Factors influencing employment after minor stroke and NSTEMI.

Aim: To study the effect of cognitive function, fatigue and emotional symptoms on employment after a minor ischemic stroke compared to non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI).

Material And Methods: We included 217 patients with minor ischemic stroke and 133 NSTEMI patients employed at baseline aged 18-70 years. Minor stroke was defined as modified Rankin scale (mRS) 0-2 at day seven or at discharge if before.

Neuropsychological Performance 1 Year After Status Epilepticus in Adults.

Objectives: Status epilepticus (SE) may lead to or worsen cognitive dysfunction. Few studies have evaluated magnitude and profile of cognitive dysfunction in patients after SE. Characterization of cognitive deficits may be important for rehabilitation and follow-up.

The development of cognitive and emotional impairment after a minor stroke: A longitudinal study.

Objectives: To study the development of cognitive and emotional symptoms between 3 and 12 months after a minor stroke.

Material And Methods: We included patients from stroke units at hospitals in the Central Norway Health Authority and from Haukeland University Hospital. We administered a selection of cognitive tests, and the patients completed a questionnaire 3 and 12 months post-stroke.

Cognitive and Emotional Impairment after Minor Stroke and Non-ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction (NSTEMI): A Prevalence Study.

Aim: To study the prevalence of cognitive and emotional impairment following a minor ischemic stroke compared to an age-matched group with non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI).

Methods: We included patients aged 18-70 years with a minor ischemic stroke defined as modified Rankin Scale (mRS) 0-2 at day 7 or at discharge if before and age-matched NSTEMI patients with the same functional mRS. We applied a selection of cognitive tests and the patients completed a questionnaire comprising of Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale (HADS) and Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS) at follow-up 12 months after the vascular event.

Immediate effects of blood donation on physical and cognitive performance-A randomized controlled double-blinded trial.

Background: The success of implementing damage control resuscitation principles pre-hospital has been at the expense of several logistic burdens including the requirements for resupply, and the question of donor safety during the development of whole blood programs. Previous studies have reported effects on physical performance after blood donation; however, none have investigated the effects of blood donation on cognitive performance.

Method: We describe a prospective double-blinded, randomized, controlled study comprised of a battery of tests: three cognitive tests, and VO2max testing on a cycle ergometer.

Cognitive function after status epilepticus versus after multiple generalized tonic-clonic seizures.

Objectives: Status epilepticus (SE) is considered a risk for cognitive impairment. Studies have indicated that SE cause more cognitive decline than multiple lifetime generalized tonic clonic (GTC) seizures. The aim of the study was to investigate whether patients suffering from SE or from multiple lifetime GTC seizures have cognitive dysfunction, and if the disabilities differ between these groups.

Prognostic factors of status epilepticus in adults.

Aim: Status epilepticus (SE) can lead to sequelae or even death. Identifying characteristics associated with poor outcome is crucial in guiding patient treatment. Based on our retrospective patient cohorts, potential prognostic factors were analysed.

Cognitive function and health-related quality of life four years after cardiac arrest.

Aim: Neuropsychological testing has uncovered cognitive impairment in cardiac arrest survivors with good neurologic outcome according to the cerebral performance categories. We investigated cognitive function and health-related quality of life four years after cardiac arrest.

Methods: Thirty cardiac arrest survivors over the age of 18 in cerebral performance category 1 or 2 on hospital discharge completed the EQ-5D-5L and HADS questionnaires prior to cognitive testing using the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery.

Adult nonconvulsive status epilepticus in a clinical setting: Semiology, aetiology, treatment and outcome.

Purpose: Our objective was to study the semiology, aetiology, treatment and outcome of nonconvulsive status epilepticus (NCSE) in adults.

Methods: All NCSE episodes in an unselected hospital cohort in the period 2004-2009 were identified, and the files reviewed. STESS (Status Epilepticus Severity Scale) was conducted retrospectively and correlated to outcome.

Cognitive control deficits in adolescents born with very low birth weight (≤ 1500 g): evidence from dichotic listening.

