Neurocognition

BACKGROUND: Pediatric cancer patients' oncology teams regularly take on a primary care role, but due to the urgent nature of cancer treatment, developmental screenings may be deprioritized. This leaves patients at risk of developmental diagnoses and referrals being delayed. AIMS: Clarify the current developmental surveillance and screening practices of one pediatric oncology team. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Researchers reviewed charts for patients (n = 66) seen at a pediatric oncology clinic in a suburban academic medical center to determine engagement in developmental screening (including functioning around related areas such as speech, neurocognition, etc...

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a chronic and debilitating disease, associated with a high risk of psychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases. Despite significant advancements in improving outcomes, the lack of effective treatments underscore the urgent need for innovative therapeutic strategies. The brain-gut axis has emerged as a crucial bidirectional pathway connecting the brain and the gastrointestinal (GI) system through an intricate network of neuronal, hormonal, and immunological pathways. Four main pathways are primarily implicated in this crosstalk, including the systemic immune system, autonomic and enteric nervous systems, neuroendocrine system, and microbiome...

BACKGROUND: Schizophrenia (SZ) is characterized by disconnected cerebral networks. Recent studies have shown that functional connectivity between the cerebellar dorsal dentate nucleus (dDN) and cerebrum is correlated with psychotic symptoms, and processing speed in SZ patients. Dynamic effective connectivity (dEC) is a reliable indicator of brain functional status. However, the dEC between the dDN and cerebrum in patients with SZ remains largely unknown. METHODS: Resting-state functional MRI data, symptom severity, and cognitive performance were collected from 74 SZ patients and 53 healthy controls (HC)...

As treatment for glioma advances, with an attendant improvement in length of patient survival, the quality of that survival has rightly become an increasingly important patient-centered metric, and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) an important outcome measure. HRQOL is a self-assessed, multidimensional concept encompassing the physical, emotional, and social components of quality of life associated with illness and its treatment. Neurosurgeons caring for patients with gliomas should be aware of the latest research on HRQOL to understand mechanisms by which it can be improved...

BACKGROUND AND HYPOTHESIS: The Structured Interview for Psychosis-Risk Syndromes (SIPS) and other assessments of psychosis risk define clinical high risk for psychosis (CHR) by the presence of attenuated psychotic symptoms. Despite extensive research on attenuated psychotic symptoms, substantial questions remain about their internal psychometric structure and relationships to comorbid non-psychotic symptoms. STUDY DESIGN: Hierarchical and bifactor models were developed for the SIPS in a large CHR sample (NAPLS-3, N = 787) and confirmed through preregistered replication in an independent sample (NAPLS-2, N = 1043)...

INTRODUCTION: In females with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), the influence of hyperandrogenism and glucocorticoid supplementation on neurocognition is controversial. OBJECTIVES: To identify possible differences in visual working memory and verbal memory in adolescent girls with CAH due to 21-hydroxylase deficiency and matched controls. Moreover, to study if any relationship between variables associated with CAH and the scores of the selected memory tests was present...

Research examining the purported association between violent gaming and aggression remains controversial due to concerns related to methodology, unclear neurocognitive mechanisms, and the failure to adequately consider the role of individual differences in susceptibility. To help address these concerns, we used fMRI and an emotional empathy task to examine whether acute and cumulative violent gaming exposure were associated with abnormalities in emotional empathy as a function of trait-empathy. Emotional empathy was targeted given its involvement in regulating not only aggression, but also other important social functions such as compassion and prosocial behaviour...

The current study evaluated the reliability and validity of a novel, performance-based banking task in 60 younger (18-34 years) and 60 older (50-85 years) adults. All participants completed the Telephone-based Daily Instrumental Activities of Living (T-DIAL) using interactive voice response technology to complete a series of mock actions with a financial institution via telephone. The T-DIAL showed strong inter-rater reliability and internal consistency. T-DIAL accuracy was significantly and independently related to better self-reported instrumental activities of daily living and executive functions at a large effect size...

Advanced meditation such as jhana meditation can produce various altered states of consciousness (jhanas) and cultivate rewarding psychological qualities including joy, peace, compassion, and attentional stability. Mapping the neurobiological substrates of jhana meditation can inform the development and application of advanced meditation to enhance well-being. Only two prior studies have attempted to investigate the neural correlates of jhana meditation, and the rarity of adept practitioners has largely restricted the size and extent of these studies...

BACKGROUND: Dementia is one of the leading non-communicable causes of disability and mortality in older adults, with recent research showing that it is increasing in low-middle-income countries compared to high-income countries. As such, multidisciplinary efforts are needed to effectively reduce the prevalence and risk of dementia through quick screening, diagnosis, and management of those with dementia and those at risk. AIM: The study's objectives were to estimate the prevalence of dementia and measure the sociodemographic and clinical risks in older adults in low socioeconomic communities...

