NEUROPSYCOLOGY

PURPOSE: Overt hypothyroidism during pregnancy is linked to various obstetric complications, such as premature birth and fetal death. While some studies have shown that maternal hypothyroidism can impact a child's Intelligence Quotient (IQ) and language development, findings are controversial. The aim of this study was to explore the connection between treated maternal hypothyroidism during pregnancy and offspring neurodevelopment, focusing on learning and language and examining related maternal obstetric complications...

BACKGROUND: Progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) is an atypical Parkinsonism characterized by motor and neuropsycological disorders. Language could be impaired in PSP patients, also in Richardson variant (PSP-RS). The analysis of connected speech is used in neurodegenerative disorder to investigate different levels of language organization, including phonetic, phonological, lexico-semantic, morpho-syntactic, and pragmatic processing. OBJECTIVE: In our study, we aimed to investigate the language profile, especially connected speech, in early-stage PSP-RS and Parkinson's disease (PD) patients without predominant speech or language disorders...

INTRODUCTION AND AIM: Amyloid PET/CT is an "in vivo" imaging that may radically change management of Alzheimer's disease (AD) thanks to its ability to identify AD at the earliest stage. A diagnosis of dementia is currently made in terms of probability and is based on clinical evaluation (neuropsycological tests) as well as on the results of morphological imaging investigations (MRI) that can be supported by biohumoral (CSF analysis), and functional imaging only in the case of uncertain diagnosis of disease...

Anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (anti-NMDAR) encephalitis is an autoimmune encephalitis mainly affecting young women. We report a case of a mild paraneoplastic anti-NMDAR encephalitis in a 31-year-old female with an ovarian immature teratoma. The patient exhibited a severe short-term episodic memory impairment and psychiatric symptoms. A detailed diagnostic work-up including complete clinical and laboratory examinations, neuropsychological assessments, and neuroradiological investigations has been done at the onset and during follow-up...

Neuronal activity induces intracellular Ca2+ increase, which triggers activation of a series of Ca2+ -dependent signaling cascades. Among these, the multifunctional Ca2+ /calmodulin-dependent protein kinases (CaMKs, or calmodulin kinases) play key roles in neuronal transmission, synaptic plasticity, circuit development and cognition. The most investigated CaMKs for these roles in neuronal functions are CaMKI, CaMKII, CaMKIV and we will shed light on these neuronal CaMKs' functions in this review. Catalytically active members of CaMKs currently are CaMKI, CaMKII, CaMKIV and CaMKK...

Several epidemiological studies have shown that Diabetes Mellitus (DM) or Insulin Resistance (IR) increases the risk of dementia. Besides, some authors suggested that poor glucose control to be associated with worse cognitive function. We aimed to assess cognitive functions and IR-degree over time in diabetic. We also evaluated whether a greater magnitude of cognitive decline could be related with their IR degree. We enrolled 335 diabetic patients and 142 non-diabetic subjects; participants were subdivided into three groups in accordance with their IRdegree assessed by Homa-Index (HI): Normal-HI (non-diabetic NHI < 2,6), Moderate-HI (MHI > 2,6 < 10) and High-HI (HHI > 10)...

A 57-year-old man developed migraine at the age of 25 years. Thereafter, he developed depression at the age of 50 years, and was admitted to a psychiatric hospital at the age of 54 years because of deteriorating depression. He returned to his work after receiving treatment for depression; however, he made mistakes several times in his work. He was referred to our hospital for further neurological evaluation. The results of the neurological examination performed on admission were unremarkable. His Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) score was 24/30, and neuropsycological evaluations revealed executive dysfunction...

INTRODUCTION: HIV-1 viral escape in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) despite viral suppression in plasma is rare [1,2]. We describe the case of a 50-year-old HIV-1 infected patient who was diagnosed with HIV-1 in 1995. Antiretroviral therapy (ART) was started in 1998 with a CD4 T cell count of 71 cells/ìL and HIV-viremia of 46,000 copies/mL. ART with zidovudine (AZT), lamivudine (3TC) and efavirenz achieved full viral suppression. After the patient had interrupted ART for two years, treatment was re-introduced with tenofovir (TDF), emtricitabin (FTC) and ritonavir boosted atazanavir (ATVr)...

BACKGROUND: HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND) have emerged as a problem among HIV-infected individuals in the era of antiretroviral therapy. However, there are insufficient data on HAND regarding its prevalence and clinical features in Japan. METHODS: A test battery composed of eight neuropsycological tests proposed by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW test battery) was applied to assess 30 subjects at Tokyo Metropolitan Komagome Hospital...

