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Analyzed data from 125 questionnaires completed by callers of telephone helpline specializing in Alzheimer's disease and related dementing illnesses. On average, 3.94 requests for information were made per call. Most common requests concerned home services, general information about dementia, information about adult day care, and support group information. (Author/NB)

Examined demographic characteristics of 242 clinic outpatients evaluated for dementia. Each individual received comprehensive assessment of medical status, psychological functioning, and social abilities. Results add to knowledge of characteristics of individuals with Alzheimer's disease, multi-infarct dementia, or other related disorders. (Author/NB)

A study was conducted to validate the hypothesis that the natriuretic potential of the plasma factor influences sodium-dependent cellular functions that increases cytosolic calcium and activates apoptosis in Alzheimer plasma. Findings of the experiment provide evidence that supports this theory. It was found that factor(s) in Alzheimer's disease plasma triggers the development of apoptosis in pig kidney epithelial cells.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether patient dementia diagnostic type (Alzheimer's Disease/Vascular Dementia) is associated with caregiver burden. A retrospective case review was conducted of patient and caregiver information collected at a university-based dementia clinic. Results showed that primary dementia diagnosis was not associated with burden. Rather, psychotic symptoms paired with poor IADL functioning generated the most burden, while cognitive dysfunction did not significantly influence burden. Additionally, caregiver gender (female), depressive symptoms, and being an adult child of the care recipient were associated with increased caregiver burden. Findings advocate for including tailored designs in caregiver interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a study which examined the hypothesis that poorer partial report performance on the part of older adults involves age-related differences in the speed of visual and auditory information processing. Suggestion of previous investigations using the partial report technique for examining adult age differences in iconic memory that older adults are less able to extract information stored in the icon than young adults.

Examines the relationship between dementia and abusive behavior in a group of demented patients and their caregivers. Concept of elder abuse; Prevalence rate.

Young and older adults were compared on their ability to organize letter sets into “opaque” memory codes (letters were either transposed within or between imposed chunk boundaries on a secondary memory, recognition task). Also, processing variability (i.e., internal noise) was examined via signal detection methods. The data indicated that there were no qualitative age differences in the manner in which both groups organized opaque memory codes, although older adults did take significantly longer to respond. The results from the signal detection theory portion of the present experiment demonstrated that older adults' memory operating characteristic curves exhibited significantly more variability than those of the young. This suggested that an age difference in processing variability existed, rather than any appreciable age difference in the primary organization (i.e., the forming of opaque memory codes) of item order information. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We compared young and elderly adults on the ability to serially recall sequences of letters assumed to be stored in secondary memory. The results showed that older adults recalled significantly fewer complete strings than younger adults. However, both age groups exhibited the same pattern of transitional error probabilities (TEPs), indicating that the two groups were chunking information in the same qualitative manner. Interestingly, though, the older adults exhibited higher TEP spikes (indicating stronger chunk bounderies) than did younger adults. These results do not support the view that there are qualitative age differences in primary organization, but the results do indicate that older adults have a secondary memory deficit. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Stimulus persistence theory states that the effects of stimulation are longer lasting in the nervous system of the old person than the younger one. This concept and its relation to perceptual functioning and age was examined via two perceptual aftereffect tasks, the Spiral and the Waterfall. Twenty-four elderly adults (mean age = 65.5) and twenty-four young adults (mean age = 24.8) were each exposed to both stimulus displays, at four exposure durations: 45, 60, 90, and 120 seconds. Following the offset of each display, the duration of any apparent motion aftereffect was recorded. Although on the basis of stimulus persistence theory it was expected that the elderly would exhibit longer mean aftereffects than the young, no support for this hypothesis was noted. Possible explanations of these results and their relation to previous findings, in terms of fatigue effects and sample characteristics, are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We examined the prevalence of major depression, depressed mood/anhedonia, and subjective and neurovegetative symptoms of depression that were unaccompanied by depressed mood/anhedonia in patients with clinically-diagnosed Alzheimer's disease (AD) and multi-infarct dementia (MID). The specificity of subjective and neurovegetative depressive symptoms for depressed mood in dementia was examined, as was the impact on depression of clinical variables such as family history, patient age, and dementia severity. Subjects were 105 outpatients who met DSM-III-R criteria for AD (n = 67) or MID (n = 38). Depressed mood/anhedonia was frequently noted in both the AD (40.3%) and MID (34.2%) groups. One or more depressive symptoms, not accompanied by depressed mood/anhedonia, were also common in AD and MID (49.3% and 36.8%, respectively). Major depression was relatively uncommon in AD (10.5%) but was noted more frequently in MID (29.0%). Among AD patients, neurovegetative symptoms of depression were not any more common in patients with depressed mood/anhedonia than in those without depressed mood/anhedonia. Subjective symptoms of depression were also not significantly associated with depressed mood/anhedonia. The study highlights the importance of viewing major depression, depressed mood-anhedonia, and other depressive symptoms (subjective and neurovegetative) as separate entities in AD and MID. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The shape and thickness of the third ventricles were studied with magnetic resonance imaging in 46 patients under evaluation for memory impairment. We compared this population with 23 subjects imaged for other reasons. The study group consisted of patients with diagnoses of probable dementia of the Alzheimer's type (DAT; 35.6%), multi-infarct dementia (MID; 22.2%), depression (8.9%), alcoholic dementia (6.7%), other dementias (OD; 13.2%) and no dementia (6.7%). Within the study group, there were no significant differences across diagnostic categories for duration of symptoms or level of education. Patients with DAT were, however, more impaired than others (Mini-Mental State Examination scores: DAT 14.6 [±8.2] versus MID 17.4 [±6.2] versus OD 21.2 [±6.4]). Demented subjects were more likely than nondemented individuals to have a convex third ventricle and greater wall separation. The results suggest that the shape of the third ventricle may correlate with dementia. Possibly, the dorsal medial nucleus of the thalamus is involved in the dementia. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Age differences in spatial vision were examined by establishing contrast sensitivity functions for young and old adults. In addition, differences in the speed of operation of the different visual channels and their contribution to age differences in reaction time were assessed in a comparison of response speed to sinusoidal gratings of varied spatial frequency. An age-related loss in contrast sensitivity was observed primarily for stimuli of intermediate and high spatial frequency, an effect apparently due mostly to age-related optical differences. Reaction time varied markedly as a function of spatial frequency for the older participants, an outcome only partly attributable to age differences in target visibility. These data indicate a slowing in the speed of operations of individual visual channels and/or a change in the relationship between visual channel classes. These findings also raise a question in regard to the meaning and comparability of any studies that have used measures of response latency to the figural aspects of stimuli. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Metamemory abilities were compared among three age groups, 18 to 31, 60 to 69, and 70 to 19 years. These groups were compared with respect to their memory knowledge tabouthe relative difficulty of memorizing low-and high-imagery and low-and high-frequency words. The three age groups were similar in their predictions of the number of words they could recall but differed in the number they actually did recall. Increased age was associated with overestimation. It was concluded that accurate memory knowledge of these word types declines with age. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Adult age differences in reflection-impulsivity were examined on a modified version of kagan's adult Matching Familiar Figures Test (MFF). The sample consisted of 20 elderly adults (mean age = 70.6) and 20 young adults (mean age = 21.9), each of whom was administered the modified MFF by an adult examiner. On half of the 24 items, the original (i.e., the standard) was present among the four alternatives (“original present” condition), while on the other half, all the alternatives were variants of the standard “original not present” condition). The elderly subjects were generally more impulsive (had shorter latencies and committed more errors) than were the young adults. The results, though, varied somewhat with the two stimulus conditions employed. An analysis of the mean scores of both age groups indicated that the elderly took less time to respond only in the “original present” condition. A higher number of errors was observed for the older group in both conditions, and both age groups had fewer errors in the “original present” condition. Possible interpretations of these findings, in terms of age group differences in search strategy, anxiety, and other aspects of decision style are offered, and implications for further research are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We examined the impact of a telephone helpline providing information, referral, education, and counseling on caregivers for dementia patients. It lwas hypothesized that longitudinal telephone contact between caregivers and helpline staff would contribute to increased use of community services and decreased levels of burden and depression. Baseline and eight-week follow-up questionnaires were mailed to 98 caregivers who called a helpline. Half were assigned to an intervention group in which staff made biweekly return telephone calls for eight weeks to provide further assistance; the remaining (control) subjects only spoke with staff once during the eight week study period. Results indicated that extended telephone contact increased use of community services and decreased caregiver burden, in comparison to control subjects. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

