[MRI-parameters of frontal lobes in schizophrenia: correlations with the level of autoantibodies to nerve growth factor in the blood serum].

The relationship between MRI-parameters of frontal lobes and levels of autoantibodies to nerve growth factor (Aab-NGF) in the blood serum of patients with schizophrenia and their relatives was studied. The negative correlation between the Aab-NGF level and the total volume of frontal lobes (r= -0,59; p<0,01) was found in the group of patients. No significant correlations were found in the control groups of healthy subjects without family history of schizophrenia and relatives of patients. The authors concede that Aab-NGF may play a substantial role in the development of neuromorphological changes in schizophrenia.

[Relation between immunological and neurophysiologic markers during exacerbation of schizophrenic process].

Relation between leukocyte elastase (LE) activity of peripheral blood and temporal parameters of late cognitive component of event-related potentials (ERP) was studied in 36 patients with different types of schizophrenia and 28 healthy controls. Both P300 latency and amplitude correlated with LE activity in patients, but not in controls. The results suggest a relationship between innate immunity activation and pathophysiologic processes underlying cognitive impairment in schizophrenia. Possible mechanisms of the correlations revealed are analyzed.

[Peculiarities of attention in families with schizophrenia: correlation between psychological and neurophysiological characteristics].

A relationship between neurophysiological and psychological characteristics of attention was studied in 18 patients with schizophrenia and their 34 mentally healthy relatives: parents and siblings (20 subjects) and children (14 subjects). In patients, a decrease of P300 auditory evoked potentials significantly correlated with disturbances of attention stability and volume as well as characteristics of involuntary attention. At the same time, in the groups of relatives the anomalies of attention stability and attention in conditions of prolonged concentration were positively related to P300 latency.

[Bioelectrical activity of the brain in parents of schizophrenics]. / Bioélektricheskaia aktivnost' golovnogo mozga u roditelei bol'nykh shizofreniei.

The peculiarities of brain electric activity in mentally normal parents of schizophrenics (52 subjects) as compared to the control group of mentally normal subjects without family history of manifest psychosis (22 subjects). In both groups, EEG spectral densities and auditory evoked potentials (AEP) characteristics were compared. The parents of schizophrenics appeared to differ from controls by decrease of N1 amplitude and prolongation of N2, P3 which was similar to that observed in patients with schizophrenia. The findings are discussed as evidence of heritability of deviations in cognitive processes.

[Genetic association between the apolipoprotein E (ApoE) gene alleles and various forms of Alzheimer's disease]. / Geneticheskaia assotsiatsiia mezhdu alleliami gena apolipoproteina E (APOE) i razlichnymi formami bolezni Al'tsgeimera.

Allele epsilon 4 of the apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene is associated with higher risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD) in many, though not all, ethnic groups. The APOE allele and genotype frequency distributions were studied in 207 AD patients without cerebrovascular disorders, 62 AD patients with cerebrovascular disorders (combined AD), and 206 control individuals (ethnic Russians from the Russian population). The frequency of allele epsilon 4 in patients with early-onset and late-onset AD was three times higher than in control individuals (p < 0.000001). Compared with control people, patients with cerebrovascular disorders displayed a twofold higher frequency of allele epsilon 4; the difference between the two groups was significant (p = 0.0019). Relative risk of AD in carriers of allele epsilon 4 was five times higher than in carriers of alleles epsilon 2 and epsilon 3 (p < 0.000001). Allele epsilon 2 had a protective effect with respect to AD onset until 65 years of age (p = 0.015). Thus, APOE allele epsilon 4 proved to be a universal factor of early-onset, late-onset, and combined AD in ethnic Russians from Russia.

Possible neurophysiological markers of genetic predisposition to Alzheimer's disease.

Visual-evoked potentials (VEP) to a flash were studied in the first-order relatives of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) (mean age 38.2 +/- 2.6 years) in comparison with the patients (mean age 61.9 +/- 1.4 years) and age-matched normal controls. It was found that in the relatives of AD patients the latencies of N2, P3, N3 components were delayed compared with the age-matched normal controls. The delay in the latencies of the patients and their relatives concerned the same components but was smaller in the relatives of AD patients. The amplitude of the P2, N2 components was increased in the latter. The neurophysiological alteration in AD patients' relatives may be considered as signs of a latent neurodegeneration in limbico-reticulo-cortical pathways, which may be connected to the pathological hyperactivity of limbico-reticulo-cortical structures.

[The search for a mutation in the gene coding the beta-amyloid protein precursor gene in patients with Alzheimer-type dementias]. / Poisk mutatsii v gene, kodiruiushchem belok-predshestvennik beta-amiloida, u bol'nykh dementsiiami Al'tsgeimerovskogo tipa.

Missence mutation in codon 717 of the amyloid precursor protein (APP) gene that codes for the precursor to the beta-protein found in the amyloid deposits of Alzheimer disease was recently shown to be segregated with this disease in some kindreds. The following study aimed to determine the frequency of the codon 717 mutation in familial and "sporadic" cases of dementia of the Alzheimer type has been performed in Russian patients. 62 patients with senile dementia and the Alzheimer disease with early and late onset and 43 normal controls were tested for this mutation. None of them were positive. Thus this mutation is considered to be rare in studied population though in some cases it may be the cause of the disease.

[Clinical and genetic studies of Alzheimer-type dementia]. / Kliniko-geneticheskie issledovaniia dementsii al'tsgeimerovskogo tipa.

