Memory Binding Test and Its Associations With Hippocampal Volume Across the Cognitive Continuum Preceding Dementia

Innovative memory paradigms have been introduced to capture subtle memory changes in early Alzheimer’s disease (AD). We aimed to examine the associations between different indexes of the challenging Memory Binding Test (MBT) and hippocampal volume (HV) in a sample of individuals with subjective cognitive decline (SCD; n = 50), amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) due to AD ( n = 31), and cognitively normal (CN) older adults ( n = 29) recruited from the Czech Brain Aging Study, in contrast to traditional verbal memory tests. Both MBT free and cued recall scores in immediate and delayed recall conditions were associated with lower HV in both SCD and aMCI due to AD, whereas in traditional verbal memory tests only delayed recall scores were associated with lower HV. In SCD, the associations with lower HV in the immediate recall covered specific cued recall indexes only. In conclusion, the MBT is a promising test for detecting subtle hippocampal-associated memory decline during the predementia continuum.

Emotional intelligence: a comparison between patients after first episode mania and those suffering from chronic bipolar disorder type I

Background Deficits in emotional intelligence (EI) were detected in patients with bipolar disorder (BD), but little is known about whether these deficits are already present in patients after presenting a first episode mania (FEM). We sought (i) to compare EI in patients after a FEM, chronic BD and healthy controls (HC); (ii) to examine the effect exerted on EI by socio-demographic, clinical and neurocognitive variables in FEM patients. Methods The Emotional Intelligence Quotient (EIQ) was calculated with the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT). Performance on MSCEIT was compared among the three groups using generalized linear models. In patients after a FEM, the influence of socio-demographic, clinical and neurocognitive variables on the EIQ was examined using a linear regression model. Results In total, 184 subjects were included (FEM n = 48, euthymic chronic BD type I n = 75, HC n = 61). BD patients performed significantly worse than HC on the EIQ [mean difference (MD) = 10.09, standard error (s.e.) = 3.14, p = 0.004] and on the understanding emotions branch (MD = 7.46, s.e. = 2.53, p = 0.010). FEM patients did not differ from HC and BD on other measures of MSCEIT. In patients after a FEM, EIQ was positively associated with female sex (β = −0.293, p = 0.034) and verbal memory performance (β = 0.374, p = 0.008). FEM patients performed worse than HC but better than BD on few neurocognitive domains. Conclusions Patients after a FEM showed preserved EI, while patients in later stages of BD presented lower EIQ, suggesting that impairments in EI might result from the burden of disease and neurocognitive decline, associated with the chronicity of the illness.

Neuropsychological and neuroanatomical features of patients with behavioral variant Alzheimer's disease (AD): a comparison to behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia and amnestic AD groups

An understudied non-amnestic variant of Alzheimer's disease (AD), behavioral variant AD (bvAD) is associated with progressive personality, behavior, or executive dysfunction and frontal atrophy. This study characterizes the neuropsychological and neuroanatomical features associated with bvAD by comparing it to behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD), amnestic AD (aAD), and subjects with normal cognition. Subjects included 16 bvAD, 67 bvFTD, and 18 aAD patients, and 26 healthy controls. Compared to bvFTD, bvAD showed more significant visuospatial impairments (Rey Figure copy and recall), more irritability (Neuropsychological Inventory), and equivalent verbal memory (Philadelphia Verbal Learning Test). Compared to aAD, bvAD indicated more executive dysfunction (F-letter fluency) and better visuospatial performance. Neuroimaging analysis found that bvAD showed cortical thinning relative to bvFTD posteriorly in left temporal-occipital regions; bvFTD had cortical thinning relative to bvAD in left inferior frontal cortex. bvAD had cortical thinning relative to aAD in prefrontal and anterior temporal regions. All patient groups had lower volumes than controls in both anterior and posterior hippocampus. However, bvAD patients had higher average volume than aAD patients in posterior hippocampus and higher volume than bvFTD patients in anterior hippocampus after adjustment for age and intracranial volume. Findings demonstrated that underlying pathology mediates disease presentation in bvAD and bvFTD.

