- Email: [email protected]
P3-053
S388
Poster P3:: Tuesday Posters
part A (p ⫽ 0.006). The combination of cognitive tests that showed high discriminative power were: delayed verbal memory and delayed visual memory that classified correctly 94.4% of the AD and control subjects; immediate verbal retrieval task, that classified correctly 89.2% of the AD and depressed patients; and delayed visual retrieval task that classified 75.6% of the depressed and controls. Conclusions: These results suggest that visual and verbal memory tasks are important instruments in the clinical diagnosis of elderly with cognitive deficits and can differentiate mild AD and depressed patients from normal elderly subjects. P3-053
PROBLEM-SOLVING IN NON-DEMENTED CENTENARIANS
Anna K. Barczak1, Elzbieta Luczywek2, Anna Pfeffer3, Krzysztof Czyzewski1, Malgorzata Chodakowska-Zebrowska1, Dorota Religa4, Tomasz Gabryelewicz5, Maria Styczynska5, Beata Peplonska5, Maria Barcikowska5, 1CSK MSWiA Hospital, Warsaw, Poland; 2Department of Neurosurgery, Medical Research Center, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland; 3Department of Neurodegenerative Disorders, Medical Research Center, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland; 4Department of Neurotec, Section of Experimental Geriatrics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; 5Department of Neurodegenerative Disorders, Medical Research Center, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland. Contact e-mail: [email protected] Background: One of the theories of brain ageing suggests that frontal lobes are the very first ones to show signs of that process. The effectiveness of problem-solving is connected with frontal-lobe activity. The aim of this study was to assess ability of solving a problem in a group of centenarians. Objective(s): 10 centenarians and 20 65-year olds from the reference group were neuropsychologically examined. Methods: The measure of planning used in this study was Tower of London (TOL). We analyzed the following scores: the number of tasks completed with a minimal number of movements, the number of incorrect movements and completion time of the first five (1-5) and the second five tasks (6-10). Rule violation and stimulus-bound behavior were also taken into consideration. Results: No significant differences were recorded between the groups in the number of tasks performed with the minimal number of movements in TOL. However significant difference was noticed between the groups in the number of incorrect movements (p⬍0.05). It appeared to be significantly lower in the centenarians than in the reference group. The completion time of the first five and the second five tasks was similar in both groups, however the reference group was faster in completing the whole test. The group of centenarians made significantly more rule violations (p⬍0.05) and stimulus-bound behavior was the most significantly differentiating violation, not observed in the reference group. Conclusions: Centenarians had worked slower but were not impulsive. Their ability of planning was persevered, however its effectiveness could decrease. It may be connected with cognitive reserve as well as age-related advanced fronto-striatal pathology and its relationship with working memory. P3-054
IMPAIRMENT OF EPISODIC-LIKE MEMORY IN DIFFERENT STAGES OF ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE
Kamil Vlcek1, Jan Laczo2, Karel Blahna1, Martin Vyhnalek2, Jakub Hort2, 1Inst Physiol, Academy Sciences, Praha, Czech Republic; 2 Charles University, 2nd School of Medicine, Praha, Czech Republic. Contact e-mail: [email protected] Background: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is associated with a loss of episodic memory. Episodic-like memory concept was developed by Clayton and Dickinson as the memory for information about ‘where’ a unique event or episode took place, ‘what’ occurred during the episode, and ‘when’ the episode happened. Methods: Based on this concept, we developed a non-verbal episodic-like memory test for human presented on computer. The test consists of a presentation and a testing phase. In the presentation phase, the subject is shown a computer screen with several abstract pictures
on predefined places on the right part of the screen and an empty open chest on the left. S/he is instructed to drag, using the computer mouse pointer, the pictures from the predefined places in a given order slowly into the chest. The subjects should memorize both the order and the position of each picture. After about 10 minutes break, the subject should drag the pictures in the same order to the correct position. Successively, memory for position and order of three, five and seven pictures was tested. We evaluated separately the errors in giving order of the pictures, position of the pictures and order of the predefined positions. Objective(s): Comparison was made among groups diagnosed with early and middle stages of AD, a group with amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI, mild memory impairment with large probability of future AD development) and a control group. Results: Interestingly, both the MCI subjects and AD subjects were impaired relative to controls in memory for three, five as well as seven pictures. There were no significant differences between the three types of error. Conclusions: To our knowledge, our test is the first one to test episodic-like memory in humans. The results show strong non-verbal episodic memory impairment dependent on the stage of AD. Supported by GACR grants 309/05/0693 and 309/06/1231, MSMT CR 1M0002375201 and research project AV0Z50110509. P3-055