The clinical picture of primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) has changed over the last three decades and many asymptomatic patients are now diagnosed through the unexpected finding of high serum calcium levels. However, though not yet considered as typical features of the disease and therefore not included in the guidelines for surgery, many data are available on neuropsycological manifestations and their impact on quality of life in asymptomatic patients. PHPT patients indeed show early experience nonspecific symptoms, such as weakness, depression, sleep disturbance, memory loss and anxiety...

The neurologic dysfunctions caused by treatment may affect health and quality of life in survivors of childhood leukemia. The objective of this study was to identify the neuropsychological late effects of leukemia treatment to provide an assessment about the degree and incidence of these late effects. Neurological and ophtalmological examination, cranial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), auditory and neurocognitive tests, and questionnaires of quality of life were performed to 44 acute leukemia survivors at least 5 years after diagnosis...

BACKGROUND: The role of folate and homocysteine in brain atrophy associated with Alzheimer's disease is not completely understood. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationships between serum folate and homocysteine levels and the degree of cortical-subcortical and hippocampal atrophy in a first relatively preliminary sample of the Treviso Dementia (TREDEM) study using a potent data mining method. METHODS: Physiological data, biochemical parameters, clinical assessment data, brain atrophy severity assessed with CT scans, and neuropsycological and disability data were assessed in a group of 232 outpatients (93 men and 139 women, aged 40...

Vascular cognitive impairment-no dementia (VCI-ND) is a condition at risk for future dementia and should be the target of preventive strategies. Recently, an enhanced intracortical facilitation observed in VCI-ND patients was proposed as a candidate neurophysiological marker of the disease process. The aim of this study was to monitor the excitability of the motor cortex and the functioning of excitatory/inhibitory intracortical circuits in patients with VCI-ND after a follow-up period of approximately 2 years, in order to pick out early markers of disease progression into dementia...

OBJECTIVES: Despite the introduction of combined antiretroviral therapy (cART), the prevalence of HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HANDs) remains high. Aim of the study was to investigate the potential relationship between ophthalmic artery resistance index (OARI), a marker of subclinical cerebrovascular disease, and cognitive performance. METHODS: We performed a cross-sectional cohort study by consecutively enrolling HIV-infected patients during routine outpatient visits...

RATIONALE: The adult brain maintains the ability for reorganization or plasticity throughout life. Non-invasive techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (f-MRI), Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) and magnetoencephalography could be used to show recovery of function after stroke. OBJECTIVE: Explanation of neuronal plastisity and intra-hemisferic reorganization with functional recovery of a case who has total extensive damage on the left hemisphere...

BACKGROUND: Studies suggest a link between chronic kidney disease and cognitive impairment. Skin biopsy is hire in the study of leucoaraiosis since permit establish the responsible vascular pathology of subcortical white matter changes because the pathological hallmark is systemic. The aim was to study the ultrastructural changes of cutaneous small vessel of patients aged up to 50 years with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and vascular cognitive impairment (VCI). METHODS: Clinical, laboratorial, cerebral imaging, neuropsycological evaluation for executive functions (Clox test), and skin biopsy to 4 patients aged up to 50 years with CKD and VCI were done...

OBJECTIVE: The study aimed to describe the prevalence of Neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) in Alzheimer's disease (AD), amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and controls using the 12-item Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) and to analyze the relationships between neuropsychiatric symptoms with specific neuropsychological tests. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We prospectively studied 485 patients from the Memory Unit in Cruces Hospital (Spain), 344 met the criteria of NINCDS-ADRDA for probable AD (99 were classified as mild and 245 as moderate-severe), 91 for MCI and 50 were controls...

UNLABELLED: The aim of this paper is to analyze the results of correlation of clinical symptoms and their characteristics with the results of neurophysiologic, neuropsycologic investigations and short genetic analyses in patients with Idiopathic Parkinson's disease (IPD). MATERIAL AND METHODS: The paper is a prospective and retrospective study of 15 IPD patients and 25 patients with different forms of parkinsonism. RESULTS: Patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease had all cardinal symptoms characteristic for the disease: tremor, rigidity and reduced postural reflexes in 100%...

Synaptosomal-associated protein of 25 KD (SNAP-25) is a protein that participates in synaptic vesicle exocytosis through the formation of a SNARE complex; SNAP-25 also plays a pivotal role in modulating calcium homeostasis through negative regulation of voltage-gated calcium channels. SNAP-25 has been involved in different neuropsychiatric disorders, including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. There are well known physiological gender differences in many neuropsychological skills, and there are even more striking gender differences in patients with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism spectrum disorders...

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the common characteristics of the patients, relapse reasons of patients before and after surgery, evaluate the relapse rate and its impact factors, and therapeutic effect of patients accepted stereotactic surgery to treat opiate dependence in Sichuan. METHODS: An investigation, using uniform questionnaires by face-to-face and telephone interview, and gaining data from medical records of patients, was conducted in Mar to Jun 2005, in Sichuan Province...