SEARCH · PubMed Health

Results for “Cognitive Reflection”

Explore indexed PubMed citations for clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health research. Read source abstracts and follow each citation to its original PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 721 records · Page 40Linked to original sources

PubMed2004

Effects of donepezil on Alzheimer's disease: the relationship between cognitive function and rapid eye movement sleep.

The aim of this study was to observe the effects of donepezil on both the cognitive function and sleep patterns in patients of Alzheimer's Type Dementia (ATD), especially to determine the relationship between the improvement of cognitive function and the amount of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. A total of 12 patients (7 females, 5 males; age, 73.0 +/- 6.8) meeting the NINCDS-ADRDA (National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke-Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Association) criteria of probable AD were studied. These patients presented with mild to moderate dementia, which was confirmed by a Clinical Dementia Rating score of 1 or 2. Following baseline examinations consisting of the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale-cognitive component-Japanese version (ADAS-Jcog) and polysomnography (PSG), 5 mg of donepezil was administered to the patients at breakfast every day. All patients were reassessed 6 weeks later using the same examinations. With sleep patterns, the percentage of REM sleep to total sleep time increased after the administration of donepezil. In addition, it was also found that sleep efficiency was increased and sleep latency was shortened by this administration. Although the ADAS-Jcog score did not decrease significantly, there was significant positive correlation between the decrease of the ADAS-Jcog score and the increase in the percentage of REM sleep. These results indicate the increase action of REM sleep due to activate central cholinergic systems and the possibility to improve sleep conditions due to one-time administration after breakfast of donepezil in mild to moderate ATD. It is concluded that the increase in REM sleep may reflect the improvement of cognitive function in ATD patients.

Aged↗

PubMed2005

The first year after successful cardiac resuscitation: function, activity, participation and quality of life.

AIM: To assess cognitive function, activities of daily living (ADL) and living situation longitudinally up to 1 year after cardiac arrest. SETTING: University hospital. MATERIALS: The study continued for 3 years and consecutive patients (18-75 years of age) who survived resuscitation were included. METHOD: A longitudinal study with examinations using the National Institute of Health Stroke Scale for assessing brain damage, along with the Mini Mental State Examination. To assess ADL, we used the Functional Independence Measure and the Instrumental Activity Measure. Life satisfaction was assessed, together with health-related quality of life. Social status and vocational status were recorded. RESULTS: Mortality was high during the first 90 days (31%). After discharge, not much improvement was seen in cognitive function. This was reflected in reduced dependency in ADL. Work capacity at 1 year was only 13%. The health related quality of life showed great improvement during the first year, being almost the same as for Swedish reference values. CONCLUSIONS: Most of the improvement resulting in the independence of ADL occurred during the first 45 days. It is important to give the next of kin information about the patient's progress and need for assistance in order to enable them to plan for the future before discharge.

Activities of Daily Living↗

PubMed2005

Impaired concentration due to frontal lobe damage from two distinct lesion sites.

BACKGROUND: Investigations of cognitive deficits after frontal lobe damage have commonly relied on multidimensional tests and relatively coarse specification of lesion anatomy. Some form of impairment in attention is often asserted to cause the revealed deficits. OBJECTIVE: To describe a disorder of attention in patients with frontal damage using a theoretical model of the fundamental cognitive processes that underlie attention. METHODS: The ability to perform a task of concentrated responding was studied in 43 patients with well-defined chronic frontal lesions and 38 control subjects using a continuous reaction time (RT) test. Performance measures were mean RT, RT across blocks of the test, and errors. Lesion measures were coarse localization and a hot-spot analysis to detect finer grained lesion effects. RESULTS: Only patients with lesions in the right superomedial (SM) frontal regions had significantly prolonged RT consistently across the entire test. The critical lesion was in Brodmann's areas 24, 32, 9, and 46 days and in the adjacent corpus callosum. Patients with lesions in left lateral frontal (LL) regions made significantly more errors on the 20% of trials in the first block. The critical lesion was in areas 44, 45, and 47/12. CONCLUSION: Concentrating attention to respond is affected by lesions in two different frontal regions for reasons that reflect impairments in different cognitive processes. Right superomedial lesions cause an insufficient energizing of attention to respond. Left lateral lesions cause defective setting of specific stimulus-response contingencies. Constrained tests of attention can demonstrate impairments in specific cognitive operations following lesions to different regions of the frontal lobes.

