Frequent assessments may obscure cognitive decline.

Frequent assessments may obscure cognitive decline.

Effects of an initial testing experience on the level of cognitive performance at a 2nd occasion are well documented. However, less is known about the effects of additional testing experiences beyond the 1st on the amount of cognitive change over a specified interval. This issue was investigated in a moderately large sample of adults between 18 and 95 years of age who performed a battery of cog...

Psychological Assessment Frequent Assessments May Obscure Cognitive Decline

Apathy may herald cognitive decline and dementia in Parkinson's disease.

Apathy is usually defined as a lack of motivation. It may occur as part of another disorder (notably depression and dementia) or as an isolated syndrome. In Parkinson's disease (PD), apathy is common and several studies have reported an association between this condition and more severe cognitive symptoms, such as executive dysfunction. However, this association has not been thoroughly investig...

Anterior-medial thalamic lesions in dementia: frequent, and volume dependently associated with sudden cognitive decline.

BACKGROUND The anterior-medial thalamus (AMT), which is associated with memory processing, is severely affected by Alzheimer's disease pathology and, when damaged, can be the sole cause of dementia. OBJECTIVE To assess the frequency of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) hyperintensities affecting the AMT, and their relationship with sudden cognitive decline. METHODS 205 consecutive participan...

Catastrophic presentation of infant botulism may obscure or delay diagnosis.

Three infants with infant botulism are presented to illustrate how atypical, early, and severe features may obscure or delay diagnosis. Two boys aged 6 weeks and 20 days, respectively, presented with rapid deterioration after brief periods of poor feeding, one with an apparent life-threatening event at home and the other with a full cardiopulmonary arrest. Initial abnormal laboratory findings o...