Papers by Vasileios Papaliagkas
Diagnostics
Background: The diagnosis of the minor neurocognitive diseases in the clinical course of dementia... more Background: The diagnosis of the minor neurocognitive diseases in the clinical course of dementia before the clinical symptoms’ appearance is the holy grail of neuropsychological research. The R4Alz battery is a novel and valid tool that was designed to assess cognitive control in people with minor cognitive disorders. The aim of the current study is the R4Alz battery’s extension (namely R4Alz-R), enhanced by the design and administration of extra episodic memory tasks, as well as extra cognitive control tasks, towards improving the overall R4Alz discriminant validity. Methods: The study comprised 80 people: (a) 20 Healthy adults (HC), (b) 29 people with Subjective Cognitive Decline (SCD), and (c) 31 people with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). The groups differed in age and educational level. Results: Updating, inhibition, attention switching, and cognitive flexibility tasks discriminated SCD from HC (p ≤ 0.003). Updating, switching, cognitive flexibility, and episodic memory tasks...
Brain Sciences, Nov 25, 2022
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY
Diagnostics, Dec 2, 2022
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY
Hellenic Journal of Nuclear Medicine, 2015
Alzheimer's & Dementia, 2015
Background-Identifying effective and accessible interventions for dementia caregivers is critical... more Background-Identifying effective and accessible interventions for dementia caregivers is critical as dementia prevalence increases. Objective-Examine the effects of a telephone-based intervention on caregiver well-being. Design-Randomized, controlled trial. Setting-Academic medical center. Participants-250 distressed, family, dementia caregivers. Intervention-Caregivers randomized to receive 16 telephone contacts over 6 months of either the Family Intervention: Telephone Tracking-Caregiver (FITT-C) or Telephone Support (TS). Outcome-Primary outcome variables were family caregivers' depressive symptoms, burden, and reactions to care recipients' behavior problems at 6 months. Results-The FITT-C intervention resulted in significantly improved caregiver depressive symptoms (p = 0.003; 27% net improvement) and less severe reactions to care-recipient depressive behaviors (p = 0.009; 29% net improvement) compared to the control condition (TS).
International Journal of Molecular Sciences
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a rapidly growing disease that affects millions of people worldwide, ... more Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a rapidly growing disease that affects millions of people worldwide, therefore there is an urgent need for its early diagnosis and treatment. A huge amount of research studies are performed on possible accurate and reliable diagnostic biomarkers of AD. Due to its direct contact with extracellular space of the brain, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is the most useful biological fluid reflecting molecular events in the brain. Proteins and molecules that reflect the pathogenesis of the disease, e.g., neurodegeneration, accumulation of Abeta, hyperphosphorylation of tau protein and apoptosis may be used as biomarkers. The aim of the current manuscript is to present the most commonly used CSF biomarkers for AD as well as novel biomarkers. Three CSF biomarkers, namely total tau, phospho-tau and Abeta42, are believed to have the highest diagnostic accuracy for early AD diagnosis and the ability to predict AD development in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) patients. Mor...
Current Alzheimer Research, 2005
To compare differences in evolutionary progressions from Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) to demen... more To compare differences in evolutionary progressions from Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) to dementia of Alzheimer's type (DAT) or to vascular dementia (VaD) versus normal aging, subjects identified as MCI or as cognitively normal (CN) during standard cognitive evaluations among a large epidemiological study designed to determine prevalence and incidence of dementia and its major subtypes in Beijing, China were reexamined after an interval of approximately 3 years, repeating the same investigation protocol as at baseline. MCI subjects meeting criteria for dementia and the two major subtypes, DAT and VaD were identified at follow-up evaluation. Annual conversion rates for combined dementias and for major subtypes of DAT and VaD, from MCI, were compared with conversion rates among CN subjects. Relative risks for conversion from MCI to major subtypes of dementia were also compared with CN subjects by Cox regression models. 175 MCI and 400 CN subjects were identified at baseline. Among 121 MCI subjects available at followup, 51 were diagnosed with dementia (29 with DAT, 18 with VaD and 4 with other dementias), compared with 14(10 DAT, 3 VaD and 1 other type dementia) diagnosed as dementia among 281 CN subjects available at follow-up. Annual conversion rates calculated from MCI to all dementias, compared with conversion rates from CNs, were 14.1% versus 1.6%. Specifically for DAT, annual conversion rates were 8.0% versus 1.1% and for VaD were 5.0% versus 0.3%. Relative risks for developing all dementias, DAT and VaD among MCI subjects were 9, 6 and 5 times greater than among CN subjects. Conversion rates among MCI subjects to dementia, and major subtypes, for elderly Chinese residents of Beijing were comparable with results reported among similar studies worldwide. Risks of developing dementia, and major subtypes, among MCI subjects in Beijing were significantly higher than among normal subjects. Identification of MCI among elderly populations provides the possibilities for dementia prevention and treatment within prodromal stages.
