氯胺酮依赖者(吸食“K”粉者)的认知功能损害

目的:了解氯胺酮依赖者认知功能损害情况。方法:采用认知功能测试量表(包括:数字符号测验、连线测试A和stroop色词测验)对氯胺酮依赖者和相匹配的健康对照者进行测试。结果:氯胺酮依赖者在数字符号测验和stroop色词测验方面得分都明显较正常对照者低。但是两组之间的连线测试A得分没有统计学差异。结论:本研究结果显示氯胺酮依赖者存在某些认知功能损害。     

The role of the human ventromedial prefrontal cortex in memory for contextual information

There is a growing body of evidence that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) is implicated in the new learning of visual items. Little is known, however, as to the involvement of that portion of the prefrontal cortex in the learning of temporal and spatial relationship of those items. The aim of the present study, therefore, was to investigate the role of the VMPFC in memory for temporal and spatial order. Patients who had undergone surgery of the anterior communicating artery aneurysm, and normal control subjects (C), participated in the study. The patients were subdivided into three groups: with resection of the left (LGR+) or right (RGR+) gyrus rectus, and without such a resection (GR-). Subjects were presented with two memory tests: a temporal order (TO) test and a spatial order (SO) test. In the TO test, the LGR+ and RGR+ groups performed worse than the C group, while the GR- group did not differ significantly from the C group. In the SO test, the LGR+ and RGR+ groups did not differ significantly from the C and GR- groups. However, the trend appears to be the same for both tests, although only the TO test provides statistically significant group differences. Our results thus suggest that the VMPFC is involved in memory for contextual information. Together with previous findings, the data suggest that the learning of the relationship between items as well as the learning of those items are mediated by overlapping areas of the VMPFC.     

首发精神分裂症及其健康同胞神经心理功能的比较

目的:探讨首发精神分裂症患者及其健康同胞神经心理功能差异。方法:采用范畴流利测验、连线测验(TMT)、数字符号编码测验和Stoop测验对在92例首发精神分裂症患者、56例健康同胞及62例健康对照者进行测评。结果:首发精神分裂症患者及其健康同胞所有神经心理测验成绩均差于健康对照组(P<0.05)。与健康同胞组比较,首发精神分裂症患者组除范畴流利测验外,其他神经心理测验成绩差异均有统计学意义(P<0.05)。结论:首发精神分裂症患者及其健康同胞存在认知损害,语义流畅性功能可能是精神分裂症的潜在内表型。     

Effects of diffuse axonal injury on speed of information processing following severe traumatic brain injury

To test the hypothesis that slowed information processing in traumatic brain injury is related to diffuse axonal injury (DAI), the authors compared 10 patients with predominant DAI (diffuse group) and minimal DAI (mixed injury group) on the Symbol Digit Modalities Test, simple and choice reaction time, Trail Making Tests A and B, and the Stroop Neuropsychological Screening Test. The diffuse group was slower than the mixed injury and control groups on basic speed of processing tasks. This difference was not apparent on complex speeded tasks once basic speed of processing was controlled for. The diffuse group's slower speed of processing was not accounted for by differences in injury severity, age, or time postinjury. The diffuse group showed greater recovery over time.     

The relationship of intelligence to executive function and non-executive function measures in a sample of average, above average, and gifted youth

This study explores the relationship of intelligence to the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, Stroop Color-Word Test, Oral Word Fluency Test, Design Fluency Test, Trail Making Test, contrasted with Rey Complex Figure Test, Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, Wide Range Achievement Test, and Underlining Test in average, above average and gifted children. Full-Scale IQ was significantly related to Wisconsin Card Sort Perseverative and Non-Perseverative Errors, Stroop Color-Word Test, Color-Word condition, Controlled Oral Word Fluency, Design Fluency, Rey Complex Figure, and Underlining conditions but not Trails or Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test. MANCOVA's show gifted children outperformed other children on the executive but not the non-executive tests. Finally, the nature of the neuropsychological/IQ relationship was explored by further analyses.     

