Executive dysfunction affects word list recall performance: Evidence from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and other neurodegenerative diseases

The Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) is widely used in clinical practice to evaluate verbal episodic memory. While there is evidence that RAVLT performance can be influenced by executive dysfunction, the way executive disorders affect the serial position curve (SPC) has not been yet explored. To this aim, we analysed immediate and delayed recall performances of 13 non‐demented amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients with a specific mild executive dysfunction (ALSci) and compared their performances to those of 48 healthy controls (HC) and 13 cognitively normal patients with ALS. Moreover, to control for the impact of a severe dysexecutive syndrome and a genuine episodic memory deficit on the SPC, we enrolled 15 patients with a diagnosis of behavioural variant of frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) and 18 patients with probable Alzheimer's disease (AD). Results documented that, compared to cognitively normal subjects, ALSci patients had a selective mid‐list impairment for immediate recall scores. The bvFTD group obtained low performances with a selectively increased forgetting rate for terminal items, whereas the AD group showed a disproportionately large memory loss on the primary and middle part of the SPC for immediate recall scores and were severely impaired in the delayed recall trial. These results suggested that subtle executive dysfunctions might influence the recall of mid‐list items, possibly reflecting deficiency in control strategies at retrieval of word lists, whereas severer dysexecutive syndrome might also affect the recall of terminal items possibly due to attention deficit or retroactive interference.     

Marital role strain,illness intrusiveness,and their impact on marital and individual adjustment in end-stage renal disease

Abstract

A marital role theory approach was used to investigate individual psychosocial well-being and marital adjustment in 89 end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients and their spouses. Four different patient groups were selected according to a continuum of clinical milestones in the treatment of ESRD, including pre-dialysis (n=17), incenter dialysis (n=18), home dialysis (n=19), and posttransplant patients (n=17). A nephrology clinic control group (n=18) was also included. Standardized instruments were employed to investigate marital role strain (Marital Role Questionnaire, KDS-15), marital adjustment (Locke-Wallace Marital Adjustment Test), subjective well-being (Affect Balance Scale, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Inventory), and psychopathology (Symptom Checklist 90-R). Hierarchical multiple regression analyses provided strong and consistent support for the major hypotheses relating elevated marital role strain to compromised marital adjustment and individual well-being. Further analyses demonstrated that increased perceived intrusiveness of ESRD was significantly related to greater marital role strain, poorer marital adjustment, and decreased individual well-being. This is consistent with the idea that perceived intrusiveness may be an important mediator of marital role strain and of coping with chronic illness. “Objective” intrusiveness, defined in terms of patient group, was not significantly related to marital or individual well-being. These findings support a dyadic approach to the psychosocial study of chronic illness.     

构建科学的冠心病介入治疗临床决策

临床决策已成为临床医学的重要内容,但目前还为许多冠心病介入医生所忽视。阐述了临床决策的概念,分析了冠心病介入治疗决策中存在的问题及原因,探讨了如何构建科学的冠心病介入治疗决策,为冠心病介入治疗合理应用提供科学的决策方法。     

冠心病多支血管病变完全血运重建的长期疗效观察

为分析冠心病多支血管病变(MVD)患者经皮冠状动脉介入治疗(PCI)进行完全血运重建术后长期的临床疗效,我们收集了2004年5月~2008年5月589例接受PCI的冠心病患者,其中实施完全性血运重建(CRV)461例(78.3%),不完全性血运重建(IRV)128例(21.7%),对比分析两组病例PCI术后随访1年以上的结果。结果显示IRV组患者中完全闭塞病变、3支血管病变的比例均高于CRV组(P0.01);CRV组PCI成功率明显高于IRV组(94.8%vs87.5%,P0.05)。提示多支冠状动脉病变完全性血运重建能够获得更好的长期临床疗效论。     

中药在心血管疾病中应用现状与反思

具有悠久历史的中医药在现代医学中有鲜明的时代特点。心血管疾病是现代社会严重威胁生命及健康的病患。本文总结分析了古老中药在现代心血管疾病中应用的现状,并深入分析其影响因素,从而提出扬长避短的未来心血管疾病应用中药的思路。     

青年颈心综合征避免误诊为冠心病的临床诊疗策略

通过对临床收集的187例青年(≤45岁)颈心综合征患者的临床资料进行分析。探讨青年颈心综合征临床误诊为冠心病的原因及避免误诊的诊疗策略。目的在于帮助临床医师对青年颈心综合征进行识别,注意如何与冠心病心绞痛相鉴别,对防止病情延误,尽早明确诊断积极治疗,排除冠心病,减少诊疗费用及避免冠脉造影的风险意义很大。     

颈动脉病变的治疗现状

颈动脉病变尤其是颈动脉狭窄治疗上的分歧,颈动脉内膜切除术受欧美学者推崇,颈动脉支架成形技术受国内学者青睐,本文就近年来的文献复习发现颈动脉内膜切除术和颈动脉支架成形术各有相宜的适应证,各有优缺点,根据各自医院的设备条件、医师对颈动脉内膜切除术和颈动脉支架成形术熟悉程度来开展工作,对颈动脉狭窄治疗均有益处,存在的问题和困...     

Normal values for Type A behaviour patterns in Danish men and women and in potential high-risk groups

The Jenkins Activity Survey (JAS) was administered to a normal population of randomly selected Danish adults, to patients consulting a cardiologist, and to physicians in order to compare those groups in terms of their coronary-prone (Type A) behaviour patterns. The standard procedure of rating the JAS was used in order to obtain scores for each of the four subscales: Type A (time urgency and ambitiousness), Factor S (speed and impatience) Factor H (hard-driving and competitive) and Factor J (job involvement). Gender differences were observed in the normal population for each of the four subscale scores, and age-related differences were obtained for Factor J. Elevated scores for Factor S were obtained by physicians and by people in the population who had a cardiovascular disorder. Physicians had also elevated scores for Factor J, whereas their Factor H scores tended to be reduced. No reliable differences in JAS subscale scores were observed between four groups of heart patients (i.e. angina pectoris, arterial hypertension, atrial fibrillation and atherosclerosis), although there was a tendency for Factor J to be elevated in atherosclerosis. The findings provide normal values for JAS scores in Danish men and women, and suggest that some facets of coronary-prone behaviour may be enhanced in Danish high-risk groups.     

Flanker compatibility effects in patients with Parkinson's disease: impact of target onset delay and trial-by-trial stimulus variation

Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients and healthy controls were administered a flanker task that consisted of the presentation of colored targets and distractors. Participants were required to attend to the center target and identify its color. The stimulus displays were either congruent (i.e., the target and flankers were the same color) or incongruent. The time between the onset of the flanker and the target color (the target onset delay) was either short or long. Results indicated that PD patients and controls did not differ in the magnitude of the flanker effect within individual trials in that both groups demonstrated a typical flanker effect at the short target onset delay and neither group demonstrated a flanker effect at the longer delay. However, when performance was examined on a trial-by-trial basis, PD patients demonstrated a slowing of reaction time relative to controls when having to make the same response across consecutive trials at longer inter-trial intervals when the flankers were incongruent across consecutive trials and the display on the second of two trials was incongruent. These results indicate that PD patients are impaired in inhibiting the distractors over an extended delay and that this deficit may impact motor responding in these patients, suggesting that the basal ganglia contribute to the interface of attention and action.