THE ROLE OF SPECIFIC VASCULAR BIOMARKERS ON EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING IN ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE
Melissa Lamar1, Felicia Goldstein2, David J. Libon3, Angela V. Ashley2, James J. Lah2, Allan I. Levey2, 1Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom; 2Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA; 3UMDNJ-SOM, Strateford, NJ, USA. Contact e-mail: [email protected] Background: Elevated total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol are risk factors for both cardiovascular disease and dementia. These risk factors may lead to alterations in brain structure at the level of subcortical white matter and brain function at the level of cognition, specifically executive functioning. Studies of executive skills such as mental manipulation and working memory suggest this aspect of cognition is differentially affected by vascular risk and subsequent subcortical involvement; however little is known about how such risk, i.e., elevated total cholesterol and LDL, impacts executive functioning within a cortically mediated dementia such as AD. Objective(s): Based on previous studies, we hypothesized that hypercholesterolemia as a biomarker of vascular risk would be associated with executive functioning and not other aspects of cognition in individuals with AD. Methods: A battery of neuropsychological test measures was administered to 45 individuals with AD (age⫽75.20⫾10.12; education⫽12.58⫾3.35; MMSE⫽19.47⫾5.22) to assess learning and memory, language, attention, visuospatial and executive functioning. Scores reflecting each of these cognitive domains were investigated in relation to total cholesterol (TC) and LDL cholesterol (LDL). Results: A series of Pearson’s Product Moment Correlations suggested that at p⬍.05 aspects of spontaneous verbal generation (‘animal fluency’; TC: r⫽-.267 & LDL:r⫽.307), attention and mental manipulation (Trail Making Test Part A; TC: r⫽⫹.368 & LDL:r⫽⫹.333 & Part B; TC: r⫽⫹.262) and concept formation (WASI-III Similarities; TC:r⫽-.355 & LDL:r⫽-.298) were associated with levels of TC and LDL. Results, similar to previously reported results seen in individuals with subcortical dementia, suggest that elevated vascular biomarkers, i.e., higher levels of TC and LDL, in individuals with AD are associated with reduced production on semantic fluency, slower times to completion on tasks of mental manipulation and increased errors during concept formation. Conclusions: This detailed analysis of individual vascular biomarkers indicates the important role of hypercholesterolemia on executive functioning. Furthermore, it highlights the specific and negative impact vascular biomarkers, more specifically, hypercholesterolemia and LDL cholesterolemia, have on executive functioning in dementia regardless of diagnostic category.
Poster P3:: Tuesday Posters
part A (p ⫽ 0.006). The combination of cognitive tests that showed high discriminative power were: delayed verbal memory and delayed visual memory that classified correctly 94.4% of the AD and control subjects; immediate verbal retrieval task, that classified correctly 89.2% of the AD and depressed patients; and delayed visual retrieval task that classified 75.6% of the depressed and controls. Conclusions: These results suggest that visual and verbal memory tasks are important instruments in the clinical diagnosis of elderly with cognitive deficits and can differentiate mild AD and depressed patients from normal elderly subjects. P3-053
PROBLEM-SOLVING IN NON-DEMENTED CENTENARIANS
Anna K. Barczak1, Elzbieta Luczywek2, Anna Pfeffer3, Krzysztof Czyzewski1, Malgorzata Chodakowska-Zebrowska1, Dorota Religa4, Tomasz Gabryelewicz5, Maria Styczynska5, Beata Peplonska5, Maria Barcikowska5, 1CSK MSWiA Hospital, Warsaw, Poland; 2Department of Neurosurgery, Medical Research Center, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland; 3Department of Neurodegenerative Disorders, Medical Research Center, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland; 4Department of Neurotec, Section of Experimental Geriatrics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; 5Department of Neurodegenerative Disorders, Medical Research Center, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland. Contact e-mail: [email protected] Background: One of the theories of brain ageing suggests that frontal lobes are the very first ones to show signs of that process. The effectiveness of problem-solving is connected with frontal-lobe activity. The aim of this study was to assess ability of solving a problem in a group of centenarians. Objective(s): 10 centenarians and 20 65-year olds from the reference group were neuropsychologically examined. Methods: The measure of planning used in this study was Tower of London (TOL). We analyzed the following scores: the number of tasks completed with a minimal number of movements, the number of incorrect movements and completion time of the first five (1-5) and the second five tasks (6-10). Rule violation and stimulus-bound behavior were also taken into consideration. Results: No significant differences were recorded between the groups in the number of tasks performed with the minimal number of movements in TOL. However significant difference was noticed between the groups in the number of incorrect movements (p⬍0.05). It appeared to be significantly lower in the centenarians than in the reference group. The completion time of the first five and the second five tasks was similar in both groups, however the reference group was faster in completing the whole test. The group of centenarians made significantly more rule violations (p⬍0.05) and stimulus-bound behavior was the most significantly differentiating violation, not observed in the reference group. Conclusions: Centenarians had worked slower but were not impulsive. Their ability of planning was persevered, however its effectiveness could decrease. It may be connected with cognitive reserve as well as age-related advanced fronto-striatal pathology and its relationship with working memory. P3-054