Journal of Clinical Medicine
Background: The negative effect of COVID-19 pandemic on college students’ mental health is well-d... more Background: The negative effect of COVID-19 pandemic on college students’ mental health is well-demonstrated. The aim of this study is to assess the impact of the pandemic on the students of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Northern Greece), in terms of stress, anxiety, and depression, and to analyze the probable correlation of various social and phycological factors. Methods: The survey was conducted in the form of a questionnaire, which was first distributed in November 2020 and then re-launched in November 2021. The evaluation was carried out through the DASS21 screening tool. Associations regarding participants’ characteristics and the three variables (stress, anxiety, and depression) were investigated with Pearson’s chi-squared (Χ2) test. Results: The first-year results (November 2020) revealed severe prevalence of stress, anxiety, and depression (37.4%, 27.2% and 47% respectively). The second-year results (November 2021) revealed a significant augmentation in all three va...
Diagnostics
Episodic memory is the type of memory that allows the recollection of personal experiences contai... more Episodic memory is the type of memory that allows the recollection of personal experiences containing information on what has happened and, also, where and when it happened. Because of its sensitivity to neurodegenerative diseases and the aging of the brain, it is considered a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease dementia (ADD). The objective of the present study was to examine episodic memory in amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) and ADD. Patients with the diagnosis of early aMCI, late aMCI, and mild ADD were evaluated using the Doors and People tool which consists of four subtests examining different aspects of episodic memory. The statistical analysis with receiver operating characteristic curves (ROC) showed the discriminant potential and the cutoffs of every subtest. Overall, the evaluation of episodic memory with the Doors and People tool can discriminate with great sensitivity between the different groups of people with AD and, especially, early aMCI, late aMCI, and mild AD...
International Journal of Molecular Sciences
The public health burden of type 2 diabetes mellitus and Alzheimer’s disease is steadily increasi... more The public health burden of type 2 diabetes mellitus and Alzheimer’s disease is steadily increasing worldwide, especially in the population of older adults. Epidemiological and clinical studies suggest a possible shared pathophysiology between the two diseases and an increased risk of AD in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Therefore, in recent years, there has been a substantial interest in identifying the mechanisms of action of antidiabetic drugs and their potential use in Alzheimer’s disease. Human studies in patients with mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease have shown that administration of some antidiabetic medications, such as intranasal insulin, metformin, incretins, and thiazolidinediones, can improve cognition and memory. This review aims to examine the latest evidence on antidiabetic medications as a potential candidate for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.
International Journal of Molecular Sciences
Globally, the incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) epidemics... more Globally, the incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) epidemics is increasing rapidly and has huge financial and emotional costs. The purpose of the current review article is to discuss the shared pathophysiological connections between AD and T2DM. Research findings are presented to underline the vital role that insulin plays in the brain’s neurotransmitters, homeostasis of energy, as well as memory capacity. The findings of this review indicate the existence of a mechanistic interplay between AD pathogenesis with T2DM and, especially, disrupted insulin signaling. AD and T2DM are interlinked with insulin resistance, neuroinflammation, oxidative stress, advanced glycosylation end products (AGEs), mitochondrial dysfunction and metabolic syndrome. Beta-amyloid, tau protein and amylin can accumulate in T2DM and AD brains. Given that the T2DM patients are not routinely evaluated in terms of their cognitive status, they are rarely treated for cognitive im...
Neuromuscular Disorders, 2022
Since the introduction of disease modifying treatments there is an unmet need to identify biomark... more Since the introduction of disease modifying treatments there is an unmet need to identify biomarkers of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) natural history. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to summarize available evidence. We searched MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane Library and gray literature until February 2021. The primary outcome was biomarkers longitudinal course in adolescents and adults. The secondary outcome was the discrimination of patients from controls. We included 42 records examining 606 patients from 19 population cohorts over a maximum follow-up of 17-years. Lung function and serum biomarkers could not depict disease progression. We identified potential biomarkers of disease activity [SMA functional rating scale, MoviPlate, pinch strength, compound muscle action potential (CMAP), motor unit number estimation (MUNE)] that require further investigation. Data regarding Hammersmith functional motor scale expanded, Revised upper limb module, 6-minute walk test were contradictory impeding any pooled estimate. The pooled analysis regarding our secondary outcome revealed that upper limb CMAP amplitudes and MUNE mean values differed significantly between SMA patients and controls [mean difference -3.63(-6.2, -1.06), -119.74(-153.93, -85.56) respectively]. Given the lack of natural history data on this population, our qualitative synthesis and meta-analysis could provide valuable evidence and identify promising predictive biomarkers requiring further longitudinal examination. PROSPERO Registration: CRD42021235605.
