The article chosen for analysis is the article by Van De Haar et al. (2016) titled “Blood-Brain Barrier Leakage in Patients with Early Alzheimer's Disease.” According to (Van De Haar et al., 2016), the researcher is conducting a study on leakage that takes place at the barrier between the blood and the brain. The researcher is interested in patients with Alzheimer's disease in its early stage. The study aims to examine whether there is leakage between the blood and the brain. The researcher also wants to know if the constituents found in the blood when its circulating leaks during the leakage. Finally, the researcher seeks to determine the pattern and leakage extent in in patients with Alzheimer's disease in its early stage.
The major danger to the human subject is an injury that may occur in the research process. If there is bias in selecting the subjects, then the results from the study are considered unreliable (Joffe, 2012). Human subjects were used in this study. The subjects comprise sixteen in patients with Alzheimer's disease in its early stage and seventeen other healthy people as controls. The age of these two groups was matched.
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According to the study results, there is increased leaking in in patients with Alzheimer's disease in its early stage. This leakage is dispersed across the cerebrum, a situation linked to reduced cognitive functioning. A comparison of the extent of leakage between the patients and the controls show a great extent of leakage in patients then controls. The leakage is spread widely in patients. The research found out that the impairment of a barrier between the brain and blood results from Alzheimer's disease abnormality.
From the study, in patients with Alzheimer's disease in its early stage have lower fraction plasma than the control patients. Brain hypoperfusion is suggested to caused low blood plasma by causing leakage of blood vessels. The cognitive reduction is associated with intense leakage. When the joints lose their tightness, the filtering ability of the barrier between the blood and brain is impaired. As a result of this impairment, toxic substances are heaped in the brain.
Magnetic resonance imaging was used to show the distribution of the leakage. This imaging gives a glimpse of how leakage occurs in in patients with Alzheimer's disease in its early stage. Leakage shows that the impaired barrier between the blood and brain leads to premature Alzheimer's pathology, leading to other pathogenic occurrences and eventual cognitive reduction.
Various steps were taken to protect the subjects. First, in patients with Alzheimer's disease in its early stage were admitted to hospital centers. They were allocated practitioners due to their mental welfare. The researcher checked the Alzheimer's stage of patients using clinical dementia. Only patients with less or equal to one rating were admitted. On the other hand, controls were thoroughly examined by many diseases to ensure they were healthy and fit. Before magnetic resonance imaging, the patients were given a mini-mental state examination.
Secondly, the subjects were protected by practitioners as they analyzed the health condition of controls before giving them consent to be used in the research. This analysis was achieved by examining the presence of diseases such as psychiatric and vascular disorders, mental state examination, contraindications for contrast agent usage, and imaging. The subjects were allowed to give a written agreement form to be used as subjects. Finally, the research study was approved by committees of medical ethics from Maastricht University and Leiden University Medical Centers (World Medical, 2013).
References
Joffe, S. (2012). Revolution or Reform in Human Subjects Research Oversight. The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 40 (4), 922-929. doi:10.1111/j.1748-720X.2012.00721.x
Van De Haar, H. J., Burgmans, S., Jansen, J. F., Van Osch, M. J., Van Buchem, M. A., Muller, M., . . . Backes, W. H. (2016). Blood-brain barrier leakage in patients with early Alzheimer's disease. Radiology, 281 (2), 527-535.
World Medical, A. (2013). World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki: ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects. JAMA, 310 (20), 2191-2194. doi:10.1001/jama.2013.281053