Oral language of school-aged children born pretermaturely: a population-based analysis from Madeira Island, Portugal

Premature birth and low birth weight are very important factors in neurodevelopment. Current research in this population focuses on children born prematurely, with no underlying complications in the post-natal period, who are likely to develop specific disorders with their language development and consequently with their learning capabilities too. This study aims to analyse the oral language skills of prematurely born children in comparison to their school-aged peers. The children were assessed in the respective schools, 27 preterm children (16 under 32 weeks and 11 with 32 or more weeks of gestation) and 49 term paired by gender, age, and school year. Tests including simple and complex structures for assessing semantics, morphosyntax, and phonology were used, as well as a test of verbal memory. Preterm born children, regardless of their prematurity grade, showed significantly lower results than their peers, and more than a half of them, 52%, presented low scores in all language tests simultaneously, showing an important language deficit. In contrast, in the term born children group only 14% showed low scores simultaneously in all tests. Verbal memory ability proved to be lower than that of their term peers, regardless of the gestational age and birth weight of preterm children. As a result of this analysis we consider that the evaluation of the linguistic development of these children, even in cases of moderate to late prematurity, should be monitored in order to identify earlier the existence of deficits and prevent psychosocial and learning problems.

Adolescent Verbal Memory as a Psychosis Endophenotype: A Genome-Wide Association Study in an Ancestrally Diverse Sample

Verbal memory impairment is one of the most prominent cognitive deficits in psychosis. However, few studies have investigated the genetic basis of verbal memory in a neurodevelopmental context, and most genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have been conducted in European-ancestry populations. We conducted a GWAS on verbal memory in a maximum of 11,017 participants aged 8.9 to 11.1 years in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study®, recruited from a diverse population in the United States. Verbal memory was assessed by the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, which included three measures of verbal memory: immediate recall, short-delay recall, and long-delay recall. We adopted a mixed-model approach to perform a joint GWAS of all participants, adjusting for ancestral background and familial relatedness. The inclusion of participants from all ancestries increased the power of the GWAS. Two novel genome-wide significant associations were found for short-delay and long-delay recall verbal memory. In particular, one locus (rs9896243) associated with long-delay recall was mapped to the NSF (N-Ethylmaleimide Sensitive Factor, Vesicle Fusing ATPase) gene, indicating the role of membrane fusion in adolescent verbal memory. Based on the GWAS in the European subset, we estimated the SNP-heritability to be 15% to 29% for the three verbal memory traits. We found that verbal memory was genetically correlated with schizophrenia, providing further evidence supporting verbal memory as an endophenotype for psychosis.

Pulsed magnetic stimulation in combination with pneumomassage in the therapy of patients with professional sensorineural hearing loss

Introduction. There are many methods for treating sensorineural hearing loss (SHL) of the occupational origin, which indicates insufficient effectiveness and an active search for more advanced therapy methods. Objective of the study: to evaluate changes in the state of the central nervous system pathways under the influence of a magnetic field and the long-term period. Materials and Methods. There were treated fifty two aviation workers with SHL of the occupational origin with moderate hearing loss. Pulsed magnetic stimulation (MS) and pneumatic massage of the tympanic membrane were used. Before and after treatment, electroencephalography was performed with the registration of visual and auditory evoked potentials (EP), somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEP), psychological testing, and the study of higher mental functions in terms of short-term and delayed verbal memory, attention function. Results. After treatment, there was an improvement in speech intelligibility in 62% of cases, a decrease in the intensity of the tinnitus and head noise in 44% of cases, there was an improvement in the indicators of audiometric research and acumetry data from both sides. There was a statistically significant increase in the α-rhythm, the time of the pulse passing through the central afferent structures increased, the indicators of operative verbal memory, and the productivity of long-term memorization, the volume and stability of attention increased. Conclusion. The effectiveness of pulse MS in treating patients with occupational SHL has been proven. The prospects of using pulsed MS in combination with pneumatic massage in occupational pathology were shown, which was confirmed by positive changes in objective and subjective indicators characterizing the condition of patients immediately after the therapy sessions and a year after treatment.

