Psychological Status of the Participants in Alzheimer's Prevention Initiative Autosomal Dominant Alzheimer's Disease Colombia.

BACKGROUND: The SARS-CoV2 global pandemic impacted participants in the Alzheimer's Prevention Initiative (API) Autosomal Dominant Alzheimer's Disease (ADAD) clinical trial, who faced three stressors: 1) fear of developing dementia; 2) concerns about missing treatment; and 3) risk of SARS-CoV2 infection. OBJECTIVE: To describe the frequency of psychological disorders among the participants of the API ADAD Colombia clinical study, treated by a holistic mental health team during the COVID-19 pandemic. The extent of use of mental health team services was explored considering different risk factors, and users and non-users of these services were compared. METHODS: Participants had free and optional access to psychology and psychiatry services, outside of the study protocol. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze the frequency of the mental health difficulties. A multivariable logistic regression model has been used to assess associations with using this program. RESULTS: 66 participants were treated by the Mental Health Team from March 1, 2020, to December 31, 2020. Before and after the start of the pandemic, the most common psychological problems were anxiety (36.4% before, 63.6% after) and depression (34.8% before, 37.9% after). 70% of users assisted by psychology and 81.6% of those assisted by psychiatry felt that the services were useful for them. Female sex, depression, and anxiety before the pandemic were positively associated with being assisted by either psychology or psychiatry, while the association with hyperlipidemia was negative. CONCLUSIONS: A holistic mental health program, carried out in the context of a study, could mitigate psychopathology during pandemics such as COVID-19.

[Biopercular syndrome caused by unilateral ischemia. Report of one case]. / Síndrome biopercular producido por lesión unilateral.

Biopercular syndrome is a labio-facio-pharyngeal-laryngeal-gloso-masticatory diplegia, with automatic dissociation of movements. Ischemia is the most common etiology when it occurs bilaterally in the opercular area, but it has been also described in patients with bilateral subcortical lesions. There are few cases described with unilateral lesions. We report a 76-year-old woman who developed a biopercular syndrome caused by unilateral ischemic lesion of the right middle cerebral artery confirmed by magnetic resonance imaging and cerebral SPECT.

Linguistic changes in verbal expression: a preclinical marker of Alzheimer's disease.

Despite the many studies examining linguistic deterioration in Alzheimer's disease (AD), very little is known about changes in verbal expression during the preclinical phase of this disease. The objective of this study was to determine whether changes in verbal expression occur in the preclinical phase of AD. The sample consisted of 40 healthy Spanish speakers from Antioquia, Colombia. A total of 19 were carriers of the E280A mutation in the Presenilin 1 gene, and 21 were noncarrier family members. The two groups were similar in age and education. All the participants were shown the Cookie Theft Picture Card from the Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination and were asked to describe the scene. Specific grammatical and semantic variables were evaluated. The performance of each group was compared using multivariate analyses of the variance for semantic and grammatical variables, and errors. Carriers of the mutation produced fewer semantic categories than noncarriers. In the preclinical phase of AD, changes in verbal expression are apparent and early detection of these differences may assist the early diagnosis of and intervention in this disease.

Cognitive changes in the preclinical phase of familial Alzheimer's disease.

Few studies have examined the presence of linguistic deficits in the preclinical phase of Alzheimer's disease (AD). A total of 19 healthy carriers of the E280A presenilin-1 gene mutation in chromosome 14 and 21 noncarrier family members from Antioquia, Colombia, were administered a neurolinguistic evaluation of lexical-semantic processes. Both groups were similar in age, educational level, and gender. Carriers scored significantly lower than noncarriers on naming of famous faces. Cognitive changes in lexical-semantic tasks can be detected before the clinical diagnosis of probable familial AD, and a neurolinguistic evaluation may be a useful tool in the early clinical diagnosis of sporadic AD as well.

Síndrome biopercular producido por lesión unilateral / Biopercular syndrome caused by unilateral ischemia: report of one case

Biopercular syndrome is a labio-facio-pharyngeal-laryngeal-gloso-masticatory diplegia, with automatic dissociation of movements. Ischemia is the most common etiology when it occurs bilaterally in the opercular area, but it has been also described in patients with bilateral subcortical lesions. There arefew cases described with unilateral lesions. We report a 76-year-old woman who developed a biopercular syndrome caused by unilateral ischemic lesion ofthe right middle cerebral artery confirmed by magnetic resonance imaging and cerebral SPECT.