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Pregnant are described all gravities of congenital defect of intelligence to dementia until neurasthenia and deficiency concentration. Thereby are classified complete causes as degenerate and vascular kinds as also internal diseases, chronic intoxications until mental inactivity. Owing to the broad spectrum do not think immediately (only) of the senium and the Morbus Alzheimer!
A simple and short method for assessing visual short term memory is presented, based on continuous picture recognition, which is not explicitly dependent on input or output language abilities. The material was gathered from Kimura's Recurring Figures Test (RFT) and Erzigkeit's SKT. Two of three parallel series which are characterized by different levels of "nameability" and familiarity are apt to distinguish between demented patients and patients without memory problems. Objectivity is assured by a simle scoring system which allows rapid transformation into d'-values according to signal detection theory. It is expected that by this procedure not only screening for memory problems in the demented will be facilitated, but also the impact of language disorders will be minimized.
BACKGROUND: Despite the wealth of information in adult posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) literature, few studies have explored the memory and learning performance of trauma-exposed youth. This study examined if memory deficits are associated with PTSD or with trauma exposure in the absence of PTSD. METHODS: Youth exposed to traumatic incidents underwent clinical interviews to diagnose PTSD and exclude major comorbid disorders. Youth with conditions that could impede performance on a memory scale (e.g., limited intellectual functioning, current substance abuse, psychopharmacological treatment) were excluded. Three groups of participants were identified (PTSD positives [n = 29], traumatized PTSD negatives [n = 62], and nontraumatized control subjects [n = 40]). Participants completed the Wide Range Assessment of Memory and Learning (WRAML). RESULTS: Youth with PTSD evidenced significantly lower scores on the WRAML General Memory, Verbal Memory, and Learning indices compared with nontraumatized control subjects. With the exception of Verbal Memory, youth with and without PTSD performed comparably on all other indices. Nonsignificant differences were noted on the Visual Memory Index. CONCLUSIONS: General memory and verbal memory impairments as evidenced in adult populations were observed among this sample of youth. Given the developmental trajectory of memory capabilities, the implications of such early trauma exposure and memory deficits are considered.
The relationship of memory and intelligence test performances to coma duration was studied in 51 head injured patients who had not been operated on for intracranial haematoma. Memory defect was related to coma duration, and was not secondary to impaired perceptual or conceptual analysis of the material to be remembered.
Vascular lesions within the territory of the left middle cerebral artery were identified by CT scans for 28 aphasic adults. When damage involved parts of Heschl's, middle temporal and superior temporal gyri or the inferior parietal lobule, immediate recall of binary sequences of either digits or tones was only 3 +/- 1 bits. Lesions to various loci were identified with primacy, recency, transposition, and isolated errors. The discussion considers various neural mechanisms subserving auditory immediate recall.
The way amnesics perform in a verbal fluency task was the subject of this study. More in particular the question was raised if amnesics (N = 15) would organize the semantic category (animals) in semantic fields as a strategy in the retrieval of category exemplars. It was shown that word production was deficient in comparison with normative data (Groninger Intelligence Test). A qualitative analysis of the retrieval process revealed that there was only a minor number of clusters in the protocols. It was concluded that amnesics searched for individual words. A cued retrieval condition yielded significant better results.
Age-related changes of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors have been found in cortical areas and in the hippocampus of many species. On the basis of a variety of experimental observations it has been suggested that the decrease of NMDA receptor density might be one of the causative factors of the cognitive decline with aging. Based on these findings several strategies have been developed to improve cognition by compensating the NMDA receptor deficits in aging. The most promising approaches are the indirect activation of glutamatergic neurotransmission by agonists of the glycine site or the restoration of the age-related deficit of receptor density by several nootropics.
The infantile hyperactivity is a disorder of great significance due to its remarkable after-effects on the family, the school and the individual. According to strict diagnostic criteria the study of the memory in these children who present a well defined disorder of the attention, has been planned. The data show that the mnemonic capacity is primarily kept. However the nuclear problem is an attention deficit.
