Neurocognitive profile of a man with Dandy-Walker malformation: Evidence of subtle cerebellar cognitive affective syndrome.

The Dandy-Walker Malformation (DWM) is a congenital birth malformation that is characterized by a triad of features: cerebellar dysgenesis, cystic dilation of the fourth ventricle, and an enlarged posterior fossa that displaces the dural sinuses and the tentorium. Despite this defining triad, clinical presentation can be highly heterogeneous in part due to severity of structural changes. To date, there been limited consideration of cognitive-behavioral symptoms of DWM in relation to nonmotor functions of the cerebellum, specifically cerebellar cognitive affective syndrome (CCAS).

A tale of two stories: Validity of an alternative story memory test in a sample of older adults.

: Many patients require repeat neuropsychological evaluations to determine change over time. Repeat evaluations lead to practice effects, which can impact the validity of the assessment. The current study assessed, in older adults, the validity of an alternative set of verbal memory stories created by Newcomer and colleagues.

Emotion modulation of the startle reflex in essential tremor: Blunted reactivity to unpleasant and pleasant pictures.

Background: Essential tremor is a highly prevalent movement disorder characterized by kinetic tremor and mild cognitive-executive changes. These features are commonly attributed to abnormal cerebellar changes, resulting in disruption of cerebellar-thalamo-cortical networks. Less attention has been paid to alterations in basic emotion processing in essential tremor, despite known cerebellar-limbic interconnectivity.

Mood Differences Among Parkinson's Disease Patients With Mild Cognitive Impairment.

Studies with healthy elderly adults suggest that apathy, depression, and anxiety are more common among individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). This study examined differences in mood/amotivational symptoms among patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) with and without MCI. Patients with PD (N=214) underwent neurocognitive evaluations including assessment of apathy (Apathy Scale), depression (Beck Depression Inventory-II), and trait anxiety (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory trait scale).

Post-exercise pulse pressure is a better predictor of executive function than pre-exercise pulse pressure in cognitively normal older adults.

Exercise "stress tests" are widely used to assess cardiovascular function and to detect abnormalities. In line with the view of exercise as a stressor, the present study examined the relationship between cognitive function and cardiovascular activity before and after light physical exercise in a sample of 84 non-demented community-dwelling older adults. Based on known relationships between hypertension, executive function and cerebral white matter changes, we hypothesized that greater post-exercise reactivity, as indexed by higher pulse pressure, would be more related to worse performance on frontal-executive tasks than pre-exercise physiologic measures.

"Global" visual training and extent of transfer in amblyopic macaque monkeys.

Perceptual learning is gaining acceptance as a potential treatment for amblyopia in adults and children beyond the critical period. Many perceptual learning paradigms result in very specific improvement that does not generalize beyond the training stimulus, closely related stimuli, or visual field location. To be of use in amblyopia, a less specific effect is needed.

The cognition and emotional well-being indices of the Parkinson's disease questionnaire-39: what do they really measure?

Introduction: The Parkinson's disease questionnaire-39 (PDQ-39) is a common measure of health related quality of life (HRQoL) that is widely used with Parkinson disease (PD) patients. Previous evidence suggests that the PDQ-39 reflects at least 8 dimensions (i.e.

Anxiety and Depression Are Better Correlates of Parkinson's Disease Quality of Life Than Apathy.

Due to controversy regarding the influence of apathy on quality of life (QoL), the authors examined the independent influence of apathy, depression, and trait anxiety in a nondemented sample of patients with Parkinson disease (PD). Participants (N=107) completed standard self-report measures of QoL and mood/motivation. Analyses investigated the contribution of these measures and empirically derived factor scores on QoL.