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PubMed2004

Actual and perceived memory deficits in individuals with compulsive hoarding.

Memory problems have been hypothesized to underlie compulsive hoarding behavior [Frost and Hartl, 1996: Behav Res Ther 34:341-350]. This study examined memory performance, memory confidence, and memory beliefs in 22 individuals with severe hoarding symptoms and 24 matched normal control subjects. Participants were administered two measures of learning and memory that required strategic planning and organization for successful performance: the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test (RCFT) and California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT). Self-reports of memory confidence, perceived consequences of forgetting, importance of remembering, and need to keep possessions in sight also were assessed. In comparison to controls, participants with compulsive hoarding recalled less information on delayed recall of the RCFT and CVLT and used less effective organizational strategies on the RCFT but not the CVLT. Hoarders also reported significantly less confidence in their memory, more catastrophic assessments of the consequences of forgetting, and a stronger desire to keep possessions in sight. Results provide initial evidence of learning and memory impairment and poor memory confidence in subjects with compulsive hoarding.

Adult↗

PubMed1999

Neuroprotective effect of rasagiline, a selective monoamine oxidase-B inhibitor, against closed head injury in the mouse.

UNLABELLED: The potential neuroprotective effects of rasagiline, N-propargyl-1R-aminoindan, a selective monoamine oxidase-B inhibitor and its inactive enantiomer TVP 1022, N-propargyl-1S-aminoindan were assessed against the sequelae of closed head injury in the mouse. Injury was induced in the left hemisphere under ether anaesthesia. Rasagiline (0.2 and 1 mg/kg) or TVP1022 (1 and 2 mg/kg) injected 5 min after injury accelerated the recovery of motor function and spatial memory and reduced the cerebral oedema by about 40-50%, (P < 0.01). The neuroprotective effects on motor function and spatial memory, but not on cerebral oedema, were prevented by scopolamine (0.2 mg/kg). Daily injection of rasagiline (1 mg/kg) from day 3 after injury accelerated the recovery of spatial memory but not motor function. CONCLUSIONS: Early administration of rasagiline or TVP1022 can reduce the immediate sequelae of brain injury. The mechanism of action does not appear to involve monoamine oxidase-B inhibition but could be mediated by the maintenance of cholinergic transmission in brain neurons.

Animals↗

PubMed1993

Digit Memory Test: unequivocal cerebral dysfunction and suspected malingering.

The Digit Memory Test (DMT) (Hiscock & Hiscock, 1989), a forced-choice test for detecting malingering, was administered to 27 patients with unequivocal cerebral dysfunction, 5 patients with postconcussional syndrome, 6 suspected malingerers and 10 normal controls. Results indicate that, even in patients with severe, but static cerebral dysfunction and unequivocal memory disorder, DMT performance is between 95% to 100% correct. By contrast, the 6 patients in whom malingering was seriously considered performed at a level much below the other three groups (74% correct) but not significantly below chance. The DMT may be helpful in evaluating patients suspected of malingering even when they do not score significantly below chance.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and working memory in clinically referred adults.

A current theory of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) implicates a dysfunction in working memory as a significant factor in ADHD. The Working Memory Indexes of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale--Third Edition (WAIS-III; The Psychological Corporation, 1997a) and the Wechsler Memory Scale--Third Edition (WMS-III; The Psychological Corp -oration, 1997b) were used to evaluate this theory. Seventy adults clinically diagnosed with ADHD (mean age = 25) and who were previously administered the WAIS-III and WMS-III were reviewed to determine the association between working memory and ADHD symptomology. The respondent was asked to estimate the frequency of occurrence of ADHD symptoms by completing the Brown ADD Scales (Brown, 1996). Results indicated no significant relationship between working memory and self-reported symptoms, although the Working Memory Indexes of the WAIS-III and the WMS-III were significantly correlated. Implications for current ADHD theory and suggestions for future research were discussed.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2004

Mild cognitive impairment can be distinguished from Alzheimer disease and normal aging for clinical trials.