IMPAIRMENT OF EPISODIC-LIKE MEMORY IN DIFFERENT STAGES OF ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE
Kamil Vlcek1, Jan Laczo2, Karel Blahna1, Martin Vyhnalek2, Jakub Hort2, 1Inst Physiol, Academy Sciences, Praha, Czech Republic; 2 Charles University, 2nd School of Medicine, Praha, Czech Republic. Contact e-mail: [email protected] Background: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is associated with a loss of episodic memory. Episodic-like memory concept was developed by Clayton and Dickinson as the memory for information about ‘where’ a unique event or episode took place, ‘what’ occurred during the episode, and ‘when’ the episode happened. Methods: Based on this concept, we developed a non-verbal episodic-like memory test for human presented on computer. The test consists of a presentation and a testing phase. In the presentation phase, the subject is shown a computer screen with several abstract pictures
on predefined places on the right part of the screen and an empty open chest on the left. S/he is instructed to drag, using the computer mouse pointer, the pictures from the predefined places in a given order slowly into the chest. The subjects should memorize both the order and the position of each picture. After about 10 minutes break, the subject should drag the pictures in the same order to the correct position. Successively, memory for position and order of three, five and seven pictures was tested. We evaluated separately the errors in giving order of the pictures, position of the pictures and order of the predefined positions. Objective(s): Comparison was made among groups diagnosed with early and middle stages of AD, a group with amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI, mild memory impairment with large probability of future AD development) and a control group. Results: Interestingly, both the MCI subjects and AD subjects were impaired relative to controls in memory for three, five as well as seven pictures. There were no significant differences between the three types of error. Conclusions: To our knowledge, our test is the first one to test episodic-like memory in humans. The results show strong non-verbal episodic memory impairment dependent on the stage of AD. Supported by GACR grants 309/05/0693 and 309/06/1231, MSMT CR 1M0002375201 and research project AV0Z50110509. P3-055
THE ROLE OF SPECIFIC VASCULAR BIOMARKERS ON EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING IN ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE
Melissa Lamar1, Felicia Goldstein2, David J. Libon3, Angela V. Ashley2, James J. Lah2, Allan I. Levey2, 1Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom; 2Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA; 3UMDNJ-SOM, Strateford, NJ, USA. Contact e-mail: [email protected] Background: Elevated total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol are risk factors for both cardiovascular disease and dementia. These risk factors may lead to alterations in brain structure at the level of subcortical white matter and brain function at the level of cognition, specifically executive functioning. Studies of executive skills such as mental manipulation and working memory suggest this aspect of cognition is differentially affected by vascular risk and subsequent subcortical involvement; however little is known about how such risk, i.e., elevated total cholesterol and LDL, impacts executive functioning within a cortically mediated dementia such as AD. Objective(s): Based on previous studies, we hypothesized that hypercholesterolemia as a biomarker of vascular risk would be associated with executive functioning and not other aspects of cognition in individuals with AD. Methods: A battery of neuropsychological test measures was administered to 45 individuals with AD (age⫽75.20⫾10.12; education⫽12.58⫾3.35; MMSE⫽19.47⫾5.22) to assess learning and memory, language, attention, visuospatial and executive functioning. Scores reflecting each of these cognitive domains were investigated in relation to total cholesterol (TC) and LDL cholesterol (LDL). Results: A series of Pearson’s Product Moment Correlations suggested that at p⬍.05 aspects of spontaneous verbal generation (‘animal fluency’; TC: r⫽-.267 & LDL:r⫽.307), attention and mental manipulation (Trail Making Test Part A; TC: r⫽⫹.368 & LDL:r⫽⫹.333 & Part B; TC: r⫽⫹.262) and concept formation (WASI-III Similarities; TC:r⫽-.355 & LDL:r⫽-.298) were associated with levels of TC and LDL. Results, similar to previously reported results seen in individuals with subcortical dementia, suggest that elevated vascular biomarkers, i.e., higher levels of TC and LDL, in individuals with AD are associated with reduced production on semantic fluency, slower times to completion on tasks of mental manipulation and increased errors during concept formation. Conclusions: This detailed analysis of individual vascular biomarkers indicates the important role of hypercholesterolemia on executive functioning. Furthermore, it highlights the specific and negative impact vascular biomarkers, more specifically, hypercholesterolemia and LDL cholesterolemia, have on executive functioning in dementia regardless of diagnostic category.