An itemized approach to assessing behavioral and psychological symptoms in dementia.

In an effort to obtain more detailed clinical information regarding behavioral and psychology symptoms in dementia, we submitted an existing, comprehensive measure of behavioral and psychology symptoms in dementia (Neuropsychiatric Inventory) to an alternate itemized scoring system. One hundred twenty-four caregivers of patients with dementia (mean Mini-Mental State Examination=22.6) rated the frequency of individual symptoms across all domains of the measure.

The influence of personal familiarity on object naming, knowledge, and use in dementia.

Reports of semantic dementia patients have shown more accurate identification and use for personal objects than unfamiliar analogs of the same objects (e.g., personal comb versus experimenter's comb) [Bozeat, S.

Everyday action in dementia: evidence for differential deficits in Alzheimer's disease versus subcortical vascular dementia.

The relationship between dementia diagnosis and everyday action (e.g., meal preparation, grooming) is not well understood.

The neuropsychological profile of alcohol-related dementia suggests cortical and subcortical pathology.

The neuropathology associated with chronic alcohol abuse varies across studies, though research suggests generalized reductions in cortical and subcortical grey and white matter. Neuropsychological findings also differ within the literature. The inconsistent findings with respect to the neuropathology and neurobehavior of patients with histories of alcohol abuse may be due, at least in part, to differing nosology and the highly variable inclusion/exclusion criteria employed by researchers.

Memory encoding and retrieval in frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

Memory encoding and retrieval strategies were assessed in patients with behavior-executive variant frontotemporal dementia (FTD), language variant FTD, and Alzheimer's disease (AD) using verbal and visuospatial supraspan learning tests. FTD patients obtained higher free recall, cued recall, and recognition scores than AD patients. Comparison of free recall scores with cued recall and recognition scores was similar in the 3 dementia groups.