Adult↗

PubMed2000

A positron emission tomography study of silent and oral single word reading in stuttering and nonstuttering adults.

Over the last decade positron emission tomography (PET) has been used extensively for the study of language and other cognitive and sensorimotor processes in healthy and diseased individuals. In the present study, [15O]H2O PET scanning was used to investigate the lateralization and functional distribution of cortical and subcortical activity involved in single word reading in stuttering and nonstuttering individuals. Ten right-handed male stuttering adults and matched nonstuttering individuals were instructed to read individually presented single words either silently or out loud. Subtraction of functional brain images obtained during each of the two reading tasks, and during a non-linguistic baseline task, was used to calculate within-group and between-group differences in regional cerebral blood flow by means of statistical parametric mapping. Increased activation in the left anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) was observed during silent reading in the stuttering speakers but not in the nonstuttering group. Because of the hypothesized role of the ACC in selective attention and covert articulatory practice, it is suggested that the observed increased ACC activation in the stuttering individuals reflects the presence of cognitive anticipatory reactions related to stuttering. During the oral reading task, within-group comparisons showed bilateral cortical and subcortical activation in both the stuttering and the nonstuttering speakers. Between-group comparisons showed a proportionally greater left hemisphere activation in the nonstuttering speakers, and a proportionally greater right hemisphere activation in the stuttering individuals. The results of the present study provide qualified support for the hypothesis that stuttering adults show atypical lateralization of language processes.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

Tangle and neuron numbers, but not amyloid load, predict cognitive status in Alzheimer's disease.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the relationship between stereologic estimates of AD-related pathology and severity of cognitive deficits in brain aging. BACKGROUND: Previous studies reported substantial contributions of neurofibrillary tangles (NFT), amyloid deposits, and neuronal loss to the development of dementia. However, the prediction of cognitive status based on nonstereologic quantification of these measures has led to conflicting results. Such studies have measured densities, rather than absolute numbers, and most do not take into account the potential interaction between the above pathologic hallmarks in a global multivariate analysis. METHODS: Clinicopathologic study in 22 elderly cases. Cognitive status assessed prospectively using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE); stereologic assessment of NFT, unaffected neurons, and total amyloid volume in the CA1 field of the hippocampus, entorhinal cortex, and area 9. Statistical analysis was performed using both univariate and multivariate linear regression models. RESULTS: High total NFT counts but not amyloid volume were strongly associated with a lower number of unaffected neurons in all areas studied. A high proportion of variability in MMSE scores was explained by NFT and neuronal counts in the CA1 field (83% and 85.4%), entorhinal cortex (87.8% and 83.7%), and area 9 (87% and 79%); amyloid volume in the entorhinal cortex, but not in the CA1 field and area 9, accounted for 58.5% of MMSE variability. Multivariate analyses showed that total NFT counts in the entorhinal cortex and area 9 as well as neuron numbers in the CA1 field were the best predictors of MMSE score. CONCLUSIONS: These new stereologic data indicate that neuronal pathology in hippocampal formation and frontal cortex closely reflects the progression of cognitive deficits in brain aging and AD. They also demonstrate that amyloid volume has no additional predictive value, in terms of clinicopathologic correlations, beyond its interaction with NFT.

Aged↗

PubMed2001

A process-oriented approach for averting confounds resulting from general performance deficiencies in schizophrenia.

