PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

S Lorusso

Publications and source records attributed to S Lorusso.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2002

Cognitive functions after transient topographical amnesia.

Twelve consecutive patients having previously experienced one or more episodes of isolated transient topographical amnesia (TTA) underwent neuropsychological examination 6-12 months after the last episode to detect signs of global cognitive decline and to assess, in particular, cognitive functions deemed critical for topographical orientation. The test scores were compared with those of 12 normal subjects matched for age, sex, educational level and place of residence. Both patients and controls showed normal performances in all tasks. The comparison between the two groups revealed a significantly lower performance of the patient group in a task of geographical orientation, namely 'Map of Italy'. We conclude that isolated episodes of TTA in the elderly per se do not represent a sign of mental deterioration, but can be associated with frailty on survey components of spatial orientation. It remains to be explained whether this feature is a pre-existing condition favouring the occurrence of the episodes of topographical amnesia or represents a sequela.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1998

New therapeutic perspectives for demyelinating retrobulbar optic neuritis.

In patients with demyelinating retrobulbar optic neuritis (RON), a spontaneous or corticosteroid-induced improvement is generally observed within the first month, but this is clinically insignificant in 5%-7% of patients. We report the case histories of four patients who were considered to be "non-responders" to corticosteroids because their visus remained unchanged or had improved by only 1/10 after one month from intravenous corticoid therapy begun 2-7 days after disease onset, and who were therefore subsequently administered high intravenous doses of immunoglobulin. Three of these patients completely recovered in a period of 3-9 months; the fourth showed only a partial improvement, but this was consolidated after long-term continuation of the same therapy. These cases suggest the possible efficacy of early administration of intravenous immunoglobulin in RON patients who fail to respond to cortisone therapy. As recently demonstrated in animal models, it can be hypothesised that the result is due to immuno-mediated mechanisms of action that reduce autoimmune responses in the short- and medium-term, and in the long-term favour remyelination.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1998

Memory performances in young, elderly, and very old healthy individuals versus patients with Alzheimer's disease: evidence for discontinuity between normal and pathological aging.

In this study we compared memory performances of 29 probable patients with AD (17 mildly and 12 moderately demented) with those of 39 healthy young subjects, 36 elderly subjects (matched with the AD group for age and years of schooling), and 19 healthy very old subjects. In most of the memory tasks used in the present study, a progressive decline in performance was observed passing from the Young to the Elderly to the Very Old to the AD group. However, patients with AD were selectively impaired in the backward reproduction of verbal and spatial span sequences and in the semantic encoding of verbal material. These data are consistent with the hypothesis of not only quantitative but also a qualitative discontinuity between the process of normal aging and the dementia syndrome.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Air pollution and the deterioration of historic monuments.

The results of air pollution surveys conducted at two sites in the historic center of Rome and at two sites in Latium are summarized and illustrated. The objective of our study is to identify a link between the analytical data and brightness measurements of outdoor stone monuments in the selected areas. The analytical data coincide well with the characteristics of the sites with heavy traffic (Rome and Villa d'Este in Tivoli) when compared with the "zero level exposure" of the Villa Adriana.

Air Pollution↗
PubMed1994

Verbal and spatial memory spans in Alzheimer's and multi-infarct dementia.

This study aimed to explore verbal and spatial memory spans in Alzheimer's (AD) and multi-infarct (MID) demented patients. For this purpose, we administered the forward and backward versions of the Digit Span and of the Corsi test to 18 AD, 18 MID and 26 controls. Results revealed a normal forward verbal span but reduced backward verbal and forward and backward spatial spans in both demented groups. These data are discussed in the light of the Working Memory model. It is argued that the normal verbal forward span is sustained by a normally functioning Articulatory Loop. The deficient processing resources of the Central Executive, on the other side, are responsible for the reduced extension of the other memory spans. The possible anatomical substrate of short-term memory impairment in dementia, as well as alternative interpretations of memory span performance in demented patients are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Transient topographical amnesia.

Ten healthy middle aged or elderly women experienced isolated episodes of topographical amnesia without an obvious aetiology. It is likely a benign cognitive disorder, similar to transient global amnesia.

Aged↗
PubMed1993

Transient global amnesia: neuropsychological findings after single and multiple attacks.