Background The subgenual cingulate cortex (SGC) has been identified as a key structure within multiple neural circuits whose dysfunction is implicated in the neurobiology of depression. Deep brain stimulation in the SGC is thought to reduce and normalize local metabolism, causing normalization of circuit behavior and an improvement in depressive symptoms. We hypothesized that nonablative stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) to the SGC would reduce local metabolism and reduce the severity of depression in patients with treatment-resistant bipolar depression...

Dementia, particularly Alzheimer's disease, affects millions globally, with its prevalence increasing notably with age. Early-onset Alzheimer's disease, however, affects individuals under 65 years old. Unfortunately, diagnosing dementia in patients under 65 years old is quite challenging and is often delayed, missed, or wrong. Thus, we present the case of a 60-year-old female, with a medical history of hypothyroidism and presumed dementia on donepezil, who presented to the emergency department for agitation, dramatic change in personality and behavior, as well as cognitive decline that started in her late 50s...

BACKGROUND: Although effective antiretroviral therapy (ART) has improved the life expectancy of people with HIV (PWH), the prevalence of milder forms of HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND) persist, and it is associated with systemic and neuro-inflammatory processes that could impact other organ systems. However, the complex signaling mechanisms between the bone-kidney systems and the brain in HAND remain unknown. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) play a potential role in inter-organ communication and are involved in regulating cell activity in distant tissues...

OBJECTIVE: Previous resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging studies on intracerebral hemorrhage patients have focused more on the static characteristics of brain activity, while the time-varying effects during scanning have received less attention. Therefore, the current study aimed to explore the dynamic functional network connectivity changes of intracerebral hemorrhage patients. METHODS: Using independent component analysis, the sliding window approach, and the k-means clustering analysis method, different dynamic functional network connectivity states were detected from resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data of 37 intracerebral hemorrhage patients and 44 healthy controls...

BACKGROUND: Current scientific literature supports classical psychedelic efficacy in many psychiatric disorders. However, less attention has been given to the neurological effects of these substances. The aim of this medical thesis was to conduct a systematic review examining the neuroimaging correlates of the effects of psychedelics. METHOD: We performed an electronic research through Medline and Science Direct databases. A comprehensive search yielded 460 articles published up to May 2022...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Spontaneous intracranial hypotension (SIH) from CSF leak commonly produces headache. It also may produce sagging brain syndrome (SBS), often with neurocognitive symptoms indistinguishable from behavioral-variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD). The authors describe a new clinical sign that appears to be pathognomonic of SBS. METHODS: We reviewed medical records and brain imaging in patients seen at our 2 centers who presented with SIH, SBS, and bvFTD symptoms...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: This study aimed to evaluate the brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of patients with acute transient global amnesia (TGA) using volumetric analysis to verify whether the brains of TGA patients have pre-existing structural abnormalities. METHODS: We evaluated the brain MRI data from 87 TGA patients and 20 age- and sex-matched control subjects. We included brain MRIs obtained from TGA patients within 72 hours of symptom onset to verify the pre-existence of structural change...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Each item in the instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) questionnaire has differential importance to an individual's life functioning based on gender. However, IADL has mostly been utilized for its total score alone, without gender specificity. We identify the impact of each item on the transition from amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) to Alzheimer's disease dementia (ADD), and determine if the impact of each item differs by gender. METHODS: Subjects were aMCI or ADD with a global clinical dementia rating of 0...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Ventricle enlargement has been implicated in the pathophysiology of Alzheimer's disease (AD). We studied the relationship between ventricular size and cognitive function in patients with AD. We focused on the effect of the initial ventricle size on the rate of cognitive decline in patients with AD. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of probable clinical AD participants with more than 2 magnetic resonance imaging images was performed. To measure ventricle size, we used visual rating scales of (1) Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS) score and (2) conventional linear measurement method...

The Korean Dementia Association (KDA) has been organizing biennial international academic conferences since 2019, with the International Conference of the KDA (IC-KDA) 2023 held in Busan under the theme 'Beyond Boundaries: Advancing Global Dementia Solutions.' The conference comprised 6 scientific sessions, 3 plenary lectures, and 4 luncheon symposiums, drawing 804 participants from 35 countries. Notably, a Korea-Taiwan Joint Symposium addressed insights into Alzheimer's disease (AD). Plenary lectures by renowned scholars explored topics such as microbiome-related AD pathogenesis, social cognition in neurodegenerative diseases, and genetic frontotemporal dementia (FTD)...