Scenery Picture Memory Test: A new type of quick and effective screening test to detect early stage Alzheimer's disease patients

It is highly desirable to develop a neuropsychological screening test which is sensitive to the early stage of Alzheimer's disease (AD), and is easy to administer at the primary care physician's (PCP's) office.Participants were 128 AD patients and 54 healthy volunteers. Brief cognitive screening tests were administered to the participants including the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Clock Drawing Test (CDT), Verbal Fluency Test (VFT), a Verbal Category Cued Memory test (CCMT) and the Scenery Picture Memory Test (SPMT). In the SPMT, a scenery picture of a living room containing 23 familiar objects was used. The administration of the SPMT comprised the first shallow memory session (Pict 1) and the second deep memory session (Pict 2). The area under the receiver–operator curve (AUC) was used to compare the efficacy of SPMT with other cognitive tests.Pict 1, which requires less than 2 min to complete, had the same AUC as Pict 2, and showed significantly larger AUC than MMSE, CDT and VFT for all (MMSE 19–23) and very mild (MMSE ≥ 24) AD patients. When we conducted the similar analysis separately for those younger than 75 years and those aged 75 years or older, we obtained the same results as above among the older age group. Pict 1 showed larger AUC than CCMT in overall sample and also in the older age group, although the difference was not statistically significant.The SPMT could be useful for detection of mild and very mild AD in settings even where time is limited.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/78663/1/j.1447-0594.2009.00576.x.pd

P4‐426: Waist Circumference And Domain‐Specific Cognitive Function Among The Non‐Demented Japanese Elderly: Results From The Takashima Study

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/152729/1/alzjjalz2019064098.pd

Impurity emission characteristics of long pulse discharges in Large Helical Device

Line spectra from intrinsic impurity ions have been monitored during the three kinds of long-pulse discharges (ICH, ECH, NBI). Constant emission from the iron impurity shows no preferential accumulation of iron ion during the long-pulse operations. Stable Doppler ion temperature has been also measured from Fe XX, C V and C III spectra

Relative Preservation of Advanced Activities in Daily Living among Patients with Mild-to-Moderate Dementia in the Community and Overview of Support Provided by Family Caregivers.

Little is known about the extent to which advanced activities of daily living among patients with dementia are preserved and how family caregivers of these patients support them in the community. In this cross-sectional assessment of pairs of patients with dementia and their family caregivers, we evaluated basic, instrumental, and advanced activities of daily living by comparing past and present status observed by caregivers with subjective estimations by patients with dementia. We also asked about ways in which support was provided by family caregivers. Thirty-nine pairs of patients with dementia and caregivers who presented to our memory clinic were interviewed. The mean age of patients with dementia was 75.3 ± 7.0 years, and Mini-Mental State Examination scores were 22.3 ± 3.4. We found relative preservation of advanced activities of daily living compared with instrumental activities of daily living. Caregivers provided instrumental, informational, and reminding support to patients with dementia. These findings may reinforce the concept of person-centered support of patients with dementia in the community

Identifying cognitive dysfunction using the nurses’ rapidly clinical judgment in elderly inpatients

: The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between nurses’ clinical judgment on cognitive function by fall risk assessment and mini-mental state examination (MMSE) scores in elderly inpatients. : We studied 61 consecutive hospitalized patients who received both comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA) and fall risk assessment at the Department of Geriatric Medicine in Kyoto University Hospital from January 2006 to June 2010. During the fall risk assessment at admission, primary nurses evaluated the cognitive function by four items (with or without disorientation, impaired judgment, lack of comprehension, and memory loss), while a trained clinical assistant performed CGA including MMSE. Patients were divided into three groups according to the MMSE scores. The association between the four items of judgment by nurses and MMSE scores was then studied. : The mean age was 80.1 years and 55.7% of the patients were female. The percentage of patients judged to have impaired judgment, lack of comprehension, and memory loss was higher in patients with lower MMSE scores (impaired judgment, p for trend = 0.001; lack of comprehension, p for trend = 0.043; memory loss, p for trend = 0.001). The percentage of patients judged to have at least one of the four abnormalities was also significantly higher in patients with lower MMSE scores (p for trend : These data indicate that a comprehensive evaluation using all the four items on cognitive impairment is more effective in detecting cognitive impairment in elderly than using individual items, although one-third of cognitively impaired elderly patients may miss detection despite the use of the four items. Better approaches should be developed to identify cognitively impaired elderly patients by nurses

Longitudinal Changes in Performance on Cognitive Screening Tests in Patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer Disease

Background: Neuropsychological tests that can track changes in cognitive functions after diagnosis of Alzheimer disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI), including episodic memory, should be further developed. Methods: The participants of our study consisted of 22 mild AD patients and 11 MCI patients. They were followed up for 2 years. Brief cognitive screening tests were administered to the participants. Longitudinal changes in test performance were evaluated and analyzed. Results: In this longitudinal study, the Scenery Picture Memory Test (SPMT) showed significant changes over 2 years in both MCI and AD participants. The Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Word Fluency Test-vegetable showed significant changes only in AD participants. Other tests all showed little or no decline in results. Conclusions: The SPMT can be a useful tool for effectively observing changes during follow-up of MCI and AD patients