Vascular Burden Moderates the Relationship Between ADHD and Cognition in Older Adults.

OBJECTIVES: Recent evidence suggests attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a risk factor for cognitive impairment in later life. Here, we investigated cerebrovascular burden, quantified using white matter hyperintensity (WMH) volumes, as a potential mediator of this relationship. DESIGN: This was a cross-sectional observational study. SETTING: Participants were recruited from a cognitive neurology clinic where they had been referred for cognitive assessment, or from the community. PARTICIPANTS: Thirty-nine older adults with clinical ADHD and 50 age- and gender-matched older adults without ADHD. MEASUREMENTS: A semiautomated structural MRI pipeline was used to quantify periventricular (pWMH) and deep WMH (dWMH) volumes. Cognition was measured using standardized tests of memory, processing speed, visuo-construction, language, and executive functioning. Mediation models, adjusted for sex, were built to test the hypothesis that ADHD status exerts a deleterious impact on cognitive performance via WMH burden. RESULTS: Results did not support a mediated effect of ADHD on cognition. Post hoc inspection of the data rather suggested a moderated effect, which was investigated as an a posteriori hypothesis. These results revealed a significant moderating effect of WMH on the relationship between ADHD memory, speed, and executive functioning, wherein ADHD was negatively associated with cognition at high and medium levels of WMH, but not when WMH volumes were low. CONCLUSIONS: ADHD increases older adults' susceptibility to the deleterious cognitive effects of WMH in the brain. Older adults with ADHD may be at risk for cognitive impairment if they have deep WMH volumes above 61 mm3 and periventricular WMH above 260 mm3.

Sex differences in risk factors that predict progression from mild cognitive impairment to Alzheimer's dementia.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate whether cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers, apolipoprotein e4, neuroimaging abnormalities, and neuropsychological data differentially predict progression from mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to dementia for men and women. METHODS: Participants who were diagnosed with MCI at baseline (n = 449) were classified as either progressing to Alzheimer's dementia at follow-up or as not progressing. Men and women were first compared using bivariate analyses. Sex-stratified Cox proportional hazard regressions were performed examining the relationship between baseline data and the likelihood of progressing to dementia. Sex interactions were subsequently examined. RESULTS: Cox proportional hazard regression controlling for age and education indicated that all variables significantly predicted subsequent progression to dementia for men and women. Sex interactions indicated that only Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) delayed recall and Functional Activities Questionnaire (FAQ) were significantly stronger risk factors for women. When all variables were entered into a fully adjusted model, significant risk factors for women were Aß42, hippocampal volume, RAVLT delayed recall, Boston Naming Test, and FAQ. In contrast, for men, Aß42, p-tau181, p-tau181/Aß42, hippocampal volume, category fluency and FAQ were significant risk factors. Interactions with sex were only significant for p-tau181/Aß42 and RAVLT delayed recall for the fully adjusted model. CONCLUSIONS: Men and women with MCI may to differ for which factors predict subsequent dementia although future analyses with greater power are needed to evaluate sex differences. We hypothesize that brain and cognitive reserve theories may partially explain these findings.

Classification Criteria and Rates of Persistent Postconcussive Symptoms in Children: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To provide a systematic review of studies examining the proportion of children with persistent postconcussive symptoms (PPCS) and to examine potential moderators of prevalence. STUDY DESIGN: Searches were conducted in MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, Scopus, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials on April 16, 2020. Criteria for study inclusion were children aged <18 years with concussion or mild traumatic brain injury, operational definition of PPCS, assessment of postconcussive symptoms at least 4 weeks postinjury, sample sizes and proportion with PPCS available, and study published in English. Definition of PPCS, sample size, proportion of participants identified with PPCS, child sex and age at injury, time postinjury, premorbid symptoms, diagnosis (concussion or mild traumatic brain injury), and study publication year were extracted from each article. Study quality was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. RESULTS: Thirteen studies, with a total of 5307 participants, were included in our analysis. The proportion of children identified with PPCS was 35.1% (weighted average; 95% CI, 26.3%-45.0%). The prevalence of PPCS was higher in older and female children who presented for care at concussion clinics, and in more recent publications. CONCLUSIONS: Approximately one-third of children with concussion/mild traumatic brain injury will experience PPCS. Age, sex, and point of care could help identify children at high risk for PPCS.

A Call for Research on the Validity of the Age-of-Onset Criterion Application in Older Adults Being Evaluated for ADHD: A Review of the Literature in Clinical and Cognitive Psychology.

