Neurocase最新文献

Naming impairment is a hallmark of logopenic primary progressive aphasia (lvPPA), yet its effects in bilingualism remain understudied. This study examined naming accuracy in a 78-year-old Chinese-English bilingual woman with lvPPA over two years using a modified Boston Naming Test. Naming accuracy was higher in her second, but more frequently used language (English) than her first, but less frequently used language (Chinese). Regression analyses revealed that familiarity predicted naming in Chinese, while word length and age of acquisition influenced English. Decline was linked to age of acquisition in Chinese and emotional properties in English, highlighting language-specific patterns in bilingual lvPPA.

After experiencing two ischemic brain attacks, a 40-year-old, right-handed, female amateur cello player developed apraxia of speech (AOS) and amusia, especially on the aspect of the beat. Her tempo became gradually faster, but while playing, she could not recognize that. When she listened to her own recorded performances, she could identify the differences immediately and precisely. Brain MRI showed lesions in the right superior temporal lobe, temporal plate, and right and left precentral gyri. Neuromusicological assessments revealed severe beat impairment and moderate pitch impairment. We diagnosed her with beat deafness of music, possibly caused by the bilateral precentral gyri lesions.

Neurodegeneration with brain iron accumulation (NBIA) is a genetic disorder characterized by iron accumulation in the basal ganglia. Patients may develop behavioral abnormalities, dementia, movement disorders, and neuropsychiatric symptoms such as emotional lability, depression, anxiety, hallucinations, impulsivity, obsessions, and hyperactivity. In this case, a 46-year-old male patient with a C19orf12 mutation experienced depressive complaints before movement disorders, followed by cognitive deficits and psychotic symptoms as the disease progressed. The patient's response to quetiapine treatment is crucial for managing neuropsychiatric symptoms. This case could contribute to the literature on presentation, differential diagnosis, and management of neuropsychiatric symptoms in rare NBIA patients.

A diagnosis of behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) often relies on informant reports of significant behavioral changes. "BvFTD-by-proxy" describes situations of neuropsychiatric changes reported solely by an informant under circumstances that may raise questions regarding their objectivity. We present three cases of bvFTD-like symptoms reported by spouses, where progression was unclear, testing showed mild but stable executive dysfunction, and neuroimaging was unremarkable. The subjective nature of bvFTD criteria leaves patients vulnerable to misleading informant reports, especially amid relational discord, and may threaten patient autonomy. Recognizing and managing this situation is critical but time-consuming, often requiring coordinated care across multiple providers.

There is uncertainty about whether delusion formation in Alzheimer's disease (AD) can be explained by false memories. "Metamemory," the ability to self-evaluate memory and identify memory errors, is impaired in people with delusions in schizophrenia. Our objective was to investigate whether false memory and metamemory were associated with delusions in AD. Participants with mild AD, with and without delusions, completed a computerized word recognition task and a metamemory measure. Group differences were compared using independent-samples t-tests or Mann Whitney tests. Significant findings were explored through binary logistic regression modeling. Participants with delusions (n = 10) gave more high confidence responses, significantly so for correct responses; percentage of high confidence correct responses for those with delusions (mean (SD)) was 69.7% (31.0%) and for those without (n = 14) was 43.5% (29.9%); t₂₂ = -2.09, p = .049. This remained significant when sex was included in regression modeling; for each 1.0% increase in high confidence correct responses, participants were 5.4% more likely to have delusions (Exp(β) 1.054, 95% CI 1.007-1.105, p = .025). Findings provide tentative support for a link between metamemory and delusions in AD. This should be explored in a larger sample as it has potential implications for treatment.

Moral cognition has largely been studied via dilemmas in which making a utilitarian choice causes instrumental harm (negative dimension). Studies of utilitarianism link this behavior with socioemotional unresponsiveness. However, there is a positive dimension of utilitarianism in which one sacrifices the good of oneself or close others for the overall welfare. We measured utilitarian choices multidimensionally in a patient with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD), incorporating dilemmas accounting for negative and positive dimensions. Despite socioemotional deficits our patient was highly utilitarian in the positive, dimension of utilitarianism. This case study challenges the tendency to automatically associate bvFTD with antisocial tendencies.

This study explores Vincent van Gogh's struggles with executive functions and his experiences with episodes of depression. In the final years of his life, Van Gogh encountered visual and auditory hallucinations, often lasting for few days. His correspondence reveals his concerns about the clarity of his mind during this period, suggesting the possibility of visual hallucinations influencing his artistic work. He mentioned the term "delirium" in his letters, indicating the presence of a brief psychotic episode. This study also considers the potential influence of factors like nutrition, tobacco, alcohol consumption, somatic diseases, and psychological distress on his susceptibility to delirium.

Objective: To describe a case of Post-Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome (PTLDS) with an atypical cognitive profile.

Method: A 41-year-old PTLDS patient underwent comprehensive neuropsychological testing and psychological assessment.

Results: The patient exhibited impaired intensive attention but preserved selective attention. Executive functions were normal. Short-term and anterograde memory were intact, while retrograde and semantic memory were significantly impaired. The patient also experienced identity loss, specific phobias, dissociative symptoms, and depressed mood.

Conclusions: Severe episodic-autobiographical and retrograde semantic amnesia was consistent with some reports of dissociative amnesia. Loss of identity and phobias were also highly suggestive of a psychogenic mechanism underlying amnesia.

The case study explores bilingualism and neurodegenerative disorders, specifically progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) with speech and language disorder (PSP-SL). It features a 78-year-old Mexican American woman who exhibits echolalia only in response to Spanish. This selective impairment suggests unevenly affected language control mechanisms despite her proficiency in both languages. Cognitive function is evaluated with neuropsychological tests; she's diagnosed with PSP-SL, depression, and anxiety. Echolalia in response to one language implies complex phonological retrieval mechanisms. Such observations prompt further inquiry into bilingual language control and processing mechanisms. The case supports evidence that bilingualism may attenuate neurodegeneration effects, suggesting better inhibitory control over disinhibited speech through enhanced executive functioning benefits.