Association between Helicobacter pylori infection and mild cognitive impairment.

The association of Helicobacter pylori infection and Alzheimer's disease (AD) has recently been addressed, but no relative data exist regarding mild cognitive impairment (MCI), a prodromal phase of AD. The aim of this prospective study was to evaluate H. pylori infection, by histology in a Greek MCI cohort. Sixty-three consecutive patients with amnestic MCI and 35 normal controls underwent upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, histologic and serological examinations. The prevalence of H. pylori infection was 88.9% (56/63) in MCI patients and 48.6% (17/35) in anaemic controls, as confirmed by biopsy (P < 0.001, odds ratio: 8.47, 95% CI: 3.03-23.67). Mean serum anti-H. pylori IgG concentration and plasma total homocysteine (Hcy) titre were higher in MCI patients than controls (74.86 +/- 57.22 vs. 17.37 +/- 9.30 U/ml; and 16.03 +/- 4.28 vs. 13.5 +/- 1.20 micromol/l; P < 0.001 and P = 0.015, respectively). When compared with the anaemic participants, MCI patients exhibited more often multifocal (body and antral) gastritis (92.1% vs. 68.6%; P = 0.03); in H. pylori positive MCI patients cognitive state correlated with serum anti-H. pylori IgG concentration. In conclusion, H. pylori prevalence was significantly higher in MCI patients than controls. This infection might contribute, at least in part, to the pathophysiology of MCI, possibly through induction of chronic atrophic gastritis and elevated Hcy consequences.

Hemoglobin pyrgos alpha2 beta2 83 (EF7) Gly leads to Asp: a new hemoglobin variant in double heterozygosity with hemoglobin S.

An electrophoretically fast-moving hemoglobin variant was found to be present together with hemoglobin S, in the hemolysate of the rythrocytes of at 3-yr-old Greek boy. Electrophoresis of the parents' erythrocyte hemolysates revealed that the father was an AS heterozygote, while the mother was a carrier of the variant hemoglobin. A sibling was also found to be a carrier. The amount of the mutant hemoglobin in the peripheral blood of the propositus, his mother, and his brother was 62.2%, 52.5%, and 51.1%, respectively, as determined by column chromatography. The patients peripheral blood smear showed mild anisocytosis, microcytosis, and hypochromia. Similar but less pronounced red cell abnormalities were found in the other two carriers. Structural analysis of the variant hemoglobin revealed substitution of an aspartic acid for the glycine residue at the beta83 (EF7) position. This new hemoglobin was named hemoglobin Pyrgos. All the carriers of hemoglobin Pyrgos are clinically healthy, and there seems to be no interaction between hemoglobin Pyrgos and hemoglobin S as manifested clinically.