The Effect of Test Setting Upon Test-Retest Reliability of ImPACT Baseline Tests in High School Athletes

ObjectiveTo determine the test-retest reliability of ImPACT baseline tests across different schools within the same larger concussion management program.BackgroundImPACT is the most widely used concussion management cognitive testing tool. Baseline testing is often required for high school sports participation. Typically, testing occurs every 2 years based on test-retest reliability statistics in previous studies. Demographic and environmental factors, such as age, sex, number of participants, and supervision, all impact baseline performance. Studies to date have not examined test-retest differences across testing sites, such as between school differences.Design/MethodsCross-sectional retrospective design. Valid baseline tests from high school athletes over a 2-year interval were included. Participants who experienced concussions prior to or between tests were excluded. A total of 979 student athletes from 5 schools were included. The Intra-class correlations were determined over a 2-year period for each ImPACT composite score and school.ResultsICC estimates averaged between schools reflected good reliability for visual-motor speed (0.833), visual memory (0.673) and reaction time (0.615) over the two-year period. Verbal memory (0.586) and impulse control (0.556) were less reliable. Between schools a greater range of composite reliability was observed for reaction time (0.484–0.730) and impulse control (0.461–0.655) compared to verbal memory (0.534–0.637), visual memory (0.61–0.719), and visual-motor speed (0.769–914).ConclusionsAs previously established, reliability of ImPACT baselines vary by composite. This study revealed that reliability also varies by setting, as different schools yielded different ICCs. Consistent with the literature, the most reliable measure was visual-motor speed. The greatest difference in reliability between schools was for reaction time. These results suggest that test setting and environment affect reliability of ImPACT baseline scores, with varying effects per composite. Attention must be paid to environmental setting to improve reliability of baseline cognitive test performance to maximize athlete safety.

A Preliminary DTI Tractography Study of Developmental Neuroplasticity 5–15 Years After Early Childhood Traumatic Brain Injury

Plasticity is often implicated as a reparative mechanism when addressing structural and functional brain development in young children following traumatic brain injury (TBI); however, conventional imaging methods may not capture the complexities of post-trauma development. The present study examined the cingulum bundles and perforant pathways using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in 21 children and adolescents (ages 10–18 years) 5–15 years after sustaining early childhood TBI in comparison with 19 demographically-matched typically-developing children. Verbal memory and executive functioning were also evaluated and analyzed in relation to DTI metrics. Beyond the expected direction of quantitative DTI metrics in the TBI group, we also found qualitative differences in the streamline density of both pathways generated from DTI tractography in over half of those with early TBI. These children exhibited hypertrophic cingulum bundles relative to the comparison group, and the number of tract streamlines negatively correlated with age at injury, particularly in the late-developing anterior regions of the cingulum; however, streamline density did not relate to executive functioning. Although streamline density of the perforant pathway was not related to age at injury, streamline density of the left perforant pathway was significantly and positively related to verbal memory scores in those with TBI, and a moderate effect size was found in the right hemisphere. DTI tractography may provide insight into developmental plasticity in children post-injury. While traditional DTI metrics demonstrate expected relations to cognitive performance in group-based analyses, altered growth is reflected in the white matter structures themselves in some children several years post-injury. Whether this plasticity is adaptive or maladaptive, and whether the alterations are structure-specific, warrants further investigation.

Dysfunctional Learning and Verbal Memory in Patients with Elevated Tau Protein Levels and Serum Recoverin Autoantibodies—Case Series and Review

Recoverin-antibody-related disease is currently restricted to late-onset ataxia and autoimmune retinopathy, which can be paraneoplastic or not. However, cognitive dysfunction associated with recoverin antibodies has not been reported so far in a homogeneous patient group. Our case series is dedicated to describing the novel phenotype of cognitive impairment associated with recoverin antibodies. We included five patients with cognitive impairment who presented serum recoverin autoantibodies detected by immunoblots in our case series investigation. We also analyzed their psychopathology, clinical data, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), and neuroimaging data. Five patients with cognitive impairment associated with serum recoverin antibodies exhibited profound dysfunctional learning and verbal memory. In the CSF of 40% of them, we also diagnosed axonal neurodegeneration entailing elevated tau and phosphorylated tau protein levels. Psychopathologies such as affective symptoms (restlessness, depressive mood, anxiety, complaintiveness) and formal thought disorder, such as rumination, were detected in 25–75% of the patients. We hypothesized a role of recoverin autoimmunity in the pineal gland involving consecutive modulation of hippocampus-based memory caused by an altered release of melatonin. We describe a novel phenotype of possible recoverin autoimmunity in patients with cognitive impairment. However, no clear diagnostic clues can be extracted because of the low diagnostic validity of the testing strategies applied. The possibility of recoverin antibody autoimmunity in the pineal gland correlating with a modulation of hippocampus-based memory should be further investigated.