Patient case (clinical description): A 70-year-old man comes to the office accompanied by his wife.  The patient has experienced progressive memory loss over the last years.  He needs help with some of his routine activities, such as paying bills.  The patient's wife says, "He used to be such an independent person, but now he needs help with many things, even finding direction to home!"  Medical history includes hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and type 2 diabetes mellitus.  Family history includes Alzheimer disease in his father.  MRI reveals diffuse cortical and hippocampal atrophy. The diagnosis of AD is made using the National Institute on Aging and the Alzheimer's Association (NIA-AA) criteria.

Patient's own account: I am a 70-year-old man, and I paid a visit to the doctor with my wife the other day. I noticed that I tend to forget small things and that my memory has decreased over the past few years. I even ask my wife to help me out with my daily routine. I used to be the one paying the bills, but now she has to give me a hand. My wife mentioned to the doctor that I used to be independent and that I tend to forget where we live. I suffer from hypertension, high cholesterol, and type 2 diabetes. My poor dad was suffering from Alzheimer disease, so I hope I'm not going to end the same way! I did an MRI and they found out that some part of my brain was decreasing. I also did an Alzheimer test.

Clinical trial: The Influence of Vascular Burden, Amyloid Plaque and Tau Protein in Patients With Vascular Cognitive Impairment and Dementia With Tauopathy

Eligibility criteria:
Inclusion Criteria:

          1. Inclusion criteria for VCI (Group A, n=80)

               -  Males or females with age >= 20 years old.

               -  Patients fulfill the AHA/ASA criteria for vascular cognitive impairment.

               -  Provision of signed informed consent from the subject and the subject's legally
                  authorized representative or caregiver (if applicable).

               -  The subject has an appropriate caregiver capable of accompanying the subject, if
                  necessary.

          2. Inclusion criteria for AD / MCI (Group B, n=80)

               -  Males or females with age >= 20 years old.

               -  Patients fulfill the National Institute on Aging (NIA) - Alzheimer's Association
                  Diagnostic Guidelines.

               -  Provision of signed informed consent from the subject and the subject's legally
                  authorized representative or caregiver (if applicable).

               -  The subject has an appropriate caregiver capable of accompanying the subject, if
                  necessary.

          3. Inclusion criteria for FTD (Group C, n=30)

               -  Males or females with age >= 20 years old.

               -  Patients fulfill the criteria of probable FTD.

               -  Provision of signed informed consent from the subject and the subject's legally
                  authorized representative or caregiver (if applicable).

               -  The subject has an appropriate caregiver capable of accompanying the subject, if
                  necessary.

          4. Inclusion criteria for normal control (Group D, n=30)

               -  Males or females with age >= 20 years old.

               -  Provision of signed informed consent.

        Exclusion Criteria:

          -  Life expectancy less than 1 year.

          -  Clinically significant abnormal laboratory values (such as AST/ALT >= 3X of upper
             normal limits).

          -  Clinically significant or unstable medical or psychiatric illness.

          -  Epilepsy history.

          -  Cognitive impairment resulting from trauma or brain damage.

          -  Substance abuse or alcoholism in the past 3 months.

          -  Stroke history within the recent 3 months.
No condition on gender to be admitted to the trial.
Accepts Healthy Volunteers
Subject must be at least 20 Years old.


Eligibility (NLI label): Entailment