BACKGROUND: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) represents a transitional state between the cognitive changes of normal aging and very early dementia and is becoming increasingly recognized as a risk factor for Alzheimer disease (AD). The Memory Impairment Study (MIS) is a multicenter clinical trial in patients with MCI designed to evaluate whether vitamin E or donepezil is effective at delaying the time to a clinical diagnosis of AD. OBJECTIVE: To describe the baseline characteristics of patients with MCI recruited for the MIS and compare them with those of elderly controls and patients with AD in another clinical trial. DESIGN: Descriptive and comparative study of patients with MCI participating in a multicenter clinical trial. SETTING: Memory disorder centers in the United States and Canada. PATIENTS: A total of 769 patients with MCI, 107 cognitively normal elderly controls, 122 patients with very mild AD (Clinical Dementia Rating [CDR] 0.5), and 183 patients with mild AD (CDR 1.0) were evaluated. Patients in the MIS met operational criteria for amnestic MCI. Controls were recruited in parallel with the MCI group, underwent the same assessments, and had a CDR of 0. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Clinical, neuropsychologic, functional, neuroimaging, and genetic measures. RESULTS: Mean +/- SD Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale-Cognitive Subscale scores were 5.6 +/- 3.3 for controls, 11.3 +/- 4.4 for patients with MCI, 18.0 +/- 6.2 for the AD CDR 0.5 group, and 25.2 +/- 8.8 for the AD CDR 1.0 group. Compared with controls, patients with MCI were most impaired on memory tasks, with less severe impairments in other cognitive domains. Patients with MCI were more likely than controls but less likely than patients with AD to carry the apolipoprotein E epsilon4 allele. Patients with MCI had hippocampal volumes that were intermediate between those of controls and patients with AD. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with MCI had a predominant memory impairment with relative sparing of other cognitive domains and were intermediate between clinically normal individuals and patients with AD on cognitive and functional ratings. These results demonstrate the successful implementation of operational criteria for this unique group of at-risk patients in a multicenter clinical trial.

Aged↗

PubMed2002

Extract of Yi Zhi Fang improves learning and memory behaviours of mice and its possible mechanisms.

The effects of Yi Zhi Fang extract (YZF) on learning and memory performances were investigated in mice using passive avoidance tasks. Oral administration of YZF improved learning and memory disorders induced by chemicals in both normal and senile mice. The acetylcholine (Ach) concentration, the muscarinic Ach receptors (M-R) and the monoamine oxidase B (MAO-B) activities were analysed by a radioimmunoassay, a radioligand receptor binding assay and UV spectrophotometry, respectively, using senile decapitated mice. The oral administration of YZF to the senile mice increased the M-R concentration, while the concentration of Ach and the activity of MAO-B decreased in senile mice brains. From these results it is evident that YZF promotes the function of the central cholinergic system and inhibits the activity of MAO-B in mice brains resulting in an enhancement of learning and memory.

Acetylcholine↗

PubMed2002

Focal retrograde amnesia documented with matching anterograde and retrograde procedures.

Focal retrograde amnesia is an unusual and theoretically challenging form of memory disorder. The case of a 65-year-old woman presenting with focal retrograde amnesia is reported. Following a cardiac arrest and subsequent hypoxia she remained in a coma for 24 h with evidence of epileptiform activity during the early recovery period. MR scans, 4 and 7 months post-onset, showed mild bifrontal atrophic changes mainly affecting white matter areas. An [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose resting PET scan 1-year post-onset demonstrated right occipito-temporo-parietal hypometabolism. We were able to document the patient's performance on an extensive range of anterograde and retrograde tests and to monitor her recovery of function by assessing her performance at 4, 12 and 24 months post-onset. Spared anterograde memory was observed on a range of verbal and non-verbal tests, including matched tasks that compared pre-illness and post-illness onset recollections. In contrast, her performance on retrograde memory tests, using detailed autobiographical and public events verbal and photographic tasks, showed a temporally-graded retrograde amnesia, more particularly affecting memory for autobiographical episodes. Possible mechanisms underlying CH's focal retrograde amnesia are discussed in terms of Damasio's time-locked multiregional retroactivation model.

