Higher levels of thyroxine may predict a favorable response to donepezil treatment in patients with Alzheimer disease: a prospective, case-control study.

Background: Cholinergic hypothesis has been advanced as an etiology of Alzheimer disease (AD) on the basis of the presynaptic deficit found in the diseased brains, and cholinesterase inhibitors (ChEIs) are the treatment of choice for these patients. However, only about half of treatment efficacy was found. Because increasing evidence supports an extensive interrelationship between thyroid hormones (THs), cortisol level and the cholinergic system, the aim of the present study was to evaluate thyroid function and cortisol level in patients with mild to moderate AD before and after ChEIs treatment, and to identify possible variations in response.

Four Night Shifts Have a Degree of Performance Adaptation.

Objective: In this case control study, we investigated the process of adaptation to night shift (NS) work and recovery back to a day schedule among nurses working a fast-rotation three-shift schedule.

Background: There is limited knowledge of how specific patterns of a fast-rotation shift affect nurses' performance.

Method: The cognitive performance of off-duty nurses (OD; n = 21), those working the first night of an NS (1NS; n = 21) and the last night of two ( n = 21), three ( n = 20), and four (4NS; n = 21) successive NSs were compared.

Is one day off sufficient for re-adaptation to a daytime routine after two consecutive nights of work?

Fast rotation three-shift working schedules are common in the medical field in Taiwan. This study investigated whether 24 h off is sufficient for re-adaptation to a daytime routine after working two night shifts (NSs) by comparing changes in cognitive function, anxiety state and objectively measured sleep propensity between those working two NSs followed by 24 h off (n = 21, 2NS-off) and an off-duty group (n = 21, OD). The results showed that nurses in the 2NS-off group were less alert and had decreased visual attention performance and executive function ability than the OD group during the daytime.

Rotating night shifts too quickly may cause anxiety and decreased attentional performance, and impact prolactin levels during the subsequent day: a case control study.

Background: We investigated circadian changes and effects on mood, sleep-related hormones and cognitive performance when nurses worked consecutive night shifts in a rapidly rotating shift system. Daytime cognitive function, sleep propensity and sleep-related hormones (growth hormone, cortisol, prolactin, thyrotropin) were compared after participants worked two and four consecutive night shifts.

Methods: Twenty-three off-duty nurses, 20 nurses working two consecutive night shifts and 16 nurses working four consecutive night shifts were enrolled.

Parallel improvement of cognitive functions and P300 latency following donepezil treatment in patients with Alzheimer's disease: a case-control study.

Purpose: To evaluate the effect of donepezil, one of the cholinesterase inhibitors, on P300 measurements in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and investigate the relationship between the subfactors of cognitive performance and P300 components.

Methods: One hundred outpatients with AD were evaluated for cognitive function (cognitive ability screening instrument) and event-related potentials before and after 22 to 23 weeks of treatment with donepezil (5 mg/day). Twenty age-matched normal control subjects were recruited.

Factors related with the ability to maintain wakefulness in the daytime after fast and forward rotating shifts.

The aim of this study was to explore changes in cognitive function, sleep propensity, and sleep-related hormones (growth hormone, cortisol, prolactin, and thyrotropin) and to investigate the factors related to the ability to maintain wakefulness in the daytime after one block of fast forward rotating shift work (2 days, 2 evenings, and 2 nights). Twenty female nurses (mean age: 26.0 ± 2.

Nurses working on fast rotating shifts overestimate cognitive function and the capacity of maintaining wakefulness during the daytime after a rotating shift.

Objectives: The objective of our study was to explore changes in cognitive functions, sleep propensity, and sleep-related hormones (growth hormone [GH], cortisol, prolactin [PRL], thyrotropin [TSH]) in the daytime of nurses working on fast rotating shifts.

Methods: Twenty nurses who worked two consecutive night shifts and 23 off-duty nurses were recruited from an acute psychiatric ward. The maintenance of wakefulness test (MWT), Stanford sleepiness scale (SSS), visual attention tasks, Wisconsin card sorting test (WCST), multiple sleep latency test (MSLT), and measuring hormones were administered four times throughout the daytime at 2-hour intervals.