Compromised visuomotor processing speed in players of Rugby Union from school through to the national adult level

The aim of this study was to investigate the residual effects of concussion amongst players of Rugby Union from school through to the national adult level, with pre-season testing on tests of visuomotor processing speed (Digit Symbol; Trail Making Test A and B). Comparison groups included 124 male rugby players versus 102 non-contact sport controls; 71 forward versus 53 backline players. Across groups there was equivalence for age, education, estimated IQ, and hand motor dexterity. There was a significantly higher percentage of rugby players with 2+ concussions than controls. Poorer performance was in evidence for rugby players compared with controls on all tests of visuomotor speed, and for forward versus backline players on Digit Symbol, with clinically relevant medium effect sizes. The results implicate vulnerability amongst rugby players on the prototypically sensitive function of visuomotor processing in association with years of exposure to repetitive concussive and subconcussive injury.     

Executive functions in autism and Asperger's disorder: flexibility, fluency, and inhibition

The Color-Word Interference Test, Trail Making Test, Verbal Fluency Test, and Design Fluency Test from the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (Delis, Kaplan, & Kramer, 2001) were administered to 12 high-functioning adults and adolescents with autistic disorder or Asperger's disorder. Each test included a switching condition in addition to baseline and/or other executive-function conditions. Participants performed significantly below average on a composite measure of executive functioning adjusted for baseline cognitive ability. Complex verbal tasks that required cognitive switching and initiation of efficient lexical retrieval strategies produced the most consistent deficits, whereas cognitive inhibition was intact. We discuss implications of these findings for understanding the neurocognitive substrates of autistic spectrum disorders.     

A comparative study of dynamic and static testing in abstinent alcoholics

The performance of 44 Finnish alcoholics was measured on a Vygotskian version of the Raven's Progressive Matrices and four traditional static tests (the Digit Symbol and Block Design subtests from the WAIS, Part B of the Trail Making Test, and the Embedded Figures Test). Of the static tests only the Block Design showed consistent congruence with the results of the learning potential test. The other static tests discriminated only partially from each other the groups which were formed according to learning potential. The most fruitful way to test alcoholics is probably to have a flexible combination of static and dynamic tests. We also need to have tests that are applicable to both static and dynamic testing.     

Cognitive deficits in the remitted state of unipolar depressive disorder

Background: Patients with unipolar depressive disorder may present with cognitive deficits in the remitted state, and the aim of the present study was to investigate whether cognitive deficits within specific cognitive domains are present. Method: Via the Danish registers (Civil Person Register, Danish Psychiatric Register) we identified individuals between 40 and 80 years of age with a diagnosis of unipolar disorder at their first discharge from a psychiatric hospital, and a gender- and age-matched control group. Particular emphasis was placed on assuring that patients were in a remitted state. Cognitive function was assessed with a broad range of neuropsychological tests. Results: A total of 88 patients and 50 controls were included in the study. In multiple linear regression analyses with simultaneous adjustment for age, gender, education level, premorbid IQ, and residual depressive symptoms, a diagnosis of unipolar disorder predicted lower performance on the Trail Making Test, the Symbol Digit Modalities Test, and on the Stroop test. Conclusion: Cognitive deficits are present in patients with unipolar disorder in the remitted state. The deficits seem to reside more within the cognitive domain of attention than within other domains, and may be characterized by impairment of processing speed and cognitive flexibility. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Distinct alterations in value-based decision-making and cognitive control in suicide attempters: Toward a dual neurocognitive model

Objective

The literature suggests that many suicide attempters show impairment in both decision-making and cognitive control. However, it is not clear if these deficits are linked to each other, and if they may be related to more basic alterations in attention. This is a relevant question in the perspective of future interventions targeting cognitive deficits to prevent suicidal acts.

Method

Two different populations of patients with histories of suicide attempts were assessed (N=142 and 119). The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) was used to measure decision-making in both populations. We used a D2 cancellation task and a verbal working memory task in population 1; the Stroop test, the N-Back task, the Trail Making Test, and the Hayling Sentence Completion test in population 2.