Aged↗

PubMed1997

Comparative evolution of Alzheimer disease, vascular dementia, and mixed dementia.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the evolution of Alzheimer disease (AD), vascular dementia (VaD), and mixed dementia by cognitive domain. SETTING: The University of Western Ontario Dementia Study, which is a registry of cases of dementia seen for secondary and tertiary assessment in a university memory disorders clinica with extensive follow-up data and histopathological confirmation of clinical diagnoses. PATIENTS: One hundred twenty-nine patients with definite or probable AD, 12 patients with definite or probable VaD, and 36 patients with definite or probable mixed dementia. METHODS: Patients were grouped as having an early, moderate, or advanced stage of disease according to the extended scale for dementia (ESD). The ESD was subdivided into cognitive domains, and the domain scores were compared for each stage of disease by diagnostic category with the use of a 2-way analysis of variance with repeated measures. RESULTS: As expected, the scores in all domains decreased significantly with increasing severity. There was a significant difference in the decline in memory among the diagnostic groups (P = .02) that was mostly attributable to the difference between AD and mixed dementia (P = .03), with the difference between AD and VaD only approaching significance (P = .06). There was a similar finding for praxis. The interaction between diagnosis (AD and VaD) and severity was significant only for memory (P = .02), showing a less severe memory deficit at onset but a proportionately more rapid progression in VaD and arithmetic ability (AD and mixed dementia [P = .03]). CONCLUSIONS: Alzheimer disease, VaD, and mixed dementia evolve similarly as assessed using cognitive domains obtained by subdivision of the ESD in a patient population derived from a memory clinic and by analyzing VaD as a single entity. Only memory impairment evolves differently between AD and VaD, with this depending on the severity. Memory is more severely impaired in the early stage of AD; however, with increasing severity of dementia, memory impairment in VaD accelerates and catches up with AD at the level of moderate impairment. The differences between AD and mixed dementia are greater than those between mixed dementia and VaD, suggesting an important role for the ischemic component of mixed dementia. Simple neuropsychological tools (eg, the ESD) may be incapable of distinguishing between AD and VaD, and more focused instruments may be required. Inherent bias in case selection may prevent extrapolation of these results to VaD in general, but the neuropsychological criteria for VaD may need to vary, depending on the severity.

Alzheimer Disease↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Advances in Alzheimer therapy: cholinesterase inhibitors.

After a decade of intense study of cholinergic therapies for Alzheimer's disease, three conditions in this field are apparent: 1) The potential that cholinergic agents will ameliorate the memory dysfunction of Alzheimer patients (as 1-dopa benefits Parkinson patients) is still a stimulus for research. 2) Cholinergic neuropharmacology and its impact on the therapy of memory disorders associated with cholinergic dysfunction needs to be further characterized and understood. 3) While there is still a search for a symptomatic treatment for AD, the path to find a treatment for the Alzheimer disease process must first pass through a phase of basic research to find the cause of Alzheimer's disease. At the meeting, there was an undercurrent of concern that the cholinergic deficit is too severe to be treated, that the cholinergic systems are too complex to respond to a pharmacologic therapy and that too many other systems are involved in Alzheimer's disease for a cholinergic treatment to be successful. However, this concern was balanced by the evidence of basic scientific experiments which indicate that the central cholinergic system mediating memory can be positively manipulated in animal lesion preparations and Alzheimer tissue. Also there were reports that improved pharmacological approaches and psychological measures are being developed. It appears that Alzheimer therapy is at the stage that cancer chemotherapy was 20 years ago: the promising agents cause nausea without producing clear effects but the basic laboratory studies strongly suggest that substantial benefits are possible and several agents have shown encouraging results. Meanwhile, patients and scientists are becoming increasingly interested in the field.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Alzheimer Disease↗

PubMed1998

A permanent pure amnestic syndrome of insidious onset related to Alzheimer's disease.

A 55-year-old patient experienced a pure amnestic syndrome of insidious onset that worsened progressively. Subsequently, her memory disorder stabilized and remained her only cognitive impairment for several years. She ultimately developed more widespread cognitive decline and terminal dementia. Postmortem examination 18 years after the onset revealed numerous senile plaques and neurofibrillary tangles consistent with Alzheimer's disease. A permanent pure amnestic syndrome of insidious onset may represent a further type of focal cerebral degeneration.