Roughly 3% of adults aged 50 years or older experience significant symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). They are often diagnosed for the first time in later adulthood, because ADHD is a relatively new diagnosis with only recent awareness of later-life cases, and because many symptomatic adults have high early-life functioning due to supportive environmental and social structures. Current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-5 criteria require evidence of symptom onset prior to age 12, which rests on self-report in older adults for whom ancillary sources are unavailable or unreliable. In this review, we summarize evidence from several bodies of literature which suggest this criterion may be invalid in older adults. The authors hypothesize that demonstrating childhood symptom onset in older adults is not feasible (i.e., no awareness of ADHD prior to 1970; no good current ancillary sources of childhood behaviors), unreliable (i.e., severely flawed retrospective self-report) and unethical (i.e., unreasonable denial of support to people who need it, with demonstrated poor outcomes associated with untreated ADHD in adults). The authors outline additional research that is needed to establish the validity of self-reported childhood symptom onset in this under-studied demographic, including the identification of contextual factors (perhaps unique to late life) that are associated with the emergence of ADHD symptoms in older adulthood; determining the impact of memory biases on recall of childhood symptoms in older adults with ADHD; quantifying self-perception deficits; and investigating the usefulness of executive functioning rating scales to complement diagnostic assessment in older adults.

A Systematic Review and Comparison of Neurocognitive Features of Late-Life Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Dementia With Lewy Bodies.

OBJECTIVE: Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in adulthood and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) share many cognitive and noncognitive similarities. The overlapping features between both disorders complicate differential diagnosis. The aim of the current systematic review was to compare patterns of neuropsychological profiles in older adults with ADHD and DLB. METHOD: Of the 1989 ADHD-related articles and 1332 DLB-related articles screened, 3 ADHD and 25 DLB articles were retained for qualitative synthesis and review. RESULTS: A synthesis of individual study findings revealed isolated working memory deficits for late-life ADHD, and performance deficits in areas of attention, memory, language, and visuoperceptual abilities for DLB. Results were limited by small samples and absence of data in some cognitive domains. CONCLUSION: These initial findings support potentially unique neurocognitive profiles for ADHD in later life and DLB that would enable practitioners to differentially diagnose and appropriately treat older adults presenting with these phenotypically similar disorders.

Operationalizing Impaired Performance in Neuropsychological Assessment: A Comparison of the Use of Published Versus Sample-Based Normative Data for the Prediction of Dementia.

OBJECTIVES: To compare the sensitivity, specificity, and predictive value of published versus sample-based norms to detect early dementia in the Uniform Data Set (UDS). METHODS: The UDS was administered to 526 nondemented participants from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI). Baseline scores were standardized using published norms and healthy control data from ADNI corrected for age, education, and sex. Subjects obtaining two scores < -1 SD (determined separately using published and sample norms) were labeled "at risk for dementia." Both methods were compared on sensitivity, specificity, and positive/negative predictive value (PPV/NPV) for dementia at follow-up. RESULTS: Risk scores derived from published data had 86.1% sensitivity, 62.0% specificity, 68.6% accuracy, 46.1% PPV, and 92.2% NPV. Those from sample norms were more sensitive (91.0%), less specific (52.9%), and less accurate (63.3%), with worse PPV (42.1%) and similar NPV (94.0%). Sample norms were better at identifying incident dementia cases with relatively lower education than those with higher education. Discrepancies between both methods were more common in women. CONCLUSIONS: Sample norms are marginally more sensitive than published norms for predicting dementia, while published norms are slightly more accurate. Accuracy of risk estimates for women and those with lower education may be increased using locally generated norms.

Examining the validity of the ADHD concept in adults and older adults.

OBJECTIVE: It is crucial to clarify the structure of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptomatology in all age groups to determine how to best conceptualize this disorder across the lifespan. We tested the ADHD factor structure across adulthood and investigated independent associations with executive functions. METHOD: Data from 645 adults aged 18-59 and 233 adults aged 60-85 were drawn from the Nathan Kline Institute Rockland Sample. Participants completed the Conners Adult ADHD Rating Scale and tests of executive functioning. Invariance of the ADHD factor structure was investigated using confirmatory factor analyses. Associations with cognition were explored using multiple linear regression. RESULTS: Results confirmed a bifactor model with 3 specific factors (inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity). Factor loadings and item intercepts were invariant across ages. Levels of hyperactivity and impulsivity were lower in older adults. Inattentive symptoms in young adults were positively related to cognitive flexibility. In older adults, ADHD symptoms predicted poorer working memory. CONCLUSION: ADHD symptoms manifest similarly across adulthood. The lack of robust associations between ADHD symptomatology and executive functions raises concerns about the usefulness of neuropsychological measures in diagnosing adult ADHD. These results support the validity of the ADHD concept in older adults but suggest a need for age-appropriate normative criteria.

