BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: During Vietnam War, many Korean soldiers were dispatched to fight in the war where they were exposed to Agent Orange. Until now, there exist only limited evidence on existence of association between exposure to Agent Orange and Parkinson's disease (PD). To elucidate the effects of Agent Orange exposure on PD, we compared the clinical characteristics and radiolabeled 18F-FP-CIT PET uptake between patients with Agent Orange exposure and patients with Agent Orange no-exposure. METHODS: We retrospectively evaluated 143 patients exposed to Agent Orange and 500 patients with no exposure to Agent Orange from our movement clinics database. The differences between clinical characteristics and pattern of 18F-FP-CIT PET uptake were investigated. RESULTS: Among Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale III motor subscales, tremor at rest, rigidity, finger taps, and rapid alternating movement was significantly higher in patients exposed to Agent Orange as compared to patients with no exposure to Agent Orange. The facial expression score was significantly lower in patients exposed to Agent Orange as compared to patients with no exposure to Agent Orange. Compared to patients not exposed to Agent Orange, all basal ganglia areas (contra- and ipsilateral caudate nucleus, anterior putamen, and posterior putamen) showed a lower18F-FP-CIT uptake and higher asymmetry index of anterior and posterior putamen was found in patients exposed to Agent Orange. The caudate/putamen ratio was significantly lower in patients exposed to Agent Orange as compared to patients with no exposure to Agent Orange. CONCLUSIONS: This study showed a different clinical profile and FP-CIT PET findings between patients exposed to Agent Orange as compared to patients with no exposure to Agent Orange. This finding suggests the possibility of different pathophysiology of PD in patients exposed to Agent Orange from idiopathic PD.
Basal Ganglia ; Caudate Nucleus ; Citrus sinensis* ; Facial Expression ; Fingers ; Humans ; Military Personnel ; Parkinson Disease* ; Putamen ; Retrospective Studies ; Tremor ; Vietnam

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Cognitive training is known to be an effective tool in enhancing cognitive functioning. Research has also shown that playing video game improves certain aspects of visual attention and cognitive processing speed. The effect of computer-based cognitive training has not been demonstrated so far. This study therefore evaluated whether computer-based cognitive training improved the cognitive abilities in patients with early stage of Alzheimer's dementia. METHODS: Totally, 20 participants (early stage of Alzheimer's dementia) participated in this study. To test the effectiveness of computer-based cognitive training programs to cognition, all patients were randomly allocated to either an intervention group (n=10) or a control group (n=10). The intervention group regularly received 24 sessions of computer-based cognitive training, over a 12 week period. Neuropsychological examinations were conducted before and after this training period. RESULTS: After 12 weeks, the intervention group showed a significant change in language of Korean version of the Mini-Mental State Examination (K-MMSE), compared with the baseline cognitive examinations. Also, there was greater improvement in language, attention, calculation, verbal memory, and frontal function for the experimental group, as compared with controls. CONCLUSIONS: Computer-based cognitive training might have beneficial effects on the general cognitive functions in early stage of Alzheimer's dementia.
Cognition* ; Dementia* ; Education ; Humans ; Memory ; Video Games

BACKGROUND: Wandering represents one of a major problem occurring in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). To find the disproportionate neuropsychological deficit and behavioral psychological symptoms in dementia (BPSD) of AD patients with wandering compared to AD patients without wandering, this study examined the set of neuropsychological tests and caregiver-administered neuropsychiatric inventory (CGA-NPI). METHODS: Psychotropic-naive (drug-naive) probable AD patients with wandering (64) and without wondering (278) were assessed with the Seoul Neuropsychological Screening Battery, which included measures of memory, intelligence, and executive functioning. RESULTS: Patients with wandering had lower scores in the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure copy, Fist-edge-palm, Alternating hand movement tests compared to patients without wandering. The degree of wandering in AD patients was significantly related with CGA-NPI subdomains of aggression, disinhibition, depression, and delusions. CONCLUSION: This study showed that 1) AD patients with wandering have disproportionately cognitive deficit suggesting frontal and right parietal dysfunctions, 2) wanderings are related with specific BPSD. Considering these results, AD patients with wandering may have specific neuronal anatomic substrates related with pathology of Alzheimer.
Aggression ; Alzheimer Disease* ; Delusions ; Dementia ; Depression ; Hand ; Humans ; Intelligence ; Mass Screening ; Memory ; Neurons ; Neuropsychological Tests ; Pathology ; Rabeprazole ; Seoul

