Aggressive and impulsive behaviors in Frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

Background: Differentiating FTD and AD is of great clinical significance, due to the very different efficacy of cholinesterase inhibitors in the two disorders. Previous studies have pointed to behavioral differences in FTD and AD, but less attention has been paid to comparing aggressive and impulsive behaviors in the AD and the FTD.

Material/methods: Nursing home residents diagnosed with AD (NINCDS/ADRDA criteria) or the behavioral variant of FTD (Frontotemporal Dementia and Pick's Disease Working Group criteria) were included in the research group.

Rehabilitation of a patient with aphasia due to severe traumatic brain injury.

Background: There has been little attention given to traumatic aphasia in recent neuropsychological literature. It is difficult to justify this relative neglect, however, since speech and language disturbances subsequent to traumatic brain injury (TBI) causa serious therapeutic difficulties. Hence the problems encountered by our patient, K.

Behavioral and psychological symptoms and the progression of dementia of the Alzheimer type in nursing home residents.

Background: Behavioral and psychological symptoms are common in the course of dementia of the Alzheimer's type (DAT). Some behavioral and psychological symptoms may be predictors of the progression of dementia and cognitive impairment in DAT. However, studies on this topic face serious methodological problems.

Rehabilitation of an artist after right-hemisphere stroke.

Background: Traditionally, in both medicine and neuropsychology, symptoms are defined as significant deviations in a given parameter from a "physiological" norm largely based on statistical studies of large populations. Thus the goal of rehabilitation is to bring the patient's performance within the bounds of acceptable variation from the norm, and this is what defines a good outcome. Although this model seems reasonable for "average" patients, in the case of "exceptional" patients an "average" outcome may not be acceptable.

Behavioral and psychological symptoms in the preclinical stage of Alzheimer's disease.

Background: AD is preceded by a lengthy preclinical period. Neural degeneration may lead to the appearance of behavioral and psychological symptoms, even before other clinical symptoms are manifest. We attempted to evaluate this symptomatology in preclinical AD.

Neuropsychological diagnosis and treatment after closed-head injury in a patient with a psychiatric history of schizophrenia.

Background: Despite recent interest in the brain/mind problem and possible organic correlates of mental disease, relatively few case studies have examined the problem concretely. The present paper describes a 66-year-old male patient with a long history of schizophrenia, whose psychotic symptoms displayed qualitative and quantitative changes after a closed-head injury.

Case Report: After a very disturbed childhood and youth, including several jail terms, the patient was diagnosed with schizophrenia in the early 1960s and frequently thereafter hospitalized.

Differential diagnosis of frontal syndrome in patients with closed-head injuries.

Background. A common sequela of head injury is "frontal syndrome", consisting in characteristic neurobehavioral disturbances. However, there is no ecologically valid research tool that would clearly indicate the presence of this syndrome.

Post-traumatic stress disorder in Polish stroke patients who survived Nazi concentration camps.

Background: Many persons who survived Nazi concentration camps are now in advanced age, so that rehabilitation centers in Poland are seeing increasing numbers of such patients, especially after strokes. In many cases, the process of rehabilitation is severely hampered by Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), while the neuropsychological consequences of the stroke itself often evoke traumatic memories and simultaneously disorganize or destroy the patient's previous coping mechanisms. The present study describes the program developed by the authors for concentration camp survivors in post-stroke rehabilitation, including the use of art therapy and specially prepared films to help the patients cope with PTSD.