The most pervasive and least well-addressed problem in cognitive studies of schizophrenia is the propensity of schizophrenia patients to show inferior performance on a variety of cognitive tasks. Consequently, apparent specific cognitive abnormalities may actually reflect the interaction of task discriminating power with generalized deficit. L. J. Chapman and J. P. Chapman (1973a) suggested psychometric approaches for eliminating such artifactual group differences. Unfortunately, their solution neglects important issues of process specification and does not provide a viable strategy for process-oriented investigators. Psychometric remediation of artifactual Group x Task interactions inevitably confounds the processes being measured, resulting in theoretically ambiguous findings. Moreover, evidence that changes in measurement reliability can both increase and decrease group discrimination challenges a basic underlying assumption of the Chapmans' matching solution. This article presents a process-oriented approach to solving this problem in schizophrenia research.

Case-Control Studies↗

PubMed1984

Factor structure of the McCarthy scales for males and females.

Determined the factor structure of the McCarthy Scales (1972) for a referred group of male and female children, ages 6 to 81/2, from rural eastern North Carolina and compared their factor structure to that of the standardization sample. Three hundred and one males and 177 females were separated into two groups and examined independently. The 21 individual test scores of the McCarthy were correlated and then subjected to a principal factor analysis followed by Varimax rotation. Three meaningful factors emerged for males and females: Verbal, Perceptual, and Motor factors for males and General-Cognitive, Verbal, and Memory factors for females. The factor analyses for males and females agreed with previous factor analytic studies conducted with referred samples on the absence of a Quantitative factor and inconsistencies in the emergence of General-Cognitive and Memory factors. Coefficients of congruence with Kaufman's (1975) standardization analysis suggest that the McCarthy Scales reflect a general dimension of cognitive ability rather than a measure of distinct abilities for a referred sample of males and females.

Child↗

PubMed2003

Organization of working memory processes in monkeys: the effects of a dopamine receptor agonist.

The effects of the dopamine receptor agonist agroclavin on cognitive processes associated with mechanisms of visual recognition and long-term and working (short-term) memory were studied in delayed visual differentiation and delayed spatial selection tasks in monkeys (rhesus macaques). Measurements made before and after p.o. pharmacological treatment with this agent were used to identify the p.o. dose (5 mg/kg) inducing a significant effect. The psychotropic effect of agroclavin, which induced cognitive dysfunction, was present in all the monkeys studied to one extent or another. Behavioral criteria were: the probability of correct solutions of the visual differentiation task, the probability of refusals to resolve the task, and the time taken for correct motor responses. Despite individual differences in these behavioral characteristics in monkeys, significant changes due to agroclavin were consistently evident in all animals. There was a reduction in the probability of correct solutions, due to worsening of the characteristics of short-term memory; most monkeys showed increases in the numbers of refusals to solve tasks and increases in the time for correct motor responses during these solutions. In fact, all monkeys showed no increases in the number of erroneous solutions in visual differeniation and spatial selection tasks without delays, though in most cases there were increases in the time taken for correct motor reactions and the number of refusals to solve tasks. Data were obtained indicating that the effect of agroclavin was not uniform with respect to different types of visual information. The possible structural-functional organization of processes underlying working memory is discussed on the basis of the conclusion that the behavioral characteristics studied here reflect different components of cognitive processes realized by structures with different functional properties and different locations.

Animals↗

PubMed1997

Development of infants and toddlers with clefts from birth to three years of age.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to use caregiver report measures to describe the developmental status of infants and toddlers with clefts. METHOD: Developmental assessment data were obtained on 186 infants and toddlers with cleft lip (n = 48), cleft palate (n = 46), and cleft lip/palate (n = 92) at one of the following age categories: 5 months (n = 47), 13 months (n = 46), 25 months (n = 47), and 36 months (n = 46). Developmental assessment measures used were the Kent Infant Developmental Scale and the Minnesota Child Development Inventory, both caregiver reports. Data were analyzed in separate 2-between ANOVAs (age x cleft type) for each developmental domain according to developmental assessment measure. Further, results were examined relative to the normative sample. RESULTS: The ANOVA results indicated that at 5 months, lower motor and self-help developmental quotients (DQs) were evident compared to the 13-month-old level. When compared to the normative sample, the 5-month-old infants exhibited 'at-risk/delayed' development on the motor, self-help, and cognitive domains, and as reflected on their full-scale scores, depending on the cleft type. Infants at 13 and 25 months were within normal limits in all developmental domains, with the exception of the 13-month-old infants with cleft palate, who demonstrate 'at-risk' development in the motor domain. At 36 months of age, all toddlers demonstrated significantly lower developmental performance in the fine motor, gross motor, and expressive language domain compared to the 25-month-old toddlers. Toddlers with cleft palate exhibit 'at-risk/delayed' development in the expressive language domain at 36 months. CONCLUSION: Data are discussed relative to the events surrounding team management of clefts, including surgery, middle-ear problems, and feeding difficulty.