Effect of conceptual and lexical errorless versus trial-and-error learning in amnestic mild cognitive impairment.

Errorless learning (EL), involving presenting the target information during encoding, is generally considered effective for teaching information to memory-impaired populations. However, evidence suggests that trial-and-error learning (TEL) can benefit healthy older adults' memory when guesses are conceptually related to the target. To determine whether TEL can benefit persons with mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), 24 participants with aMCI were given cues associated with nine target words. Half the sample received Conceptual cues (e.g., "beverage") and the other half received Lexical cues (e.g., SC_______). All underwent an EL study phase, in which the target was presented immediately after the cue, and a TEL phase, in which they made guesses from the cue before the target was presented. Cued recall was tested immediately and 24 h later. At immediate but not 24-h delayed recall, EL targets were better remembered than TEL targets in both conditions. Verbal memory performance appeared to explain why certain individuals benefited more from EL relative to TEL, while semantic memory performance appeared to explain why some people benefited more from conceptual than lexical errors. Thus, EL-based memory intervention for aMCI is likely to be more effective than TEL, particularly to the extent that semantic or episodic memory is affected.

Memory for emotional images differs according to the presence of depressive symptoms in individuals at risk for dementia.

BACKGROUND: Studies of amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) and late-life depression (LLD) have examined the similarities and differences between these syndromes, but few have investigated how the cognitive profile of comorbid aMCI and subclinical depressive symptoms (aMCI/D+) may compare to that of aMCI or LLD. Memory biases for certain types of emotional information may distinguish these groups. METHODS: A total of 35 aMCI, 23 aMCI/D+, 13 LLD, and 17 elderly controls (CONT) rated the valence (positive, negative, or neutral) of 30 pictures from the International Affective Picture System. Mean percent positive, negative, and neutral images recalled was compared within groups immediately and 30 minutes later. RESULTS: Overall memory performance was comparable in aMCI and aMCI/D+, and both recalled fewer items than CONT and LLD. Group differences emerged when valence ratings were considered: at immediate and delayed recall, positive and negative pictures were generally better-remembered than neutral pictures by CONT, aMCI, and LLD, but valence was not associated with recall in aMCI/D+. Follow-up analyses suggested that the perceived intensity of stimuli may explain the emotional enhancement effect in CONT, aMCI, and LLD. CONCLUSIONS: Results support previous research suggesting that the neuropsychological profile of aMCI/D+ is different from that of aMCI and LLD. Although depressed and non-depressed individuals with aMCI recall comparable quantities of information, the quality of the recalled information differs significantly. On theoretical grounds, this suggests the existence of distinct neurobiological or neurofunctional manifestations in both groups. Practically, these differences may guide the development of personalized emotion-focused encoding strategies in cognitive training programs.

Facial emotion recognition in patients with focal and diffuse axonal injury.

OBJECTIVE: Facial emotion recognition impairment has been well documented in patients with traumatic brain injury. Studies exploring the neural substrates involved in such deficits have implicated specific grey matter structures (e.g. orbitofrontal regions), as well as diffuse white matter damage. Our study aims to clarify whether different types of injuries (i.e. focal vs. diffuse) will lead to different types of impairments on facial emotion recognition tasks, as no study has directly compared these patients. METHODS: The present study examined performance and response patterns on a facial emotion recognition task in 14 participants with diffuse axonal injury (DAI), 14 with focal injury (FI) and 22 healthy controls. RESULTS: We found that, overall, participants with FI and DAI performed more poorly than controls on the facial emotion recognition task. Further, we observed comparable emotion recognition performance in participants with FI and DAI, despite differences in the nature and distribution of their lesions. However, the rating response pattern between the patient groups was different. CONCLUSION: This is the first study to show that pure DAI, without gross focal lesions, can independently lead to facial emotion recognition deficits and that rating patterns differ depending on the type and location of trauma.

Semantic memory impairment for biological and man-made objects in individuals with amnestic mild cognitive impairment or late-life depression.

