Depresión en la demencia tipo Alzheimer: ¿existe algún efecto sobre la memoria? / Depression in Alzheimer type-dementia: Is there any efect on memory performance?

Introducción. La depresión es uno de los trastornos neuropsiquiátricos más frecuentes en la enfermedad de Alzheimer (EA). Objetivo. Analizar si la depresión incrementa el deterioro cognitivo de la memoria verbal y no verbal en pacientes con EA temprana. Sujetos y métodos. El estudio comparó el rendimiento de 23 pacientes diagnosticados de EA con y sin depresión, 15 pacientes con depresión mayor unipolar (D) y 20 sujetos control sanos (SC) en tareas de memoria (recuerdo y reconocimiento) para palabras, dibujos sin sentido y posición. El grupo con EA fue estratificado, por la presencia o ausencia de depresión, en dos grupos bien equiparados en cuanto a las características clínicas y sociodemográficas. Resultados. Los pacientes con EA rindieron significativamente peor que los grupos SC y D en las medidas de memoria verbal. Sin embargo, la única medida de memoria no verbal que discriminó entre los pacientes con EA y el grupo D fue el reconocimiento. Los grupos de EA (con y sin depresión) no mostraron diferencias significativas en ninguna de las medidas de memoria estudiadas. Conclusiones. La depresión está asociada con un deterioro significativo de la memoria en pacientes sin demencia. La presencia de la depresión no agrava el deterioro de la memoria en pacientes con EA (AU)

Introduction. Depression is one of the most common neuropsyquiatric disorders in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Aim. To evaluate whether depression exacerbates verbal and non-verbal memory impairment in early AD patients. Subjects and methods. The study compared the performance of 23 patients who received a diagnosis of AD, with or without depression, 15 patients with unipolar major depression (UD) and 20 healthy control subjects (HS) on memory tasks (recall and recognition) for words, abstract designs and position. AD patients were stratified into two groups, according to the presence or absence of depression, well matched on clinical and sociodemographic characteristics. Results. Patients with AD scored significantly lower than HS and UD groups on verbal memory measures. However, the recognition was the only non-verbal memory measure that discriminated significantly between AD and UD groups. The AD groups (with or without depression) did not show any significant differences on memory performance. Conclusions. Depression is associated with significant memory impairment in non-demented patients. The presence of depression did not increase memory impairment in AD patients (AU)

[Depression in Alzheimer type-dementia: is there any effect on memory performance]. / Depresión en la demencia tipo Alzheimer: existe algún efecto sobre la memoria?

INTRODUCTION: Depression is one of the most common neuropsychiatric disorders in Alzheimer's disease (AD). AIM: To evaluate whether depression exacerbates verbal and non-verbal memory impairment in early AD patients. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The study compared the performance of 23 patients who received a diagnosis of AD, with or without depression, 15 patients with unipolar major depression (UD) and 20 healthy control subjects (HS) on memory tasks (recall and recognition) for words, abstract designs and position. AD patients were stratified into two groups, according to the presence or absence of depression, well matched on clinical and sociodemographic characteristics. RESULTS: Patients with AD scored significantly lower than HS and UD groups on verbal memory measures. However, the recognition was the only non-verbal memory measure that discriminated significantly between AD and UD groups. The AD groups (with or without depression) did not show any significant differences on memory performance. CONCLUSIONS: Depression is associated with significant memory impairment in non-demented patients. The presence of depression did not increase memory impairment in AD patients.

[Prosopagnosia: is it a single or a multiple entity?]. / Prosopagnosia: ¿entidad unica o multiple?

INTRODUCTION: The prosopagnosia has generally been defined as an incapacity to recognize familiar faces, or faces previously known, due to certain lesions to certain areas of the cerebral cortex. Yet it seems that there is no universal consensus neither on its definition nor in relation to the specific lesions that might cause it. There seems to be no consensus either around the criteria that might enable us to identify different types of prosopagnosia. OBJECTIVE: We make an attempt to revise the definition of prosopagnosia and to see if it is appropriate to consider it as a single entity or, on the contrary, we are able to differentiate specific types of prosopagnosia according to its origin, brain lesion associated with it or the patients characteristics. On the other hand, we questioned ourselves whether different exams usually utilized for the identification of prosopagnosia in fact measure the same concept. CONCLUSIONS: We propose that we could distinguish different types of prosopagnosia with different clinical characteristics. Then we went on to differentiate between developed prosopagnosias and acquired prosopagnosias by bilateral brain lesion as opposed with those associated with a fundamentally aperceptive deficit, as opposed to those linked with a fundamentally associative deficit. Lastly, we propose that different types of exams of recognition and identification can measure distinct aspects linked to prosopagnosia.

Prosopagnosia: ¿entidad única o múltiple? / Prosopagnosia: is it a single or a multiple entity?

Introducción. La prosopagnosia se ha definido generalmente como una incapacidad para reconocer caras familiares o previamente conocidas, debida a lesiones en determinadas zonas de la corteza cerebral. No obstante, no parece que exista un criterio universal respecto a su definición, ni en relación con las lesiones específicas que pueden provocarla. Asimismo, tampoco existen unos criterios definidos que permitan identificar diferentes tipos de prosopagnosia. Objetivo. En el presente trabajo revisamos la definición de prosopagnosia, y analizamos si puede considerarse como una entidad única o si, por el contrario, podemos diferenciar tipos específicos de prosopagnosia en función de su origen, lesión cerebral asociada o características de los pacientes. Además, nos planteamos si las diferentes pruebas que se han utilizado habitualmente para la identificación de la prosopagnosia miden en realidad el mismo concepto. Conclusiones. Consideramos que se podrían distinguir diferentes tipos de prosopagnosia, con características clínicas específicas. Así, existen diferencias entre prosopagnosias desarrolladas o evolutivas frente a adquiridas, prosopagnosias por lesión cerebral bilateral frente a aquellas asociadas a una lesión unilateral, prosopagnosias asociadas a un déficit fundamentalmente aperceptivo ante las asociadas a un déficit fundamentalmente asociativo. Por último, consideramos que diferentes pruebas de reconocimiento e identificación de caras pueden medir aspectos distintos asociados a la prosopagnosia (AU)