Autor: Ineco

Surface dyslexia has been attributed to an overreliance on the sub-lexical route for reading. Typically, surface dyslexic patients commit regularisation errors when reading irregular words. Also, semantic dementia has often been associated with surface dyslexia, leading to some explanations of the reading impairment that stress the role of semantics in irregular word reading. Nevertheless, some patients have been reported with unimpaired ability to read irregular words, even though they show severe comprehension impairment. We present the case of M.B., the first Spanish-speaking semantic dementia patient to be reported who shows unimpaired reading of non-words, regular words, and – most strikingly – irregular loan words. M.B. has severely impaired comprehension of the same words he reads correctly (whether regular or irregular). We argue that M.B.’s pattern of performance shows that irregular words can be correctly read even with impaired semantic knowledge corresponding to those words.

The diagnostic criteria for the attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) were defined by the American Psychiatric Association in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth version. ADHD is a neuro-psychiatric disorder associated with impairments in everyday life and behavioral dysregulation (i.e. inattention, hyper-activity and impulsivity), and it has showed empirical evidence from clinical, pharmacological, and psychometric studies. Nevertheless, the role of neurobiological impairments in the presentation of the symptoms remains unclear. For this paper, the authors reviewed Spanish and English literature that support the neurobiological validity of the disorder, aimed to present evidence associated with its cognitive and behavioral phenotype (e.g. in: neuropsychology, electrophysiology, structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging, neurochemistry and genetics). Additionally, an integrative theoretical clinical and scientific proposal is presented. Finally, the introduction of neurobiological marker as part of the definitive diagnosis is suggested, as a started point for the identification of therapeutic targets.

The growing interest for the scientific study of consciousness and the current development of neuroimaging tools have allowed to investigate the neuronal correlates of hypnosis and to expand its scope to assess normal and pathological neurocognitive phenomena. At an empirical level, theories that postulate hypnosis as a neurophysiological distinctive state of consciousness (´state theories´), and theories that claim that hypnosis would just represent different neurophysiological changes associated to specific suggestions without no change in the state of consciousness (´non-state theories´); have both been assessed. In this work, these two theories are critically reviewed, their main features are discussed and their neurophysiological evidence is described. A growing body of evidence supports that a hypnotic state of consciousness involves mainly the anterior cingulated cortex and the dorsolateral frontal cortex; as well as a pattern of attenuated cortical functional connectivity. Also, we concluded that hypnotic suggestions have allowed a better comprehension of a diversity of normal and pathological neuropsychological processes. Finally, we stated that the neurophysiologic evidence until now is still insufficient to solve the debate between state and non-state theorists.

The Movement Disorder Society-UPDRS (MDS-UPDRS) was published in 2008, showing satisfactory clinimetric results and has been proposed as the official benchmark scale for Parkinson’s disease. The present study, based on the official MDS-UPDRS Spanish version, performed the first independent testing of the scale and adds information on its clinimetric properties. The cross-culturally adapted MDS-UPDRS Spanish version showed a comparative fit index ≥0.90 for each part (I-IV) relative to the English-language version and was accepted as the Official MDS-UPDRS Spanish version. Data from this scale, applied with other assessments to Spanish-speaking Parkinson’s disease patients in five countries, were analyzed for an independent and complementary clinimetric evaluation. In total, 435 patients were included. Missing data were negligible and moderate floor effect (30 %) was found for Part IV. Cronbach’s α index ranged between 0.79 and 0.93 and only five items did not reach the 0.30 threshold value of item-total correlation. Test-retest reliability was adequate with only two sub-scores of the item 3.17, Rest tremor amplitude, reaching κ values lower than 0.60. The intraclass correlation coefficient was higher than 0.85 for the total score of each part. Correlation of the MDS-UPDRS parts with other measures for related constructs was high (≥0.60) and the standard error of measurement lower than one-third baseline standard deviation for all subscales. Results confirm those of the original study and add information on scale reliability, construct validity, and precision. The MDS-UPDRS Spanish version shows satisfactory clinimetric characteristics.

