In Brief Neuropsychological Assessment, Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) Is associated with Cerebrospinal Fluid Biomarkers for Cognitive Decline in Contrast to the Prevailing NIA-AA MCI Criterion.

Background: In the care of persons with cognitive problems, it is important to use a valid mild cognitive impairment (MCI) criterion that discriminates well between normal and pathological aging.

Objective: To find the brief neuropsychological screening criterion that best correlates with cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers for cognitive decline and dementia in persons seeking help for cognitive problems.

Methods: 452 consecutively recruited patients (age 40-80 years) from memory-clinics in the Norwegian national multicentre longitudinal study Dementia Disease Initiation were included.

Biomarkers in subtypes of mild cognitive impairment and subjective cognitive decline.

Objectives: Preclinical Alzheimers disease (AD) patients may or may not show cognitive impairment on testing. AD biomarkers are central to the identification of those at low, intermediate, or high risk of later dementia due to AD. We investigated biomarker distribution in those identified as subjective cognitive decline (SCD), amnestic (aMCI), and nonamnestic (naMCI) mild cognitive impairment (MCI) subtypes.

Detecting At-Risk Alzheimer's Disease Cases.

While APOEɛ4 is the major genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease (AD), amyloid dysmetabolism is an initial or early event predicting clinical disease and is an important focus for secondary intervention trials. To improve identification of cases with increased AD risk, we evaluated recruitment procedures using pathological CSF concentrations of Aβ42 (pAβ) and APOEɛ4 as risk markers in a multi-center study in Norway. In total, 490 subjects aged 40-80 y were included after response to advertisements and media coverage or memory clinics referrals.

Convergent Results from Neuropsychology and from Neuroimaging in Patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment.

Background/aims: To investigate the correspondence between neuropsychological single measures and variation in fludeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG PET) glucose metabolism and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) cortical thickness in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) patients.

Methods: Forty-two elderly controls and 73 MCI subjects underwent FDG PET and MRI scanning. Backward regression analyses with PET and MRI regions were used as dependent variables, while Rey Auditory Verbal Memory Test (RAVLT) recall, Trail Making Test B (TMT B), and a composite test score (RAVLT learning and immediate recall, TMT A, COWAT, and letter-number sequencing) were used as predictor variables.

Neuropsychological Profiles in Mild Cognitive Impairment due to Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Diseases.

Background: Neuropsychological comparisons between patients with mild cognitive impairment due to Parkinson's disease (MCI-PD) and Alzheimer's disease (MCI-AD) is mostly based on indirect comparison of patients with these disorders and normal controls (NC).

Objective: The focus of this study was to make a direct comparison between patients with these diseases.

Methods: The study compared 13 patients with MCI-PD and 19 patients with MCI-AD with similar age, education and gender.

Hippocampal Subfield Atrophy in Multi-Domain but Not Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment.

Background/aims: To investigate differences in hippocampal (HP) subfields and the adjoining perirhinal and entorhinal cortices (PRC and ERC) between amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) and multi-domain amnestic MCI (mdMCI) patients, and controls.

Methods: Nineteen patients characterized as aMCI were compared with 24 mdMCI patients and 31 controls by means of an automatic HP segmentation procedure.

Results: We found significant atrophy of the PRC and ERC in aMCI relative to controls, whereas a more pronounced pattern of atrophy in most subfields, including total HP volume, was found in the mdMCI group.

The Combination of Dysexecutive and Amnestic Deficits Strongly Predicts Conversion to Dementia in Young Mild Cognitive Impairment Patients: A Report from the Gothenburg-Oslo MCI Study.

Background/aims: The present study aimed to add to the knowledge of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) by studying the prognosis in a relatively young cohort of patients characterized by neuropsychological criteria.

Methods: PATIENTS (MEAN AGE: 63 years) with cognitive complaints and MCI (n = 302) were recruited from two university clinics and followed for 2 years.

Results: Pure dysexecutive MCI occurred in 11.

Increased theta and alpha EEG activity during nondirective meditation.

Objectives: In recent years, there has been significant uptake of meditation and related relaxation techniques, as a means of alleviating stress and maintaining good health. Despite its popularity, little is known about the neural mechanisms by which meditation works, and there is a need for more rigorous investigations of the underlying neurobiology. Several electroencephalogram (EEG) studies have reported changes in spectral band frequencies during meditation inspired by techniques that focus on concentration, and in comparison much less has been reported on mindfulness and nondirective techniques that are proving to be just as popular.