scholarly journals ALS Cognitive Behavioral Screen-Phone Version (ALS-CBS™-PhV): norms, psychometrics, and diagnostics in an Italian population sample

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edoardo Nicolò Aiello ◽  
Antonella Esposito ◽  
Ilaria Giannone ◽  
Lorenzo Diana ◽  
Susan Woolley ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Item Difficulty ◽  
Digit Span ◽  
Population Sample ◽  
Healthcare Services ◽  
Cognitive Status ◽  
Cognitive Behavioral ◽  
Italian Population ◽  
Component Structure ◽  
Neuropsychological Evaluations ◽  
Behavioral Screen

Abstract Background Up to 50% of motor neuron disease (MND) patients show neuropsychological deficits which negatively affect prognosis and care. However, disability-related logistical issues and uneven geographical coverage of healthcare services may prevent MND patients from accessing neuropsychological evaluations. This study thus aimed to standardize for the Italian population the ALS Cognitive Behavioral Screen-Phone Version (ALS-CBS™-PhV), an MND-specific, telephone-based screening for frontotemporal dysfunction. Methods The cognitive section of the ALS-CBS™-PhV, the Italian telephone-based Mini-Mental State Examination (Itel-MMSE), and the Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status (TICS) was administered to 359 healthy individuals (143 males, 216 females; age, 52.7 ± 15.8; education, 13.1 ± 4.4). Norms were derived through equivalent scores. Validity, factorial structure, reliability, diagnostic accuracy, and item difficulty and discrimination were examined. Statistical equivalence between the telephone-based and in-person versions was tested. Results ALS-CBS™-PhV measures were predicted by age and education. The ALS-CBS™-PhV reflected a mono-component structure, converged with Itel-MMSE and TICS scores (rs = .23–.51) and was equivalent to its in-person format (t = .37; p = .72). Good internal (Cronbach’s α = .61), test–retest (ICC = .69), and inter-rater (ICC = .96) reliability was detected. High accuracy was found when tested against both the Itel-MMSE and the TICS (AUC = .82–89). Backward digit span items were the most discriminative. Discussion The ALS-CBS™-PhV is a statistically solid screening test for frontotemporal disorders featuring MND. Its standardization allows for (1) improvements in tele-healthcare for MND patients, (2) epidemiological applications, and (3) effective assessments in decentralized clinical trials. The ALS-CBS™-PhV can be also suitable for assessing bedridden and visually impaired patients with motor disorders.

scholarly journals A multi-component, adaptive Working Memory Assessment Battery (WoMAB): validation and norms in an Italian population sample

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabrizio Pasotti ◽  
Giulia De Luca ◽  
Edoardo Nicolò Aiello ◽  
Chiara Gramegna ◽  
Marco Di Gangi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Neurological Disorders ◽  
Digit Span ◽  
Population Sample ◽  
Italian Population ◽  
Everyday Functioning ◽  
Assessment Battery ◽  
Memory Assessment ◽  
Test Digit ◽  
Healthy Participants

Abstract Background Working memory (WM) abilities are frequently impaired in neurological disorders affecting fronto-parietal cortical/sub-cortical structures. WM deficits negatively influence interventional outcomes and everyday functioning. This study thus aimed at the following: (a) developing and standardizing an ecologically valid task for WM assessment ( Ice Cream Test, ICT); (b) validating and norming a novel WM test (Digit Ordering Test, DOT), as well as providing updated norms for digit span (DS) tasks, in an Italian population sample; (c) introducing a novel scoring procedure for measuring WM. Methods One-hundred and sixty-eight Italian healthy participants—73 male, 95 females; age: 48.4 ± 19.1 (18–86); education: 12.1 ± 4.8 (4–21)—underwent a thorough WM assessment—DOT, ICT, and both forward and backward DS tasks (FDS, BDS). The ICT requires participants to act as waiters who have to keep track of customers’ orders. For each task, WM and total (T) outcomes were computed, i.e., the number of elements in the longest sequence and that of recalled sequences, respectively. Norms were derived via the equivalent score (ES) method. Results DS ratios (DSRs) were computed for both WM/S and T outcomes on raw DS measures (BDS divided by FDS). Age and education significantly predicted all WM tasks; sex affected FDS and DSR-T scores (males > females). WM measures were highly internally related. Discussion The present work provides Italian practitioners with a normatively updated, multi-component, adaptive battery for WM assessment (WoMAB) as well as with novel outcomes which capture different WM facets—WM capacity and attentive monitoring abilities.

scholarly journals ALS Cognitive Behavioral Screen (ALS-CBS): normative values for the Italian population and clinical usability

