OBJECTIVE: Cognitive impairment is one of the nonmotor symptoms in Parkinson's disease (PD), and olfactory dysfunction is used as a marker to detect premotor stages of PD. Serum uric acid (sUA) levels have been found to be a risk factor for PD. Our objective in this study was to examine whether sUA levels are associated with cognitive changes and olfactory dysfunction in early de novo PD patients. METHODS: The study participants included 196 de novo PD patients. We assessed cognitive function by the Korean versions of the Mini-Mental State Examination and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment and assessed olfactory function by the Korean version of the Sniffin' Sticks test. RESULTS: The mean sUA level was 4.7 mg/dL and was significantly lower in women than in men. Cognitive scores were lower in women, suggesting that sUA levels were related to cognitive function. The olfactory functions were not related to sUA level but were clearly associated with cognitive scores. Olfactory threshold, odor discrimination, and odor identification were all significantly related to cognitive scores. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that lower sUA levels were associated with cognitive impairment, not olfactory dysfunction, in de novo PD patients. This finding suggests that UA is neuroprotective as an antioxidant in the cognitive function of PD patients.
Cognition Disorders ; Cognition ; Discrimination (Psychology) ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Odors ; Parkinson Disease ; Risk Factors ; Smell ; Uric Acid

Bipolar patients often experience subjective symptoms even if they do not have active psychotic symptoms in their euthymic state. Most studies about subjective symptoms are conducted in schizophrenia, and there are few studies involving bipolar patients. We examined the nature of the subjective symptoms of bipolar patients in their euthymic state, and we also compared it to that of schizophrenia and normal control. Thirty bipolar patients, 25 patients with schizophrenia, and 21 normal control subjects were included. Subjective symptoms were assessed using the Korean version of the Frankfurter Beschwerde Fragebogen (K-FBF) and the Symptom Check List 90-R (SCL90-R). Euthymic state was confirmed by assessing objective psychopathology with the Positive and Negative Syndrome scale of Schizophrenia (PANSS), the Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS), and the Montgomery Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS). K-FBF score was significantly higher in bipolar patients than in normal controls, but similar to that in schizophrenia patients (F=5.86, p=0.004, R(2)=2033.6). In contrast, SCL90-R scores did not differ significantly among the three groups. Euthymic bipolar patients experience subjective symptoms that are more confined to cognitive domain. This finding supports the hypothesis that subtle cognitive impairments persists in euthymic bipolar patients.
Adult ; Bipolar Disorder/*psychology ; Cognition Disorders/etiology ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Schizophrenic Psychology

Based on the limitation of biomedical model of tinnitus, more attention has been paid to personalities or psychological aspects. Depressive disorder, anxiety disorder, and sleep disturbance were comorbid illnesses of tinnitus and research showed that neurobiological mechanisms such as dysfunction of limbic system or HPA axis were common in tinnitus and affective disorders and that comorbid psychiatric disorders enhanced the negative outcome of tinnitus. Recently, more attention is being paid to the relation of tinnitus with personality and the role of stress. Although the causal relation of personality and tinnitus is unclear, stress in itself showed that it can be a trigger in the development of tinnitus, and stress of tinnitus can cause adverse effects. Since the effect of fear-related cognition such as catastrophic thought about tinnitus was revealed more recently, its therapeutic implication should be explored. This review will describe the product of previous research and discuss future direction about psychological factors related to tinnitus.
Anxiety Disorders ; Cognition ; Depressive Disorder ; Limbic System ; Mood Disorders ; Psychology* ; Tinnitus*

Child ; Child Behavior Disorders ; etiology ; Cognition Disorders ; physiopathology ; Humans ; Sleep Apnea Syndromes ; psychology

OBJECTIVETo explore the curative effect and safety of acupuncture for mild cognitive disorders after stroke.

METHODSRandomized controlled trial was adopted and one hundred cases conforming to criteria were divided into a combined acupuncture and medication group (group A) and a medication group (group B), 50 cases in each group. The basic treatment of cerebrovascular disease was applied in two groups. The group A treated was with acupuncture at Baihui (GV 20), Shenting (GV 24) and Qucha (BL 4) etc. and oral administration of Nimodipine. In group B, Nimodipine was taken orally. The treatment lasted for 3 months, the scores of Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), modified Hasegawa Dementia Scale (HDS-R) and Barthel Index (BI) were observed before and after treatment in two groups.

RESULTSThe total effective rate in group A was 66.7% (32/48), which was superior to 30.4% (14/46) in group B (P < 0.05). The scores of MMSE, HDS-R and BI after treatment were apparently improved as compared with those before treatment in two groups (all P < 0.01). The improvements in group A were superior to those in group B (all P < 0.05). There was no adverse event reported during the treatment in two groups.

CONCLUSIONAcupuncture can improve activity of daily living and has significant effect in treating mild cognition disorders after stroke without adverse reactions.