The objective of the paper is to explore bottom-up auditory and top-down cognitive processing abilities as part of long-term outcome assessment of preterm birth. Fifty-five adolescents (age 13-15) born with very low birth weight (VLBW) were compared to 80 matched controls born to term, using three consonant-vowel dichotic listening (DL) instruction conditions (non-forced, forced-right and forced-left). DL scores were correlated with cortical gray matter thickness derived from T1-weighted structural MRI volumes using FreeSurfer to examine group differences also in the neural correlates of higher cognitive processes.

Cognitive profile of elderly patients with mild stroke.

Background: A pattern characterizing cognitive deficits in mild stroke could help in differential diagnosis and rehabilitation planning.

Methods: Fifty patients with mild stroke (modified Rankin scale ≤2 at discharge) aged >60 years were given the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised (HVLT-R) and the Stroop test.

Results: On HVLT-R, significant impairments were found in learning and recall, but not in delayed recall.

Cognitive profile in young adults born preterm at very low birthweight.

Aim: the aim of this study was to assess cognitive function at the age of 19 years in individuals of very low birthweight (VLBW; ≤ 1500g) and in term-born comparison individuals.

Method: in this hospital-based follow-up study, 55 VLBW participants (30 males, 25 females; mean birthweight 1217g, SD 233g; mean gestational age 29.1wks, SD 2.

Computerized working memory training improves function in adolescents born at extremely low birth weight.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of a computerized working memory training program on both trained and non-trained verbal aspects of working memory and executive and memory functions in extremely low birth weight (ELBW; <1000 g) infants.

Study Design: Sixteen ELBW infants and 19 term-born control subjects aged 14 to 15 years participated in the training program, and 11 adolescents were included as a non-intervention group. Extensive neuropsychological assessment was performed before and immediately after training and at a 6-month follow-up examination.

Neuropsychological performance in patients with POLG1 mutations and the syndrome of mitochondrial spinocerebellar ataxia and epilepsy.

Mutations in the catalytic subunit of polymerase gamma (POLG1) produce a wide variety of neurological disorders including a progressive ataxic syndrome with epilepsy: mitochondrial spinocerebellar ataxia and epilepsy (MSCAE). Our earlier studies of patients with this syndrome raised the possibility of more prominent right than left hemisphere dysfunction. To investigate this in more detail, eight patients (six women, two men; mean age: 22.

Fatigue, pain and muscle weakness are frequent after Guillain-Barré syndrome and poliomyelitis.

Objective: Guillain- Barré syndrome (GBS) and poliomyelitis may cause life-long health problems. We studied fatigue, pain and muscular weakness in both conditions to define possible interactions between these symptoms and their influence on residual disability and daily functioning.

Methods: We studied 50 patients with previous GBS, 89 patients with a history of poliomyelitis and a reference group of 81 people with similar sex and age and no history of poliomyelitis or GBS using the Fatigue Severity Scale, self-reported pain and muscular weakness Disability Rating Index, and Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS-X).

Dichotic listening with forced attention in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy: significance of left hemisphere cognitive dysfunction.

Fifty right-handed patients with focal temporal lobe epilepsy were administered a dichotic listening test with consonant-vowel syllables under non-forced, forced right and forced left attention conditions, and a neuropsychological test battery. Dichotic listening performance was compared in subgroups with and without left hemisphere cognitive dysfunction, measured by the test battery, and in subgroups with left and right temporal epileptic focus. Left hemisphere cognitive dysfunction led to more correct responses to left ear stimuli in all three attention conditions, and fewer correct responses to right ear stimuli in the non-forced attention condition.

Frontoparietal activation during delayed visuospatial recall in patients with epilepsy due to hippocampal sclerosis.

We hypothesized that brain activation during encoding and retrieval of visual material differed between epilepsy patients with hippocampal sclerosis (HS) and healthy controls. Eleven patients with epilepsy and HS and nine age- and education-matched control subjects were tested during functional MRI recording. A three-block design for visuospatial memory encoding and retrieval and an interference interval longer than 1 minute without memory tasks were used.

Left hemisphere dysfunction affects dichotic listening in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy.

This study evaluated the relative effect of left hemisphere dysfunction and side of seizure onset on dichotic listening performance in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy and left hemisphere speech dominance. Seventeen patients were divided into groups based on side of seizure onset and based on scores on a composite measure revealing left hemisphere dysfunction. The group with left hemisphere dysfunction had more correct responses from the left ear, and a left ear advantage, on dichotic listening.