Neuropsychological profiles associated with subcortical white matter alterations and Parkinson's disease: implications for the diagnosis of dementia.

Despite the emergence of a number of new classification systems, the diagnosis of cerebrovascular dementia remains controversial. Also controversial is the significance of periventricular and deep white matter alterations (WMA) as seen on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). To further clarify this issue, MRI scans were used to regroup patients clinically diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease (AD) or subcortical ischemic vascular dementia (IVD) into cohorts presenting with either little versus significant WMA on MRI.

Differentiation and apoptosis in human immortalized sebocytes.

Increased cell volume, accumulation of lipid droplets in the cytoplasm, and nuclear degeneration are phenomena indicating terminal differentiation of human sebocytes followed by holocrine secretion and cell death. The molecular pathways of natural and induced sebocyte elimination are still unknown, however. In this study, SZ95 sebocytes were found to exhibit DNA fragmentation after a 6 h culture followed by increased lactate dehydrogenase release after 24 h, indicating cell damage.

Errors produced on the mini-mental state examination and neuropsychological test performance in Alzheimer's disease, ischemic vascular dementia, and Parkinson's disease.

The authors investigated whether MMSE indices designed to measure temporal and physical orientation, declarative memory, language, working memory, and motor/constructional function could differentiate patients with different dementia diagnoses: Alzheimer's disease (AD), ischemic vascular dementia (IVD), or Parkinson's disease (PD). MMSE summary scores did not differ (AD, 21.4; IVD, 21.

Declarative and procedural learning, quantitative measures of the hippocampus, and subcortical white alterations in Alzheimer's disease and ischaemic vascular dementia.

This research investigated whether subjects with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and ischaemic vascular dementia (IVD) associated with periventricular and deep white matter alterations can be dissociated on tests of declarative and procedural memory, as well as on MRI indices of white matter alterations and the size of the hippocampal formation. The California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT) and the Pursuit Rotor Learning Tests (PRLT) were used to measure declarative and procedural memory, respectively. Subjects with IVD obtained a higher score on the CVLT recognition discriminability index; however, on the PRLT total time on target, carry-over between trial blocks, and slope calculated for all test trials was low.

Dementia associated with periventricular and deep white matter alterations: a subtype of subcortical dementia.

This research examined the neuropsychological functioning of demented patients with periventricular and deep white matter alterations. Thirty-three outpatients with NINCDS-ADRDA probable Alzheimer's disease (AD) and 27 outpatients with probable/ possible ischaemic vascular dementia (IVD, Chui et al., 1992) associated with periventricular and deep white matter alterations matched for age, education, level of dementia, and functional disability were studied.