Biochemical Biomarkers for Alzheimer's Disease in Cerebrospinal Fluid and Peripheral Blood

The diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is still obscure even to specialists. To improve the diagnostic accuracy, to find at-risk people as early as possible, to predict the efficacy or adverse reactions of pharmacotherapy on an individual basis, to attain more reliable results of clinical trials by recruiting better defined participants, to prove the disease-modifying ability of new candidate drugs, to establish prognosis-based therapeutic plans, and to do more, is now increasing the need for biomarkers for AD. Among AD-related biochemical markers, cerebrospinal beta-amyloid and tau have been paid the most attention since they are materials directly interfacing the brain interstitium and can be obtained through the lumbar puncture. Level of beta-amyloid is reduced whereas tau is increased in cerebrospinal fluid of AD patients relative to cognitively normal elderly people. Remarkably, such information has been found to help predict AD conversion of mild cognitive impairment. Despite inconsistent findings from previous studies, plasma beta-amyloid is thought to be increased before the disease onset, but show decreasing change as the disease progress. Regarding other peripheral biochemical markers, omics tools are being widely used not only to find useful biomarkers but also to generate novel hypotheses for AD pathogenesis and to lead new personalized future medicine.

Work Experience of Patients Undergoing Hemodialysis / 기본간호학회지

PURPOSE: This study was done to gain understanding of what career and related experience mean to individuals undergoing hemodialysis. METHODS: Ten male patients receiving hemodialysis participated in the study. Data collection took place between November 18, 2008 and February 10, 2010, via unstructured interviews. Data collection and analysis were conducted simultaneously, and Colaizzi's phenomenological method (1978) was used for the analysis. RESULTS: The significance the participants found in their "dual" life as worker and dialysis patients was classified into five categories: 'Recognition of self-existence value', 'My health comes before my work', 'Being afraid of stigma', 'Limitation of restricted work', and 'Difficulty with time management.' CONCLUSION: It was found that the dialysis patients showed ambivalent feelings towards their careers, hoping they will be able to continue to work yet fearing that the continued work might break balance the between their livelihood and healing. Therefore, it is recommended that hours for hemodialysis be more flexible to ensure that patients can keep their jobs and better manage their time while undergoing treatment.