Developing a Brief Neuropsychological Battery for Early Diagnosis of Cognitive Impairment

ObjectivesEarly diagnosis of cognitive impairment is increasingly emphasized in the literature to facilitate timely preventive interventions. Although bedside cognitive tests such as the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) are widely used for such early diagnostic purposes, they may not have comparable performance to a full neuropsychological battery (FNB) in diagnosing early cognitive impairment. This study investigated whether a small subset of neuropsychological tests can be added on to MoCA to match its performance to that of the FNB in discriminating mild cognitive impairment and dementia (MCI/dementia) from normal cognition.DesignCross-sectional diagnostic study.SettingAlzheimer's Disease Centers across the United States.ParticipantsOlder participants (≥50 years) who completed MoCA and the FNB (N = 9187).MeasuresThe study sample was split into two: the derivation sample (n = 1837) was used to develop a brief neuropsychological battery that best discriminated MCI/dementia (using the best-subset approach with 10-fold cross-validation); while the validation sample (n = 7350) verified its actual performance in discriminating MCI/dementia.ResultsA 3-item neuropsychological battery was identified, comprising MoCA, Benson Complex Figure Recall, and Craft Story 21 Delayed Recall. It had excellent performance in discriminating MCI/dementia from normal cognition (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve [AUROC] 90.0%, 95% confidence interval [CI] 89.2%-90.7%), which was comparable to that of the FNB (AUROC 88.4%, 95% CI 87.6%-89.2%). By contrast, MoCA alone had significantly worse AUROC (86.9%, 95% CI 86.0%-87.7%) than that of the FNB.Conclusions/ImplicationsUsing rigorous methods, this study developed a brief neuropsychological battery that maintained the brevity of a bedside cognitive test, while rivaling the diagnostic performance of an FNB in early cognitive impairment. This brief battery offers a viable alternative when the FNB is needed but cannot be feasibly administered in nonspecialty clinics. It can have a wider health systems effect of improving patients’ access to accurate diagnosis in early cognitive impairment and facilitating timely interventions to delay the progression of cognitive impairment.     

Ames试验检测三硝基甲苯及其还原代谢产物的诱变性

应用Ａｍｅｓ试验检测系统观察了三硝基甲苯及其还原代谢产物４－羟氨基－２，６－二硝基甲苯（４－ＨＡ），４－氨基－２，６－二硝基甲苯（４－Ａ），２－氨基－４，６－二硝基甲苯（２－Ａ）和２，４－二氨基－６－硝基甲苯（２，４－ＤＡ）的诱变活性，实验结果显示，三硝基甲苯及其代谢产物具有明显的致突变作用，４－Ａ的直接诱变活性最强，而且移码型诱变性更为显著，在微粒体酶系统的参与下，ＴＮＴ的诱变活性增强，其代谢产     

103例角膜溃疡的病因和病原及药物敏感试验的统计分析

对１９９５年１—１２月间我院门诊１０３例角膜溃疡的病因、病原和药物敏感试验进行统计分析。病因：外伤５９例（５７．２８％），继发感染３４例（３３．０１％），原因不明８例（７．７７％），戴接触镜２例（１．９４％）。病原：真菌３５例（３３．９８％），绿脓杆菌１８例（１７．４８％），金黄色葡萄球菌１５例（１４．５６％），表皮葡萄球菌９例（８．７４％），淋球菌２例（１．９４％）。对１９例真菌性角膜溃疡同时进行细菌培养，有７例为混合感染，占３６．８４％。对几种主要检出菌的药物敏感试验表明：它们对普通抗菌素均可产生一定的耐药性     

猕猴桃汁抗环磷酰胺致突变作用的机理

目的用大鼠外周血双核淋巴细胞微核测试法（ＣＢＭＮＴ），在哺乳动物整体水平，研究猕猴桃汁抗环磷酰胺（ＣＰ）的致突变作用以及生物转化Ⅱ相酶的作用。方法测定大鼠外周血双核淋巴细胞微核细胞率及肝组织中总谷胱甘肽硫转移酶（ＧＳＴ）、尿苷二磷酸葡萄糖醛酸转移酶（ＵＤＰＧＴ）、谷氨酰胺转肽酶（γＧＴ）活性。结果猕猴桃汁对ＣＰ诱发的大鼠外周血双核淋巴细胞微核细胞率有显著抑制作用，能明显诱导大鼠肝脏总ＧＳＴ、ＵＤＧＴＰ活性，但对γＧＴ活性无显著影响。大鼠外周血双核淋巴细胞微核细胞率与总ＧＳＴ、ＵＤＧＴＰ活性呈明显负相关。结论猕猴桃汁抗ＣＰ致微核形成作用的机理可能是通过诱导机体外来化合物代谢解毒酶系，加速ＣＰ的代谢灭活     