The relationship between decision making and theory of mind (TOM) has been hardly investigated in patients with Asperger Syndrome (AS). Here, we show that the AS group (n=25) exhibited deficits on a complex TOM task, yet were unimpaired in a decision-making test. No association was found between these two domains.

The significance of social situations is commonly context-embedded. Although the role of context has been extensively studied in basic sensory processing or simple stimulus-response settings, its relevance for social cognition is unknown. We propose the social context network model (SCNM), a fronto-insular-temporal network responsible for processing social contextual effects. The SCNM may 1) update the context and use it to make predictions, 2) coordinate internal and external milieus, and 3) consolidate context-target associative learning. We suggest the behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) as a specific disorder in which the reported deficits in social cognition (e.g., facial recognition, empathy, decision-making, figurative language, theory of mind) can be described as context impairments due to deficits in the SCNM. Disruption of orbitofrontal-amygdala circuit, as well as the frontal, temporal, and insular atrophy in bVFTD, suggests a relationship between context-sensitive social cognition and SCNM. In considering context as an intrinsic part of social cognition, we highlight the need for a situated cognition approach in social cognition research as opposed to an abstract, universal, and decontextualized approach. The assessment of context-dependent social cognition paradigms, the SCNM, and their possible application to neuropsychiatric disorders may provide new insight into bvFTD and other related frontal disorders.

This study examines performance of schizophrenia patients, unaffected relatives and controls in social cognition, cognitive and psychiatric scales looking for possible markers of vulnerability in schizophrenia. Performance of schizophrenia patients from multiplex families, first-degree relatives, and matched controls was compared and, subsequently, discriminant analysis method was used for identifying the best predictors for group membership. By using Multigroup Discriminant Analyses on the three groups, the best predictors were PANSS, Premorbid Adjustment Scale, Faux Pas test, and a face/emotion categorizing task. This model obtained 82% correct global classification, suggesting that the combination of psychiatric scales and neuropsychological/social cognition tasks are the best approach for characterizing this disease. Although preliminary, our results suggest that social cognition tasks are robust markers of schizophrenia family impairments, and that combining clinical, social and neuropsychological measures is the best approach to asses patients and relatives vulnerability.

We assessed cognitive performance and physical disability in 111 multiple sclerosis (MS) patients and 222 healthy controls in a multicenter study in Argentina to obtain the prevalence of cognitive impairment (CI) in a population of MS outpatients in Argentina. MS patients presented significantly lower scores in all Brief Repeatable Battery of Neuropsychology (BRB-N) tests than did the control group. The prevalence of CI was 43.2%. This study allowed us to obtain actual figures on the number of MS patients with CI in a Latin American sample. This validation is a very useful tool for clinical practice and for research studies to assess cognition in MS.

We compared the utility of two executive-function brief screening tools, the Institute of Cognitive Neurology (INECO) Frontal Screening (IFS) and the Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB), in their ability to detect executive dysfunction in a group of behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bv-FTD, n = 25) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD, n = 25) patients in the early stages of their disease and in comparison to a group of age, gender, and education-matched controls (n = 26). Relative to the FAB, the IFS showed (a) better capability to differentiate between types of dementia; (b) higher sensitivity and specificity for the detection of executive dysfunction; (c) stronger correlations with standard executive tasks. We conclude that while both tools are brief and specific for the detection of early executive dysfunction in dementia, the IFS is more sensitive and specific in differentiating bvFTD from AD, and its use in everyday clinical practice can contribute to the differential diagnosis between types of dementia.

We compared the utility of two executive-function brief screening tools, the Institute of Cognitive Neurology (INECO) Frontal Screening (IFS) and the Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB), in their ability to detect executive dysfunction in a group of behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bv-FTD, n = 25) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD, n = 25) patients in the early stages of their disease and in comparison to a group of age-, gender-, and education-matched controls (n = 26). Relative to the FAB, the IFS showed (a) better capability to differentiate between types of dementia; (b) higher sensitivity and specificity for the detection of executive dysfunction; (c) stronger correlations with standard executive tasks. We conclude that while both tools are brief and specific for the detection of early executive dysfunction in dementia, the IFS is more sensitive and specific in differentiating bvFTD from AD, and its use in everyday clinical practice can contribute to the differential diagnosis between types of dementia.