Development of a word accentuation test for predicting cognitive performance in Portuguese-speaking populations.

The Word Accentuation Test (WAT) has been used to predict premorbid intelligence and cognitive performance in Spanish-speaking populations. It requires participants to read a list of words without the accent marks that indicate the stressed syllable. Label="OBJECTIVE">As Portuguese pronunciation is also strongly based on accent marks, our aim was to develop a Brazilian version of the WAT.

Decision-making profile in older adults: the influence of cognitive impairment, premorbid intelligence and depressive symptoms.

Objective: Decision-making (DM) is a component of executive functioning. DM is essential to make proper decisions regarding important life and health issues. DM can be impaired in cognitive disorders among older adults, but current literature is scarce.

Applicability of the Spoken Knowledge in Low Literacy Patients with Diabetes in Brazilian elderly.

Objective: To translate, adapt and evaluate the properties of a Brazilian Portuguese version of the Spoken Knowledge in Low Literacy Patients with Diabetes, which is a questionnaire that evaluate diabetes knowledge.

Methods: A cross-sectional study with type 2 diabetes patients aged ≥60 years, seen at a public healthcare organization in the city of Sao Paulo (SP). After the development of the Portuguese version, we evaluated the psychometrics properties and the association with sociodemographic and clinical variables.

Pro198Leu polymorphism affects the selenium status and GPx activity in response to Brazil nut intake.

Selenoproteins play important roles in antioxidant mechanisms, and are thus hypothesised to have some involvement in the pathology of certain types of dementia. Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) are both thought to involve impaired biological activity of certain selenoproteins. Previously, supplementation with a selenium-rich Brazil nut (Bertholletia excelsa) has shown potential in reducing cognitive decline in MCI patients, and could prove to be a safe and effective nutritional approach early in the disease process to slow decline.

Using temporal orientation, category fluency, and word recall for detecting cognitive impairment: the 10-point cognitive screener (10-CS).

Objectives: A screening strategy composed of three-item temporal orientation and three-word recall has been increasingly used for detecting cognitive impairment. However, the intervening task administered between presentation and recall has varied. We evaluated six brief tasks that could be useful as intervening distractors and possibly provide incremental accuracy: serial subtraction, clock drawing, category fluency, letter fluency, timed visual detection, and digits backwards.

Effects of Brazil nut consumption on selenium status and cognitive performance in older adults with mild cognitive impairment: a randomized controlled pilot trial.

Purpose: Oxidative stress is closely related to cognitive impairment, and the antioxidant system may be a potential therapeutic target to preserve cognitive function in older adults. Selenium plays an important antioxidant role through selenoproteins. This controlled trial aimed to investigate the antioxidant and cognitive effects of the consumption of Brazil nuts, the best selenium food source.

Vascular risk as a predictor of cognitive decline in a cohort of elderly patients with mild to moderate dementia.

Background/aims: The purpose of our study was to evaluate vascular risk factors and other clinical variables as predictors of cognitive and functional decline in elderly patients with mild to moderate dementia.

Methods: The clinical characteristics of 82 elderly patients (mean age 79.0 ± 5.

Functional health literacy and glycaemic control in older adults with type 2 diabetes: a cross-sectional study.

Objectives: To investigate the relationship between functional health literacy and glycaemic control in a sample of older patients with type 2 diabetes.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: A government-financed outpatient geriatric clinic in São Paulo, Brazil.

Effects of a non-focal plasticity protocol on apathy in moderate Alzheimer's disease: a randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled trial.

Background: Apathy is the most common neuropsychiatric symptom in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and it is associated with changes in prefrontal neural circuits involved with generation of voluntary actions. To date no effective treatment for apathy has been demonstrated.

Objective: We aimed to investigate the effects and safety of repetitive transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on apathy in moderate AD patients.

Estimating premorbid cognitive abilities in low-educated populations.

Objective: To develop an informant-based instrument that would provide a valid estimate of premorbid cognitive abilities in low-educated populations.

Methods: A questionnaire was drafted by focusing on the premorbid period with a 10-year time frame. The initial pool of items was submitted to classical test theory and a factorial analysis.

Characterizing spontaneously reported cognitive complaints: the development and reliability of a classification instrument.

Background: The characteristics and associated risks of spontaneously reported cognitive complaints have not been investigated due to the lack of a classification instrument.

Methods: In phase 1, a classification system with descriptive categories and cognitive domains was developed by experts through a modified Delphi technique. In phase 2, 180 elderly patients seeking medical attention for cognitive complaints provided free reports of their cognitive difficulties and each complaint was recorded verbatim.

