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Alfredo Postiglione

Publications and source records attributed to Alfredo Postiglione.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2004

Effects of demographic and environmental variables on cognitive performance in a rural community sample of elderly people living in Southern Italy.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The aim of our study was to understand how demographic and environmental factors may be associated with cognitive functions in a rural population of Southern Italy, with a very high percentage of elderly persons with little formal education. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From the population registry of San Marcellino (province of Caserta), out of 1089 persons aged over 60 years, a random sample of 300 residents received a door-to-door visit. Two hundred and twenty-six subjects were judged as not having significant cognitive impairment, on the basis of their personal history and Clinical Dementia Rating score (< 1). They were administered the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE). RESULTS: A positive statistically significant correlation was observed between MMSE score and education, but not between MMSE score, age and gender. Normative data showed that 90% of the normal population from this area had an adjusted MMSE score of more than 16.20, a value far below the traditional cut-off score of 23/24 for diagnosis of dementia. Subjects living with their families showed better performance than persons living alone or only with spouses. CONCLUSIONS: This finding is consistent with other epidemiologic surveys, and suggests the possible role of ecological and environmental factors in preventing or compensating cognitive decline, at least in persons coming from homogeneous rural areas. Low social demands in a protective family environment do not stimulate high intellectual performance, and signs of dementia may not be recognized by persons living in this context until the patient reaches a severe stage of disease.

Aged↗
PubMed2003

Reconstituted high-density lipoprotein exhibits neuroprotection in two rat models of stroke.

BACKGROUND: Reconstituted high-density lipoprotein (rHDL) is prepared from apolipoprotein A-I, isolated from human plasma, and soybean-derived phosphatidylcholine and exhibits biochemical and functional characteristics similar to endogenous nascent high-density lipoprotein (HDL). This study tested the hypothesis that pretreatment with rHDL may reduce neuronal damage in 2 experimental rat models of stroke. METHODS: In the first model, an excitotoxic lesion was induced by unilateral injection of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) in the right striatum (excitotoxic lesion model). In the second model, temporary occlusion of the middle cerebral artery (MCA) was attained by inserting a nylon thread through the carotid artery and blood flow was restored 30 min later (MCAo model). In both models, either rHDL (120 mg/kg) or saline (control) were infused over 4 h, starting 2 h before the injection of NMDA or the induction of ischemia, respectively. 24 h after the interventions, the rats were sacrificed and the brains removed for histochemical preparation. The necrotic area was delimited using an image analysis system. In addition, the levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in human endothelial (ECV 304) and neuroblastoma (SK-N-BE) cell lines were measured fluorometrically as 2',7'-dichlorofluorescein fluorescence in the presence and absence of rHDL and under basal and stress-induced conditions. RESULTS: In the excitotoxic lesion and MCAo models, pretreatment with rHDL significantly reduced the brain necrotic area by 61 and 76%, respectively (p < 0.01). Overnight incubation of ECV 304 and SK-N-BE cells with 0.5 mg/ml rHDL decreased basal and stress-induced ROS levels by 73 and 72% (ECV 304) and by 76 and 43% (SK-N-BE), respectively (p < 0.01). CONCLUSION: These results suggest that rHDL reduces neuronal damage after onset of ischemic stroke, possibly by involving an anti-oxidative mechanism. Thus, rHDL may be a powerful neuroprotective tool for the treatment of cerebrovascular diseases.

Animals↗
PubMed2002

Voxel-based comparison of rCBF SPET images in frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer's disease highlights the involvement of different cortical networks.

Characteristic patterns of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) reduction, as detected by technetium-99m hexamethylpropylene amine oxime ((99m)Tc-HMPAO) single-photon emission tomography (SPET), may help clinicians in differentiating patients with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) from those with Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, in some cases these patients may share common rCBF abnormalities and the visual analysis and/or the region of interest (ROI) approach may not sensitively detect more localised focal changes that could be more specific for each pathology. Recently, automated voxel-by-voxel statistical analysis of perfusion brain maps has been applied to SPET images. This method has the advantage of including the rCBF information for the whole brain for statistical analysis without any a priori hypothesis regarding the regions possibly involved. This could result in a better characterisation of rCBF differences in brain regions while also reducing the operator's subjectivity and the time required for data analysis. The purpose of this study was to apply such a technique to highlight the specific brain areas showing a relative functional involvement in FTD and AD. Thus, we compared the relative rCBF patterns obtained in eight FTD patients with those obtained in 21 AD patients using (99m)Tc-HMPAO SPET and statistical parametric mapping (SPM). When FTD patients were compared with AD patients, relatively lower rCBF was observed in right medial frontal cortex (BA 8, 9, 10), right anterior cingulate cortex (BA 32), right temporal cortex (BA 21/22), right orbitofrontal cortex (BA 11) and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (BA 47); in BA 47 the reduction was evident bilaterally but was more marked on the right side. On the other hand, when AD patients were compared with FTD patients, a significant relative rCBF decrease was found in the bilateral superior parietal cortex (BA 7); this decrease was more extensive on the left side, where it also included the inferior parietal (BA 40), superior occipital (BA 19) and temporo-occipital regions (BA 39, 19). The results of this study confirm the preferential involvement of the frontotemporal regions in FTD patients and of the temporoparietal regions in AD patients. Furthermore, they highlight the networks that are more specifically impaired in these disorders and that could be implicated in the emotional-behavioural and cognitive disturbances that characterise FTD and AD respectively.

Aged↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Efficacy of recreational and occupational activities associated to psychologic support in mild to moderate Alzheimer disease: a multicenter controlled study.

We evaluated the efficacy of a stimulation program mainly based on recreational and occupational activities, associated with a brief cycle of support psychotherapy for patients and caregivers, in mild to moderate Alzheimer Disease (AD) associated or not with cerebrovascular lesions. Sixty-seven patients and 31 controls from 2 Italian towns entered the study. The control group was comprised of AD subjects who voluntarily declined to participate in the program for practical reasons. Patients were divided in groups of 4 subjects: treatment was delivered for 6 weeks. Multidimensional efficacy assessment of functional, behavioral, and neuropsychologic aspects was performed. When comparing baseline with posttraining condition, patients displayed a substantial reduction in disruptive behavior, and a tendency to a general reduction of behavioral symptoms compared with controls (Revised Memory and Behavior Problems Checklist--RMBPC--symptoms frequency-total P=0.07; frequency of disruptive behavior P=0.008). This reduction was mirrored by a significant reduction of caregiver reaction to behavioral disturbances (RMBPC caregiver reaction-total P=0.035; reaction to disruptive behavior, P=0.011). At 3 months follow-up, the reduction of caregiver reaction to behavioral symptoms results was confirmed (RMBPC caregiver reaction-total P=0.014, caregiver reaction to disruptive behavior P=0.028). No other significant difference was detected. These results partially confirm findings of previous studies, showing that AD patients treated with similar techniques demonstrated an improvement in behavioral disturbances.

Alzheimer Disease↗