Cerebrovascular complications of L-asparaginase therapy in children with leukemia: aphasia and other neuropsychological deficits.

Children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), treated with L-asparaginase are at risk for cerebral thrombosis or hemorrhage because of coagulation protein deficiencies. The results and the importance of serial neuropsychological examinations after such complications in three children with ALL are presented. All patients showed marked aphasia and other cognitive deficits.

Head trauma and the risk of Alzheimer's disease.

A population-based case-control study of the association between head trauma and Alzheimer's disease was conducted in the Netherlands from 1980 to 1987. The study comprised 198 patients with clinically diagnosed early onset Alzheimer's disease and 198 age- and sex-matched population controls. Adjusted for sex, age, family history of dementia, and education, the odds ratio of a history of head trauma with loss of consciousness was 1.

[The Dutch Reading Test for Adults: a measure of premorbid intelligence level].

The construction of the Dutch Adult Reading Test (DART) is described. The DART is the Dutch version of the National Adult Reading Test. Both tests consist of a series of words with an irregular pronunciation.

Is parental age related to the risk of Alzheimer's disease?

Advanced maternal and paternal age were investigated as putative risk factors for AD in 198 clinically diagnosed Alzheimer patients and in 198 randomly selected healthy controls. No significant differences in average age of fathers and of mothers at birth of the subject were observed. The risk of AD was not significantly different across categories of maternal and paternal age.

History of dementia and Parkinson's disease in 1st-degree relatives of patients with Alzheimer's disease.

We assessed the family history of dementia and Parkinson's disease in 198 Dutch patients with Alzheimer's disease diagnosed before the age of 70 years, and in 198 age- and sex-matched healthy population controls. Of the Alzheimer patients, 48% had at least 1 1st-degree relative with dementia, compared with 19% of the controls. There were 24 patients and 1 control with 2 or more 1st-degree relatives with dementia, yielding a relative risk of 40.