Clinical factors that predict cognitive function in patients with major depression.

Objectives: To compare the performance of depressed patients to healthy control subjects on discrete cognitive domains derived from factor analysis and to examine the factors that may influence the performance of depressed patients on cognitive domains in a large sample.

Methods: We compared the cognitive performance of 149 patients with major depression to 104 healthy control subjects using multivariate ANCOVA. We used principal component factor analysis to group the cognitive variables into cognitive domains.

Cognitive dysfunction and antiphospholipid antibodies in systemic lupus erythematosus.

Nervous system involvement in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is typically diagnosed on the basis of clinical psychiatric and/or neurologic syndromes (NPSLE). Neuropsychological tests can be used to assess nervous system integrity even in the absence of major NP syndromes. Their application has uncovered significant cognitive dysfunction, ranging from mild to severe, in a sizeable proportion of SLE patients irrespective of clinical NP status.

How "soft" are soft neurological signs? The relationship of subjective neuropsychiatric complaints to cognitive function in systemic lupus erythematosus.

Objective: As part of a longitudinal study of cognitive function in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), we documented the range and frequency of subjective neurologic and/or psychiatric (NP) complaints in Never-NP-SLE patients, and related these to cognitive function, using the latter as a primary indicator of nervous system involvement.

Methods: Thirty patients with SLE who did not have major neurologic and psychiatric involvement underwent baseline and followup neuropsychological testing roughly 5 years apart. Within 0-13 months prior to retesting, each patient completed a 42 item questionnaire recording NP symptoms.

Reduced aggressiveness and low testosterone levels in autoimmune MRL-lpr males.

Autoimmune, lupus-prone MRL-lpr mice float excessively in the forced swim test, explore novel objects and places less, and show blunted responsiveness to palatable stimuli, which is consistent with the hypothesis that the development of chronic autoimmune disease alters emotional reactivity and/or motivation. The present study measures isolation-induced fighting, a model of "affective" aggression, in lupus-prone MRL-lpr and control MRL +/+ males. When compared with controls, autoimmune MRL-lpr mice show reduced aggressiveness, as evidenced by fewer fighting contacts, longer attack latency, shorter fighting episodes and shorter duration of fighting.

Cognition and mood in systemic lupus erythematosus. Evaluation and pathogenesis.

Cognitive dysfunction is frequent in SLE, probably related to primary underlying immune/inflammatory mechanisms operating in the brain. Longitudinal studies relating patterns of cognitive impairment to putative pathogenetic factors would provide evidence for this hypothesis. Such studies could also lead to more specific therapeutic interventions to ameliorate or reverse brain compromise in SLE.