The families of 128 probands with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and senile dementia (SD) were studied. Genetical and mathematical analyses were employed to estimate the clinico-genealogical findings. The genetic factors were found to be likely to make some contribution to the origin of Alzheimer-type dementia (ATD). The proportion of afflicted relatives considerably exceeded that of the above dementia patients. Two genetic models (monogenic and multifactorial) were tested. The limit estimations of genetic similarity between AD and SD manifestations both in the monogenic and multifactorial models denied the fact that there is a common major gene responsible for liability to Alzheimer-type dementias. The common gene modifiers were assumed to exist in AD and SD. In addition to the differences found between the types of inheritance in patients with these disease, the following features are: an oligogenic type of inheritance in SD and a quasi-dominant one with incomplete manifestations of homo- and heterozygotes in AD. Studies into the clinical polymorphism of Alzheimer-type dementias in hereditary cases enabled the authors to establish the genetically determined signs and the environmentally induced signs. The predisposing features (premorbid characteristic traits and specific features of mnemic and intelligence) were identified, which allowed the development of Alzheimer-type dementias to be predicted in 80% of women from hereditarily aggravated families.

[Clinical characteristics of familial and sporadic forms of Alzheimer's disease]. / Klinicheskie osobennosti semeinykh i sporadicheskikh form bolezni Al'tsgeimera.

Twenty-one cases of familial hereditary Alzheimer's disease and 17 sporadic cases were under observation. The probands' clinical status was assessed during a number of years in accordance with the standard method (based on a unified map). The clinical parameters (dementia structure, intensity of neurologic disorders, and so forth) were correlated at the identical disease stages. The differences in the character of the initial disease manifestations and the tempo of its progression as well as definite differences in the dementia structure at the pronounced stage and in the final stage allowed a conclusion about the ++clinico-genetic heterogeneity of the hereditary and sporadic cases of Alzheimer's disease.

[Clinico-genealogical study of Alzheimer's disease]. / Kliniko-genealogicheskoe izuchenie bolezni Al'tsgeimera.

A ++clinico-genealogical study of Alzheimer's disease (AD) was carried out on a material of 64 families of AD probands. Among the families examined, 21 families with hereditary aggravation, 17 sporadic and 26 conventionally sporadic families were distinguished. Risk for AD was established for relatives of the first degree kinship and a possible type of AD inheritance was defined. The differences were revealed with respect to the incidence of ++psycho-organic diseases in the first and second degree kinship relatives from the hereditary and sporadic families. Studies into the clinical pleomorphism of the Alzheimer's type dementias in hereditary cases enabled one to establish the genetically determined signs and the signs reflecting the environmental effects. The predictor signs (the premorbid characteristic traits and characteristics of the mnemonic and intellectual activity) were distinguished, allowing one to forecast, in 80% of cases, a possibility of the development of the Alzheimer's type dementias in women coming from the families with hereditary aggravation.

[Comparative clinico-genetic studies of senile dementia and Alzheimer's disease]. / Sravnitel'noe kliniko-geneticheskoe izuchenie senil'noi dementsii i bolezni Al'tsgeimera.

The families of 128 probands with senile dementia (SD) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) were entered into the study. The correlation between the familial and sporadic cases of the disease was established. A geneticomathematic analysis was employed to estimate the clinicogenealogical findings. Two genetic models (monogenous and multifactorial) were tested. The contribution of the genetic factors to SD and AD liability was assessed. As a result of a comparative clinicogenetic study of SD and AD it was found that there is no doubt about the contribution made by the genetic factors to the origin of the Alzheimer type dementia (ATD). The rate of the afflicted relatives considerably exceeded the population rates of the investigated patterns of dementia. The limit estimations of the genetic similarity between the manifestations of AD and SD, both in the monogenous and multifactorial models, were obtained, which rejects the presence of the common major gene responsible for liability to these patterns of the ATD. It was assumed that AD and SD are characterized by the presence of the common genes modifiers. In addition, the difference was established between the types of inheritance in persons afflicted with these diseases: an oligogenic type of inheritance in SD, a quasidominant type with incomplete penetrance of homo- and heterozygotes in AD.

[Relation between the changes in evoked and constant potentials of the brain and emotional disorders in Alzheimer's disease]. / Vzaimosvia'z izmenenii vyzvannykh i postoiannykh potentsialov golovnogo mozga i émotsiona'lnykh narushenii pri bolezni A'ltsgeimera.

The visual evoked potentials (VEP), brain DC potential (DP) mapping and emotional disorders were comparatively evaluated in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and age-matched healthy individuals. In AD, the severity of emotional disorders correlated with the reduction of VEP late components P 4 N 4. In patients with frequent affect oscillations, the amplitude of N 3 component of the VEP and its variability was higher than in patients with rare undulations of the emotional state. In AD patients the DP levels were increased as compared to normal levels in all the brain sites investigated. The degree of emotional disorders in AD patients positively correlated with frontal DP levels. The rise in frontal DP levels and decrease in late VEP components were interrelated in AD patients.

[Features of the initial manifestations of Alzheimer's disease]. / O nekotorykh osobennostiakh initsial'nykh proiavlenii bolezni Al'tsgeimera.

On the basis of a retrospective analysis of characteristics of the initial stage of Alzheimer's disease the authors showed its variability with regard to both clinical manifestations and duration. It was found that the psychopathological structure and increase in disturbances at the initial stage of Alzheimer's disease correlated with the age at the onset of the disease. In some cases an increase in its clinical manifestations could be correlated with definite pretreatment personality peculiarities of the patients. In some patients the cortical focal disorders and intellectual dysfunctions with which dementia first manifested itself became most pronounced in the advanced stage of the pathological process.