Background and purpose: Transient global amnesia (TGA) is a rare amnestic syndrome characterized by the sudden onset of a selective anterograde and retrograde amnesia with a time course of up to 24 hours. Recent studies have found a high frequency of small high-signal abnormalities in the hippocampus on diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), and accordingly ischemia has been proposed as an etiology of TGA. We hypothesized that TGA lesions occur preferentially in the CA1 region of the hippocampus, which is known to be susceptible to ischemia. Methods: Twenty consecutive patients with a clinical diagnosis of TGA underwent DWI both within 24 hours of symptom onset and 3 days later. Twenty patients with high-signal abnormalities in the hippocampus on the initial DWI underwent subsequent DWI and T2-weighted imaging in the coronal plane to precisely localize the lesions. Results: Seventeen patients had small high-signal abnormalities (with diameters of 1-3 mm) in the hippocampus unilaterally on DWI. One of these patients had two lesions in one hippocampus. Three of the 20 patients had lesions bilaterally in the hippocampus, 1 of whom had 3 bilateral lesions. A total of 25 lesions were identified: 5 in the hippocampal head, 19 in the body, and 1 in the tail. Six patients had unilateral lesions on the left,11 patients had them on the right, and 3 patients had bilateral lesions. Conclusions: In this study, lesions associated with TGA were localized mostly to the lateral portion of the hippocampus, corresponding to CA1. This finding supports the ischemic etiology of TGA, but the underlying pathophysiologic mechanism requires further investigation.
Amnesia, Retrograde ; Amnesia, Transient Global ; Head ; Hippocampus ; Humans ; Ischemia

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The aim of this paper was to investigate the utility of 18F-N-(3-fluoropropyl)-2β-carboxymethoxy-3β-(4-iodophenyl) nortropane (FP-CIT) positron emission tomography (PET) for evaluating the severity of Parkinson's disease (PD) according to various clinical stages, and to identify the relationship between the striatal substructure and the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) motor score, cognitive symptoms through 18F-FP-CIT PET. METHODS: We retrospectively identified 542 patients with various clinical stages of PD who underwent an 18F-FP-CIT PET at our clinics. The difference between the 18F-FP-CIT PET according to the Hoehn-Yahr stage, correlation between 18F-FP-CIT PET and the UPDRS III grouped motor items, and the Korean Mini-Mental State Examination (K-MMSE) were investigated. RESULTS: As disease progressed, the right caudate and both the anterior putamen and caudate/putamen ratios exhibited a significantly lower uptake. The uptake of all striatal substructures was significantly correlated with the UPDRS total motor score. The right caudate nucleus was significantly related to both the UPDRS tremor items and the right UPDRS akinesia-rigidity items. The left caudate nucleus was related to both the UPDRS tremor items and UPDRS akinesia-rigidity items. The right anterior putamen was related to the axial items, right tremor and akinesia-rigidity items; while the left anterior putamen was related to the right tremor and right akinesia-rigidity items. Both of the posterior putamens were related to the axil items, left tremor and left akinesia rigidity items. K-MMSE was not significantly related to any striatal substructures. CONCLUSIONS: The UPDRS total motor score was significantly correlated with the uptake of all striatal substructures. However, the 18F-FPCIT uptake in specific striatal substructures was rather complexly correlated with the UPDRS motor grouped items and was not significantly related to K-MMSE. These results suggest the possibility of the complex pathophysiology of motor symptoms of PD and limitation of 18F-FPCIT PET for the evaluation of the severity of PD motor and cognitive symptoms.
Caudate Nucleus ; Electrons* ; Humans ; Neurobehavioral Manifestations* ; Parkinson Disease* ; Positron-Emission Tomography* ; Putamen ; Retrospective Studies ; Tremor

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Although depression is a common psychiatric symptom in Alzheimer's disease (AD), there has not been a lot of research on neuropsychological characteristics of this symptom. To determine the characteristic neuropsychological deficit in patients with depression compared to patients without depression, this study compared each neuropsychological test between AD patients with depression and without depression. METHODS: Psychotropic-naïve (drug-naïve) early stage [Clinical Dementia Rating Scale (CDR)=0.5 or CDR=1] probable AD patients with depression (n=77) and without depression (n=179) were assessed with the Seoul Neuropsychological Screening Battery, which includes measures of memory, intelligence, and executive functioning. RESULTS: AD patients with depression had lower scores on the digit forward, digit backward, calculation, and Color Word Stroop Test tests compared to AD patients without depression. CONCLUSION: Our study showed that AD patients with depression have disproportionate cognitive deficit, suggesting frontal (especially in the left dorsolateral), left hemisphere and left parietal dysfunction. Considering the neuropsychological differences between AD patients with depression and without depression, depression may have specific anatomic substrates.
Alzheimer Disease ; Cognition Disorders ; Dementia ; Depression* ; Humans ; Intelligence ; Mass Screening ; Memory ; Neuropsychological Tests ; Rabeprazole ; Seoul ; Stroop Test