Short Assessment of Health Literacy for Portuguese-speaking Adults.

Objective: To develop and validate a short health literacy assessment tool for Portuguese-speaking adults.

Methods: The Short Assessment of Health Literacy for Portuguese-speaking Adults is an assessment tool which consists of 50 items that assess an individual's ability to correctly pronounce and understand common medical terms. We evaluated the instrument's psychometric properties in a convenience sample of 226 Brazilian older adults.

Thalamic alexia with agraphia.

Alexia with agraphia is defined as an acquired impairment affecting reading and writing ability. It can be associated with aphasia, but can also occur as an isolated entity. This impairment has classically been associated with a left angular gyrus lesion In the present study, we describe a case involving a patient who developed alexia with agraphia and other cognitive deficits after a thalamic hemorrhage.

Criteria for the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease: Recommendations of the Scientific Department of Cognitive Neurology and Aging of the Brazilian Academy of Neurology.

This consensus prepared by the Scientific Department of Cognitive Neurology and Aging of the Brazilian Academy of Neurology is aimed at recommending new criteria for the diagnosis of dementia and Alzheimer's disease (AD) in Brazil. A revision was performed of the proposals of clinical and of research criteria suggested by other institutions and international consensuses. The new proposal for the diagnosis of dementia does not necessarily require memory impairment if the cognitive or behavioral compromise affects at least two of the following domains: memory, executive function, speech, visual-spatial ability and change in personality.

Impact of depressive symptoms in outcome of Alzheimer's disease.

Unlabelled: There is no consensus in the medical literature about the impact of depressive symptoms on the evolution of Alzheimer's disease (AD).

Objective: To compare the evolution of AD patients, with and without depressive symptoms, in terms of cognition, functionality and caregiver stress.

Methods: The study entailed 2 stages: an initial retrospective stage involving review of medical charts of patients with mild and moderate AD.

Effects of Tai Chi Chuan on cognition of elderly women with mild cognitive impairment.

Objective: To detect the effects of Tai Chi Chuan practice on the cognition of elderly subjects with Mild Cognitive Impairment.

Methods: This is a pilot study with 26 elderly patients (mean age of 74 years) with Mild Cognitive Impairment. The evaluation instruments were Subjective Memory Complaint Scale (SMC), Rivermead Behavioral Memory Test (RBMT) and Digit Span Forward and Backward (DSF and DSB) from the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS).

Cognitive impairment and driving: A review of the literature.

Although some drivers with mild dementia may continue to drive after the condition has been diagnosed, the ability to drive a motor vehicle safely is eventually lost as the disease progresses. Clinicians involved in dementia care are often asked to make an assessment on whether a patient is fit to drive, even though they often lack basic knowledge and formal training in this area. The purpose of this review was to identify the factors that may differentiate safe from unsafe drivers with cognitive impairment and to discuss management strategies.

Clinical conditions and memory complaints in outpatient elderly.

Unlabelled: Memory complaints are common in elderly, and may be associated with many clinical problems.

Objective: To identify clinical conditions and possible factors related to memory complaints in elderly outpatients presenting at a tertiary unit.

Methods: Patients with memory complaints and normal cognitive screening tests were submitted to clinical and laboratorial testing.

Testosterone profile in older men with Alzheimer's disease.

Unlabelled: Evidence suggests low testosterone levels in Alzheimer's disease.

Objectives: To compare testosterone levels between older men with and without Alzheimer's disease.

Methods: Fourteen men with Alzheimer's disease were compared with twenty eight men without dementia.

[Correlation between burden on caregiver and clinical characteristics of patients with dementia].

Objective: To verify the correlation between caregiver burden in dementia and characteristics of patients and caregivers.

Methods: Analysis of medical records. Patient data: socio-demographic characteristics, comorbidities, medications (previous and current), onset of diagnosis and symptoms, type of dementia and severity (cognitive impairment and functional abilities), behavioral disorders.

Comprehensive geriatric assessment in elderly outpatients with dementia.

Unlabelled: Dementia is a common disabling disease in the elderly. In such patients, general health conditions may worsen the functional decline and loss of autonomy. The Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment (CGA) is a validated and recommended instrument for multidimensional evaluation of the aged.

Prevalence of hearing impairment in patients with mild cognitive impairment.

Unlabelled: The correlation between hearing and cognition is well established in dementia, but not in mild cognitive impairment (MCI).

Objective: The aim of the present study was to define the prevalence of hearing impairment in elderly patients with MCI and in controls.

Methods: Twenty-nine patients with MCI and 24 control subjects were analyzed.