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 835-841 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucio Tremolizzo ◽  
◽  
Andrea Lizio ◽  
Gabriella Santangelo ◽  
Susanna Diamanti ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Behavioral ◽  
Normative Values ◽  
Italian Population ◽  
Behavioral Screen

scholarly journals Relationship Between Patient and Informant Assessment of Personality and Cognitive Status

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 260-260
Author(s):  
Magdalena Tolea ◽  
James Galvin
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Caregiver Burden ◽  
Disease Onset ◽  
Cognitive Status ◽  
Cognitively Normal ◽  
Psychotherapeutic Interventions ◽  
State Measure ◽  
Personality Ratings ◽  
Neuropsychological Evaluations

Abstract Personality has been linked to risk of dementia. Most studies ask individuals to rate their own personality traits or for a knowledgeable informant to perform the rating; few collect data from both. When informants are asked to give an estimate of the patient’s lifelong personality traits, they often describe personality before disease onset. When asked to self-rate, patients may instead assess their personality as they see themselves, providing a personality-state measure. The goal of this study was to assess agreement between two independent measures of personality and evaluate whether stage of cognitive impairment and characteristics of patients or caregivers impact concordance. In 79 consecutive patient-caregiver dyads presenting to our center (mean age:76.8±8.4; 44.1% female; 6% cognitively normal, 41% MCI; and 53% dementia) with in-depth psychosocial and neuropsychological evaluations, we found informants rated patients lower on openness (O) (ICC=0.434; 95%CI: 0.235-0.598) and agreeableness (A) (ICC=0.491; 95%CI: 0.302-0.643) and higher on extraversion (O) (ICC=0.396; 95%CI: 0.191-0.568) and neuroticism (N) (ICC=0.444; 95%CI: 0.247-0.607). Greater discordance was observed in established dementia (ICCE=0.497; 95%CI: 0.222-0.700; ICCA=0.337; 95%CI:0.031-0.586; ICCN=0.422; 95%CI: 0.191-0.683), compared with MCI (ICCO=0.568; 95%CI: 0.282-0.762). We explored the effect of patient and caregiver mood and caregiver burden on personality ratings. Although personality is typically described as a trait, we present evidence that in the eyes of patients, personality ratings may represent a state that changes across the spectrum of cognitive impairment. Understanding how patients and caregivers differentially perceive personality may assist in developing novel psychotherapeutic interventions and approaches dealing with behavioral manifestations of dementia.

scholarly journals The Role of Entropy in Construct Specification Equations (CSE) to Improve the Validity of Memory Tests

Entropy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 212
Author(s):  
Jeanette Melin ◽  
Stefan Cano ◽  
Leslie Pendrill
Keyword(s):  
Rating Scales ◽  
Short Term Memory ◽  
Item Difficulty ◽  
Digit Span ◽  
Reliability And Validity ◽  
Practice Research ◽  
Theory Approach ◽  
Memory Tests ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Block Test

Commonly used rating scales and tests have been found lacking reliability and validity, for example in neurodegenerative diseases studies, owing to not making recourse to the inherent ordinality of human responses, nor acknowledging the separability of person ability and item difficulty parameters according to the well-known Rasch model. Here, we adopt an information theory approach, particularly extending deployment of the classic Brillouin entropy expression when explaining the difficulty of recalling non-verbal sequences in memory tests (i.e., Corsi Block Test and Digit Span Test): a more ordered task, of less entropy, will generally be easier to perform. Construct specification equations (CSEs) as a part of a methodological development, with entropy-based variables dominating, are found experimentally to explain (r=R2 = 0.98) and predict the construct of task difficulty for short-term memory tests using data from the NeuroMET (n = 88) and Gothenburg MCI (n = 257) studies. We propose entropy-based equivalence criteria, whereby different tasks (in the form of items) from different tests can be combined, enabling new memory tests to be formed by choosing a bespoke selection of items, leading to more efficient testing, improved reliability (reduced uncertainties) and validity. This provides opportunities for more practical and accurate measurement in clinical practice, research and trials.

