Quality of education and memory test performance in older men: the New York University Paragraph Recall Test normative data.

Objectives: Memory evaluation is a key component in the accurate diagnosis of cognitive disorders.One memory procedure that has shown promise in discriminating disease-related cognitive decline from normal cognitive aging is the New York University Paragraph Recall Test; however, the effects of education have been unexamined as they pertain to one's literacy level. The current study provides normative data stratified by estimated quality of education as indexed by irregular word reading skill.

Practice effects in a longitudinal, multi-center Alzheimer's disease prevention clinical trial.

Background: Practice effects are a known threat to reliability and validity in clinical trials. Few studies have investigated the potential influence of practice on repeated screening measures in longitudinal clinical trials with a focus on dementia prevention. The current study investigates whether practice effects exist on a screening measure commonly used in aging research, the Memory Impairment Screen (MIS).

A brief review of cognitive assessment in neurotoxicology.

Among commercial and industrial chemicals, cosmetics, food additives, pesticides, and medicinal drugs, there are more than 50,000 substances distributed. Neurotoxic insults to the brain can manifest in many different ways, especially involving cognition. Given many possible differences in the pathophysiology of neurotoxic exposure and related cognitive sequelae, a systematic method of cognitive assessment is important for appropriate management of neurotoxic exposure.