopy, we evaluated differences of neocortical and archicortical neuritic plaques and the frequency of bulbous changes in the archicortex of 14 subjects with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), 10 subjects with the Lewy body variant of Alzheimer's disease (AD/DLB), and 4 subjects with Alzheimer's disease with amygdala Lewy bodies (AD/ALB). Also, the progression and density of neuritic changes over the time course of the disease were evaluated. Results: We found structural differences in bulbous dystrophic neurites more often in AD/DLB and AD/ALB than in pure AD cases. The bulbous neuritic changes were more prominent in the initial and progressive phases and were reduced in cases with a long clinical course. Conclusion: Our results indicate that there is a prominent difference in the shape and composition of neocortical and archicortical neuritic plaques and, moreover, that bulbous neuritic changes can be observed at a higher rate in AD/DLB and AD/ALB subjects compared to pure AD subjects. This observation probably reflects that these subacute changes are more easily seen in the faster clinical course of AD patients with comorbidities.

Download Full-text

Many caregivers of persons with memory loss or Alzheimer's disease are unaware of the abilities of their persons with AD to recall their drugs and medical histories

Dementia ◽

10.1177/1471301218820969 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 147130121882096

Author(s):

Thomas A Ala ◽

GaToya Simpson ◽

Marshall T Holland ◽

Vajeeha Tabassum ◽

Maithili Deshpande ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Alzheimer’S Disease ◽

Alzheimer's Disease ◽

Memory Loss ◽

Medical Histories ◽

With Memory

Download Full-text

Generalized Rhythmic Delta Activity Frontally Predominant Differentiates Dementia With Lewy Bodies From Alzheimer's Disease and Parkinson's Disease Dementia: A Conventional Electroencephalography Visual Analysis

Clinical EEG and Neuroscience ◽

10.1177/1550059421997147 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 155005942199714

Author(s):

Lucia Zinno ◽

Anna Negrotti ◽

Chiara Falzoi ◽

Giovanni Messa ◽

Matteo Goldoni ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Alzheimer’S Disease ◽

Parkinson’S Disease ◽

Alzheimer's Disease ◽

Parkinson's Disease ◽

Cognitive Impairment ◽

Dementia With Lewy Bodies ◽

Visual Analysis ◽

Lewy Bodies ◽

Delta Activity ◽

Rhythmic Delta Activity

Introduction. An easily accessible and inexpensive neurophysiological technique such as conventional electroencephalography may provide an accurate and generally applicable biomarker capable of differentiating dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) from Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease-associated dementia (PDD). Method. We carried out a retrospective visual analysis of resting-state electroencephalography (EEG) recording of 22 patients with a clinical diagnosis of 19 probable and 3 possible DLB, 22 patients with probable AD and 21 with PDD, matched for age, duration, and severity of cognitive impairment. Results. By using the grand total EEG scoring method, the total score and generalized rhythmic delta activity frontally predominant (GRDAfp) alone or, even better, coupled with a slowing of frequency of background activity (FBA) and its reduced reactivity differentiated DLB from AD at an individual level with an high accuracy similar to that obtained with quantitative EEG (qEEG). GRDAfp alone could also differentiate DLB from PDD with a similar level of diagnostic accuracy. AD differed from PDD only for a slowing of FBA. The duration and severity of cognitive impairment did not differ between DLB patients with and without GRDAfp, indicating that this abnormal EEG pattern should not be regarded as a disease progression marker. Conclusions. The findings of this investigation revalorize the role of conventional EEG in the diagnostic workup of degenerative dementias suggesting the potential inclusion of GRDAfp alone or better coupled with the slowing of FBA and its reduced reactivity, in the list of supportive diagnostic biomarkers of DLB.

Download Full-text

Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Neural Precursors Improve Memory, Synaptic and Pathological Abnormalities in a Mouse Model of Alzheimer’s Disease

Cells ◽

10.3390/cells10071802 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (7) ◽

pp. 1802

Author(s):

Enrique Armijo ◽

George Edwards ◽

Andrea Flores ◽

Jorge Vera ◽

Mohammad Shahnawaz ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Alzheimer’S Disease ◽

Alzheimer's Disease ◽

Clinical Symptoms ◽

Memory Loss ◽

Amyloid Β ◽

Cerebral Atrophy ◽

Brain Inflammation ◽

Neural Precursors ◽

Model Of Alzheimer’S Disease ◽

Induced Pluripotent

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common type of dementia in the elderly population. The disease is characterized by progressive memory loss, cerebral atrophy, extensive neuronal loss, synaptic alterations, brain inflammation, extracellular accumulation of amyloid-β (Aβ) plaques, and intracellular accumulation of hyper-phosphorylated tau (p-tau) protein. Many recent clinical trials have failed to show therapeutic benefit, likely because at the time in which patients exhibit clinical symptoms the brain is irreversibly damaged. In recent years, induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) have been suggested as a promising cell therapy to recover brain functionality in neurodegenerative diseases such as AD. To evaluate the potential benefits of iPSCs on AD progression, we stereotaxically injected mouse iPSC-derived neural precursors (iPSC-NPCs) into the hippocampus of aged triple transgenic (3xTg-AD) mice harboring extensive pathological abnormalities typical of AD. Interestingly, iPSC-NPCs transplanted mice showed improved memory, synaptic plasticity, and reduced AD brain pathology, including a reduction of amyloid and tangles deposits. Our findings suggest that iPSC-NPCs might be a useful therapy that could produce benefit at the advanced clinical and pathological stages of AD.

Download Full-text