1. Medications and cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease : Cohort cluster analysis of 15,428 patientsPol Grau-Jurado, Shayan Mostafaei, Hong Xu, Minjia Mo, Bojana Petek, Irena Kalar, Luana Naia, Julianna Kele, Silvia Maioli, Joana Carvalho, Maria Eriksdotter Jönhagen, Saikat Chatterjee, Sara Garcia-Ptacek, 2025, original scientific article Abstract: BackgroundMedications for comorbid conditions may affect cognition in Alzheimer's disease (AD). ObjectiveTo explore the association between common medications and cognition, measured with the Mini-Mental State Examination. MethodsCohort study including persons with AD from the Swedish Registry for Cognitive/Dementia Disorders (SveDem). Medications were included if they were used by ≥5% of patients (26 individual drugs). Each follow-up was analyzed independently by performing 100 Monte-Carlo simulations of two steps each 1) k-means clustering of patients according to Mini-Mental State Examination at follow-up and its decline since previous measure, and 2) Identification of medications presenting statistically significant differences in the proportion of users in the different clusters. Results15,428 patients (60.38% women) were studied. Four clusters were identified. Medications associated with the best cognition cluster (relative to the worse) were atorvastatin (point estimate 1.44 95% confidence interval [1.15–1.83] at first follow-up, simvastatin (1.41 [1.11–1.78] at second follow-up), warfarin (1.56 [1.22–2.01] first follow-up), zopiclone (1.35 [1.15–1.58], and metformin (2.08 [1.35–3.33] second follow-up. Oxazepam (0.60 [0.50–0.73] first follow-up), paracetamol (0.83 [0.73–0.95] first follow-up), cyanocobalamin, felodipine and furosemide were associated with the worst cluster. Cholinesterase inhibitors were associated with the best cognition clusters, whereas memantine appeared in the worse cognition clusters, consistent with its indication in moderate to severe dementia. ConclusionsWe performed unsupervised clustering to classify patients based on their current cognition and cognitive decline from previous testing. Atorvastatin, simvastatin, warfarin, metformin, and zopiclone presented a positive and statistically significant associations with cognition, while oxazepam, cyanocobalamin, felodipine, furosemide and paracetamol, were associated with the worst cluster.
Keywords: Alzheimer's disease, cohort study, comorbidity, metformin, Mini-Mental State Examination, oxazepam, pharmacological treatments, statins, warfarin, zopiclone
Published in DiRROS: 15.04.2026; Views: 212; Downloads: 264
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2. Statins, cholesterol and cognition at the time of Alzheimer's disease diagnosis : cross-sectional study from the Swedish registry for cognitive/dementia disordersBojana Petek, Minjia Mo, Hong Xu, Jakob Norgren, Minh Tuan Hoang, Marta Villa-Lopez, Henrike Häbel, Julianna Kele, Luana Naia, Milica Gregorič Kramberger, 2025, original scientific article Abstract: Background: Evidence suggests statins may influence cognition in Alzheimer's disease (AD), but specific use patterns in AD patients remain unclear. Objective: To identify factors influencing statin use in AD and explore associations between statins, cholesterol, and cognition, evaluated with Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) at dementia diagnosis. Methods: A cross-sectional study using data from the Swedish Registry for Dementia and Cognitive Disorders (SveDem) and Stockholm Creatinine Measurements (SCREAM) from 2007 to 2018. Multivariable logistic regression examined associations between baseline characteristics and statin use, while linear regression analyzed relationships between statins, cholesterol levels, and MMSE scores. Results: We included 3074 AD patients (mean age 78.1 years; 59.4% women), of whom 1028 used statins (79.6% simvastatin, 20.4% atorvastatin). Patients with diabetes mellitus, ischemic heart disease, or stroke had greater odds of receiving statins. Older patients had slightly lower odds of receiving any statin at baseline (simvastatin use OR 0.98, 95% CI 0.97–0.99). Simvastatin users had 0.53 points higher MMSE on average at baseline compared to non-users of statins (se 0.23, p = 0.021). Higher low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), total cholesterol (TC) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels were associated with higher MMSE in non-users of statins, but not in statin users. Conclusions: Younger AD patients and those with cardiovascular disease were more likely to use statins. Simvastatin use was linked to higher cognitive scores at diagnosis. In non-users, higher LDL-C, TC, and HDL-C levels correlated with better baseline cognitive scores. Longitudinal studies are needed to investigate the effects of statins on cognitive decline in AD.