Analysis of Variance↗

PubMed2006

A naturalistic study of galantamine for Alzheimer's disease.

OBJECTIVE: To collect descriptive data on the treatment of Alzheimer's disease with galantamine under naturalistic conditions. STUDY DESIGN: This was a prospective, open-label, observational study. PATIENTS: Subjects (n = 345) with mild to moderately severe dementia of the Alzheimer's type were recruited from 48 hospitals in Australia. METHODS: Subjects were enrolled and received treatment with galantamine for 6 months in a clinical practice setting. Subjects were assessed at baseline and 3 and 6 months after starting treatment using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), the Clinician's Interview-Based Impression of Change plus Caregiver Input (CIBIC-plus) and the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale-cognitive subscale (ADAS-cog) [the latter only if the baseline MMSE score was at least 25]. Subjects were also assessed using an abridged Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) questionnaire that included questions on using the telephone, ability to travel more than 1km outside the home, taking medications and managing money, and an 11-item behaviour assessment scale that measured aggression, sleep disturbance, disinhibition, personality changes, irritability, depression, agitation, apathy, inertia, hallucinations and aberrant motor behaviour. RESULTS: Of the 345 subjects who were enrolled in the study (intent-to-treat [ITT] population), 229 completed the baseline, 3- and 6-month visits (per-protocol [PP] population). The mean age of the PP population was 78.0 +/- 6.8 years. At 6 months, most PP subjects (70%) showed an increase in MMSE score compared with baseline, with a mean increase in score of 2.0 +/- 3.1 points from a baseline of 20.8 +/- 4.2 points. In the ITT population, 44% of subjects (151/345) showed an increase in MMSE after 6 months. If data were unavailable the patient was classified as a nonresponder. Of the 21 PP patients who were assessed using ADAS-cog, 18 (86%) demonstrated a decrease in the ADAS-cog score, reflecting an improvement in cognition. Of the ITT population, 33% (19/57) had a decreased ADAS-cog score after 6 months. Most PP subjects (86%) were considered responders according to the CIBIC-plus score, with 65% showing some improvement over 6 months of treatment. Of the ITT population, 54% (187/345) showed no deterioration in CIBIC-plus score after 6 months.No deterioration in IADL or behaviour assessments occurred in the majority of PP subjects over 6 months. CONCLUSIONS: In a clinical practice setting, the majority of subjects receiving galantamine who completed the study maintained their ratings of cognition, function, behaviour or global assessment over the 6-month period.

Activities of Daily Living↗

PubMed2001

Longitudinal genetic analysis of EEG coherence in young twins.

During middle childhood, continuous changes occur in electroencephalogram (EEG) coherence, an index of cortico-cortical connectivity of the brain. In the gradual development of EEG coher ence, occasional "growth spurts" are observed which coincide with periods of discontinuous development in cognition. Discontinuous development may reflect changes in the genetic architecture of a trait over time, for instance, by the emergence of new genetic factors. To examine stability and change in genetic and environmental influences on EEG coherence from ages 5 to 7 years, intrahemispheric EEG coherences from 14 connections were collected twice in 209 twin pairs. Overall, heritabilities (h2) were moderate to high for all EEG coherences at both ages (average: 58%). For occipito-cortical connections in the right hemisphere, h2 increased with age due to a decrease in environmental variance. For prefronto-cortical connections in the left hemisphere, h2 decreased with age due to a decrease in genetic variance. New genetic factors at age 7 were found for prefronto-parietal coherence, and centro-occipital and parieto-occipital EEG coherences in both hemispheres and, in the left hemisphere, for prefronto-frontal EEG coherences. Mean genetic correlation for these cortico-cortical connections over time was 0.72, indicating that at least part of the genetic influences is age-specific. We argue that this is convincing evidence for the existence of stage-wise brain maturation from years 5 to 7, and that growth spurts in EEG coherence may be part of the biological basis for discontinuous cognitive development at that age range.