Deficient temporal discrimination and vulnerability to masking effects caused by rapidly succeeding or simultaneous sounds might be one factor underlying the phonological difficulties in dyslexia. We evaluated cortical auditory discrimination in dyslexia by recording the mismatch negativity (MMN) for a simple pitch change, for an order reversal of tone pairs, and for tone-pair order reversals, with a third tone either preceding or following the tone pairs. It was found that when an additional tone followed the pairs the MMN amplitude was attenuated, suggesting elevated backward-masking effects in the auditory cortex of dyslexic individuals. In addition, the MMN elicited by pitch change was diminished over the left hemisphere of the dyslexic individuals suggesting left hemisphere auditory dysfunction. These results suggest impaired cortical discrimination of sounds and lowered tolerance for the masking effects of rapidly following sounds in dyslexia.
Neurotrophic factors are target-derived proteins capable of affecting survival, target innervation, and/or function of neuronal cell populations. These factors are structurally and functionally related to the classical neurotrophic molecule nerve growth factor (NGF) and resemble a genetic family called neurotrophins. Besides NGF and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), there is little knowledge whether these neurotrophins play a pathophysiological role in dementing brain disease(s). BDNF-mRNA levels are reported to be decreased in the hippocampus of individuals with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Decreased NGF production does not seem to play a causal role both in age-related cognitive impairment and AD which is usually associated with neurodegenerative processes in the cholinergic basal forebrain system. However, there are several experimental indications that NGF might be of importance for the stimulation of compensatory changes and repair mechanisms; given in pharmacological dose, NGF might be of therapeutical benefit, as reported in a preliminary clinical case study. Thus, the availability of sufficient quantities of recombinant human neurotrophins should allow comprehensive research programs in future.
In general terms, epileptic patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) show mnesic deficits. In the case of medically intractable epilepsy (around 20%) the neurosurgery intervention is a widely accepted treatment. The cognitive effects of surgery have been reported in last years; they emphasize the mnesic positive changes of contralateral area. In the same sense they have reported a negative change on mnesic modality in ipsilateral area. This paper present a study in which the mnesic deficits of twenty eight pharmaco resistant epileptic patients have been evaluated and followed up. These patients have been submittes to a surgical treatment at the Epilepsy Surgical Unit of the Hospital de La Princesa (Madrid). The assessment pre and postoperative tested six months apart. The most common cognitive deficit affect bimodally to mnesic functions: so in the verbal as in the visospatial modality. This deficit correlated with the years epilepsy. Meanwhile, the following up study indicates that a relevant numbers of these patients show an improvement in the function of the contralateral hemisphere with respect to the area surgically treated. This finding probably is the consequence of seizure free.
This paper describes the case of an anomic patient (FH) who is impaired at naming pictures of objects but has no difficulties in recalling the names of familiar people. Even though his performance on McKenna's (1997) Category Specific Naming Test was at the first percentile, he consistently recalled the names of familiar people as successfully as controls. It is argued that the pattern of performance displayed by FH represents a much clearer double dissociation with proper name anomia than any case previously reported (Cipolotti et al., 1993; Semenza and Sgaramella, 1993). FH is unable to provide detailed semantic information about many of the objects that he cannot name, even though he can recall semantic information about familiar people. Consequently his case appears to represent the mirror image of the proper name anomic patient (APA) described by Miceli et al. (2000) who was unable to recall detailed semantic information about many of the people she was unable to name. Further investigation of FH's anomia revealed impairments in retrieving both common nouns and verbs, and difficulties in retrieving and comprehending geographical names. It is argued that FH's preserved ability to name and recall biographical information about people supports the view that knowledge about familiar people may be subserved by its own dedicated neural subsystem (Kay and Hanley, 1999; Miceli et al., 2000; Gentileschi et al., 2001).
