The Value of Neuropsychological Assessment in the Differentiation Between Behavioral Variant Frontotemporal Dementia and Late-Onset Psychiatric Disorders.

Objective: To investigate which neuropsychological tests can discriminate between behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) and psychiatric disorders presenting with similar late-onset frontal behavioral changes, such as apathy, disinhibition, reduced empathy, or compulsive behavior.

Methods: Patients presenting with frontal behavioral changes in middle or late adulthood received extensive baseline examinations, including neuropsychological assessment and brain imaging. After 2 years, examinations were repeated and patients were diagnosed according to DSM-IV or international bvFTD consensus criteria.

Subjective Cognitive Impairment Cohort (SCIENCe): study design and first results.

Background: We aimed to describe the Subjective Cognitive Impairment Cohort (SCIENCe) study design, to cross-sectionally describe participant characteristics, and to evaluate the SCD-plus criteria.

Methods: The SCIENCe is a prospective cohort study of subjective cognitive decline (SCD) patients. Participants undergo extensive assessment, including cerebrospinal fluid collection and optional amyloid positron emission tomography scan, with annual follow-up.

A more randomly organized grey matter network is associated with deteriorating language and global cognition in individuals with subjective cognitive decline.

Objectives: Grey matter network disruptions in Alzheimer's disease (AD) are associated with worse cognitive impairment cross-sectionally. Our aim was to investigate whether indications of a more random network organization are associated with longitudinal decline in specific cognitive functions in individuals with subjective cognitive decline (SCD).

Experimental Design: We included 231 individuals with SCD who had annually repeated neuropsychological assessment (3 ± 1 years; n = 646 neuropsychological investigations) available from the Amsterdam Dementia Cohort (54% male, age: 63 ± 9, MMSE: 28 ± 2).

Thinner cortex in patients with subjective cognitive decline is associated with steeper decline of memory.

We aimed to investigate associations between regional cortical thickness and rate of decline over time in 4 cognitive domains in patients with subjective cognitive decline (SCD). We included 233 SCD patients with the total number of 654 neuropsychological assessments (median = 3, range = 2-8) and available baseline magnetic resonance imaging from the Amsterdam Dementia Cohort (125 males, age: 63 ± 9, Mini-Mental State Examination score: 28 ± 2). We assessed longitudinal cognitive functioning at baseline and follow-up in 4 cognitive domains (composite Z-scores): memory, attention, executive function, and language.

COMT Val(158)Met genotype and cannabis use in people with an At Risk Mental State for psychosis: Exploring Gene x Environment interactions.

Background: Epidemiological and retrospective studies suggest a cannabis x catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) Val(158)Met interaction effect on development of psychosis. The aim of this study was to examine this interaction and its association with severity of subclinical symptoms in people with an At Risk Mental State (ARMS) for psychosis.

Methods: Severity of symptoms, cannabis use and genotype were assessed at baseline in 147 help-seeking young adults who met the ARMS criteria and agreed to participate in the Dutch Early Detection and Intervention (EDIE-NL) trial.

[Deep brain stimulation for psychiatric disorders].

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a treatment using implanted electrodes to deliver electrical pulses to targeted areas of the brain. DBS holds great promise in psychiatry for the treatment of patients with treatment-resistant obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression and Gilles de la Tourette syndrome. Double-blind and open trials have shown that the treatment is effective in about half of these patients.