Theory of mind impairment in patients with behavioural variant fronto-temporal dementia (bv-FTD) increases caregiver burden.

Background: Theory of mind (ToM), the capacity to infer the intention, beliefs and emotional states of others, is frequently impaired in behavioural variant fronto-temporal dementia patients (bv-FTDp); however, its impact on caregiver burden is unexplored.

Setting: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health.

Subjects: bv-FTDp (n = 28), a subgroup of their caregivers (n = 20) and healthy controls (n = 32).

The Gulf War era multiple sclerosis cohort: age and incidence rates by race, sex and service.

We characterize here a new nationwide incident cohort of multiple sclerosis from the US military-veteran population. This cohort provides an update to the only other US nationwide incidence study of multiple sclerosis performed during the 1970s. Medical records and data from the Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs for cases of multiple sclerosis who served in the military between 1990, the start of the Gulf War era, and 2007 and who were service-connected for this disorder by the Department of Veterans Affairs from 1990 on, were reviewed.

Damage to the left ventromedial prefrontal cortex impacts affective theory of mind.

Studies investigating theory of mind (ToM) abilities (i.e. ability to understand and predict others' mental states) have revealed that affective and cognitive functions play a significant role and that each of those functions are associated with distinct neural networks.

Regional brain atrophy and impaired decision making on the balloon analog risk task in behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia.

Objective: The goal of this study was 2-fold, first, to compare decision making in behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) patients and healthy adults using the Balloon Analog Risk Task (BART), and, second, to identify the regions of gray matter atrophy associated with bvFTD patients' BART performance.

Background: Stimulus-reinforcement learning is required to evaluate the results of previously chosen actions to improve future decisions. Although there is a well established literature suggesting altered decision making in FTD patients and data from lesion studies suggest orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) involvement in decision making, there is very little research looking at the brain correlates of decision making in FTD populations specifically.

Lower lateral orbitofrontal cortex density associated with more frequent exposure to television and movie violence in male adolescents.

The relationship between cortical grey matter density and media violence exposure in healthy male adolescents was investigated using voxel-based morphometry and the Childrens' Report of Exposure to Violence. Adolescents with more frequent exposure have lower left lateral orbitofrontal cortex density--a possible risk factor for altered socioemotional functioning.