Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry
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J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatr. · Nov 2015
Comparative StudyImpaired imitation of gestures in mild dementia: comparison of dementia with Lewy bodies, Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia.
To examine whether imitation of gestures provided useful information to diagnose early dementia in elderly patients. ⋯ Our study revealed that imitation of bimanual gestures was impaired non-specifically in about half of the patients with mild dementia, whereas imitation of finger gestures was significantly more impaired in patients with early DLB than in those with AD or SVaD. Although the sensitivity was not high, the imitation tasks may provide additional information for diagnosis of mild dementia, especially for DLB.
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J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatr. · Nov 2015
Interictal cerebral and systemic endothelial dysfunction in patients with migraine: a case-control study.
Although systemic endothelial function is unimpaired in migraine, it is unknown whether cerebral endothelial function impairment exists in migraineurs. ⋯ Migraineurs may have isolated cerebral endothelial dysfunction restricted to the posterior circulation in the absence of systemic endothelial dysfunction.
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J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatr. · Nov 2015
Impaired affective and cognitive theory of mind and behavioural change in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
Executive and behavioural changes are well-recognised in classical amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), indicating a subclinical behavioural-variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) in some patients. Social cognitive deficits in ALS have been recently described and an impairment was identified on a simple Theory of Mind (ToM) test, which assesses the judgement of the preference of another through direction of eye gaze. The present study further delineated this deficit, by distinguishing between Affective and Cognitive subcomponents, and determining the relationship to behavioural change, levels of empathy and self-awareness. ⋯ Dysfunctional ToM is a prominent feature of the cognitive profile of ALS. This specific difficulty in identifying and distinguishing the feelings and thoughts of another from a self-perspective may underpin the social behavioural abnormalities present in some patients with ALS, manifest as apathy and loss of awareness.