Modulation of ryanodine-induced contractures in human skeletal muscle pretreated with dantrolene

Dantrolene seems to be the causal therapy in malignant hyperthermia (MH) crisis but the complex mechanisms of MH and dantrolene therapy are still not fully understood. The influence of dantrolene on ryanodine-induced contractures has been reported in animal studies only. In the present study 20 patients from] 7 families were tested for MH using the protocol of the European Malignant Hyperthermia Group. In addition ryanodine-induced contractures were evaluated following bolus application of 10.0 μmol · 1^-1 ryanodine. After pretreatment with 1 μimol · 1^-1 dantrolene ryanodine-provoked contractures developed significantly later in MHS (15.8±1.8 min) and MHN (46.0±4.2 min) muscle specimens than after ryanodine alone (MHS 4.8±0.7 min), (MHN 13.7±0.9 min). They were no longer observed in either group after pretreatment with 5 μimol · 1^-1 dantrolene. We conclude that dantrolene is able to attenuate ryanodine-induced contractures dose-dependendy, and therefore it is speculated that dantrolene could specifically act at the ryanodine receptor binding site.     

PPD为丝裂源作淋巴细胞转化试验对结核性胸膜炎的诊断价值

以结核菌素纯蛋白衍生物(PPD)为丝裂源作淋巴细胞转化试验,检测结核性(17例)和非结核性(14例)胸膜炎患者的外周血淋巴细胞(PBL)和胸腔积液淋巴细胞(PEL)对PPD 的反应性。结果显示:结核性胸膜炎患者无论PPD 皮试是阳性还是阴性,其PEL 的PPD 刺激指数(PPD-SI)都显著高于PBL(P 分别<0.001与<0.01);结核性PEL 的PPD-SI 显著高于非结核性PEL(P<0.001)。提示PPD 胸腔积液淋巴细胞转化试验可作为诊断结核性胸膜炎的有效方法。     

Factors influencing the variations of ejection fraction during exercise in chronic aortic regurgitation

The influence of left ventricular volume variations and regurgitant fraction variations upon left ventricular ejection fraction, during exercise was examined using equilibrium radionuclide angiography in patients suffering from aortic regurgitation. Ejection fraction (EF), regurgitant fraction (RF), end diastolic volume (EDV) and end systolic volume (ESV) variations from rest to peak exercise were determined in 44 patients suffering from chronic aortic regurgitation (AR) and in 8 healthy volunteers (C). In C, EF increased (+0.10±0.03, P<0.01) and ESV decreased significantly (-23%±12%, P<0.01) RF and EDV did not vary significantly. In AR patients, EF, EDV and ESV did not vary significantly because of important scattering of individual values. Changes in EF and ESV were inversely correlated (r=-0.79, P<0.01) and RF decreased significantly (-0.12±0.10, P<0.01). Volumes and EF changes during exercise occurred in three different ways. In a 1st subgroup of 7 patients, EF increased (+0.09±0.03, P<0.05) in conjunction with a reduction of ESV (-24%±12%, P<0.05) without a significant change in EDV. In a 2nd group of 22 patients. EF decreased (-0.04±0.07, P<0.01) in association with an increase in ESV (+17%±16%, P<0.01) and no change in EDV. In a 3rd subgroup of 15 patients, EF decreased (-0.02±0.06, P<0.01) despite a reduction in ESV (-7%±6%, P<0.01) because of a dramatic EDV decrease (-10%±6%, P<0.05). In this subgroup, changes in EF were inversely correlated with changes in ESV (r=-0.55, P<0.01) and positively related to EDV variations (r=0.42, P=0.02). EDV related to EDV variations (r=0.42, P=0.02). EDV changes were weakly, but significantly, correlated to RF decrease (r=0.39, P<0.05). We conclude that changes in left ventricular ejection fraction during exercise in patients with chronic aortic regurgitation are significantly related in some patients to changes in ventricular loading conditions as well as contractile state. Therefore, a correct interpretation of EF changes during exercise requires the simultaneous determination of changes in LV volumes.Abbreviations EDV end diastolic volume - EF ejection fraction - ESV end systolic volume - LV left ventricle - RV right ventricle     

人血清胰岛素抗体、猪胰岛素原抗体和胰多肽抗体的放射免疫检测法

作者用自制的[~(125)I]标记激素,参考国外经验,建立了人血清胰岛素抗体、猪胰岛素原抗体和胰多肽抗体等三种放射免疫检测法,并对方法的主要实验条件进行了优选,对方法的质量控制参数作了验证。结果发现:在使用国产胰岛素的糖尿病人血清中,三种抗体的检出率分别为90.8％、48.3％和36.5％;抗体特异性结合值分别为21.2±17.4％、41.8±27.4％和25.6±28.4;而正常人和糖尿病人未用胰岛素者全部为阴性,显示国产胰岛素具有明显的免疫原性。