Brain Mapping↗

PubMed2000

Descriptors of breathlessness in healthy individuals: distinct and separable constructs.

STUDY OBJECTIVES: We tested the hypothesis that descriptors of breathlessness represent distinct and separable cognitive constructs, and predicted that the use of descriptors of breathlessness by healthy individuals is the same as their use by patients with cardiopulmonary disease. DESIGN: Cluster analyses obtained in healthy individuals were compared with those obtained previously in patients who complained of breathing discomfort. In addition, we used multidimensional scaling (MDS) techniques to analyze relationships among descriptors in healthy individuals. SETTING: Public university. PARTICIPANTS: The participants were 100 healthy individuals (48 men and 52 women) ranging in age between 18 and 65 years (mean, 27.9+/-11.7 years). MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: Participants judged the dissimilarity among pairs of 15 descriptors of breathlessness that were used previously to examine the experience of dyspnea in patients who complained of breathing discomfort. Cluster analysis solutions obtained in the healthy individuals were virtually identical to those obtained previously in patients. Three dimensions (attributes) of breathing discomfort were uncovered with MDS: "Depth and frequency of breathing," "Perceived need, or urge, to breathe," and "Difficulty breathing and phase of respiration." The results did not depend on age, sex, levels of education, or the presence of uncomfortable awareness of breathing with activities. CONCLUSIONS: The relations among descriptors of breathlessness obtained in healthy individuals support the contention that the association of different clusters with different disease states reflects distinct and separable cognitive constructs that are not simply dependent on the presence of an underlying pathophysiology or on a specific disease condition. Our results in healthy individuals also suggest that distinct qualities of breathlessness relate to different physiologic mechanisms underlying respiratory discomfort.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2004

Intraseptal injection of the 5-HT1A/5-HT7 agonist 8-OH-DPAT and working memory in rats.

RATIONALE: In rats, 5-HT(1A) receptors are present in the septal region, e.g. on cholinergic neurons of the medial septum, where they might be a substrate for cognitively relevant interactions between cholinergic and serotonergic systems. OBJECTIVE: The present experiment assessed the effects of the stimulation of septal 5-HT(1A) receptors on spatial working memory. METHODS: Stimulation of septal 5-HT(1A) receptors was carried out by infusions targetting the medial septum of the 5-HT(1A)/5-HT(7) receptor agonist 8-hydroxy-2-(di-n-propyl-amino)-tetralin (8-OH-DPAT; 0.5 or 4 microg). Spatial memory was assessed in a water maze using a protocol placing emphasis on spatial working memory. The location of the hidden platform was changed every day and performance was assessed on two consecutive trials each day. RESULTS: In comparison to vehicle injections, the intraseptal infusion of 4 microg 8-OH-DPAT impaired performance significantly: rats treated with 8-OH-DPAT exhibited increased distances to reach the hidden platform on both trials 1 and 2. Rats infused with 0.5 microg showed similar changes that failed to be significant. Such effects were not observed when the platform was visible. CONCLUSIONS: These results extend those of a previous experiment which showed that intraseptal injections of 8-OH-DPAT impaired spatial reference memory. Based on the characteristics of the observed deficits, it is suggested that the 8-OH-DPAT-induced impairment, rather than being only the result of a true alteration of working memory, might reflect a more global cognitive deficiency in which alteration of general memory capacities may be biased by disrupted search strategies/exploration and/or dysfunctions of attention.

8-Hydroxy-2-(di-n-propylamino)tetralin↗

PubMed2000

The g factor: psychometrics and biology.

