Visual Imagery Processing and Knowledge of Famous Names in Alzheimer's Disease and MCI

ABSTRACT

The study of memory for famous people and visual imagery retrieval was investigated in patients in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and in the prodromal stage of AD, so-called Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). Fifteen patients with AD (MMSE ≥23), 15 patients with amnestic MCI (a-MCI) and 15 normal controls (NC) performed a famous names test designed to evaluate the semantic and distinctive physical features knowledge of famous persons. Results indicated that patients with AD and a-MCI generated significantly less physical features and semantic biographical knowledge about famous persons than did normal control participants. Additionally, significant differences were observed between a-MCI and AD patients in all tasks. The present findings confirm recent studies reporting semantic memory impairment in MCI. Moreover, the current findings show that mental imagery is lowered in a-MCI and AD and is likely related to the early semantic impairment.     

Semantic clustering as a neuropsychological predictor for amnestic-MCI

ABSTRACT

Recent research has demonstrated that patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) show deficits in semantic processing when compared to cognitively healthy individuals. This difference is thought to be attributed to losses in higher cortical systems that are predominantly associated with executive functioning. The first aim of the study will be to determine if differences in semantic clustering can accurately differentiate patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) from cognitively normal (CN) individuals. The second aim will be to determine the extent to which semantic processing might be associated with executive functions. Data from 202 (134 CN, 68 aMCI) participants were analyzed to quantify differences in semantic clustering ratios on the HVLT-R. Study participants ages ranged from 51 to 87 with education ranging from 6 to 20 years. ANCOVA revealed statistically significant differences on semantic clustering ratios (p < .001). Moderate correlations between semantic clustering Category Fluency Test (r = .45) were also found. Statistically significant group differences were also present on Trails-B and WAIS-R Digit Symbol performance (p < .001). Overall, these data indicate that deficits in semantic clustering are present in aMCI patients.     

辅助上肢康复训练与自助Bobath握手训练对卒中患者的对比观察

观察由护士辅助上肢运动能力康复训练与患者自助Bobath握手上举训练对脑卒中偏瘫患者上肢功能恢复的影响。将60名患者随机分为对照组和试验组,对照组患者自助做Bobath握手上举训练,试验组由护士给予上肢运动能力分期康复训练。1个月后,两组患者上肢功能差异及日常生活活动（activities of daily living,ADL）能力差异有统计学意义（P〈0．05）。1个月后,两侧肩峰差差异也有非常显著的统计学意义（P〈O．01）。因此,由护士给予上肢运动能力分期康复训练有利于脑卒中偏瘫患者提高上肢功能和日常生活活动能力,以及保持正常的人体姿势利于患者康复。     

高尿酸血症与急性脑梗死患者病情严重程度和预后的相关性研究

文章探讨高尿酸血症与急性脑梗死患者病情严重程度和预后的相关性.选择急性脑梗死患者198例,男性115例,女性83例,以前瞻性病例对照的研究方法,分析高尿酸血症与急性脑梗死患者入院时、住院10天时的病情严重程度和90天预后的相关性.高尿酸血症与急性脑梗死患者入院时病情严重程度无关（P＆gt;0.05）,与住院10天时病情严重程度呈负相关（P=0.003）,与10天时的美国国立卫生研究院卒中量表（NIHSS）转归分数呈正相关（P=0.002）,与90天预后呈正相关（P=0.001）.笔者认为高尿酸血症与急性脑梗死患者住院10天时的病情严重程度和90天预后具有独立的相关性.     

Central Nervous System Complications of Sickle Cell Disease in Children: An Overview

Complications involving the central nervous system are among the most devastating manifestations of sickle cell disease. Although overt stroke occurs in 1 in 10 children with Hemoglobin SS, “silent cerebral infarcts” are even more frequent. Both are associated with significant neuropsychological deficits. The end result of these effects on the CNS often is diminished school performance. The use of transcranial Doppler ultrasonography screening allows the identification of patients at high risk for clinical stroke as well as stroke prevention by chronic transfusion. However, definitive prophylaxis and treatment for most CNS complications of sickle cell disease have yet to be determined.     