The T393C polymorphism of the GNAS1 gene is associated with deficit schizophrenia in an Italian population sample

2006 ◽  
Vol 397 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 159-163 ◽  
Author(s):  
Piercarlo Minoretti ◽  
Pierluigi Politi ◽  
Enrico Coen ◽  
Clara Di Vito ◽  
Marco Bertona ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Population Sample ◽  
Italian Population ◽  
Deficit Schizophrenia ◽  
Gnas1 Gene

A-176 Undercover Performance Validity Testing: Proposed Embedded Validity Indicators for Pediatric Neuropsychological Assessment

2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (6) ◽  
pp. 1231-1231
Author(s):  
Naomi R Kaswan ◽  
Ryan C Thompson ◽  
Yelena Markiv ◽  
Aubrey Deenen ◽  
Haig V Pilavjian ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sport Participation ◽  
Word Reading ◽  
Digit Span ◽  
Characteristic Curve ◽  
Test Word ◽  
Healthy Children ◽  
Performance Validity ◽  
Validity Indicators ◽  
Neuropsychological Evaluations ◽  
Embedded Validity Indicators

Abstract Objective Literature supports the use of the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System Trail Making Test Conditions 4/2 ratio (TMT 4/2) and Stroop Color Word Test Word Reading (WR) as embedded validity indicators (EVIs) with adults (Erdodi et al., 2018; Guise et al., 2012) and the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence, 2nd Edition Matrix Reasoning (MR) as an EVI with children (Sussman et al., 2017). This study assessed the utility of these measures as EVIs in healthy children, compared to the Test of Memory Malingering Trial 1 (TOMM1 < 45; Perna & Loughan, 2013) and Reliable Digit Span (RDS). Method Participants (n = 99, 68.7% male, Mage = 11.9) completed baseline neuropsychological evaluations for sport participation, including the aforementioned measures. Receiver operator characteristic curve analysis was used to determine whether TMT 4/2, MR, and WR accurately categorized valid performance. Results TMT 4/2 yielded adequate sensitivity (0.83–1.00) but poor specificity (0.07–0.09) when predicting TOMM1 and RDS pass/fail performances. MR yielded adequate sensitivity (1.00) and specificity (0.92) when predicting RDS pass/fail performance and adequate specificity (0.92) and poor sensitivity (0.18) when predicting TOMM1 pass/fail performance. The only EVI that produced better than chance accuracy was MR when predicting RDS pass/fail performance (area under the curve [AUC] = 0.98). All participants failed the WR cutoff, suggesting poor specificity. Conclusion Results suggest that MR was the only EVI that achieved minimally acceptable specificity (≥0.90) in children. MR performed adequately when detecting valid performances but variably when detecting invalid performances; therefore, MR may be used alongside well-established performance validity tests with children but not independently.

Forensic genetic value of a 27 Y-STR loci multiplex (Yfiler® Plus kit) in an Italian population sample

2016 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. e1-e5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cesare Rapone ◽  
Eugenia D’Atanasio ◽  
Alessandro Agostino ◽  
Martina Mariano ◽  
Maria Teresa Papaluca ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Population Sample ◽  
Italian Population ◽  
Str Loci ◽  
Genetic Value ◽  
Forensic Genetic

Disability and Principal Lifetime Occupation in the Elderly

1996 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 317-324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina Geroldi ◽  
Giovanni B. Frisoni ◽  
Renzo Rozzini ◽  
Marco Trabucchi
Keyword(s):  
Linear Regression Analysis ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Multiple Linear Regression Analysis ◽  
Cognitive Status ◽  
Community Dwelling ◽  
Complete Disappearance ◽  
Italian Population ◽  
White Collar Workers ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Relationship Of

This study addresses the relationship of disability with principal lifetime occupation in the elderly. Daily function, cognitive, and physical health variables were assessed in an Italian population of 524 community-dwelling elders aged seventy and over. Farmers had 1.4 (95% C.I.: 0.6 to 2.2) instrumental daily functions lost higher than white-collar workers. Adjustment for age, education, and financial dissatisfaction with multiple linear regression analysis decreased the difference to a still significant figure of 0.9 (95% C.I.: 0.1 to 1.7). On the contrary, adjustment only for cognitive status resulted in complete disappearance of the association [0.2 functions lost (95% C.I.: −0.5 to 0.9)]. The data indicate that greater disability in the most disadvantaged occupational groups may be due to poorer cognition.

Standardization and validation of a parallel form of the verbal and non-verbal recognition memory test in an Italian population sample

2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (8) ◽  
pp. 1391-1399 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniela Smirni ◽  
Pietro Smirni ◽  
Giovanni Di Martino ◽  
Lisa Cipolotti ◽  
Massimiliano Oliveri ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Recognition Memory ◽  
Population Sample ◽  
Memory Test ◽  
Italian Population ◽  
Recognition Memory Test ◽  
Verbal Recognition ◽  
Parallel Form

Allele Frequencies of Three STRs in an Italian Population Sample

1994 ◽  
pp. 484-486 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. D’Aloja ◽  
M. Dobosz ◽  
M. Pescarmona ◽  
A. Moscetti ◽  
L. Grimaldi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Population Sample ◽  
Allele Frequencies ◽  
Italian Population
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