Alzheimer Disease↗

PubMed2005

Working memory in cigarette smokers: comparison to non-smokers and effects of abstinence.

The present study was designed to examine the effect of cigarette smoking and withdrawal on working memory. Participants included 15 smokers and 22 matched non-smokers. For both groups the N-Back Task (of working memory) was administered in two test blocks on each of two days. On one day, smokers were tested after >or=13 h abstinence; on the other day, testing began or=13 h but not <or=1 h abstinence was significantly less accurate than that of non-smokers. A within-subject comparison revealed that in the abstinence session, smokers had significantly longer response latencies (in the 2-back condition) and made more overall errors compared to the satiety session. Smoking between test blocks in the abstinence session did not significantly affect performance although it significantly reduced craving. These findings provide further evidence for a deficit in working memory associated with acute abstinence from smoking, which may contribute to the difficulty of smoking cessation.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Probing sensory and associative semantics for animals and objects in normal subjects.

Neuropsychological studies of patients with "category-specific" semantic memory disorders have fuelled a debate concerning the organisation of knowledge. In particular it has been suggested that the reported double dissociation between knowledge of animals and living things on the one hand, and objects on the other, reflects a more fundamental division of semantic representation into functional-associative and sensory-visual domains. The present study attempted to investigate whether there were systematic differences along these dimensions in normal subjects using a sentence-verification technique. It was found that response times were significantly longer for verification of statements concerning the sensory attributes of objects than for statements about their associative attributes. In the case of animals, there were no differences in response latency to associative or sensory statements. In the light of this previously unreported fractionation within verbal semantics, the possible consequences for models of semantic memory are discussed.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

Clinical utility of computed tomography in the assessment of dementia: a memory clinic study.

OBJECTIVE: To define the influence of computed tomography (CT) on clinical decision-making in the outpatient evaluation of dementia. DESIGN: A case series in which two physicians reviewed standardised data extracted from clinical records, first blind to CT results, and then with CT results. Clinical decisions made with and without the input of CT were compared. The study was based in an outpatient referral centre for the assessment of memory disorders and dementia. The study involved 146 participants who were diagnosed with dementia after their first clinic visit, had Mini Mental State Examination scores >12, were aged >65 years, and had no history of neurologic disease. RESULTS: CT impacted on diagnosis in an average of 12% (+/-2), and on treatment plan in 11% (+/-2) of cases. Physicians predicted a priori which cases CT may influence with an average sensitivity of 28% (+/-2), and specificity of 78.5% (+/-1.5). There was no statistically significant relationship between diagnostically uncertain cases and helpful CT scans [average chi(2) = 1.121 (+/-1.116), p = ns]. Blind to CT physicians appropriately identified cerebrovascular disease with an average sensitivity of 63% (+/-3), and specificity of 93.5% (+/-3.5). CONCLUSIONS: In the outpatient setting, CT may be expected to impact on diagnosis and treatment of dementia in 10% to 15% of cases. Memory clinic physicians recognise and treat cerebrovascular risk factors with reasonable sensitivity and specificity without the input of CT.

Aged↗

PubMed1993

Left hemisphere strategies in visual recognition, topographical orientation and time planning.

Right hemisphere lesions are known to impair, in many cases, visual recognition and visuospatial orientation. We report here on the compensatory strategies used by a patient whose posterior part of the right hemisphere was either destroyed or visually deafferented. She presented a slight appreceptive agnosia, memory disorders, and severe topographical disorientation. Her strategy relied on detail-by-detail analysis of buildings for recognition and on identification of landmarks and memorization of their sequences for finding routes. Time planning was impaired; the patient was unable to use a bi-dimensional timetable, but relied on a (linear) list of assignments. The linear, speech-related strategy she used was sustained uniquely by left hemisphere networks, since no processing of visual information occurred in the right hemisphere.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1989

Beneficial effects of FKS-508 (AF102B), a selective M1 agonist, on the impaired working memory in AF64A-treated rats.