Detecting performance invalidity in children: Not quite as easy as A,B, C, 1, 2, 3 but automatized sequences appears promising

In adult populations, embedded performance validity indicators are well established, as they are time efficient, resistant to coaching, and allow for more continuous monitoring of effort than standalone measures. Although several recent studies have demonstrated the appropriateness of using standalone validity tests with school-age children, a paucity of pediatric work has examined embedded indicators. The present study investigated the value of a simple automatized sequences task to detect performance invalidity in 439 clinically referred patients with mild head injury aged 8 through 17 years. Sixteen percent of the participants failed the Medical Symptom Validity Test (MSVT). Thirteen percent failed the MSVT and also performed below established cutoffs on either the Test of Memory Malingering or Wechsler Digit Span subtest. The group classified as providing invalid data performed significantly worse than the group passing the MSVT across all sequencing conditions. Sensitivity and specificity for the total time on the sequencing task compared favorably to data produced for many respected adult-based embedded indicators (i.e., sensitivity around 50% when specificity ≥ 90%). Classification statistics for any embedded performance validity test can be expected to be worse in more severely affected populations; however, the current sequencing task appears to have value in detecting invalid performance in relatively high-functioning older children and adolescents. The fact that the task takes less than a couple of minutes to administer makes it especially appealing.     

Visual-Propriocetive Correspondence in the Para-Median Plane

2 experiments in which Ss matched a proprioceptively perceived stylus to a visual target in the para-median plane show that Ss make idiosyncratic errors which are stable over periods of at least several days. A technique for comparing visual and proprioceptive spaces is used to Show how matching errors vary within the para-median plane. These errors are interpreted as the result of inadequate inter-calibration of visual and proprioceptive space perception, and their implications for movement control are discussed.     

The free and cued selective reminding test: Validation for mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease

The International Working Group on Alzheimer's disease (AD) suggested the free and cued selective reminding test (FCSRT) to assess memory, as it showed high sensitivity and specificity in the differentiation of AD from healthy controls and other dementias. The FCSRT involves the use of selective reminding with semantic cueing in memory assessment. This study aims to validate the FCSRT for mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and AD through the analysis of the diagnostic accuracy and the suggestion of cut‐off scores. Patients were classified into two groups according to standard criteria: MCI (n = 100) and AD (n = 70). A matched control group (n = 101) of cognitively healthy subjects was included. The reliability and the validity of the FCSRT were analysed on the immediate (IR) and delayed (DR) recalls. The Cronbach's alpha was 0.915 for the IR and 0.879 for the DR. The total recall measures revealed good areas under the curve for MCI (IR: .818; DR: .828) and excellent for AD (IR: .987; DR: .991). Furthermore, the MCI group was subdivided with respect to a non‐similar/similar AD pattern of impairment, with almost half of the subjects showing an AD‐like decline. This analysis represents a novel contribution regarding the properties of the FCSRT in illustrating the heterogeneity of MCI at baseline. The FCSRT has proved to be a very useful tool in the characterization of the memory impairment of the AD spectrum.     

Brain lateralization of complex movement: Neuropsychological evidence from unilateral stroke

Complex movement (CM) refers to the representation of a goal-oriented action and is classified as either transitive (use of tools) or intransitive (communication gestures). Both types of CM have three specific components: temporal, spatial, and content, which are subdivided into specific error types (SET). Since there is debate regarding the contribution of each brain hemisphere for the types of CM, our objective was to describe the brain lateralization of components and SET of transitive and intransitive CM. We studied 14 patients with a left hemisphere stroke (LH), 12 patients with a right hemisphere stroke (RH), and 16 control subjects. The Florida Apraxia Screening Test-Revised (FAST-R, Rothi et al., 1988) was used for the assessment of CM. Both clinical groups showed a worse performance than the control group on the total FAST-R and transitive movement scores (p < 0.001). Failures in Spatial and Temporal components were found in both clinical groups, but only LH patients showed significantly more Content errors (p < 0.01) than the control group. Also, only the LH group showed a higher number of errors for intransitive movements score (p = 0.017), due to lower scores in the content component, compared to the control group (p = 0.04). Transitive and intransitive CMs differ in their neurocognitive representation; transitive CM shows a bilateral distribution of its components when compared to intransitive CM, which shows a preferential left hemisphere representation. This could result from higher neurocognitive demands for movements that require use of tools, compared with more automatic communication gestures.     

甲状腺功能亢进症合并烟雾病2例报道并文献复习

探讨甲状腺功能亢进症（甲亢）合并烟雾病的发病机制、临床特点、治疗方法及预后.回顾性分析报道2例甲亢合并烟雾病患者的临床表现、诊疗经过及预后,结合文献分析.甲亢合并烟雾病较为罕见,2例患者均为青年女性,主要表现为以脑梗死为主的脑缺血症状,临床症状均发生于甲状腺毒症期,控制甲亢及血管重建术等治疗可以有效改善神经系统缺损症状,预防复发.对拟诊烟雾病患者筛查甲亢,有脑血管病症状的甲亢患者行脑血管影像学检查,以利于早期发现,综合治疗,预防复发.