The aim of the present study was to see whether HMPAO-SPECT may contribute to the differentiation between dementia of the Alzheimer type (DAT) and major depression (MD). The results in 77 patients with memory impairment were evaluated. 48 patients suffered from DAT and 29 from MD. Initially, the defects in SPECT imaging were attributed to a cerebral region and the degree of decrease was evaluated (-1/-2/-3). Thereafter, the results were classified by 7 categories. In some of these categories an accumulation of cases of either DAT or MD was found. 35% of the patients suffering from DAT had bilateral defects with distinct (> -1) parietal/parietotemporal hypoperfusions, but no patient with MD showed this perfusion pattern. 62% of the patients with MD had unilateral defects but only 31% of the patients with DAT. The present study demonstrates that only 35% of all patients suffering from DAT show a perfusion pattern, thought earlier as "pathognomonic" for this disease. This perfusion pattern--if it exists--may be used as a safe criterion to exclude MD. Beyond that no clearcut ("specific") perfusion pattern may be recognized but unilateral defects point to MD.
Twenty-five patients without relevant organic disease were examined who complained of long-standing memory disturbance, but were free of relevant organic disease and exhibited a test performance that was normal, or reduced by not more than two standard deviations. Cases of amnesia in the context of dissociative reactions were not considered. Symptoms attributed to memory disturbance were differentiated into deficits of new learning, retrograde memory and attention. Typical complaints were forgetting plans on the way to executing them and temporary blockage of material that had been committed to memory. While sex and age were evenly distributed, there was a clear predominance of professionals compared to manual workers. Relevant psychiatric findings or psychiatric diagnoses were present in all cases. The most frequent diagnoses were chronic stress disorder and depressive syndromes. Accompanying psychosomatic symptoms were present in about half of the cases. Wordlist learning scores were in the normal range in the majority of cases, and psychomotor speed scores were in the normal range in nearly all cases. The discussion addresses symptoms, diagnosis, etiology and therapy of functional memory disturbances and examines the relationship to the syndrome of pseudodementia.
It is shown in seven patients with partial commissurotomy in connection with arterial aneurysms of the anterior conjunctival and pericallosal arteriae, that the section of the corpus callosum leads to memory disturbances, qualitatively differing by their structure from mnemic disorders described in literature. Important role of the knee of the Corpus callosum in genesis of these disturbances is revealed, their types are described and neuropsychological are criteria formulated of evaluation of disturbance of interhemispheric interaction in the mnemic sphere, opening new perspectives in diagnosis and correction of mental processes disturbances at local brain lesions.
Three major types of amnesia, i.e. selective deficit of memory formation without disturbance of immediate memory have been recognized clinically. The hippocampal type is characterized by relatively short retrograde amnesia and preserved insight into his own amnesic trouble. Persistent amnesia is always associated with bilateral lesion. The diencephalon type usually shows longer retrograde amnesia and poor insight. Unilateral lesion is usually modal in deficit, i.e. verbal in the left and non-verbal in the right, and lacks clear evidence of retrograde amnesia. Responsible locus within the thalamus is still controversial. Our experience point to the mammilothalamic tract. The basal forebrain type is characterized by disorganized and confused recollection of the memorized items. Cued recall is fair compared to voluntary recall. Two special types of amnesic syndrome, i.e. transient global amnesia and isolated focal retrograde amnesia are also important clinical entities, although their etiologies and responsible lesions are not clear yet.
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Clinical and neuropsychologic examination of 141 patients with arteriovenous malformations (AVM) was examined according to A.R.Lurye method. AVM of caudate nucleus were found in 27 patients, of thalamus in 34 ones, of hippocampal formation in 39 individuals, of gyrus cinguli in 41 cases. 102 patients were operated. Both total impairment of the memory and its peculiarities in damages of different structures were found in patients with AVM. A common peculiarity was the development of the amnestic symptom complex similar to Korsakov's syndrome. Such disorders occur only in combined damages of the deep structures (before the operation in patients with ventricular hemorrhages), excluding patients with AVM of caudate nucleus. The memory impairments were modal-nonspecific; in all the patients an audio-speech delayed memory was altered and reproduction in visual memory. Peculiarities of memory impairments in damage of separate structures were functional asymmetry of the defects of memory in AVM of caudate nucleus and thalamus (if present) as well as permanent inclusions and contaminations in AVM of gyrus cinguli. During process of evolution separate sides of memory function might be doubled in different structures, and each of them might have its own contribution to memory function.