OBJECTIVE: Amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) and late-life depression (LLD) both increase the risk of developing Alzheimer disease (AD). Very little is known about the similarities and differences between these syndromes. The present study addresses this issue by examining the nature of semantic memory impairment (more precisely, object-based knowledge) in patients at risk of developing AD. METHODS: Participants were 17 elderly patients with aMCI, 18 patients with aMCI plus depressive symptoms (aMCI/D+), 15 patients with LLD, and 29 healthy controls. All participants were aged 55 years or older and were administered a semantic battery designed to assess semantic knowledge for 16 biological and 16 man-made items. RESULTS: Overall performance of aMCI/D+ participants was significantly worse than the 3 other groups, and performance for questions assessing knowledge for biological items was poorer than for questions relating to man-made items. CONCLUSION: This study is the first to show that aMCI/D+ is associated with object-based semantic memory impairment. These results support the view that semantic deficits in aMCI are associated with concomitant depressive symptoms. However, depressive symptoms alone do not account exclusively for semantic impairment, since patients with LLD showed no semantic memory deficit.

Subjective sleep quality in non-demented older adults with and without cognitive impairment.

OBJECTIVE: Sleep problems are prevalent among older adults who are at risk of developing dementia. Until now, there have been relatively few studies investigating subjective sleep quality in these individuals. The first objective of this study was to compare seniors with cognitive impairment no dementia (CIND) and older adults without cognitive impairment (non-CIND) on several subjective sleep measures. The second objective was to verify whether sleep parameters associated with CIND differ between men and women. METHODS: The population sample consisted of 2287 French-speaking older adults from Québec (Canada) aged between 65 and 96 years. Participants were classified as CIND or non-CIND on the basis of their mini mental state examination score using sex, age, and education-stratified normative data. All participants completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and responses of CIND and non-CIND individuals were compared. A series of confounding variables (age, education, chronic diseases, mood disorders, anxiety disorders, and use of psychotropic drugs) were statistically controlled for. Student's t-tests were performed to compare characteristics of CIND and non-CIND individuals; data from male and female participants were analyzed separately. Moreover, the association between each sleep variable and CIND was measured by odds ratios based on logistic regression. RESULTS: On the whole, analyses revealed no significant association between subjective sleep parameters and CIND. Moreover, no difference was observed between men and women regarding subjective sleep quality. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, these results suggest that subjective measures of sleep do not allow differentiating cognitively impaired older individuals from those with normal cognition.

Positive Childhood Experiences and the Indirect Relationship With Improved Emotion Regulation in Adults With ADHD Through Social Support.

OBJECTIVE: To identify direct and indirect associations between PCEs and social support to emotion regulation outcomes in adults with ADHD. METHOD: Adults with ADHD (n = 81) reported PCEs, current social support, and emotion regulation. Conditional effects modeling examined the direct and indirect relationships between PCEs and emotion dysregulation through social support. RESULTS: Higher PCEs were indirectly related to improved emotion regulation through increased social support generally (ß = -.70, 95% CI [-1.32, -0.17], and specifically through belonging (ß = -.43, 95% CI [ -0.87, -0.05], self-esteem (ß = -.61, 95% CI [-1.08, -0.27], and tangible social support (ß = -.50, 95% CI [-1.07, -0.02]. CONCLUSIONS: PCEs may protect emotion regulation in adults with ADHD through social support, possibly through facilitating social connections, increasing access to social support, and sustaining emotion regulation strategies.

The Relationship Between Parental and Family Functioning and Post-Concussive Symptoms After Pediatric Mild Traumatic Brain Injury: A Scoping Review.

This scoping review aimed to address the following questions: (1) Does mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) result in more parental distress or poorer family functioning than other injuries? (2) Does pre-injury or acute parental distress and family functioning predict post-concussive symptoms (PCS) after mTBI? and (3) Do acute PCS predict later parental distress and family functioning? The subjects of this review were children/adolescents who had sustained an mTBI before age 18 and underwent assessment of PCS and parent or family functioning. MEDLINE®, PsycInfo, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Embase, and CENTRAL databases were searched to identify original, empirical, peer-reviewed research published in English. PCS measures included parent- and child-reported symptom counts and continuous scales. Parent and family measures assessed parental stress, psychological adjustment, anxiety, psychiatric history, parent-child interactions, family burden, and general family functioning. A total of 11,163 articles were screened, leading to the inclusion of 15 studies, with 2569 participants (mTBI = 2222; control = 347). Collectively, the included articles suggest that mTBI may not result in greater parental distress or poorer family functioning than other types of injuries. Pre-injury or acute phase parental and family functioning appears to predict subsequent PCS after mTBI, depending on the specific family characteristic being studied. Early PCS may also predict subsequent parental and family functioning, although findings were mixed in terms of predicting more positive or negative family outcomes. The available evidence suggests that parent and family functioning may have an important, perhaps bidirectional, association with PCS after pediatric mTBI. However, further research is needed to provide a more thorough understanding of this association.