Keywords: Alzheimer's disease, cholesterol, dementia, drug repurposing, mini-mental state examination
Published in DiRROS: 15.04.2026; Views: 237; Downloads: 116
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5. Oral Coenzyme Q10 supplementation leads to better preservation of kidney function in steroid-resistant nephrotic syndrome due to primary Coenzyme Q10 deficiencyStefania Drovandi, Beata Lipska-Zietkiewicz, Fatih Ozaltin, Francesco Emma, Bora Gülhan, Olivia Boyer, Agnes Trautmann, Hong Xu, Tanja Kersnik-Levart, 2022, original scientific article Abstract: Primary Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ(10)) deficiency is an ultra-rare disorder caused by defects in genes involved in CoQ(10) biosynthesis leading to multidrug-resistant nephrotic syndrome as the hallmark kidney manifestation. Promising early results have been reported anecdotally with oral CoQ(10) supplementation. However, the long-term efficacy and optimal prescription remain to be established. In a global effort, we collected and analyzed information from 116 patients who received CoQ(10) supplements for primary CoQ(10) deficiency due to biallelic pathogenic variants in either the COQ2, COQ6 or COQ8B genes. Median duration of follow up on treatment was two years. The effect of treatment on proteinuria was assessed, and kidney survival was analyzed in 41 patients younger than 18 years with chronic kidney disease stage 1-4 at the start of treatment compared with that of an untreated cohort matched by genotype, age, kidney function, and proteinuria. CoQ(10) supplementation was associated with a substantial and significant sustained reduction of proteinuria by 88% at 12 months. Complete remission of proteinuria was more frequently observed in COQ6 disease. CoQ(10) supplementation led to significantly better preservation of kidney function (5-year kidney failure-free survival 62% vs. 19%) with an improvement in general condition and neurological manifestations. Side effects of treatment were uncommon and mild. Thus, our findings indicate that all patients diagnosed with primary CoQ(10) deficiency should receive early and life-long CoQ(10) supplementation to decelerate the progression of kidney disease and prevent further damage to other organs.
Keywords: coenzyme Q10, deficiency, supplementation therapy, end-stage kidney disease, ESKD, genetic kidney disease, hereditary, kidney survival, outcome, proteinuria reduction
Published in DiRROS: 21.11.2025; Views: 636; Downloads: 352
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6. APS8, a polymeric alkylpyridinium salt blocks [alpha]7 nAChR and induces apoptosis in non-small cell lung carcinomaAna Zovko, Kristina Viktorsson, Rolf Lewensohn, Katja Kološa, Metka Filipič, Hong Xing, William R. Kem, Laura Paleari, Tom Turk, 2013, original scientific article Abstract: Naturally occurring 3-alkylpyridinium polymers (poly-APS) from the marine sponge Reniera sarai, consisting of monomers containing polar pyridinium and nonpolar alkyl chain moieties, have been demonstrated to exert a wide range of biological activities, including a selective cytotoxicity against non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells. APS8, an analog of poly-APS with defined alkyl chain length and molecular size, non-competitively inhibits α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) at nanomolar concentrations that are too low to be acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitory or generally cytotoxic. In the present study we show that APS8 inhibits NSCLC tumor cell growth and activates apoptotic pathways. APS8 was not toxic for normal lung fibroblasts. Furthermore, in NSCLC cells, APS8 reduced the adverse anti-apoptotic, proliferative effects of nicotine. Our results suggest that APS8 or similar compounds might be considered as lead compounds to develop antitumor therapeutic agents for at least certain types of lung cancer.
Keywords: 3-alkylpyridinium polymers, apoptosis, nicotine, nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, non-small cell lung carcinoma
Published in DiRROS: 02.08.2024; Views: 1145; Downloads: 1152
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7. In-situ plasma regeneration of deactivated Au/TiO [sub] 2 nanocatalysts during CO oxidation and effect of N [sub] 2 contentHong-Yu Fan, Chuan Shi, Xiao-Song Li, Shuo Zhang, Jing-Lin Liu, Ai-Min Zhu, 2012, original scientific article Keywords: gold catalyst, deactivation, plasma regeneration, N [sub] 2 content, CO oxidation
Published in DiRROS: 07.04.2016; Views: 7506; Downloads: 1401
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