Prevalence of mild behavioral impairment in mild cognitive impairment and subjective cognitive decline, and its association with caregiver burden.

Background: Mild behavioral impairment (MBI) describes later life acquired, sustained neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) in cognitively normal individuals or those with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), as an at-risk state for incident cognitive decline and dementia. We developed an operational definition of MBI and tested whether the presence of MBI was related to caregiver burden in patients with subjective cognitive decline (SCD) or MCI assessed at a memory clinic.

Methods: MBI was assessed in 282 consecutive memory clinic patients with SCD (n = 119) or MCI (n = 163) in accordance with the International Society to Advance Alzheimer's Research and Treatment - Alzheimer's Association (ISTAART-AA) research diagnostic criteria.

Prevalence of problem and pathological gambling in Parkinson's disease.

Pathological gambling (PG) has been identified in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) treated with dopamine agonists suggesting that dysregulation of brain dopaminergic activity may contribute to the development of gambling problems. The current study was undertaken to further establish the prevalence of problem and PG in patients with PD, identify any clinical correlates, and determine if psychiatric or substance use co-morbidity contributes to the increased prevalence of problem and PG. A cross-sectional survey of 140 serially recruited moderate to severe PD patients was undertaken utilizing the Canadian Problem Gambling Index, Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test, Drug Abuse Screening Test, Beck Depression Inventory, Beck Anxiety Inventory, and Mini-Mental State Exam augmented by chart review, completed over an 8 month period.

Pathological gambling associated with dopamine agonist use in restless legs syndrome.

Dopamine agonists (DA) have been associated with pathological gambling (PG) and other compulsive behaviors in Parkinson's disease (PD). Although these medications are used in other conditions, we are not aware of other reports of PG exclusive to treatment for idiopathic PD. We present a case of PG arising in the context of DA use for restless legs syndrome.

Brain neuroimaging in cannabis use: a review.

In this study, the authors systematically reviewed structural and functional neuroimaging studies of cannabis use. Structural abnormalities generally have not been identified with chronic use. Regular users demonstrate reciprocal changes in brain activity globally and in cerebellar and frontal regions.

Genetics and alcoholism: how close are we to potential clinical applications?

Rapid advancement of genetic knowledge has provided a wealth of data demonstrating a significant contribution of genes to the development of alcoholism but has suggested little in the way of clinical applicability. Twin and adoption studies suggest that 50% to 60% of the development of alcoholism is due to heritable factors, and linkage and association studies have identified chromosomal regions and individual genes that likely contribute to the development of this condition. Most of these genes are related to neurotransmitter systems and to alcohol metabolizing enzymes.

The smaller isoforms of ankyrin 3 bind to the p85 subunit of phosphatidylinositol 3'-kinase and enhance platelet-derived growth factor receptor down-regulation.

The Src homology 2 (SH2) domains of the p85 subunit of phosphatidylinositol 3'-kinase have been shown to bind to the tyrosine-phosphorylated platelet-derived growth factor receptor (PDGFR). Previously, we have demonstrated that p85 SH2 domains can also bind to the serine/threonine kinase A-Raf via a unique phosphorylation-independent interaction. In this report, we describe a new phosphotyrosine-independent p85 SH2-binding protein, ankyrin 3 (Ank3).

Cue-induced brain activity in pathological gamblers.

Background: Previous studies using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) have identified differential brain activity in healthy subjects performing gambling tasks and in pathological gambling (PG) subjects when exposed to motivational and emotional predecessors for gambling as well as during gambling or response inhibition tasks. The goal of the present study was to determine if PG subjects exhibit differential brain activity when exposed to visual gambling cues.

Methods: Ten male DSM-IV-TR PG subjects and 10 matched healthy control subjects underwent fMRI during visual presentations of gambling-related video alternating with video of nature scenes.