Mice that overexpress the human mutant amyloid precursor protein (hAPP) show learning deficits, but the apparent lack of a relationship between these deficits and the progressive beta-amyloid plaque formation that the hAPP mice display is puzzling. In the water maze, hAPP mice are impaired before and after amyloid plaque deposition. Here we show, using a new water-maze training protocol, that PDAPP mice also exhibit a separate age-related deficit in learning a series of spatial locations. This impairment correlates with beta-amyloid plaque burden and is shown in both cross-sectional and longitudinal experimental designs. Cued navigation and object-recognition memory are normal. These findings indicate that A beta overexpression and/or A beta plaques are associated with disturbed cognitive function and, importantly, suggest that some but not all forms of learning and memory are suitable behavioural assays of the progressive cognitive deficits associated with Alzheimer's-disease-type pathologies.

Aging↗

PubMedDate not supplied

A comparison of six procedures for compatibility testing.

Six procedures for compatibility testing were compared, using red blood cells sensitized in normal saline, albumin or low-ionic strength saline (LISS) combined with either broad spectrum or anti-IgG antiglobulin testing (AGT). Despite shortened incubation times, tests employing LISS were as sensitive as those with albumin and broad spectrum AGT and more sensitive than the other four combinations. No false positive results were found. LISS technique with broad spectrum AGT appears to be suitable and superior for routine antibody detection and compatibility tests.

Blood Grouping and Crossmatching↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Life albums in long-term care: resident, family, and staff perceptions.

A life album is a collection of selected memorabilia, photographs, and archival and other material that describes an individual's life in a photograph book format. During a summer research program, 13 long-term care residents created life albums that contained material from their past and current life. Some pages were left unfilled to allow material to be added in the future. These albums provided residents, families, and staff members with a means to recall life events. This article reports their perceptions of creating such albums.

Aged↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Are preventive drugs preventive enough? A study of patients' expectation of benefit from preventive drugs.

OBJECTIVES: The study aimed to find the threshold of benefit for a hypothetical cholesterol-lowering drug below which the subject would not be prepared to take the drug. We also looked at whether proximity to the target event (myocardial infarction) and the subjects' views on drug taking affected this threshold. DESIGN: We studied 307 subjects using a written questionnaire and interview. Group 1 (102 subjects) had just been discharged from the coronary care unit. Group 2 (105 subjects) were taking cardio-protective drugs but had no recent history of myocardial infarction. Group 3 (100 subjects) had no history of myocardial infarction and were taking no cardio-protective drugs. RESULTS: Median values for the threshold of benefit below which the subject would not take the preventive drug were 20%, 20%, and 30% absolute risk reduction for Groups 1, 2 and 3 respectively. Median values for expectation of average prolongation of life were 12, 12 and 18 months respectively. Only 27% of subjects would take a drug offering 5% or less absolute risk reduction over five years. Subjects' views on medicinal drug taking in general and proximity to the target event were predictors of the acceptance of preventive drugs. Eighty percent of subjects wished to be told the numerical benefit of a preventive drug before starting on it. CONCLUSION: For the majority, the expectation of benefit from a preventive drug is higher than the actual benefit provided by current drug strategies. There is a tension between the patient's right to know about the chance of benefiting from a preventive drug and the likely reduction in uptake if they are so informed.

Aged↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Median frequency estimates of paraspinal muscles: reliability analysis.

The technique of monitoring the frequency shift of the electromyographic signal through a single parameter, the median frequency (MF), was investigated with regard to its reliability characteristics as tested on two back muscle groups: the multifidus and iliocostalis lumborum. The proportion of variance in the MF parameters accounted for by the test/retest reliability as well as by the left versus right side analysis is satisfactory for the multifidus, it is, however, consistently lower for the iliocostalis. For the purpose of measuring muscular function, the MF recording technique appears to be well suited for clinical research, its application in the assessment of muscular dysfunction of back muscles is nevertheless far from simple.

Adult↗