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: To explore anatomic substrate of specific wandering patterns in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) by performing positron emission tomography with 18F fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG PET). METHODS: Drug-naïve AD patients with wandering (n=80) and without wandering (n=262) were recruited. First, the specific pattern of wandering type was operationally classified according to specific wandering score and clinical assessment. Second, brain FDG PET was performed and fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake differences of specific brain regions according to wandering patterns were compared to those of non-wanderers. RESULTS: In patients with pacing pattern, FDG PET showed significant lower FDG uptake in both middle cingulum and left putamen cluster compared to non-wanderers. The right precuneus and supplementary motor area in patients with random pattern and left calcarine sulcus, right calcarine sulcus, right middle cingulum, and right post central gyrus in patients with lapping pattern had significantly lower FDG uptake compared to non-wanderers. CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that wandering in patients with AD had three distinct patterns. These specific patterns showed significant lower FDG uptake in specific brain areas compared to non-wanderers.
Alzheimer Disease* ; Brain ; Fluorodeoxyglucose F18 ; Humans ; Motor Cortex ; Occipital Lobe ; Parietal Lobe ; Positron-Emission Tomography ; Putamen ; Somatosensory Cortex

BACKGROUND: Behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) are less well-defined aspects of Alzheimer's disease (AD). We designed this study to explore the followings: 1) the clinical profiles of BPSD 2) the clustered-groups domains of the Korean-Neuropsychiatric Inventory (K-NPI) assessment of BPSD 3) the clinical characteristics of the clustered-groups of BPSD in patients with drug-naive probable AD. METHODS: Descriptive and cluster analyses of the 12 K-NPI domains were done in 220 patients with drug-naive probable AD. After clustering these domains, characteristics of these positive symptoms clustered-group of patients were compared with the negative symptoms groups of patients. RESULTS: The mean Korean-Mini Mental Status Examination (K-MMSE), Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) scale, and K-NPI scores were 15.0, 1.6, and 14.2, respectively. The CDR and K-MMSE scores correlated with total K-NPI scores, and depression was the most common symptom. According to cluster analysis, five major clusters were identified. Using the associated neuropsychological dysfunctions, characteristics of each group were defined. CONCLUSIONS: This study identified the clustered-domains for K-NPI, and suggested the possible anatomical substrates for these groups in drug-naive AD patients. These attempts may clarify the complex and bizarre behavioral and psychological symptoms as more neurologically relevant symptoms.
Alzheimer Disease ; Cluster Analysis ; Dementia ; Deoxycytidine ; Depression ; Humans

Depression is a relatively common agonizing psychiatric disorder that affects the way we feel and think about ourselves and the world around us. Cognitive theories of depression have long posited that various cognitive biases are involved in the development and recurrence of depression. However, the current cognitive theory of depression has been reformulated and expanded from the previous cognitive model of depression based on the results from pharmacological, neuroimaging and neurocognitive studies. This review summarizes the evidence for cognitive dysfunctions in depression and the related pharmacological, neuroanatomical and genetic aspects which aim to integrate our knowledge about the cognitive aspects of depression and its treatment. The newly formulated cognitive theory of depression provides directions for future investigation to identify people at risk, to minimize recurrence, and to maximize long-term beneficial outcomes for those suffering from depression.
Bias (Epidemiology) ; Cognition* ; Depression* ; Felodipine ; Neuroimaging ; Recurrence

Until recently, there is considerable mess regarding the nature of anxiety in dementia. However, anxiety is common in this population affecting from 8% to 71% of prevalence, and resulted in poor outcome and quality of life, even after controlling for depression. Because a presentation of anxiety in the context of dementia can be different from typical early-onset anxiety disorder, it is not easy one to identify and quantify anxiety reliably. Moreover, differentiating anxiety from the depression and/or dementia itself also can be formidable task. Anxiety gradually decreases at the severe stages of dementia and this symptom may be more common in vascular dementia than in Alzheimer's disease. Due to the lack of large randomized clinical trials, optimal treatment and the true degree of efficacy of treatment is not clear yet in this population. However, these treatments can reduce adverse impact of anxiety on patients and caregivers. This article provides a brief review for the diagnosis, evaluation and treatment of anxiety in dementia.
Alzheimer Disease ; Anxiety Disorders ; Anxiety* ; Caregivers ; Dementia* ; Dementia, Vascular ; Depression ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Prevalence ; Quality of Life