Structural changes in the brain of patients with Alzheimer’s begin 20 years before the symptoms onset
Structural brain changes in Alzheimer’s disease Brain alterations in Alzheimer’s disease patients begin years before symptoms appear and a clinical diagnosis can be made. The neuroimaging team in our group has developed a technique that measures the...
Neurofilament and total tau in plasma for the diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer’s
The Sant Pau Memory Unit publishes a new study in collaboration with the University of California San Francisco. The study examines the role of neurofilament light chain (NfL) and total tau levels in plasma for the diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia and...
Overlapping microstructural changes in the brain of patients with ALS and frontotemporal dementia
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) Until a few years ago, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS was considered a neurodegenerative disease that caused a progressive loss of strength with preservation of intellectual functions....
NPTX2: a new biomarker of neuronal dysfunction in adults with Down syndrome
Alzheimer’s disease is the major cause of death in adults with Down syndrome. Thus, there is an urgent need for objective biomarkers that can improve early diagnosis and monitor progression of Alzheimer’s disease in the Down syndrome population. Our recent study,...
Characterization of the transcriptome of the motor cortex in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
What is the transcriptome and why the motor cortex? The transcriptome is a set of tens of thousands of molecules called RNAs that have a key role in the formation of proteins and, therefore, in the response to pathological processes in the body. On the other hand, the...
Publication in The Lancet: natural history of Alzheimer’s disease in people with Down syndrome
Publication in The Lancet The Lancet, a world reference journal in Medicine, publishes the article “Clinical and Biomarker changes of Alzheimer’s disease in adults with Down syndrome: a cross-sectional study“, led by the Alzheimer Down Unit of the...
Circular RNAs in Alzheimer and frontotemporal dementia
What are circular RNAs? RNAs are a type of molecules present in all human cells. They usually have a linear conformation. However, some species with a ring-like structure have recently been described and named “circular RNAs”, but little is known about their function....
Recommendations to protect people with Down syndrome against COVID-19
The coronavirus outbreak COVID-19, which has been listed as a pandemic by the World Health Organization, affects especially vulnerable people and those with previous illnesses. While there is still no evidence on how coronavirus COVID-19 disease affects people with...