Characterizing mild cognitive impairment to predict incident dementia in adults with bipolar disorder: What should the benchmark be?

Objective: Although mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is generally considered a risk state for dementia, its prevalence and association with dementia are impacted by the number of tests and cut-points used to assess cognition and define "impairment," and sources of norms. Here, we investigate how these methodological variations impact estimates of incident dementia in adults with bipolar disorder (BD), a vulnerable population with pre-existing cognitive deficits and increased dementia risk. Method: Neuropsychological data from 148 adults with BD and 13,610 healthy controls (HC) were drawn from the National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center. BD participants' scores were standardized against published norms and again using regression-based norms generated from HC within the same catchment area as individual BD patients ("site-specific norms"), varying the number of within-domain tests (one vs. two) and the cut-points (-1 vs. -1.5 SD) used to operationalize MCI. Results: Site-specific norms were more sensitive to incident dementia (88.6%-94.3%) than published norms (74.3%-88.6%), but only when using a "single test" definition of impairment. Specificity (22.1%-74.3%), accuracy (37.8%-68.9%), and positive predictive values (26.1%-38.3%) were overall poor. Applying a "single test" definition of impairment resulted in better negative predictive values using site-specific (92.3%-93.3%) than published norms (83.6%-86.2%), and a substantial increase in relative risk of incident dementia relative to published norms. Conclusions: Neuropsychologists should define "impairment" as scores below -1.0 or -1.5 SD on at least two within-domain measures when using published norms to interpret cognitive performance in adults with BD.

Risk of neurodegenerative disease or dementia in adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a systematic review.

Purpose of review: Several psychiatric disorders have been associated with an increased risk of developing a neurodegenerative disease and/or dementia. Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a neurodevelopmental disorder, has been understudied in relation to dementia risk. We summarized existing literature investigating the risk of incident neurodegenerative disease or dementia associated with ADHD. Recent findings: We searched five databases for cohort, case-control, and clinical trial studies investigating associations between ADHD and neurodegenerative diseases/dementia in May 2023. Study characteristics were extracted by two independent raters, and risk of bias was assessed using the Newcastle Ottawa Scale. Search terms yielded 2,137 articles, and seven studies (five cohort and two case-control studies) ultimately met inclusion criteria. Studies examined the following types of neurodegeneration: all-cause dementia, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's and Lewy body diseases, vascular dementia, and mild cognitive impairment. Heterogeneity in study methodology, particularly covariates used in analyses and types of ratios for risk reported, prevented a meta-analysis and data were therefore summarized as a narrative synthesis. The majority of studies (4/7) demonstrated an overall low risk of bias. Summary: The current literature on risk of developing a neurodegenerative disease in ADHD is limited. Although the studies identified present evidence for a link between ADHD and subsequent development of dementia, the magnitude of the direct effect of ADHD on neurodegeneration is yet to be determined and better empirically designed studies are first needed. Furthermore, the mechanism of how or why ADHD is associated with an increased risk of developing a neurocognitive disorder is still unclear and should be explored in future studies. Systematic review registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42022348976, the PROSPERO number is CRD42022348976.

Capturing daily-life executive impairments in adults: Does the choice of neuropsychological tests matter?

OBJECTIVE: Standardized executive functioning (EF) measures do not reliably capture EF-related difficulties reported in daily life. We aim to determine if an ecologically relevant neuropsychological battery is more strongly associated with self-reported everyday EF impairments than classically used tests. METHOD: Fifty-nine adults aged 18-49 self-rated their EF abilities using the Barkley Deficits in EF Scale (BDEFS) and were randomly assigned to complete either a test battery composed of EF measures with hypothesized ecological relevance (Six Elements, Zoo Map, Hayling Sentence Completion, Iowa Gambling, and Auditory Startle Tasks) or one composed of traditional EF tasks (Card Sorting, Trail Making, Color-Word Interference, and Verbal Fluency). Associations were examined using linear regression. RESULTS: There were no strong associations between BDEFS subscales and performance on either test battery. Only the regression model predicting Emotional Regulation from ecological tasks was significant. Iowa Gambling Task performance and corrugator muscle contraction in the Auditory Startle Task individually contributed significantly to the model, with small and moderate effect sizes respectively. CONCLUSION: Results align with evidence that self-reported EF difficulties are not adequately captured by formal neuropsychological measures, even for performance-based measures which directly tap everyday constructs. Findings are interpreted cautiously in the context of a small, high-functioning sample.