Results

Regarding decision-making, we only found a small negative correlation between the Hayling test error score (r=−0.24; p=0.01), and the net score from the second half of the IGT. In contrast, working memory, cognitive flexibility and cognitive inhibition measures were largely inter-correlated.

Limitation

Most patients were medicated. Only patients with mood disorders.

Conclusion

These results add to previous findings suggesting that the neurocognitive vulnerability to suicidal behavior may rely on impairments in two distinct anatomical systems, one processing value-based decision-making (associated with ventral prefrontal cortex, among others) and one underlying cognitive control (associated with more dorsal prefrontal regions). This distinction may result in tailored-made cognitive interventions.     

Brain-age quotients in recently detoxified alcoholic,recovered alcoholic and nonalcoholic women

Examined performance of three matched groups (N = 35 each) of female alcoholics (average sobriety 1 month), female recovered alcoholics (average sobriety 1 year), and female nonalcoholic controls on the Brain-Age Quotient (BAQ), an age-adjusted index of cerebral dysfunction. The mean BAQs of the alcoholics and recovered alcoholics were significantly lower than that of the controls. Analyses of the BAQ subtests indicated that the alcoholics performed significantly less well than the controls on the Halstead Category Test, Tactual Performance Test-Time, WAIS Block Design and WAIS Digit Symbol, which replicates findings with male alcoholics. The recovered alcoholics performed at the alcoholic level on WAIS Block Design and Digit Symbol and performed at the control level on the Halstead Category test; which suggests a differential recovery of cognitive abilities in abstinent female alcoholics.     

冠状动脉搭桥术患者围术期血浆神经元特异性烯醇化酶浓度与术后认知功能

目的研究冠状动脉搭桥术患者围术期血浆神经元特异性烯醇化酶（NSE）浓度及术后认知功能。方法40例接受冠状动脉搭桥术的男性患者，分为体外循环组和非体外循环组，每组20例。在术前、术后6、12、18和24h采血，用放射免疫方法测定血浆NSE浓度。在术前1天和术后7～10天进行神经心理测试。结果体外循环组患者术后6h血浆NSE浓度比术前显著升高，同时高于非体外循环组；非体外循环组患者各时点无差别。非体外循环组患者在数字广度测验（逆向）、斯特鲁字色干扰测验改正反应和阻塞反应的结果显著优于体外循环组患者。体外循环组患者术后6hNSE水平与连线测验A型相关，术后12hNSE浓度与数字广度测验（顺向）、连线测验A型、斯特鲁字色干扰测验时间分项相关。结论心脏手术后血浆NSE浓度的升高可在某种程度上反映术后认知功能障碍，但在具体应用时应考虑NSE的组织多源性及体外循环因素的影响。     

Neuropsychological test performance in a cognitively intact sample of older Japanese American adults.

The purpose of this paper was to present population-based data showing the effects of age on cognitive test performance in a sample of older Japanese American adults. In addition, the relative effects of education, gender, and primary spoken language were compared to effects that have been reported in the literature for majority culture older adults. Subjects included 201 non-demented Japanese American adults age 70 and older currently enrolled in the Kame Project, a prospective study of aging and dementia in King County, WA. Cognitive tests included the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease (CERAD) neuropsychological assessment battery, WAIS-R Digit Span and Digit Symbol subtests, Trail Making Test, Purdue Pegboard, and Finger Tapping. Older age was associated with significantly (p<0.05) lower scores on all tests; less than high school education was associated with lower scores on all tests except Digit Span, Finger Tapping, and the Purdue Pegboard. Women and English-speaking participants scored higher than men and Japanese speakers on various tests of memory, attention, and visuomotor ability. These data reinforce the importance of using appropriately corrected norms when interpreting results of cognitive screening tests with minority culture older adults.     

A comparison of the trail making test, symbol digit modalities test, and the Hooper Visual Organization Test in an inpatient substance abuse population.

