Association of Menopause With Functional Outcomes and Disease Biomarkers in Women With Multiple Sclerosis.

Background And Objective: The impact of menopause on the brain is not well understood. Hormonal changes, including puberty and pregnancy, influence the onset and course of multiple sclerosis (MS). After menopause, a worsening of MS disease trajectory measured on the clinician-rated Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) was reported in some, but not all, studies.

The contribution of behavioral features to caregiver burden in FTLD spectrum disorders.

Introduction: Caregivers of patients with frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) spectrum disorders experience tremendous burden, which has been associated with the neuropsychiatric and behavioral features of the disorders.

Methods: In a sample of 558 participants with FTLD spectrum disorders, we performed multiple-variable regressions to identify the behavioral features that were most strongly associated with caregiver burden, as measured by the Zarit Burden Interview, at each stage of disease.

Results: Apathy and disinhibition, as rated by both clinicians and caregivers, as well as clinician-rated psychosis, showed the strongest associations with caregiver burden, a pattern that was consistent when participants were separated cross-sectionally by disease stage.

Frontal Pole Hypometabolism Linked to Reduced Prosocial Sexual Behaviors in Frontotemporal Dementia and Corticobasal Syndrome.

Background: Changes in sexual behaviors in frontotemporal dementia (FTD) are common and multifaceted, but not well characterized.

Objective: To characterize changes in sexual behaviors and intimacy in FTD compared to corticobasal syndrome (CBS) and normal controls (NC), and to evaluate the neuroanatomical associations of these changes.

Methods: Spouses of 30 FTD patients, 20 CBS patients, and 35 NC completed the Sexual Symptoms in Neurological Illness and Injury Questionnaire (SNIQ), which captures changes in sexual interest, inappropriate sexual behaviors, and prosocial sexual behaviors.

Links Between the C9orf72 Repeat Expansion and Psychiatric Symptoms.

Purpose Of Review: To present recent findings on the links between the C9orf72 expansion and psychiatric impairment.

Recent Findings: Repeat hexanucleotide expansions in the C9orf72 gene are a cause of familial frontotemporal dementia (FTD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and the mixed phenotype, FTD-ALS. Symptomatic expansion carriers display higher rates of psychotic and other psychiatric symptoms than non-carriers.

Establishing dimensionality of sexual behaviours in patients with regional brain dysfunction.

Objective: To develop a validated, caregiver-based measurement scale to assess sexual changes across several domains in a sample of 86 patients with penetrating traumatic brain injury (TBI) and 65 patients with neurodegeneration due to frontotemporal dementia and corticobasal syndrome.

Methods: A new measure, the Sexual Symptoms in Neurological Illness and Injury Questionnaire (SNIQ), was constructed. Dimensionality, monotonicity, item discrimination power, and scalability were evaluated using nonparametric Mokken item response theory (IRT) methodology.

Psychiatric symptoms in preclinical behavioural-variant frontotemporal dementia in mutation carriers.

Objective: To characterise psychiatric symptoms in preclinical and early behavioural-variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD), a neurodegenerative disorder whose symptoms overlap with and are often mistaken for psychiatric illness.

Methods: The present study reports findings from a systematic, global, prospective evaluation of psychiatric symptoms in 12 preclinical carriers of pathogenic mutations, not yet meeting bvFTD diagnostic criteria, and 46 familial non-carrier controls. Current psychiatric symptoms, informant-reported symptoms and lifetime prevalence of psychiatric disorders were assessed with The Structured Clinical Interview for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) and the Neuropsychiatric Inventory Questionnaire.

Modulating what is and what could have been: The effect of transcranial direct current stimulation on the evaluation of attained and unattained decision outcomes.

The affective evaluation of decision outcomes, whether attained (e.g., disappointment) or based on the conscious realization that a decision made differently would have led to a better or worse outcome (e.