General ability, defined as psychometric g, arises from the empirical fact that scores on various cognitive tests are positively correlated in the population. The g factor is highly stable across different factor analytic algorithms, across different test batteries and across different populations. Because all cognitive tests, from the simplest to the most complex, regardless of their informational content, are g-loaded to varying degrees, g cannot be described in terms of the tests' content, or even in psychological terms. It is actually a property of the brain. The loadings of various tests on g, from tests of sensory discrimination and reaction time to those of highly complex problem solving, predict those tests' degree of correlation with a number of non-psychometric variables: the test's heritability, inbreeding depression, coefficient of assortative mating, brain size, reaction time, brain nerve conduction velocity, brain glucose metabolic rate and features of brain evoked potentials. Although some of the brain's cognitive functions are modular, the g factor reflects the all-positive correlations among virtually all cognitive functions that show individual differences. I hypothesize that the brain contains no module for general problem solving. Correlations between individuals' performances in various cognitive tasks result from quantitative individual differences in physiological conditions that do not constitute the brain's modular and other neural design features but do influence their speed and efficiency of information processing.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

Quality of life after different treatment modalities for carcinoma of the oropharynx.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the long-term posttreatment quality of life of patients with carcinoma of the oropharynx treated with different treatment modalities. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective chart review and patient response to EORTC quality of life core questionnaire QLQ-C30 and EORTC quality of life core head and neck cancer module QLQ-H&N35 questionnaires. METHODS: Two hundred and seventeen patients with carcinoma of the oropharynx were treated with curative intent between 1990 and 1998. In January 2001, a total of 111 disease-free survivors were identified and included in this study. The questionnaires were completed by 99 patients (89% completion rate). RESULTS: Of 99 patients, 31 patients were treated with surgery alone, 19 with radiation therapy alone and 49 with surgery followed by postoperative irradiation. Median follow-up for the entire study group was 71 months. Physical, role, emotional, cognitive and social functioning reflected in the functional scale scores of the global EORTC QLQ-C30 were generally good and showed no significant differences for the different treatment modalities. Comparison of the head and neck specific EORTC QLQ-H&N35 scores revealed significantly less troubles with swallowing (P = 0.006), social eating (P = 0.007) and social contact (P = 0.008), dry mouth (P < 0.0001), sticky saliva (P = 0.0001) and mouth opening (P = 0.001) in non-irradiated patients versus those treated with any either primary or postoperative radiation therapy. Patients undergoing surgery (with and without postoperative irradiation) had less pain (P = 0.04), less problems with social eating (P = 0.009) and less restricted mouth opening (P = 0.03) than the nonsurgically treated patients. CONCLUSIONS: Quality of life after curative treatment of oropharyngeal carcinoma is generally good. Differences regarding quality of life between the different treatment modalities manifest themselves in the head and neck specific EORTC QLQ-H&N35 module, not in the global core questionnaire EORTC QLQ-C30.

Affect↗

PubMed2003

Hippocampal synaptic dysfunction in a murine model of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 encephalitis.

Alterations in hippocampal physiology affect cognition in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1)-associated dementia (HAD). The mechanism for how this occurs is not well understood. To address this, we investigated how changes in synaptic transmission and plasticity are affected by viral infection and macrophage activation using a severe combined immunodeficiency mouse model of human HIV-1 encephalitis (HIVE). HIVE was induced in mice by stereotactic injection of HIV-1-infected human monocyte-derived macrophages (MDM) into the striatum. Animals were sacrificed after 3, 7 and 15 days. Hippocampal slices were prepared from HIV-1, MDM- and sham-injected animals. Electrically evoked field excitatory postsynaptic potentials were recorded in the CA1 region of the hippocampus. Neuronal physiology was assessed by input-output and by long-term potentiation (LTP) assays. We observed that a higher stimulation intensity (mA) was required to induce a 1-mV response in the HIVE mice (0.32+/-0.06) compared with shams (0.17+/-0.01) at day 7. The stimulation intensities at day 15 were 0.44+/-0.07 and 0.23+/-0.05 in the HIVE and shams, respectively. An impairment of synaptic function was detected through measuring synaptic responses induced by stimuli with different intensities. Paired-pulse facilitation (PPF) showed deficits in HIVE mice at days 3, 7, and 15. At day 3, PPF ratios were 1.13+/-0.02 and 1.24+/-0.04 in HIVE and sham. The induction and maintenance of LTP was also impaired in HIVE mice. The average magnitude of LTP was 131.23+/-15.26% of basal in HIVE as compared with sham animals of 232.63+/-24.18%. MDM-injected mice showed an intermediate response. Taken together, the results show a range of neuronal synaptic transmission and plasticity changes in HIVE mice that may reflect the mechanisms of cognitive dysfunction in human HAD.