The effects of FKS-508 [AF102B; cis-2-methylspiro(1,3-oxathiolane-5,3')quinuclidine], a selective M1 muscarinic receptor agonist, were examined to predict the possible activity on memory disorders using a T-maze and radial-arm maze task in experimental amnesia models. The amnesia models were produced by bilateral intracerebroventricular injection of ethylcholine aziridinium ion (AF64A), a selective cholinotoxin, in rats. Repeated administrations of FKS-508 (5 mg/kg/day, i.p.) for 5 weeks significantly ameliorated impaired performance of AF64A-treated rats (AF64A-rats) in a delayed alternation task in the T-maze. Repeated administrations of FKS-508 (1 and 5 mg/kg/day, p.o.) for 5 weeks significantly ameliorated acquisition failures of AF64A-rats in a radial-arm maze task. Single administration of FKS-508 (1 and 5 mg/kg, p.o.) significantly reduced the incorrect choices of AF64A-rats in a radial-arm maze task with 6 hr-delay time. No abnormalities in general behaviors, such as loss of appetite and ataxia, were observed in rats treated with FKS-508 repeatedly during 5 weeks. Our present results showed that FKS-508 can ameliorate memory impairments in AF64A-rats with central cholinergic hypofunction without causing any behavioral abnormalities. FKS-508 may be considered as a candidate for the clinical examination of the cholinergic hypothesis of senile dementia of the Alzheimer type.

Animals↗

PubMed1997

The phonological short-term store-rehearsal system: patterns of impairment and neural correlates.

Two left brain-damaged patients (L.A. and T.O.) with a selective impairment of auditory-verbal span are reported. Patient L.A. was unable to hold auditory-verbal material in the phonological store component of short-term memory. His performance was however normal on tasks requiring phonological judgements, which specifically involve the phonological output buffer component of the rehearsal process. He also showed some evidence that rehearsal contributed to the immediate retention of auditory-verbal material. Patient T.O. never made use of the rehearsal process in tasks assessing both immediate retention and the ability to make phonological judgements, but the memory capacity of the phonological short-term store was comparatively preserved. These contrasting patterns of impairment suggest that the phonological store component of verbal short-term memory was severely impaired in patient L.A., and spared, at least in part, in patient T.O. The rehearsal process was preserved in L.A., and primarily defective in T.O. The localisation of the lesions in the left hemisphere (L.A.: inferior parietal lobule, superior and middle temporal gyri; T.O.: sub-cortical premotor and rolandic regions, anterior insula) suggests that these two sub-components of phonological short-term memory have discrete anatomical correlates.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

Presenilin 1 familial Alzheimer's disease mutation leads to defective associative learning and impaired adult neurogenesis.

Alzheimer's disease is a learning and memory disorder pathologically characterized by the deposition of beta-amyloid plaques and loss of neurons and synapses in affected areas of the brain. Mutations in presenilin 1 (PS1) lead to the most aggressive form of familial Alzheimer's disease (FAD), and are associated with accelerated plaque deposition. However, since the function of PS1 is pleiotropic, we reasoned that the FAD mutations may alter multiple PS1-mediated pathways, and the combination of which may account for the early onset nature of the disease phenotype. Using the PS1M146V knockin mice in which the M146V mutation was incorporated into the endogenous mouse PS1 gene, we report here that the FAD mutation results in impaired hippocampus-dependent associative learning, as measured by a contextual fear conditioning paradigm, at 3 months of age. This is correlated with reduced adult neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus. However, short-term and long-term synaptic plasticity in both area CA1 and dentate gyrus are not affected. Our results suggest that impaired adult neurogenesis may contribute to the memory deficit associated with FAD.

Animals↗

PubMed1989

Performance in free recall following rupture and repair of intracranial aneurysm.

There have been many reports of global memory disorder following rupture and repair of intracranial aneurysms. These reports suggest a more anterior basis for the amnesic syndrome than the various sites in the diencephalon and the temporal lobe that have so far been implicated. Patients from a consecutive series of 76 cases of aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage demonstrated a moderate deficit in free recall, but aneurysms at different sites within the cerebrovascular system did not produce significantly different degrees of impairment. The results are consistent with the idea that aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage gives rise to diffuse cerebral damage, and do not necessitate any revision of conventionally accepted accounts of the neuropathology of amnesic conditions.

Adult↗