Case Reports in Neurology, 2021
Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a hereditary neuromuscular disorder, typically caused by surviva... more Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a hereditary neuromuscular disorder, typically caused by survival motor neuron 1 (SMN1) gene deletion in chromosome 5q resulting in loss of SMN protein. SMA type 1 progresses rapidly leading to increased mortality usually before the age of 2 years. Nusinersen, the first approved disease-modifying treatment for all 5q-SMA types and ages, is an antisense oligonucleotide administered intrathecally via repeated lumbar punctures. However, adult SMA patients typically present with severe scoliosis and spinal deformity. We present a 28-year-old patient with SMA type 1 and severe spinal deformity, who received nusinersen via a subcutaneously implanted Ommaya reservoir connected with an intrathecal catheter at the thoracic level. The repetitive administrations were completed uneventfully, obviating the need for repeated laborious lumbar punctures and eliminating radiation exposure. In adult SMA patients, performing recurrent lumbar punctures can be technicall...
Frontiers in Neurology, 2021
Background: This review describes the diagnostic and interventional procedures conducted in two u... more Background: This review describes the diagnostic and interventional procedures conducted in two university memory clinics (established network of G. Papanikolaou Hospital: 1988–2017 and AHEPA hospital: 2017–today) and 2 day care centers (established network of DCCs: 2005–today) in North Greece and their contribution in the scientific field of dementia. The aims of this work are (1) to provide a diagnosis and treatment protocol established in the network of memory clinics and DCCs and (2) to present further research conducted in the aforementioned network during the last 30 years of clinical practice.Methods: The guidelines to set a protocol demand a series of actions as follows: (1) set the diagnosis criteria, neuropsychological assessment, laboratory examinations, and examination of neurophysiological, neuroimaging, cerebrospinal fluid, blood, and genetic markers; and (2) apply non-pharmacological interventions according to the needs and specialized psychosocial interventions of th...
Pharmaceuticals, 2021
Brivaracetam (BRV) is the latest approved antiepileptic drug. The aim of the study was to evaluat... more Brivaracetam (BRV) is the latest approved antiepileptic drug. The aim of the study was to evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of BRV in everyday clinical practice. In this retrospective, observational, multicenter study, data from epilepsy patients receiving BRV from January 2018 to July 2019 were analyzed. Patients with age ≥16 suffering from any type of epilepsy and having at least one follow up encounter after dose titration were included. 156 consecutive patients were included in the study. The mean age was 40 (16–84 years) and the mean duration of epilepsy was 21 years. Of the 156 patients, 81% were diagnosed with focal-onset seizures, 16% with generalized seizures, while 3% suffered from unclassified seizures. Nine patients received BRV as monotherapy as a switching therapy. At the first follow up visit, seizure cessation was achieved in 56 (36%) patients and the rate of ≥50% responders was 36%. Twenty four patients (15%) remained unchanged; six patients (4%) were recorded ...
Hellenic journal of nuclear medicine, 2017
BACKGROUND The term "Subjective Cognitive Impairment (SCI)" is the most widely accepted... more BACKGROUND The term "Subjective Cognitive Impairment (SCI)" is the most widely accepted term for cognitive complaints of otherwise apparently healthy older adults. It is presently clear that SCI might be a risk factor for the development of Mild Cognitive Impairment and dementia. As regards SCI measurement and potential diagnosis, several studies showed that SCI is a condition in which people score in the normal range on common tests but believe they experience cognitive decline. Hence, to assess the characteristic of the SCI subtle cognitive decline, self-report measures were developed to estimate "self-experience" of minimal decline in cognition seem the most appropriate tools. In this vein, the present study aimed at examining the capacity of the Greek version of two self-report instruments of the aforementioned type to detect SCI in community dwelling older adults. MATERIAL AND METHODS The study sample consisted of 295 participants, who were allocated into fo...
Recent Patents on CNS Drug Discovery, 2010
Alzheimer&amp... more Alzheimer's disease (AD) is rapidly grooving incidence that affects millions of people worldwide, therefore there is an immediate need for its' early and accurate diagnosis. Many research studies have been performed on possible accurate and reliable diagnostic biomarkers of AD. This review study provides an overview on the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) proteins that are used as biochemical markers for the early diagnosis of AD and their future prospects, as well as relevant patents.
Sexuality and Disability, 2010
... as part of the overall behavioral and psychological symptoms (BPSD) of dementia ... the use o... more ... as part of the overall behavioral and psychological symptoms (BPSD) of dementia ... the use of inappropriate language that is not consistent with the patient's premorbid personality. ... our knowledge there are cur-rently no studies demonstrating a relationship between prior sexual ...
Journal of the Neurological Sciences, 2013
ABSTRACT Background: Mood disorders in Alzheimer's Disease (AD) patients result in great ... more ABSTRACT Background: Mood disorders in Alzheimer's Disease (AD) patients result in great difficulties in clinical practice in the assessment of pain and further treatment, therefore they should be early diagno.....
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Papers by Vasileios Papaliagkas