Inferior Parietal Perfusion, Lateralization, and Neuropsychological Dysfunction in Alzheimer's Disease

The severity of inferior parietal perfusion deficits in Alzheimer's disease (AD) is strongly associated with global intellectual decline. The relationship to specific losses of neuropsychological functioning, however, is less clear, as is the relative importance of the side (left vs. right) of hemispheric deficit. In this study, 53 patients with probable AD and 35 elderly controls received both a resting¹³³Xe rCBF measurement and neuropsychological examination. AD patients demonstrated the expected bilateral deficits in inferior parietal perfusion, as well as impairment on measures of mental status, intelligence, verbal and visual memory, attention, language, and construction abilities. The severity of this bilateral parietal deficit, in turn, was associated with virtually all of these AD-related neuropsychological impairments, most strongly with declining Performance IQ. Left-sided deficits correlated better with overall declines in IQ, as well as with declining attention and language fluency. Right-sided deficits, on the other hand, correlated best with declines in mental status and—paradoxically—verbal memory and contributed independently to declines in Full Scale and Performance IQ. In terms of the number and strength of their association to neuropsychological measures, left-sided deficits appear much more predictive of cognitive decline in AD. Right-sided deficits, however, may be most important for predicting aspects of performance skill that are only indirectly assessed in standard paper-and-pencil format. Overall, it appears that both sides make significant, but independent contributions to general functional decline in AD, but that left-sided deficits are more closely associated with cognitive decline as measured by most standard neuropsychological measures.     

Conceptualizing the Religious Dimensions of Armed Conflicts: A Response to “Shrouded: Islam,War, and Holy War in Southeast Asia”

Here I react to an article published in Volume 53 of the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion by Ian Barter and Zatkin‐Osburn. My principal disagreement with Barter and Zatkin‐Osburn concerns their operational and methodological critiques of my work. However, the exchange also speaks to larger questions of how to conceptualize and measure religious dimensions of armed conflicts. It also highlights the importance of methodological pluralism in the study of religion and conflict.     

THE BLANK PAGE (FROM LAST TALES)

This essay explores the representation of the modern Jewish city in Palestine, envisioned in two fin-de-siècle futuristic tales: Theodor Herzl's Altneuland (1902) and Violet Guttenberg's A Modern Exodus (1904). Focusing on the northern port city of Haifa, transformed by the Jews from a poor Oriental town into a thriving Europeanized metropolis, both novelists employ the city's spatial, cultural, and human features to present radically different views concerning the national Jewish rejuvenation: for Herzl, it becomes a utopian triumph; for Guttenberg, a deplorable failure. Notwithstanding their different assessments of the Zionist vision, both authors share certain anti-Semitic assumptions about the nature of “the Jew” (greedy, intolerant, vulgar), which are inscribed into the urban space. Herzl's ideal Haifa is designed precisely to reform the diaspora Jew by introducing such modern urban measures that would render these detestable Jewish traits obsolete. Guttenberg's disordered city, in comparison, reflects an inability to alter the Jewish character: no wonder that London, not Haifa, becomes the final destination of her “Modern Exodus.”     

Regional blood flow changes in the left cerebral hemisphere during word pair learning and recall

Regional cerebral blood flow measurements were made in the left hemisphere of 11 young healthy volunteers during learning and during recalling of word pair associates. Compared to the resting baseline, both tasks caused significant increases of average hemispheric flow, indicating an elevated neuronal activity level. Regionally both tasks were accompanied by considerable activation of parietal and occipital regions. The main difference between learning and recalling was that only the former task activated the prefrontal regions.     

Regional cerebral blood flow and verbal memory after chronic exposure to organic solvents

Regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF; 133Xe-inhalation method) was investigated in 32 industrial workers (age: 51 +/- 9 years) who had been exposed to organic solvents during an average of 24.5 years. The measurements were made at rest and during learning of associated word pairs. The resting flow level was 17% lower than expected for normal subjects of similar age and the activation-induced changes of rCBF during the test lacked the frontal activation normally seen. Significant correlations between age, length of exposure, and rCBF level were found. In order to control for the age factor, results were also calculated from two subgroups of similar age but with very different levels of exposure (13 and 31 years of average exposure). The two groups differed only slightly in resting rCBF. A marked difference was, however, seen during activation, with significant post-central flow increases recorded in the lower-exposed group only. The results indicate the potential of the rCBF method for elucidating functional cortical changes related to neurotoxic effects of organic solvents.