Neuropsychological assessment of cognitive function in chronic alcohol-dependent patients and patients with Alzheimer's disease.

Background: Heavy and chronic alcohol dependence and Alzheimer's disease may share some neuropsychological characteristics.

Patients And Methods: The pattern of neuropsychological characteristics of 33 alcohol-dependent patients who reported memory disturbances were evaluated and compared to the neuropsychological performance of 38 patients with mild-stage Alzheimer's disease and 73 healthy subjects, serving as controls. Alcohol-dependent patients were examined with tools concerning the pattern of alcohol abuse and problems related to alcohol consumption.

Preliminary report of a validation study of Instrumental Activities of Daily Living in a Greek sample.

To validate the Instrumental Activities of Daily Living in Greek, 44 men (M age=70.5 yr., SD=7.

Oxidative damage to plasma proteins in patients with chronic alcohol dependence: the effect of smoking.

Background: Accumulating evidence implicates oxidative stress in ethanol-induced toxicity. Ethanol has been reported to be involved in oxidative damage, mostly in vitro, or in post mortem tissues, while biochemical abnormalities in the blood or serum are scanty or lacking. The aim of the present study was to examine the oxidative status of plasma proteins as markers of oxidative stress in subjects with chronic alcohol dependence (CAD).

The diagnostic value of cerebrospinal fluid tau protein in dementing and nondementing neuropsychiatric disorders.

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) total tau protein (tauT) is increased in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and may be of some help in the diagnostic work-up of demented patients. The aim of the present study was to investigate the diagnostic aid and the additional help (over that of clinical criteria) of tauT in different clinical situations. Double-sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to quantify tauT in 61 healthy controls and 241 patients with various neuropsychiatric diseases.

Neuropsychological correlates of Greek alcoholic patients who report memory disturbances.

We studied 40 male and 37 female (M age=63 yr.) Greek alcoholic patients and an equal number of control subjects. Both groups were evaluated with the Mini-Mental State Examination, the Syndrome Short Test, the Verbal Fluency Test (Category & Letter), the Clock Test, and the Digit Span (Forward and Backward from the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised).

Thyroid function in patients with Alzheimer's disease treated with cholinesterase inhibitors.

The aim of the present study was to explore a possible interplay between cholinesterase inhibitors (ChEIs) and thyroid function tests (TFTs) in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). We reviewed thyroid function tests in 19 patients with AD before and after treatment (Rx) with ChEIs. Immunoradiometric assays were used for measuring serum thyrotropin, free thyroxin (FT4) and free triiodothyronine (FT3).

Smoking related to anxiety and depression in Greek medical staff.

We assessed the relation of anxiety and depression to smoking behavior in a sample of 80 physicians and surgeons, using the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Scale and the Beck Depression Inventory. 27 doctors were nonsmokers, 14 were former smokers, and 39 were current smokers. Current smokers showed significantly higher Anxiety and Depression scores compared to nonsmokers and former smokers, while the latter presented significantly lower Anxiety scores than nonsmokers.