Animals↗

PubMed2006

[Correlation of the cognitive function and the duration of the illness with the regional cerebral blood flow in the patients with Parkinson's disease: objective evaluation using stereotactic extraction estimation analysis in 123I-IMP SPECT].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the correlation of the cognitive function and the duration of the illness with the regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), by means of an objective diagnostic index of brain imaging, stereotactic extraction estimation (SEE) of 123I-IMP SPECT. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We examined 123I-IMP SPECT in 24 patients with PD (age = 71.79 +/- 5.18 years; the Mini-Mental State Examination: MMSE score = 21.46 +/- 7.62 points; the duration of the illness = 6.63 +/- 3.91 years; Yahr scale = 3.29 +/- 0.74). A contrast database was created by averaging extracted database sets of the contrast group (numbers = 14 cases; age = 74.64 +/- 5.99 years, the MMSE score > or = 29 points). We applied SEE for Z-score images of three-dimensional stereotactic surface projection analysis (3D-SSP) for 123I-IMP SPECT, and calculated Z*extent ratio by taking advantage of severity of Z-score (the mean value) with extent ratio (%) in the frontal, occipital, temporal, parietal and posterior cingulate cortices, and precuneus, respectively. We investigated the correlation coefficient between the MMSE score and Z*extent ratio, and between the duration of the illness and Z*extent ratio in the six regions. In addition, we compared Z*extent ratio in the six regions between the non-demented group (numbers = 12 patients; MMSE > or = 24 points) and the demented group (numbers =12 patients; E score < or = 23 points). RESULTS: There were negative correlations between the MMSE score and Z*extent ratio in the temporal (p < 0.05) and posterior cingulate cortices (p < 0.05), and positive correlations between the duration of the illness and Z*extent ratio in the frontal (p < 0.01), temporal (p < 0.01), parietal (p < 0.05) and posterior cingulate cortices (p < 0.01). Z*extent ratio was significantly high only in the posterior cingulate cortex(p < 0.05) in the demented group. CONCLUSIONS: SEE for Z-score images of 3D-SSP revealed a close relationship between the decline of the MMSE score and the duration of the illness, and the perfusion reduction of the posterior cingulate cortex in patients with PD. These findings suggest that the perfusion reduction of the posterior cingulate cortex reflects the decline of cognitive impairment of patients with PD.

Aged↗

PubMed2003

Cognitive and emotional characteristics of alexithymia: a review of neurobiological studies.

OBJECTIVE: To review neurobiological studies of alexithymia in order to achieve a better understanding of the relationship between alexithymia and psychosomatic diseases and psychiatric illnesses. METHODS: Neurobiological studies of alexithymia were reviewed with a special focus on how emotional and cognitive elements of alexithymia are reflected in earlier research. RESULTS: Studies that have correlated alexithymia to corpus callosum dysfunctioning have mainly found impairments in cognitive characteristics of alexithymia, whereas from studies of right hemisphere and frontal lobe deficits, it may be concluded that both cognitive and emotional characteristics of alexithymia are impaired. CONCLUSION: The fact that there is no general agreement on how to define alexithymia seems to have hampered theoretical and empirical progress on the neurobiology of alexithymia and related psychosomatic diseases and psychiatric illnesses. Alexithymia should no longer be approached as one distinct categorical phenomenon and follow-up studies should monitor subjects according to both the cognitive and emotional characteristics of alexithymia.

Affective Symptoms↗