Ninety inpatients from a substance abuse treatment facility each completed the Symbol Digit Modalities Test, the Trail Making Test and a novel, group-administered form of the Hooper Visual Organization Test. Patients exhibited varying degrees of impairment on all three instruments compared to available norms. The correlations among the tests were all statistically significant. The lowest inter-test correlations were obtained on the Hooper Visual Organization Test. The utility of global neuropsychological screening instruments with inpatient substance abusers' is discussed in light of these findings.     

Executive function and MRI prefrontal volumes among healthy older adults

Brain atrophy and decline in executive functioning have been reported during late life, but the relationship between the 2 phenomena is not clear. To examine associations between executive tasks and morphometry, MRIs of the prefrontal cortex from 23 healthy elders were manually masked and automatically segmented. Total brain matter of the bilateral orbitofrontal, anterior cingulate, gyrus rectus, precentral gyrus, and middle frontal gyrus were computed as ratios of intracranial volume. A neuropsychological battery of five clinical tests of executive function was administered. Better performance on a response inhibition task was associated with larger volume in anterior cingulate, and performance on a nonverbal inductive reasoning task was associated with larger gyrus rectus volumes. In contrast, larger orbitofrontal volumes were associated with lower verbal and nonverbal generative output. An aggregated error index from 4 executive tests correlated negatively with a regional composite brain index. In conclusion, some executive abilities correlate with volumes of specific prefrontal subregions despite a robust neural interconnectedness between the subregions.     

The relationship between intellectual ability and adult performance on the Trail Making Test and the Symbol Digit Modalities Test.

Subjects between the ages of 18 and 30 were divided in groups based on their Satz-Mogel Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised Full Scale IQs: (a) Borderline (70 to 79); (b) Low Average (80 to 89); (c) Average (90 to 109); (d) High Average (110 to 119); (e) Superior (120 to 129). Each subject was administered the Trail Making Test (Forms A and B) and the written version of the Symbol Digit Modalities Test. A significant effect for IQ emerged. The low ability subjects were, in the main, significantly different from the higher ability subjects. No gender differences were found.     

Cognitive impairment in systemic lupus erythematosus women with elevated autoantibodies and normal single photon emission computerized tomography

Background: Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is known to induce psychiatric disorders, from psychoses to maladaptive coping. Brain autoantibodies were proposed to explain SLE neuropsychiatric disorders and found to be elevated before the onset of clinical symptoms. We assessed cognition in Caucasian SLE women with elevated autoantibodies without overt neuropsychiatric syndromes, in conjunction with single photon emission computerized tomography (SPECT). Methods: 31 women meeting SLE criteria of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) were included. Patients who met the ACR neuropsychiatric definition were excluded. Matched controls were 23 healthy women from the Champagne-Ardenne region, France. Participants completed neuropsychological and autoantibodies measurements, and 19 completed SPECT. Results: 61% (19/31) of women with SLE and 53% (9/17) of those with normal SPECT had significant global cognitive impairment defined as 4 T-scores <40 in cognitive tests, compared to 0% (0/23) of controls. SLE women also had significantly greater cognitive dysfunction (mean T-score) on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) visual backspan, Trail Making Test A and B, WAIS Digit Symbol Substitution Test and Stroop Interference, compared to controls. Elevated antinuclear antibody correlated with impairment in the WAIS visual span, WAIS visual backspan, and cancellation task; elevated anti-double-stranded DNA antibody and anticardiolipin correlated respectively with impairment in the Trail Making Test A and WAIS auditive backspan. Two SLE women had abnormal SPECT. Conclusions: A high prevalence of cognitive deficits was found in Caucasian SLE women compared to normal women, which included impairment in cognitive domains important for daily activities. Elevated autoantibodies tended to correlate with cognitive dysfunction.     

