Retrograde memory in cerebrovascular disease and Alzheimer's disease.

Retrograde memory is frequently tested in the mental status examination of patients with stroke or degenerative dementia. The goal of this experiment was to compare gradients of retrograde memory in patients without neurologic disease (n = 26), patients with cerebrovascular disease (n = 43), and patients with probable Alzheimer's disease (n = 27). Patients were asked to recall and then name photographs of the 6 most recent US presidents.

Constructional ability in two- versus three-dimensions: relationship to spatial vision and locus of cerebrovascular lesion.

Introduction: Clinical evaluation and research on constructional ability have come to rely almost exclusively on two-dimensional tasks such as graphomotor copying or mosaic Block Design (BD). A return to the inclusion of a third dimension in constructional tests may increase the spatial demands of the task, and improve understanding of the relationship between visual perception and constructional ability in patients with cerebral disease.

Method: Subjects were patients (n=43) with focal or multifocal cerebrovascular lesions as determined by CT or MRI.

Single photon emission computerized tomography (SPECT) in detecting neurodegeneration in Huntington's disease.

Single photon emission computerized tomography (SPECT) studies were performed on 34 manifest Huntington's disease (HD) patients at various stages of clinical pathology ranging from early chorea to late dystonia with or without signs of dementia and 12 pre-symptomatic patients with abnormal terminal CAG expansions. Thirty HD patients with obvious clinical signs and seven pre-symptomatic patients without signs or symptoms of HD displayed selective caudate hypoperfusion by direct visual inspection. Such qualitative, selective striatal hypoperfusion patterns can be indicative of early and persistent metabolic changes in striatal neuropathology.

DNA testing and genetic counseling: truth or consequences.

Advances in medical genetics are providing a major clinical challenge to practitioners seeing patients concerned about their risk of developing either inherited disease or susceptibility to acquired disease. Popular information can easily exceed our professional ability to provide services to well-read patients who want answers with scientific certainty. The challenge also involves ethical questions regarding confidentiality and the way that results are disclosed.

Visuospatial judgment and right hemisphere disease.

The performances of patients with stroke-produced unilateral hemispheric lesions on a test requiring the identification of lines were examined in the light of a recent report that contradicted previous observations. The study confirmed the results of earlier studies that patients with lesions of the right hemisphere show a remarkably high frequency of defective performances while those with lesions of the left hemisphere do not. Possible reasons for findings that deviate from this rule are discussed.