sodium-ethylxanthate and Cognition-Disorders

There is good evidence for sex differences in brain disease, and that oestrogen modulates brain development and ageing. For example, females are significantly more likely to suffer from Alzheimer's disease, depression and late-onset psychosis than are men. Moreover, hormone replacement therapy may reduce the rate of cognitive decline in post-menopausal women and reduce their risk of developing Alzheimer's disease (as compared to post-menopausal women who do not take hormone replacement therapy). The neurobiological basis of these differences in brain disease and ageing was unknown until relatively recently. In this chapter we discuss results of studies demonstrating that sex steroids (i) are crucial for development and ageing of brain regions affected in Alzheimer's disease; (ii) interact with neuronal networks and chemical systems at many different levels in brain, and (iii) affect mood and cognitive function in elderly women without Alzheimer's disease. The current literature supports the hypothesis that sex steroids can modulate brain ageing and provides a number of potential neurobiological explanations for the cognitive effects of hormone replacement therapy. There is only limited evidence that hormone replacement therapy is effective in women already suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Nonetheless, recent work may lead to new prevention strategies for age-related cognitive decline and brain diseases such as Alzheimer's disease.

Topics: Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Aging; Alzheimer Disease; Brain; Cognition Disorders; Estrogen Replacement Therapy; Female; Gonadal Steroid Hormones; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Middle Aged; Mood Disorders; Nerve Growth Factors; Postmenopause; Sex

During rehabilitation after stroke, evaluation and treatment are carried out for sensorimotor impairments such as hemiplegia or dysphagia, perceptual-cognitive impairments such as unilateral spatial neglect, disabilities such as dependence in activities of daily living, as well as various types of handicaps. Research into these problems is reviewed.

Topics: Activities of Daily Living; Aged; Cerebrovascular Disorders; Cognition Disorders; Deglutition Disorders; Follow-Up Studies; Hemiplegia; Humans; Middle Aged; Movement Disorders; Sex

Topics: Anxiety; Attitude to Health; Cognition Disorders; Depression; Female; Humans; Male; Neoplasms; Sex

Depression is associated with profound impairments in social functioning. Past research and theory suggests that these impairments may be related to a difficulty in the ability of depressed individuals to identify and decode others' social cues. However, the nature of this difficulty is equivocal. This investigation is the first to adopt a theory-of-mind framework to examine unipolar depressed individuals' ability to identify complex mental states from eye expressions.. Women with unipolar clinical depression (N=52) and nondepressed controls (N=30) completed the "Reading the Mind in the Eyes Task" (). All participants also completed self-report measures assessing depressive and anxious symptoms.. Depressed women were significantly impaired in their ability to identify mental states in the Eyes task compared to nondepressed participants. This difference remained after controlling for anxiety and was stronger for the affective than the somatic symptoms of depression.. The present study was limited by its sample size, resulting in low power for some comparisons. In addition, the study is limited by its use of a heterogeneous depressed sample, including outpatients and volunteers from the community, as well as its use of only female participants.. Our results demonstrate that severely depressed individuals are significantly impaired in their ability to decode others' mental states. We suggest that strategies based on improving basic theory-of-mind reasoning could be incorporated into current therapeutic interventions for depressed individuals to ameliorate their understanding and interpretation of social information.

Topics: Adult; Cognition Disorders; Depressive Disorder, Major; Discrimination, Psychological; Emotions; Eye; Facial Expression; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Models, Psychological; Neuropsychological Tests; Reaction Time; Severity of Illness Index; Sex; Social Perception; Visual Perception

Previous studies reported an association between cortical Lewy body (LB) formation and dementia in Parkinson's disease (PD). However, it is unclear whether cognitive decline in this disorder is related to specific patterns of LB distribution within the cerebral cortex. Moreover, the prediction of cognitive status based on concomitant assessment of LB and Alzheimer's disease lesions has led to conflicting results. We performed a clinicopathological study in 22 elderly PD patients in whom parkinsonism preceded cognitive decline by at least 3 years. Cognitive status was assessed prospectively using the clinical dementia rating scale (CDR); quantitative assessment of LB, neurofibrillary tangles (NFT), and senile plaques (SP) was performed in Brodmann areas 9, 21, 24, 40 and the entorhinal cortex. Statistical analysis was performed using both correlation coefficients and logistic regression models. There was a highly significant correlation between CDR scores and regional LB scores in the entorhinal cortex and area 24. LB and SP densities in the entorhinal cortex accounted for 36.2% and 19.3% of the variability in CDR scores. LB densities in area 24 could explain 25.2% of this variability. NFT densities did not predict cognitive status. In multivariate models only LB densities in the entorhinal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex were significantly associated with CDR scores. These results imply that an assessment of LB pathology limited to the entorhinal cortex and area 24 may be sufficient to predict cognition in PD. They also suggest that LB formation in limbic areas may be crucial for the development of PD dementia.

Topics: Age Distribution; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Cell Count; Cerebral Cortex; Cognition Disorders; Disease Progression; Entorhinal Cortex; Female; Humans; Lewy Bodies; Male; Middle Aged; Nerve Tissue Proteins; Neurofibrillary Tangles; Neuropsychological Tests; Parkinson Disease; Plaque, Amyloid; Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; Regression Analysis; Sex; Synucleins

In the first part acute mental disturbances of more or less psychotic character following upon major gynaecological operations are described. In general there were only minor somatic findings to be made. The mental disturbances were predominantly psychoreactive. They usually disappear under psychopharmacological therapy supporting psychotherapy quickly and do not recur. In the second part the literature relevant to this theme is compared and discussed. The attempt is made to interpret such disturbances as model cases for psychic disorders arising from an interaction between physical and mental components.

Topics: Adult; Cognition Disorders; Female; Genital Diseases, Female; Humans; Mastectomy; Middle Aged; Postoperative Complications; Psychotherapy; Sex; Surgical Procedures, Operative

Eighty-two obsessional neurotics were studied from a phenomenological point of view in order to delineate the various forms and contents of obsessions and compulsions. An attempt was made to ascertain the frequency with which the different forms and content occur and their effect on the final outcome of the disorder. Five types of obsessions were identified: doubts, obsessive thinking, fears, impulses, and images, in order of frequency of their occurrence. Compulsive acts could be classified in two types, depending on whether they yielded to or diverted the underlying obsession. One-fourth of the patients displayed no compulsions. The content of obsession could be classified in five broad categories as relating to: dirt and contamination, aggression, inanimate-impersonal themes, religion, and sexual matters, in order of the frequency of their occurrence. The paper, while offering an interpretation of these findings, emphasizes the part played by socio-cultural factors in the character of an obsession's thought content. The absence of compulsions was found to be associated with good prognosis. A downward gradient was noted in the final outcome of patients without compulsions, those with controlling compulsions alone, those with both varieties of compulsions, and those displaying yielding compulsions alone, in that order. Based on this observation the paper suggests a prognosis-related hierarchical continuum of the severity of obsessional disorder.

Topics: Adult; Aggression; Cognition Disorders; Fear; Female; Humans; Hygiene; Impulsive Behavior; Male; Middle Aged; Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder; Prognosis; Religion; Sex