Manic syndrome in AIDS.

A manic syndrome in eight patients with AIDS is described. On the basis of clinical, neuropsychological, laboratory, magnetic resonance imaging, and epidemiological evidence, the authors suggest that the manic syndrome was secondary to HIV infection. The patients also developed concomitant cognitive impairment.

Predicting severity of depression in the elderly at six-month follow-up: a neuropsychological study.

The authors conducted psychopathological and neuropsychological assessments on a pilot sample of 15 nondemented elderly depressed patients at the outset of inpatient treatment and again after 6 months. Pretreatment performance on a test of confrontation naming was predictive of severity of depressive symptoms at follow-up. These findings tentatively suggest that the naming ability of elderly depressed subjects may have prognostic significance.

The interaction between depressive affective disorder and neuropsychological test performance in multiple sclerosis patients.

Cognitive impairment of mild-to-moderate severity is known to occur among a large proportion of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Depressive affective disturbances are also known to occur commonly among these patients. In order to determine the degree of interaction between mood disturbance and cognitive impairment, we conducted a test-retest neuropsychological study of 11 MS patients with current major depression diagnosed by Research Diagnostic Criteria.

The neuropsychology of depression in the elderly: a comparative study of normal aging and Alzheimer's disease.

The neuropsychological testing of 23 elderly depressed patients was compared to that of 23 healthy controls and 20 Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients. Depressed subjects were deficient relative to controls on most tasks, including naming and cued memory. There was a greater negative influence of age on the performance of depressed subjects (relative to controls) on some tasks.

Estimation of paraproteins by immunoturbidimetry and electrophoresis followed by scanning densitometry.

A comparison of paraprotein estimation by immunoturbidimetry (IT) and electrophoresis followed by scanning densitometry (EFD) showed significant differences in concentration for IgG, IgA, and IgM paraproteins. Overestimation of IgM paraproteins by IT was particularly marked. Our data suggest that both techniques should be used for IgG and IgA paraproteins but for IgM paraproteins IT was found to be unsuitable and EFD is the method of choice.

Magnetic resonance imaging findings in HIV cognitive impairment.

Atrophy and white matter changes seen on magnetic resonance imaging scans have been observed in association with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome dementia complex, but these appear to be late findings relative to clinical expression. We report a new magnetic resonance imaging observation in patients with early cognitive impairment due to human immunodeficiency virus infection. Fifty-two patients had a total of 86 magnetic resonance imaging scans during the study period.

Neurosurgical treatment of severe obsessive-compulsive disorder associated with Tourette's syndrome.

We describe two patients with Gilles de la Tourette's syndrome (TS) and disabling obsessive-compulsive and ritualistic behaviors who underwent bilateral radiofrequency anterior cingulotomy. Both achieved a limited but sustained improvement in behavioral symptoms and overall functional abilities. Our observations indicate involvement of limbic structures in this disorder.

Education to assist spouses in coping with Alzheimer's disease. A controlled trial.

This study investigates whether a brief educational program, provided to spouses of patients with Alzheimer's disease, improved the caregivers' coping skills; it also questions whether the gender of the spouse had an effect on coping ability. The sample consisted of 40 spouses who were caring for the Alzheimer patient at home, 20 who participated in the educational program, and 20 controls. The instrument used for the study was the Health Specific Family Coping Index (HSFCI).

Clinical-pathologic correlation in Huntington's disease: a neuropsychological and computed tomography study.

To examine the premise that cognitive impairment in Huntington's disease (HD) is related to striatal degeneration, we determined those cognitive deficits most closely associated with linear CT indices of brain atrophy in HD. We systematically evaluated 60 drug-free HD patients who were judged to be in stages I (n = 34) or II (n = 26) of illness. All subjects underwent comprehensive neuropsychological assessment covering a broad spectrum of cognitive operations and standardized head CT imaging for determination of frontal horn (FH), intercaudate (CC), and outer-table (OT) distances.

Temporal lobe atrophy in patients with Alzheimer disease: a CT study.

CT was used to document temporal lobe atrophy in 39 patients who were diagnosed clinically as having Alzheimer disease; the results were compared with those from 29 healthy elderly control subjects who were matched for age and education. The diagnosis of Alzheimer disease was made according to clinical criteria consistent with those specified by an NINCDS workshop. These included detailed medical and neuropsychological assessments.

A controlled clinical trial of baclofen as protective therapy in early Huntington's disease.

We carried out a controlled clinical trial to examine the potential of baclofen to slow the functional decline of patients with early Huntington's disease (HD). The basis of the trial was: (1) the hypothesis that excitatory amino acid neurotransmission mediates the neuronal degeneration of HD, (2) preclinical evidence that baclofen retards corticostriatal release of glutamate and aspartate, and (3) reports that baclofen produces short-term clinical benefits in some HD patients. Sixty patients with early HD were randomized to chronic baclofen, 60 mg/day, or placebo treatments and followed systematically for up to 42 months.

Cued recall and release from proactive interference in Alzheimer's disease.

Two tasks were administered to 13 mildly to moderately impaired subjects who met clinical research criteria for AD, and 17 controls matched for age and education. In the first task, subjects were administered a cued recall test (Buschke, 1984). AD subjects were found to be variably impaired in their ability to perform the initial stimulus-processing procedure, which involved matching cues with referents.

Does "benign senescent forgetfulness" exist?

Age-related changes in memory functions are observed clinically and in the experimental psychology laboratory. The commonly used notion of "benign senescent forgetfulness" implies that such changes are part of "normal" aging and not associated with central nervous system pathology. Some investigators have advocated a diagnostic category, age-associated memory impairment, to define the memory loss that appears in healthy, elderly individuals.

Cerebrospinal fluid correlates of depression in Huntington's disease.

Patients with Huntington's disease (HD) commonly have concomitant depressive disorders. Prompted by reports of elevated corticotropin releasing factor (CRF) and reduced 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) concentrations in lumbar cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients with major depression, these CSF constituents were examined in 56 nonmedicated patients who were in the early stages of HD. Elevated CRF concentrations were found in patients with HD in comparison with a control group of 21 subjects without neurologic illness.

Family data support a dominant major gene for Tourette syndrome.

A dominant major gene was supported by analyses of 50 large extended Tourette syndrome (TS) pedigrees and by a subset of families defined by proband's clinical response to the neuroleptic drug haloperidol. Relatives were defined as affected if they ever had tics or TS. Assuming a nearly even sex ratio for TS and related symptoms resulted in the best fit of the genetic model to observed rates in families.