Cognitive Component Structure of a Neuropsychological Battery Administered to Cognitively-Normal Adults in the SIU Longitudinal Cognitive Aging Study.

We used principal component analysis (PCA) to examine the component structure of a neuropsychological test battery administered to 943 cognitively-normal adults enrolled in the Southern Illinois University (SIU) Longitudinal Cognitive Aging Study (LCAS). Four components explaining the most variance (63.9%) in the dataset were identified: speed/cognitive flexibility, visuospatial skills, word-list learning/memory, and story memory.

Many caregivers of persons with memory loss or Alzheimer's disease are unaware of the abilities of their persons with AD to recall their drugs and medical histories.

Background: Caregiver awareness of the abilities of those they care for has much practical importance, especially from the safety standpoint.

Objectives: To determine whether the caregivers of persons with memory impairment or Alzheimer's disease know if their persons are able to recall their own drugs and medical histories.

Method: Persons with prodromal or probable AD (persons with AD) and their caregivers who were visiting our medical school's neurology and internal medicine clinics for routine follow-up care were recruited on the days of their appointments.

The inability of older adults to recall their drugs and medical conditions.

Background/objectives: Previous research has shown that many older adults without known cognitive impairment are unable to recall basic knowledge about their medical history. We sought to determine whether older adult patients in our own clinic population were able to recall their drug regimens and medical conditions from memory.

Methods: Patients aged 65 years or older with no known cognitive impairment, dementia, or memory loss who were presenting for routine outpatient follow-up in our medical school neurology and general medicine clinics were recruited.

Using the telephone to call for help and caregiver awareness in Alzheimer disease.

We assessed the ability of 73 patients with Alzheimer disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) from our outpatient clinic to demonstrate how they would use the telephone to call for help in case of an emergency. We also assessed their caregivers' awareness of their abilities. Overall, 44% of the patients did not demonstrate how to call for help correctly if they had no written telephone number to call, and 18% did not when they had a written number.

Knowledge of personal information and caregiver awareness in Alzheimer's disease.

We assessed the ability of 73 patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) to recall important personal information like their names, their caregivers 'names, their addresses, and their telephone numbers. We also assessed their caregivers' awareness of their abilities. There was an association between the abilities of the patients and their Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE) scores, with the patients with the lowest MMSE scores making the most errors.

Reversible dementia: a case of cryptococcal meningitis masquerading as Alzheimer's disease.

A 70-year-old man presented to us in 1994 with a three-year history of worsening dementia. With the exceptions of a Mini-Mental State exam score of 20 and an inability to tandem walk, his physical and neurological examinations were normal. His past medical history revealed that in 1992 he had been evaluated at another institution for memory impairment and bifrontal headaches.

The clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease without the use of head imaging studies. A cliniconeuropathological study.

Although head imaging studies are frequently used in the work-up of dementia, published criteria for the clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) do not require them. Since our brain bank contains cases in which physicians had specifically diagnosed AD without using a head imaging study, we thought it of interest to investigate the accuracy of their clinical diagnoses. We retrospectively reviewed 911 consecutive dementia cases for those clinically diagnosed as either AD or senile dementia (SD).

Delivery of Nerve Growth Factor to the Brain via the Olfactory Pathway.

Purpose: To assess the potential of delivering nerve growth factor (NGF) to the brain along the olfactory neural pathway for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. Methods: Recombinant human NGF (rhNGF) was given as nose drops to anesthetized rats. The rhNGF concentrations in the brain were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).

The Mini-Mental State exam may help in the differentiation of dementia with Lewy bodies and Alzheimer's disease.

Objective: Since patients with dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) tend to have greater impairment of attention and construction and better memory ability on neuropsychological tests than patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), we determined if the items that measure attention, memory, and construction in the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) help to distinguish DLB from AD early in the course of the dementia.

Design: We retrospectively studied the first available MMSE exam for each of our patients with DLB or AD and compared their MMSE subscores for attention, memory, and construction.

Setting: A university dementia brain bank in central Illinois, USA.