Cortical brain volume abnormalities associated with few or multiple neuropsychiatric symptoms in Alzheimer's disease.

New research on assessing neuropsychiatric manifestations of Alzheimer´s Disease (AD) involves grouping neuropsychiatric symptoms into syndromes. Yet this approach is limited by high inter-subject variability in neuropsychiatric symptoms and a relatively low degree of concordance across studies attempting to cluster neuropsychiatric symptoms into syndromes. An alternative strategy that involves dichotomizing AD subjects into those with few versus multiple neuropsychiatric symptoms is both consonant with real-world clinical practice and can contribute to understanding neurobiological underpinnings of neuropsychiatric symptoms in AD patients.

Combined instruments for the screening of dementia in older people with low education.

Objective: To determine which combination of cognitive tests and informant reports can improve the diagnostic accuracy of dementia screening in low educated older people.

Method: Patients with mild to moderate dementia (n=34) according to ICD-10 and DSM-III-R criteria and 59 older controls were assessed with the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the Fuld Object Memory Evaluation (FOME). Informants were assessed using the Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly and the Bayer-Activities of Daily Living Scale.

Performance of Brazilian long and short IQCODE on the screening of dementia in elderly people with low education.

Background: Dementia screening in elderly people with low education can be difficult to implement. For these subjects, informant reports using the long (L) (26 items) and short (C) (16 items) versions of the Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly (IQCODE) can be useful. The objective of the present study was to investigate the performance of Brazilian versions of the IQCODE L, S and a new short version (SBr) (15 items) in comparison with the Mini-mental State Examination (MMSE) for dementia screening in elderly people with low education.

Estimate of dementia prevalence in a community sample from São Paulo, Brazil.

Aims: To estimate dementia prevalence and describe the etiology of dementia in a community sample from the city of São Paulo, Brazil.

Methods: A sample of subjects older than 60 years was screened for dementia in the first phase. During the second phase, the diagnostic workup included a structured interview, physical and neurological examination, laboratory exams, a brain scan, and DSM-IV criteria diagnosis.

Proton spectroscopy in Alzheimer's disease and cognitive impairment no dementia: a community-based study.

Objective: To describe the findings of proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy ((1)H-MRS) in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and cognitive impairment, no dementia (CIND) elderly from a community-based sample.

Methods: Thirteen patients with AD, 12 with CIND and 15 normal individuals were evaluated. The (1)H-MRS was performed in the right temporal, left parietal and medial occipital regions studying the metabolites N-acetylaspartate (NAA), creatine (Cr), choline (Cho) and myoinositol (mI).

Prevalence of cognitive and functional impairment in a community sample from São Paulo, Brazil.

Aims: To present the prevalence of cognitive and functional impairment (CFI) in community-dwelling elderly subjects from the city of São Paulo.

Methods: The population was aged 60 years and older (n = 1,563; 68.7% women and 31.

The Bayer: Activities of Daily Living Scale (B-ADL) in the differentiation between mild to moderate dementia and normal aging.

Objectives: To investigate the applicability of the Bayer - Activities of Daily Living scale and its efficiency in differentiating individuals with mild to moderate dementia from normal elderly controls.

Method: We selected 33 patients with diagnosis of mild to severe dementia, according to ICD-10 criteria, and 59 controls. All the subjects were evaluated with the Mini-Mental State Examination and the Clinical Dementia Rating Scale and the Bayer - Activities of Daily Living scale was applied to informants.

Prevalence of cognitive and functional impairment in a community sample in Ribeirão Preto, Brazil.

Objective: This study aimed at estimating the prevalence of cognitive and functional impairment (CFI) in a community sample in Ribeirão Preto, Brazil, evaluating its distribution in relation to various socio-demographic and clinical factors.

Methods: The population was a representative sample aged 60 and older, from three different socio-economic classes. Cluster sampling was applied.

Neuropsychiatric symptoms in Alzheimer disease and cognitively impaired, nondemented elderly from a community-based sample in Brazil: prevalence and relationship with dementia severity.

Objectives: The objectives of this study were to describe the prevalence of neuropsychiatric symptoms of dementia in Alzheimer disease (AD) and cognitively impaired nondemented (CIND) subjects from a community-based Brazilian sample and to correlate these symptoms with severity of cognitive deficits.

Method: A total of 1,563 randomly selected subjects were evaluated with the following screening tests: Mini-Mental Status Examination, Fuld Object Memory Evaluation, Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly, and Activities of Daily Living-International Scale. Screen positives were submitted to a workup for dementia, physical and neurologic examination, cranial computed tomography or cerebral magnetic resonance imaging, the Cambridge Examination for Mental Disorders, Clinical Dementia Rating Scale (CDR), and the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI).

[Proton spectroscopy in Alzheimer's disease and cognitive impairment not dementia: a community study].

Objective: To describe the proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-ERM) data in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Cognitive Impairment Not Dementia (CIND) in a community sample.

Method: We investigated subjects with AD (n=6), CIND (n=7) and normal control (n=7). 1H-ERM was performed with single voxel (8 cm3) placed in temporal, parietal and occipital regions and studied metabolites were: N-acetylaspartate (NAA), creatine (Cr), choline (Cho) and myo-inositol (mI).

[Combined instruments on the evaluation of dementia in the elderly: preliminary results].

Objective: To determine if a functional scale combined with a cognitive test would improve the diagnostic accuracy of dementia.

Method: Thirty patients with mild to moderate dementia, diagnosed according to ICD-10 and DSM-III-R criteria, and 46 elderly controls, divided into three groups according to their socioeconomic status and educational level (high, medium and low) were investigated. The subjects were assessed with the MMSE, and their informants were assessed with the scales IQCODE and B-ADL.

Volumetric evidence of a left laterality effect in epileptic psychosis.

We investigated anatomic alterations and lateralization effect in the mesial temporal lobe structures (amygdala and hippocampus) in epileptic psychosis MRI volumetric measurements. Patients with epileptic psychosis and normal controls were studied. Left hippocampus values were significantly smaller for patients (P<0.

Clinical aspects of epileptic psychosis in Brazil.

We investigated a series of patients with epileptic psychosis in Brazil and compared our findings with those of other authors. We evaluated 38 outpatients with epileptic psychosis with a semistructured clinical interview, Annett inventory for hand dominance, international classifications for seizures and syndromes, and DSM-IV for psychosis diagnoses. We studied course and outcome for epilepsy and psychosis.

[Reliability of volumetric measures of mesial temporal structures].

Rationale: The development of reliable techniques for volumetric measurement of mesial temporal structures (amygdala, hippocampus and parahippocampal gyrus) on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can provide data for the study of neuropsychiatric disorders, mainly temporal lobe epilepsy, Alzheimer's disease and schizophrenia.

Method: We investigated these techniques performing intraobserver and interobserver reliability study concerning normal controls, epilepsy and Alzheimer's disease patients using the intra-class correlation coefficient.

Results: Intra-observer reliability of evaluated structures ranged from 0.