Spotlight on the July 5 Issue

Identification of pure subcortical vascular dementia using 11 C-Pittsburgh compound BThe authors measured brain amyloid deposition using 11 C-Pittsburgh compound B (PIB) positron emission tomography in 45 patients with subcortical vascular dementia (SVaD), with 31% negative for cortical PIB binding.SVaD patients with and without abnormal amyloid imaging differed in clinical and MRI features, although there was considerable overlap.See p. 18; Editorial, p. 12 CSF soluble amyloid precursor proteins in the diagnosis of incipient Alzheimer disease This study of 58 patients with mild cognitive impairment and 16 with frontotemporal dementia showed that CSF soluble amyloid precursor protein ␤ improved the identification of patients with Alzheimer disease in the pre-dementia stage.This new biomarker may prove clinically useful and superior to established markers of early Alzheimer disease.See p. 35 Cerebral microhemorrhage and brain ␤-amyloid in aging and Alzheimer disease This study evaluated 84 healthy controls, 28 patients with mild cognitive impairment, and 26 patients with probable Alzheimer disease who underwent 3T-SWI and 11 C-PiB PET.Asymptomatic A␤ deposition in older adults was strongly associated with lobar microhemorrhages, with important implications for anticoagulant therapy or for participant recruitment into treatment trials.