Cognitive and Neuroimaging Profiles of Older Adults With Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Presenting to a Memory Clinic.

OBJECTIVE: Some features of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may resemble those of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in older adults, contributing to diagnostic uncertainty in individuals seeking assessment in memory clinics. We systematically compared cognition and brain structure in ADHD and MCI to clarify the extent of overlap and identify potential features unique to each. METHOD: Older adults from a Cognitive Neurology clinic (40 ADHD, 29 MCI, 37 controls) underwent neuropsychological assessment. A subsample (n = 80) underwent structural neuroimaging. RESULTS: Memory was impaired in both patient groups, but reflected a storage deficit in MCI (supported by relatively smaller hippocampi) and an encoding deficit in ADHD (supported by frontal lobe thinning). Both groups displayed normal executive functioning. Semantic retrieval was uniquely impaired in MCI. CONCLUSION: Although ADHD has been proposed as a dementia risk factor or prodrome, we propose it is rather a pathophysiologically-unique phenotypic mimic acting via overlap in memory and executive performance.

Liberal bias mediates emotion recognition deficits in frontal traumatic brain injury.

It is well-known that patients having sustained frontal-lobe traumatic brain injury (TBI) are severely impaired on tests of emotion recognition. Indeed, these patients have significant difficulty recognizing facial expressions of emotion, and such deficits are often associated with decreased social functioning and poor quality of life. As of yet, no studies have examined the response patterns which underlie facial emotion recognition impairment in TBI and which may lend clarity to the interpretation of deficits. Therefore, the present study aimed to characterize response patterns in facial emotion recognition in 14 patients with frontal TBI compared to 22 matched control subjects, using a task which required participants to rate the intensity of each emotion (happiness, sadness, anger, disgust, surprise and fear) of a series of photographs of emotional and neutral faces. Results first confirmed the presence of facial emotion recognition impairment in TBI, and further revealed that patients displayed a liberal bias when rating facial expressions, leading them to associate intense ratings of incorrect emotional labels to sad, disgusted, surprised and fearful facial expressions. These findings are generally in line with prior studies which also report important facial affect recognition deficits in TBI patients, particularly for negative emotions.

Cerebrovascular and Neurodegenerative Pathologies in Long-Term Stable Mild Cognitive Impairment.

BACKGROUND: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is considered by some to be a prodromal phase of a progressive disease (i.e., neurodegeneration) resulting in dementia; however, a substantial portion of individuals (ranging from 5-30%) remain cognitively stable over the long term (sMCI). The etiology of sMCI is unclear but may be linked to cerebrovascular disease (CVD), as evidence from longitudinal studies suggest a significant proportion of individuals with vasculopathy remain stable over time. OBJECTIVE: To quantify the presence of neurodegenerative and vascular pathologies in individuals with long-term (>5-year) sMCI, in a preliminary test of the hypothesis that CVD may be a contributor to non-degenerative cognitive impairment. We expect frequent vasculopathy at autopsy in sMCI relative to neurodegenerative disease, and relative to individuals who convert to dementia. METHODS: In this retrospective study, using data from the National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center, individuals with sMCI (n = 28) were compared to those with MCI who declined over a 5 to 9-year period (dMCI; n = 139) on measures of neurodegenerative pathology (i.e., Aß plaques, neurofibrillary tangles, TDP-43, and cerebral amyloid angiopathy) and CVD (infarcts, lacunes, microinfarcts, hemorrhages, and microbleeds). RESULTS: Alzheimer's disease pathology (Aß plaques, neurofibrillary tangles, and cerebral amyloid angiopathy) was significantly higher in the dMCI group than the sMCI group. Microinfarcts were the only vasculopathy associated with group membership; these were more frequent in sMCI. CONCLUSION: The most frequent neuropathology in this sample of long-term sMCI was microinfarcts, tentatively suggesting that silent small vessel disease may characterize non-worsening cognitive impairment.