Acupuncture Therapy ; Aged ; Cognition ; Cognition Disorders ; etiology ; psychology ; therapy ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Stroke ; complications ; Treatment Outcome

PURPOSE: This study aimed to develop and test a structural model for chemotherapy-related cognitive impairment of breast cancer patients based on a literature review and Hess and Insel's chemotherapy-related cognitive change model. METHODS: The Participants consisted of 250 patients who were ≥19 years of age. The assessment tools included the Menopause Rating Scale, Symptom Experience Scale, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Everyday Cognition, and Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast Cancer. Data were analyzed using the SPSS 21.0 and AMOS 21.0 programs. RESULTS: The modified model was a good fit for the data. The model fit indices were χ2=423.18 (p<.001), χ2/df=3.38, CFI=.91, NFI=.91, TLI=.89, SRMR=.05, RMSEA=.09, and AIC=515.18. Chemotherapy-related cognitive impairment was directly influenced by menopausal symptoms (β=.38, p=.002), depression and anxiety (β=.25, p=.002), and symptom experiences (β=.19, p=.012). These predictors explained 47.7% of the variance in chemotherapy-related cognitive impairment. Depression and anxiety mediated the relations among menopausal symptoms, symptom experiences, and with chemotherapy related cognitive impairment. Depression and anxiety (β=−.51, p=.001), symptom experiences (β=−.27, p=.001), menopausal symptoms (β=−.22, p=.008), and chemotherapy-related cognitive impairment (β=−.15, p=.024) had direct effects on the quality of life and these variables explained 91.3%. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that chemotherapy-related toxicity is highly associated with cognitive decline and quality of life in women with breast cancer. Depression and anxiety increased vulnerability to cognitive impairment after chemotherapy. Nursing intervention is needed to relieve chemotherapy-related toxicity and psychological factor as well as cognitive decline for quality of life in patients undergoing chemotherapy.
Anxiety ; Breast Neoplasms ; Breast ; Cognition ; Cognition Disorders ; Depression ; Drug Therapy ; Female ; Humans ; Menopause ; Models, Structural ; Nursing ; Psychology ; Quality of Life

The largely consistent columnar circuitry observed throughout the cortex may serve to continuously predict bottom-up activation based on invariant memories. This "memory-prediction" function is essential to efficient and accurate perception. Many of the defined cognitive deficits associated with schizophrenia suggest a breakdown of memory-prediction function. As deficits in memory-prediction function are proposed to lie more proximal to the biological causes of schizophrenia than deficits in standard cognitive constructs, tests that more directly probe memory-prediction function may be especially sensitive predictors of conversion in individuals at high-risk for schizophrenia. In this article, we review the conceptual basis for this hypothesis, and outline how it may be tested with specific cognitive paradigms. The accurate identification of cognitive processes that precede the onset of psychosis will not only be useful for clinicians to predict which young people are at greatest risk for schizophrenia, but will also help determine the neurobiology of psychosis onset, thus leading to new and effective treatments for preventing schizophrenia and other psychoses.
Cognition Disorders ; Humans ; Memory ; Neuropsychological Tests ; Predictive Value of Tests ; Risk Assessment ; Schizophrenia ; etiology ; physiopathology ; Schizophrenic Psychology

OBJECTIVETo explore the neuropsychological characteristics of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

METHODSNeuropsychological tests, including visual working memory, Stroop test, digits inverse reciting, vocabulary fluency, Wisconsin card sort test (WCST), and Temporal discounting were used to evaluate the capacity of response inhibition, phonological working memory, visual working memory executive function and delayed satisfying capacity of subjects.

RESULTS1. The ADHD children spent longer time [ADHD-I (84(20), ADHD-C: 98 (31), normal: 70 (28)] to accomplish color naming and made more errors [ADHD-I: 3 (3), ADHD-C: 6 (19), normal: 2 (5)] than the normal control when the color was inconsistent with the word meaning in Stroop test (P < 0.01). 2. The scores of digits reciting [ADHD-I: 3 (3), ADHD-C: 3 (4), normal 4 (4)] inverse was lower in ADHD than in normal control (P < 0.01). 3. The representation of ADHD was poorer than normal control in visual working memory [ADHD-I: 21 (3), ADHD-C: 20 (5), Normal: 20 (3)], and in delayed visual memory [ADHD-I: 19 (5), ADHD-C: 19 (5), Normal: 20 (5)] (P < 0.01). 4. The scores of vocabulary fluency [ADHD-I: 1 (1), ADHD-C: 2 (1), normal: 0 (0)] was lower in ADHD than in normal control (P < 0.01). 5. In WCST, the ADHD children made more errors [ADHD-I :15 (17), ADHD-C: 15 (15), normal: 13 (13)] and less classification [ADHD-I: 5 (4), ADHD-C: 5 (4), normal: 5 (3)] than normal control (P < 0.01). 6. In Temporal discounting, the ADHD children showed significantly more impairments than normal control did (P < 0.01). 7. There was significant difference between the two subtype groups on some tests (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONSObvious cognitive impairments were found in children with ADHD, involving poor response inhibition, impaired working memory, dysfunction of planning and set-shifting, and there was no significant difference between the two subtype groups.

Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity ; classification ; immunology ; physiopathology ; psychology ; Child ; Cognition Disorders ; physiopathology ; psychology ; Humans ; Memory ; Memory Disorders ; immunology ; psychology ; Memory, Short-Term ; physiology ; Neuropsychological Tests

OBJECTIVETo study the cognitive function, its correlation with and the impact on quality of life in epileptic children aged 6-13 years in regular school.

METHODCognitive function of 172 children with various types of epilepsy were measured using a computerized neuropsychological test battery including six items. Their scores across the neuropsychological measures were compared with 172 healthy control subjects from the general population strictly matched for age, sex and the region where education was accepted. The quality of life was measured in 105 cases by the Quality of Life in Epilepsy Inventory (QOLIE-31).

RESULT(1) After adjusting for age, gender, and education, children with epilepsy performed significantly worse than healthy control subjects on 5 of 6 cognitive tasks, including Raven's progressive matrices correct number (8.6 vs. 14.0), choice reaction time (620.4 ms vs. 489.5 ms), word-rhyming tasks (2796.9 ms vs. 2324.4 ms), simple substraction correct number (28.6 vs. 35.5)as well as number comparision (1002.4 ms vs. 803.1 ms), P < 0.01. When an impairment index was calculated, 44.2% patients had at least one abnormal score on the test battery, compared with 14.5% of healthy volunteers, there was statistically significant differences between the two groups, P < 0.001. (2) Children with new onset epilepsy before the treatment with anti-epilepstic drugs performed significantly worse than healthy controls on 5 of 6 cognitive tasks, including Raven's progressive matrices correct number (9.1 vs. 13.8), choice reaction time (625.8 ms vs.474.5 ms), word-rhyming tasks(3051.8 ms vs. 2575.4 ms), simple substraction correct number (28.9 vs. 35.3) as well as number comparison (942.4 ms vs. 775.8 ms), P < 0.01. (3) Cognitive performance was not related to the age of onset, type of epilepsy, therapy duration or comorbid emotional and behavior disorders, P > 0.05. (4) 105 cases filled in the QOLIE-31 questionaire, the total score of the quality of life in the group without cognitive impairment and psychical conditions was the highest (60.5 ± 0.9), and the lowest total score was found in group with cognitive impairment and psychical conditions (54.6 ± 1.5), there were highly significant differences between the groups, P < 0.001.

CONCLUSIONAlmost one-half of the children with epilepsy accepting regular education had at least one abnormal score in the battery tests. Newly diagnosed untreated patients with epilepsy are cognitively compromised before the start of antiepileptic drug medication. Cognitive impairment was not related to the epilepsy-related or psychiatric variables. Cognitive impairment and mental disorders require further attention and essential therapy, which is important to the improvement of the quality of life in epileptic children.

Adolescent ; Child ; Cognition ; physiology ; Cognition Disorders ; diagnosis ; epidemiology ; psychology ; Comorbidity ; Epilepsy ; complications ; psychology ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Neuropsychological Tests ; Quality of Life ; Reaction Time ; Surveys and Questionnaires

OBJECTIVETo observe the clinical efficacy on cognitive impairment after traumatic brain injury (TBD treated with acupuncture and cognitive training.

METHODSSixty patients were randomized into an observation group and a control group, 30 cases in each one, and 5 cases of them were dropped out due to the earlier discharge. Finally, there were 28 cases in the observation group and 27 cases in the control group. In the control group, the cognitive training and conventional treatment were applied. In the observation group, on the basis of the treatment as the control group, acupuncture was applied to Baihui (GV 20), Fengchi (GB 20), Geshu (BL 17) and Fenglong (ST 40), once a day, for 4 weeks totally. The mini-mental state examination (MMSE) and Montreal cognitive assessment (MoCA) were adopted to evaluate the cognitive function in the patients of post-TBI cognitive impairment.

RESULTS(1) After treatment, the total score in MMSE and the score of each item were increased significantly as compared with those before treatment in the two groups (all P<0. 05). Except for the score of immediate recall, the score in MMSE and the score of each of the other items were increased significantly in the observation group as compared with those in the control group after treatment (all P<0. 05). (2)After treatment, the total score in MoCA and the score of each item were increased significantly as compared with those before treatment in the two groups (all P<. 05). Except for the score of nomenclature item, the total score in MoCA and the score of each of the other items were increased significantly in the observation group as compared with those in the control group after treatment (all P<0. 05).

CONCLUSIONBoth the simple cognitive training and the combined therapy of acupuncture and cognitive training improve MMSE and MoCA scores and relieve the cognitive impairment induced by TBI. But the combined therapy achieves the much better efficacy.

Acupuncture Points ; Acupuncture Therapy ; Adult ; Brain Injuries ; psychology ; therapy ; Cognition ; Cognition Disorders ; psychology ; therapy ; Cognitive Therapy ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Treatment Outcome