We examined by neuropsychological tests 41 patients who had presented attacks of transient global amnesia (TGA; 31 had single and 10 multiple episodes), comparing them with 41 matched normal controls. Patients with single attacks showed only two impaired memory tasks with respect to controls (immediate and long-term verbal memory), while patients with multiple attacks showed more impaired tasks in memory and visuoperceptual ability. These data confirm that TGA is a benign syndrome, but could leave a few subclinical memory deficits probably exacerbated by repeated attacks.

Aged↗
PubMed1990

Cognitive effects of valproate.

The effects of valproate on cognition are usually considered to be minimal, but few formal neuropsychological studies are available. We studied the psychomotor performances of 20 seizure-free epileptics during fixed valproate monotherapy and after its withdrawal. Our findings suggest some adverse effects of valproate which appear to be completely reversible after withdrawal.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Neuropsychological, electroencephalogram and brain computed tomography findings in motor neuron disease.

Thirty-five patients affected with sporadic motor neuron disease (MND) and without clinically evident mental deterioration were systematically investigated by means of neuropsychological tests, quantitative analysis of EEG and brain CT. The MND patients as a group showed a slight but definite and stereotyped cognitive impairment. Temporal slow EEG activity was increased in the whole MND group and posterior background activity was slower in the more cognitively impaired patients. No significant differences were found in CT measurements of brain atrophy between MND and controls.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Carbamazepine and phenytoin. Comparison of cognitive effects in epileptic patients during monotherapy and withdrawal.

We compared the cognitive effects of carbamazepine and phenytoin with neuropsychological tests exploring intelligence, vigilance, attention, memory, and visuomotor performances in 25 epileptics (13 receiving carbamazepine and 12 receiving phenytoin) and 26 matched normal controls. Patients were seizure free for at least two years and taking prolonged monotherapy. We also evaluated the effects of drug withdrawal by retesting patients three months after reduction at half drug dose and three months and one year after complete withdrawal. Our findings suggest that phenytoin affects the cognitive functions more than carbamazepine does, although the negative effects of both drugs are reversible by complete therapy withdrawal.

Carbamazepine↗
PubMed1988

Epileptic transient amnesia.

Transient global amnesia (TGA) was formerly supposed to have an epileptic origin thought unlikely by more recent authors. Further, epileptic seizures rarely present transient memory dysfunction as prominent symptom. These particular cases of which we report here three examples were previously identified as epileptic amnesic attacks (EAA). They have uniform clinical characteristics quite different from TGA and respond favorably to antiepileptic therapy. The features differentiating these two conditions are discussed. The authors suggest that an epileptic origin should be considered in patients presenting frequent transient amnesic attacks.

Aged↗
PubMed1986

Neuropsychological findings during a transient global amnesia attack and its follow-up.

An extensive neuropsychological study was made during an attack of transient global amnesia and during four follow-up. The neuropsychological findings are compared to those of previous reports. Transient global amnesia appears to be a relatively benign syndrome but it leaves some "fragility" of memory, detected by complex neuropsychological tasks.

Amnesia↗
PubMed1986

Withdrawal of phenobarbital and carbamazepine in epileptic patients: a preliminary neuropsychological report.

We systematically investigated the neuropsychological effects of controlled withdrawal of antiepileptic therapy with a battery of tests exploring intelligence, vigilance, attention, memory and sensori-motor performance. 16 patients without seizures for at least 2 years, 9 on therapy with phenobarbital (PB) and 7 with carbamazepine (CBZ), were examined 4 times over a period of 21 months. No significant correlation was found between drug levels and performance in the tests. The slight differences found between the PB and CBZ groups at full doses disappeared completely one year after withdrawal.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

Neuropsychological assessment of mental deterioration: purpose of a brief battery and a probabilistic definition of "normality" and "non-normality".

A brief battery for mental deterioration assessment was obtained by Discriminant Analysis techniques from the Mental Deterioration Battery (MDB) (1) and yielded 98% correct classifications in a sample of 60 subjects (30 pathological and 30 controls). This battery, named Brief Mental Deterioration Battery (BMDB), both quick and easy to administer, is composed of four tests: Rey's 15 Words Test, Immediate Visual Memory, Barrage, and Simple Analogies Test. MDB was administered to a further sample of 60 normal subjects and, by multivariate statistical techniques, a probabilistic definition of "normality" and consequently of "non-normality" was given. When applied to pathological and control groups, this probabilistic dichotomic classification yielded groups almost identical to the previous ones.

Adult↗