Adults with Down syndrome are at high risk for Alzheimer's disease (AD), with most individuals developing clinical dementia by their late 60s. This increased risk for AD has been attributed, at least in part, to triplication and overexpression of the gene for amyloid precursor protein (APP) on chromosome 21, leading to elevated levels of amyloid…

Background: Research into specific illnesses and the development of new treatments may only become possible as new technologies become available. When used for research, such technologies may best be described as "intrusive", in that they require a considerable willingness and commitment on the part of the participants. This has…

Down syndrome (DS) is one of many causes of intellectual disability (ID), others including but not limited to, fetal alcohol syndrome, Fragile X syndrome, Rett syndrome, Williams syndrome, hypoxia, and infection. Down syndrome is characterized by a number of neurobiological problems resulting in learning and memory deficits and early onset…

Adults with Down syndrome and early stage Alzheimer's disease showed decline in their ability to selectively attend to stimuli in a multitrial cancellation task. They also showed variability in their performance over the test trials, whereas healthy participants showed stability. These changes in performance were observed approximately 2 years…

This review discusses the laboratory and clinical research supporting the rationale for the efficacy of donepezil (Aricept[R] USA) in enhancing cognition in autism, Alzheimer disease, Down syndrome, traumatic brain injury, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and schizophrenia. While preliminary animal models have shown effective,…

Down syndrome (DS) is characterized by increased mortality rates, both during early and later stages of life, and age-specific mortality risk remains higher in adults with DS compared with the overall population of people with mental retardation and with typically developing populations. Causes of increased mortality rates early in life are…

The behavioural and emotional changes associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD) are compared for individuals with Down syndrome and AD and individuals with AD from the general population (AD-only). The primary caregivers of 30 people with Down syndrome and AD and 30 people with AD-only completed the BEHAVE-AD and the Apathy subscale of the CERAD.…

Background: The clinical and neuropathological features associated with dementia in Down's syndrome (DS) are not well established. Aims: To examine clinico-pathological correlations and the incidence of cognitive decline in a cohort of adults with DS. Method: A total of 92 hospitalized persons with DS were followed up from 1985 to December 2000.…

Since previous investigations reported improvements in cognition of patients with dementia after acetyl-L-carnitine therapy and since there is an increased risk for persons with Down syndrome to develop Alzheimer disease, this study was designed to investigate the effect of acetyl-L-carnitine administration on neurological, intellectual, and…

The relationship between poor health and cognitive impairment is not fully understood yet. People with Down syndrome are prone to a number of health problems, including congenital heart defect, visual impairment, hearing loss, autoimmune diseases, epilepsy, early-onset Alzheimer's disease and intellectual disability. Our aim was to assess the…

A major challenge to developing therapeutic interventions for cognitive loss and dementia in aging individuals with Down syndrome (DS) is the selection of appropriate outcome measures. This report describes the adaptation of the Brief Praxis Test (a nonverbal cognitive test) as a primary outcome measure, as well as the selection of secondary…