Mild Alzheimer's Type Research Articles

Cognitive impairment in elderly patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease

The purpose of the study: to study destructive forms of cognitive impairment in old age. Materials and methods. A study of 38 people was conducted, of which 16 were men and 22 were women. The control sample consists of 23 people, of which 8 are men and 15 are women. The definition of the control sample was based on the fact that this category of people had cognitive impairments that are the result of other age-related changes that are not the result of AD, whereas the experimental sample needed to have cognitive impairments that are the result of AD. The experimental sample consisted of 15 people, 7 men, 8 women. In the process of MMSE testing, 6 subjects (15.8%) entered the first group, 10 subjects (26.3%) entered the second group, and 22 (57.9%) entered the last group. 42.1% of respondents had mild Alzheimer's type dementia, while 57.9% of respondents had cognitive impairment due to age-related changes. According to the indicators obtained by the method of the short scale of assessment of mental status (Mini-Mental State Examination, MMSE), it can be concluded that memory, attention and orientation in time and space are primarily reduced. Data on the Frontal Dysfunction Battery (FAB) technique showed the absence of a grasping reflex in 29 out of 38 subjects (76.3%), so the presence of a grasping reflex most often indicates a severe degree of Alzheimer's type dementia.

Association of Stressful Life Events with Dementia in North Indian Populations.

Chronic stress is known to be associated with dementia. This study looked for major stressors and their associations with dementia in the elderly demented population. Case group consisted of 60 subjects (age group 55-75 years; M:F = 7:3) with postscreening for mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and mild Alzheimer's type dementia. Control group consisted of two subgroups: related (N = 60) and not-related (N = 60) subjects screened and confirmed not to be suffering from cognitive impairment. Sociodemographic variables were collected using a personal data sheet. The severity of cognitive impairment was assessed using the Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) Scale. Subjects with a CDR score of range 0.5-1 were included in mild cognitive impairment and mild Alzheimer's type dementia. Stressful life events were evaluated using the Presumptive Stressful Life Event Scale (PSLES). A present stress level of caregivers was evaluated using Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS). Assessed stress level scores were compared and validated with serum and plasma levels of cortisol and ACTH respectively. Different groups exhibited distinct PSLES and DASS scores with statistical significance. It was also observed that Cortisol and ACTH levels were elevated in case group as compared with that of both sub-group controls. The outcome measures of this study projected that neural degeneration leading to mild cognitive impairment and dementia may be due to accumulative cortisol hormone associated with stressful life events.

Diagnostic accuracy of the Phototest for cognitive impairment and dementia in Argentina

Phototest is a simple, easy and very brief test with theoretical advantages over available dementia screening tests in Spain. The objective of this study was to estimate the diagnostic accuracy of the Phototest for cognitive impairment and dementia and to compare it with that of the MMSE and the Clock Drawing Test (CDT) in an Argentine population. A phase II cross-sectional study of diagnostic tests evaluation was performed in a sample of 30 controls, 61 with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (a-MCI), and 56 with mild Alzheimer type dementia (DAT). The diagnostic accuracy (DA) was assessed in relation to the clinical diagnosis by calculating the area under the ROC curve (UAC), Sensitivity (Sn), and Specificity (Sp).The DA of the Phototest for a-MCI and DAT (0.93 and 0.97 [UAC]) was higher than that of the MMSE and the CDT. The cut-off points of 27/28 for DAT (Sn = 89.29 [78.1–96.0], Sp = 96.67 [82.8–99.9]) and 30/31 for a-MCI (Sn = 85.25 [73.8–93.0], Sp = 90.00 [73.5–97.9]) maximized the sum of Sn and Sp. Phototest correlates significantly with MMSE and CDT. The Phototest is an efficient instrument for the detection of mild dementia or MCI, with good accuracy and good correlation with tests measuring overall cognitive impairment.

Roles of specialists in psychogeriatrics

Roles of specialists in psychogeriatrics

Abstracts of Literature

Abstracts of Literature

Neuropathological assessment of the lesions of significance in vascular dementia

OBJECTIVESTo better define the neuropathology of vascular dementia.METHODSThe neuropathological findings in 18 elderly, undemented subjects free of cerebrovascular disease were compared with 19 elderly undemented subjects who had cerebrovascular disease...

"Rate of forgetting in dementia and depression" and "Rate of forgetting in mild Alzheimer's-type dementia": Comment.

"Rate of forgetting in dementia and depression" and "Rate of forgetting in mild Alzheimer's-type dementia": Comment.

"Rate of forgetting in dementia and depression" and "Rate of forgetting in mild Alzheimer's-type dementia": Comment.

"Rate of forgetting in dementia and depression" and "Rate of forgetting in mild Alzheimer's-type dementia": Comment.

Paired associate learning: Form 1 and form 2 of the Wechsler memory scale

Despite its popularity as a clinical measure, the paired Associate Learning (PAL) subtest of Wechsler's Memory Scale (WMS) still remains relatively undocumented for its psychometric properties. This article reports on the performance of 500 (form 1) and 600 (form 2) general medical patients hospitalized for other than neuropsychiatric conditions across five (20-69) and six (20-79) ten-year age bands respectively. In both alternate forms of PAL, strong age effects emerged while sex differences were more marked in form 2. Temporal reliability, assessed in separate student samples, proved adequate for either form. Parallel form correlations also indicated a moderate relationship between them. When easy and hard associates were analysed as separate measures with MANOVA the two forms were found to differ. Some possible reasons for these results are explored with respect to current information processing concepts postulated to affect verbal learning performance, and their utility in helping distinguish between pseudodementia and mild Alzheimer type dementia. Separate factor analyses also showed the two equivalent forms to diverge somewhat in their structural pattern with form 1 demonstrating clear clusterings of the pairs along a continuum ranging from very easy (overlearned) and mediate (superordinate) to hard associates.