For example, a proportion of patients with Parkinsons disease develop dementia, though widely varying figures are quoted for this proportion. When dementia occurs in Parkinsons disease, the underlying cause may be dementia with Lewy bodies or Alzheimers disease, or both. Cognitive impairment also occurs in the Parkinson-plus syndromes of progressive supranuclear palsy and corticobasal degeneration (and the same underlying pathology may cause the clinical syndromes of frontotemporal lobar degeneration). Although the acute porphyrias may cause episodes of confusion and psychiatric disturbance, dementia is a rare feature of these rare diseases. Limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy (LATE) is a type of dementia that primarily affects people in their 80s or 90s and in which TDP-43 protein deposits in the limbic portion of the brain.Hereditary disorders that can also cause dementia include: some metabolic disorders, lysosomal storage disorders, leukodystrophies, and spinocerebellar ataxias. Diagnosis
Symptoms are similar across dementia types and it is difficult to diagnose by symptoms alone. Diagnosis may be aided by brain scanning techniques. In many cases, the diagnosis requires a brain biopsy to become final, but this is rarely recommended (though it can be performed at autopsy). In those who are getting older, general screening for cognitive impairment using cognitive testing or early diagnosis of dementia has not been shown to improve outcomes. However, screening exams are useful in 65+ persons with memory complaints.Normally, symptoms must be present for at least six months to support a diagnosis. Cognitive dysfunction of shorter duration is called delirium. Delirium can be easily confused with dementia due to similar symptoms.
Otospondylomegaepiphyseal dysplasia (OSMED) is an autosomal recessive disorder of bone growth that results in skeletal abnormalities, severe hearing loss, and distinctive facial features. The name of the condition indicates that it affects hearing (oto-) and the bones of the spine (spondylo-), and enlarges the ends of bones (megaepiphyses). The features of OSMED are similar to those of another skeletal disorder, Weissenbacher-Zweymüller syndrome. Otospondylomegaepiphyseal dysplasia is a subtype of collagenopathy, types II and XI. Pathophysiology
Mutations in the COL11A2 gene cause otospondylomegaepiphyseal dysplasia. The protein made by the COL11A2 gene is involved in the production of type XI collagen. This type of collagen is important for the normal development of bone and other connective tissues. Mutations in the COL11A2 gene lead to a loss of function of this type of collagen, resulting in the signs and symptoms of OSMED. OSMED is inherited in an autosomal recessive pattern, which means the defective gene is located on an autosome, and two copies of the defective gene - one from each parent - must be inherited for a person to be affected by the disorder. The parents of a child with an autosomal recessive disorder are usually not affected but are carriers of one copy of the altered gene. A recessive pattern of inheritance makes OSMED unique among the type II and type XI collagenopathies. Diagnosis
The distinctive characteristics of OSMED include severe bone and joint problems and very severe hearing loss. This disorder affects the epiphyses, the parts of the bone where growth occurs.