Neuropsychological effects of one-week continuous positive airway pressure treatment in patients with obstructive sleep apnea: a placebo-controlled study

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether 1-week continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment, compared with placebo CPAP, improves cognitive functioning in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). METHODS: 36 OSA patients (aged 32-60 years, respiratory disturbance index [RDI] > 15) were monitored 2 nights with polysomnography, then randomized for 1-week treatment to CPAP or placebo (CPAP at 2 cm H2O with holes in mask). Participants completed Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised Digit Symbol and Digit Span, Trailmaking A/B, Digit Vigilance, Stroop Color-Word, Digit Ordering, and Word Fluency tests pre- and posttreatment. These produced 22 scores per participant, which were analyzed by use of repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) and a rank-sum test. RESULTS: In ANOVA, only 1 of the 22 scores showed significant changes specific to CPAP treatment, a number that could be expected by chance alone: Digit Vigilance-Time (p = .035). The CPAP group improved their time (from 7.5 to 6.9 minutes. p = .013). The rank-sum test revealed that the CPAP group had significantly better overall cognitive functioning posttreatment than the placebo group (mean ranks of 17.8 vs. 20.2, respectively; p = .022). CONCLUSIONS: Although results suggest overall cognitive improvement due to CPAP, no beneficial effects in any specific cognitive domain were found. Future studies of neuropsychological effects of CPAP treatment should include a placebo CPAP control group. Placebo studies that use longer-term treatment might demonstrate additional effects. It is also possible that, even at 2 cm H2O, CPAP conveys some beneficial neuropsychological effects.     

Neurocognitive deficits in first-episode schizophrenic patients and their first-degree relatives.

Some neuropsychological abilities, particularly those affecting memory, attention and executive function, are impaired amongst both schizophrenic patients and their unaffected relatives, implying that these deficits are at least partly genetic in origin. However neuropsychological performance can be altered by medication, and has rarely been examined in first onset, drug naive patients. The objective of this study was to determine whether selected neurocognitive abilities are impaired in first-onset schizophrenic patients and their relatives compared to controls. We examined attention and speed of information processing, memory and learning, verbal function, visuoconstructive abilities and executive function in 207 first-episode schizophrenic patients (163 of whom were drug na?ve), 322 of their first-degree relatives and 133 unrelated normal controls. The data were subjected to multilevel modeling to compare neurocognitive performance between schizophrenic probands, relatives and controls while taking into account potential correlations among members of the same family; age, gender, and years of education were included as covariates. Of the three groups, schizophrenic patients performed poorest at all neuropsychological tests, suggestive of a broad range of neurocognitive deficits. Their first-degree relatives showed a narrower pattern of poor performance at Digit Symbol, Digit Span, Trail Making, Verbal Fluency test, Tower of Hanoi, and WCST-M tests. Our findings show that selected neurocognitive deficits especially attention and executive function are impaired in the families of schizophrenic patients. These patterns of neurocognitive deficits may represent "endophenotypes" denoting varying degrees of vulnerability to schizophrenia and may be of value in future molecular genetic studies.     

Genetic Influences on Five Measures of Processing Speed and Their Covariation with General Cognitive Ability in the Elderly: The Older Australian Twins Study

Processing speed (PS) is one of the basic elements of cognitive functions and has been regarded as a “common mechanism” which mediates general cognitive decline in aging. The present study of Australian twins (117 monozygotic pairs, 98 dizygotic pairs, and 42 single twins aged 65 years and over), estimated the genetic influences in five measures of PS: Digit Symbol Coding (DS), Trail Making Test A (TMTA), Stroop color naming and word reading (Stroop), Simple Reaction Time (SRT) and Complex Reaction Time (CRT); and their covariation with general cognitive ability (GCA): reasoning, problem-solving, and memory. Additive genetic factors explained 62% of the variance in DS, 42% in TMTA, 57% in Stroop, and 48% and 35% in SRT and CRT, respectively. Quantitative genetic modeling showed that all of the covariation between the five PS measures and GCA could be explained by one common genetic factor, while the covariation between the PS measures was partly explained by non-shared environmental as well as genetic influences. The genetic correlation among the PS measures was strongest for DS and TMTA, and between the PS measures and GCA was strongest for DS. These findings suggest that the different PS measures, as well as GCA were to a large extent influenced by the same set of genes and that the relationship between PS and GCA is entirely due to shared-genetic influences.