Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry
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J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatr. · May 2013
Cortical atrophy in presymptomatic Alzheimer's disease presenilin 1 mutation carriers.
Sporadic late-onset Alzheimer's disease (AD) dementia has been associated with a 'signature' of cortical atrophy in paralimbic and heteromodal association regions measured with MRI. ⋯ Results demonstrate that cognitively normal individuals genetically determined to develop AD have a thinner cerebral cortex than non-carriers in regions known to be affected by typical late-onset sporadic AD. These findings provide further support for the hypothesis that cortical atrophy is present in preclinical AD more than 5 years prior to symptom onset. Further research is needed to determine whether this method could be used to characterise the age-dependent trajectory of cortical atrophy in presymptomatic stages of AD.
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Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory and neurodegenerative disorder of the CNS that is frequently associated with neuropsychiatric symptoms and decreased quality of life. Social support, which has been found to buffer the psychosocial burden of MS, critically depends on intact social cognition. Here we assess social cognition in patients with MS using a naturalistic video based test and explore if potential deficits in theory of mind (ToM) occur independently of known MS associated neuropsychiatric symptoms, such as depression and cognitive impairment. ⋯ These results suggest impaired social cognition in MS. Importantly, ToM impairments in this group may not simply be a consequence of the well known neuropsychological deficits. Difficulties with correctly identifying emotions, thoughts and intentions in social situations may result in interpersonal problems and could contribute to the psychosocial burden of MS.
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J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatr. · May 2013
Volume-dependent effect of perihaematomal oedema on outcome for spontaneous intracerebral haemorrhages.
It is still unknown whether subsequent perihaematomal oedema (PHE) formation further increases the odds of an unfavourable outcome. ⋯ Our findings suggest that the effect of absolute PHE volume on functional outcome following ICH is dependent on haematoma size, with only patients with smaller haemorrhages exhibiting poorer outcome with worse PHE. Further studies are needed to define the precise role of PHE in driving outcome following ICH.
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J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatr. · May 2013
The NINDS-Canadian stroke network vascular cognitive impairment neuropsychology protocols in Chinese.
Vascular cognitive impairment (VCI) affects up to half of stroke survivors and predicts poor outcomes. Valid and reliable assessement for VCI is lacking, especially for the Chinese population. In 2005, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and Canadian Stroke Network (NINDS-CSN) Harmonisation workshop proposed a set of three neuropsychology protocols for VCI evaluation. This paper is to introduce the protocol design and to report the psychometric properties of the Chinese NINDS-CSN VCI protocols. ⋯ The Chinese NINDS-CSN VCI protocols are valid and reliable for cognitive assessment in Chinese patients with mild stroke.