Serial position effects in dementia of the Alzheimer type.
<b>Background: </b>The aim of the present study was to analyse serial position effects for immediate and delayed free recall in patients with dementia of the Alzheimer type and controls. <b>Experiment 1:</b> 44 patients with dementia of the Alzheimer-type and 24 non-demented controls were asked for immediate and delayed free recall of 12 schematic drawings of common objects presented at the rate of 10 s/picture. Steep primacy effects were obtained at all delays in controls. By contrast, primacy effects were significantly impaired in patients with dementia at all delays of recall. Small immediate and delayed recall recency effects were found in both, patients and cont…
IMPROVEMENT OF PICTURE RECALL BY REPETITION IN PATIENTS WITH DEMENTIA OF ALZHEIMER TYPE
The evidence for positive effects of repetition on recall performance in patients with dementia of Alzheimer type is equivocal. This may be due to the difference repetition conditions used. The aim of this study was therefore to evaluate the effects of different repetition modes on the improvement of recall performance in demented subjects. Twenty-four patients with Alzheimer type dementia and 24 control subjects with remitted depression were included in the study. Pictures were presented repeatedly using different presentation modes at a constant total presentation time. Free recall was tested repeatedly after different periods of delay (0-8 hours). Immediate and delayed list repetition si…
Syndrome profiles in alcoholism and panic disorder with or without agoraphobia
It is proposed that alcoholism and panic disorder/agoraphobia demonstrate in part common genetic and environmental origins. Shared subthreshold symptom patterns in the parents' generation could confirm the proposed genetic role in alcoholism and panic disorder/agoraphobia, even if the parents do not fulfil the diagnostic criteria for a primary psychiatric diagnosis. This is the first family study of exploratively analyzing subthreshold symptoms in both disorders. The authors investigated families with panic disorder/agoraphobia and/or alcoholism with the Munich-Composite International Diagnostic Interview (M-CIDI). We documented the diagnoses according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual o…
Restoration of perivascular adipose tissue function in diet-induced obese mice without changing bodyweight
Background and Purpose We have recently shown that a reduced function of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) in the perivascular adipose tissue (PVAT) contributes crucially to obesity-induced vascular dysfunction in mice. The current study was conducted to test the hypothesis that vascular dysfunction in obesity can be reversed by in vivo improvement of PVAT eNOS activity. Experimental Approach Male C57BL/6 J mice were fed a high-fat diet (HFD) for 22 weeks to induce obesity. During the last 4 weeks of HFD feeding, the obese mice were treated orally with the standardized Crataegus extract WS® 1442 which has been shown previously to improve eNOS activity. Key Results Diet-induced obesit…
Internal and external validity of the WHO Well-Being Scale in the elderly general population
The objectives of this study were (i) to evaluate the validity of the WHO Well-Being Scale in elderly subjects and (ii) to assess the influence of demographic variables on subjective quality of life. A sample of 254 elderly subjects completed the 22-item WHO Well-Being Scale. The scale had an adequate internal and external validity. However, the short 10-item and 5-item versions were equally valid. Low scores indicating decreased well-being were related to the presence of a psychiatric disorder or, independently, to poor living conditions. The Well-Being Scale and their short versions would appear to be useful instruments for identifying subjects with reduced subjective quality of life.
Psychometric Analysis of the Selective Reminding Procedure in a Sample from the General Elderly Population
The selective reminding procedure (SRP) has been proposed for the assessment of distinct aspects of episodic memory, i.e. storage to and retrieval from short-term and long-term memory, item learning and list learning, and as dementia screening tool. In the present study SRP results were analysed in 256 probands from the general elderly population. SRP scores were highly intercorrelated, and principal component analysis yielded only one single factor. The SRP scores were moderately and not differentially correlated with immediate and delayed free recall and recognition and with verbal fluency. All SRP scores discriminated nondemented probands with episodic long-term memory impairment from th…
Demenzscreening im klinischen Alltag
Dementia-screening in clinical routine requires short, sensitive and specific tools. A number of standardized instruments are available for this purpose. The present study analysed the relationship between size of three exemplary dementia-screening tests and their diagnostic accuracy. The Mini-Mental-State-Examination (MMSE), the Structured Interview for the Diagnosis of Dementia of the Alzheimer-type, Multiinfarct Dementia and Dementias of other Aetiologies according to ICD-10 and DSM-III-R (SIDAM) and the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale (ADAS) were applied to 71 patients with dementia of the Alzheimer-type and 73 non-demented controls. A ROC-analysis revealed that neither SIDAM nor A…
Effect of Repetition and Inspection Times on Picture Recall in Patients with Dementia of Alzheimer Type
The present study is part of a series of systematic studies intended to identify simple strategies of picture presentation to improve recall performance in demented subjects. The aims of this design were to examine the effects of elaboration by naming, 4-fold repetition and different inspection times on memory performance. 19 patients with senile dementia of Alzheimer type and 21 control subjects with remitted depression were included. Picture recall was examined using different presentation conditions on 5 consecutive days. The presentation conditions significantly influenced recall performance depending on the diagnosis and on the delay of recall. Naming of pictures did not improve later …