Vision-related problems may offer clues for earlier diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease

Article Abstract:

Alzheimer's disease, or senile dementia, affects 2.5 million individuals over 65 years of age in the U.S. Recent studies have found that many of these patients have associated difficulties with reading and other visual complaints such as misjudging distances, clumsiness and bumping into objects. When tested, the integrity of the eye's ability to detect is found to be unaffected, but the visual associative cortex, the area of the brain which surrounds the main visual area of the brain, displays defects. The visual associative cortex is responsible for the interpretation of the visual image. A study of 14 individuals with clinical signs and symptoms of Alzheimer's disease is currently underway to confirm the association of visual signs with Alzheimer's disease; this association will be confirmed at autopsy. Some individuals who had difficulty reading because they could not keep their place in the text are able to read by isolating the area of text being read with a small card with a window aperture. By reducing the area to only one or two words at a time these patients were able to read and to comprehend.

Analysis, Diagnosis, Testing, Complications and side effects, Alzheimer's disease, Brain, Retinal degeneration, PET imaging, Positron emission tomography, Vision, Vision tests

---

Consensus statements: applying structure

Article Abstract:

A structured report format for consensus statements may allow readers to efficiently evaluate the quality and validity of the statement. In January of 1995, the Journal of the American Medical Association adopted a new format for reporting consensus statements. Both the structured abstract and the text of a consensus statement report should contain specific information about the objective, participants, evidence, consensus process, and conclusions of the consensus. The objective should state the issue, intended audience, and purpose of the consensus statement. The participant section should describe the selection and number of participants, their affiliations, and their sponsor. The evidence section should describe the sources of data and the methods of data selection, abstraction, and synthesis. The consensus process should explain how the conclusions and consensus were drawn. The conclusion section should summarize the conclusions reached by consensus and document the significant minority opinions.

Standards, Reports, Medical research, Decision-making, Group, Group decision making, Report writing

---

Advancing Cardiac Resuscitation: Lessons From Externally Controlled Trials

Article Abstract:

Two 1999 studies shed light on the benefits of an externally controlled clinical trial. An externally controlled trial uses the same group of people as both the control group and the group that receives a treatment. Often this occurs when a new procedure is introduced and the results are compared to the results gathered before the new procedure was introduced. These trials can often be done more cheaply and ethically than a regular clinical trial. Both trials showed that the survival of patients in cardiac arrest could be improved by changes in the provision of care.

Research, Methods, Prognosis, Clinical trials, Cardiac arrest, Cardiac resuscitation

Similar abstracts:

• Abstracts: An attitude problem? RoSPA calls for tougher action on director code. Obstacle course, part 3
• Abstracts: TNF defined as a therapeutic target for rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases. Neuroprotective autoimmunity -- a double-edged sword?
• Abstracts: Bedside manner misses the point. Nurses are sick of being abused. Different from the average student
• Abstracts: From angiogenesis to neuropathology. A phase 1 clinical trial of nerve growth factor gene therapy for Alzheimer disease
• Abstracts: Marine invasion latest chapter for troubled school on Grenada. Eisenhower Medical Center: 'medicine for the 21st century.'

This website is not affiliated with document authors or copyright owners. This page is provided for informational purposes only. Unintentional errors are possible.