All dementia patients and their caregivers who had received a university-based comprehensive evaluation and a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease during 1997 (N = 80) were identified. Of the original cohort, 48.8% (n = 39) were able to be contacted approximately 2 years after their initial assessment, and the caregivers were the informants for this follow-up. Two subgroups were defined: 22 patients were being seen only by their primary care physicians (MED), while 17 patients were also being treated by a geriatric psychiatry faculty member (GERO). There were statistically significant differences between the 2 groups (MED versus GERO, respectively) at follow-up in terms of (1) institutionalization (30.0% versus 4.6%, P < .05), (2) CDR (2.3 versus 1.5, P < .005), and (3) prescription of donepezil at follow-up (45.5% versus 76.5%, P = .05). These differences are being assessed in a larger scale prospective study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present investigation involved an examination of the influence of the task variable of presentation time on the free recall performance of young and elderly adults. The two age groups of participants were initially asked to predict the number of words (out of 16) they would be able to recall if given a particular presentation duration. These predictions were subsequently compared to actual recall performance of the two groups when lists were displayed for the durations employed during the prediction phase. Results indicated that young adults more accurately predicted their recall performance than did older adults. Both age groups, however, were found to vary their recall predictions in a similar fashion as a function of changes in hypothetical presentation time of the word lists. The findings of the present study, therefore, supported those of previous investigations which concluded that age differences in memory knowledge do not accurately reflect age differences in memory task performance. No support, however, was provided for the hypothesis that age differences exist with respect to knowledge about the relationship between the task variable of presentation time and memory performance. Thus, these findings suggest that different dimensions of memory knowledge may be differentially influenced by the aging process. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Three groups of subjects of mean age 25-, 65-, and 74-years were contrasted with respect to performance on a forward visual masking task. Twenty-five-year-olds required 24.5 msec to escape masking, 65-year-olds required 52.2 msec, and 74-year-olds, 69.5 msec. These findings suggested that increased age yields a rise in susceptibility to forward masking by visual noise. The effects of practice on age differences in forward masking were also examined. Sixty practice trials resulted in a significant reduction in the interstimulus interval required to escape masking for each age group. There was, however, no significant interaction between age and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A letter to the editor is presented in response to the article "Requiem for the Chesapeake," in the April 2005 issue of the Journal "Wildlife Conservation."

We examined the ability of younger and older adults to organize letter sequences in memory when no external inducement of chunking was used. In order to do so, subjects were tested on a paired-associate, serial recall task. From these data the number of completely recalled sequences was computed, as well as global and stop transitional error probabilities (TEPs). Older adults recalled fewer correct letter sequences than did the young adults, but the global and stop TEP data indicated that both age groups were chunking the four-letter sequences into two sets of two letters. Thus, the present study indicates that there are no age differences in primary organization, but that older adults exhibit an age deficit in serial recall. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]