Publicación Oficial de la Sociedad Ecuatoriana de Neurología, de la Liga Ecuatoriana Contra la Epilepsia y de la Sociedad Iberoamericana de Enfermedad Cerebrovascular

Cognition

 

Perfiles cognitivos-lingüísticos en personas mayores con Deterioro Cognitivo Leve, Demencia Vascular, Demencia con Cuerpos de Lewy y Enfermedad de Parkinson. Cognitive-linguistic profiles in older people with Mild Cognitive Impairment, Vascular Dementia, Dementia with Lewy Bodies and Parkinson’s Disease

Introduction: There is a wide heterogeneity of neuropsychological symptoms reported in pathological ageing. Current research has focused on patients with Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia. However, still no detailed knowledge of the cognitive-linguistic profiles in patients whit Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and other forms of dementia.

Objective: To characterize cognitive and linguistic profiles in older people with MCI, vascular dementia, Lewy body dementia, and Parkinson’s disease.

Methods: The present study followed the PRISMA guidelines and included studies from the PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science databases, published between 2000 and 2020.

Results: 49 articles were included in this literature review for critical analysis. Older people with MCI, vascular dementia, Lewy body dementia, and Parkinson’s disease shows a significant decline in the following cognitive domains: memory, executive function, attention, and visuospatial/visuoconstructive skills. However, linguistic symptoms are also reported, especially the deficit in verbal fluency (semantic and phonological) and syntactic-grammatical and discursive skills.

Conclusion: This literature review characterized cognitive-linguistic profiles in older people with MCI, vascular dementia, Lewy body dementia, and Parkinson’s disease. These profiles could be helpful in clinical practice to improve early neuropsychological assessment processes and even determin e differential diagnoses between these clinical conditions.

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Palabras clave: Cognición, demencia, Deterioro Lingüístico, Disfunción cognitiva, evaluación neuropsicológica,

Keywords: Cognition, Cognitive Dysfunction, dementia, language impairment, Neuropsychological assessment,

Niveles de Hemoglobina y Anemia en Niños: Implicancias Para el Desarrollo de Las Funciones Ejecutivas. Hemoglobin And Anemia Levels In Children: Implications For The Development Of Executive Functions

Introduction: Anemia is one of the most important health problems in the world. In developing countries; anemia coexists with malnutrition, lack of access to water, and sanitation. In Peru, more than 40% of children have anemia that affects their brain function and cognitive processes during their development, even to adult life.

Objective: This study sought (1) to know the levels of hemoglobin and the presence of anemia in children in rural and urban Arequipa, as well as other indicators of physical health, (2) compare the level of development of executive functions between both groups of children, and (3) analyzes of hemoglobin levels predict the cognitive profile.

Method: 49 subjects were evaluated (55% from rural area, 46% girls). Both groups begin regular basic education, different weight measurements were evaluated, including hemoglobin (HemoCuer®) and O2 saturation. The executive functions were assessed with the BANFE test.

Results: Disturbing levels of anemia have been found in the rural area of ​​Arequipa, as well as obesity in children in the urban area. Different processes of executive functions, especially from dorsolateral area have been reduced in rural children; despite having a similar educational and socioeconomic level. Finally, we found that hemoglobin levels explained the 27% of the variance; corresponding to the dorsolateral prefrontal score.

Conclusion: Anemia affects the development of executive functions in children, generating tombs consequences in their neurodevelopment.

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Palabras clave: Anemia, BANFE, Cognición, función ejecutiva, Perú, población infantil,

Keywords: anemia, BANFE, child-population, Cognition, Executive function, Peru,

Deterioro Cognitivo en Pacientes Diabéticos De 55 a 65 Años de Edad. Reporte Final de Estudio Observacional, Transversal en la Ciudad de Guayaquil. Cognitive Impairment In Diabetic Patients Between 55 And 65 Years Old. Final Report Of A Cross-Sectional, Observational Study In Guayaquil City.

Introduction: Diabetes mellitus is a frequent and systemic illness. Deleterious effects on cognition are one of its lesser known consequences. Diabetic individuals are at an increased risk for development of dementia in the future. Objective: To compare cognitive function in middle aged diabetic population with non-diabetic control group, in order to determine high risk population for developing cognitive decline or dementia in the future. Methodology: This is a cross-sectional, observational study conducted in Guayaquil. We studied 309 individuals between the ages of 55 and 65 years, of which 142 were diabetics and 167 were non-diabetic controls. A neuropsychological evaluation was performed to assess memory, attention, executive functioning and processing speed. Results: Group comparisons revealed significant differences between diabetics and non-diabetics in systolic blood pressure (p<.001), hyperlipidemia (p<.001) and cardiovascular risk (p < .001). Cognitive performance, after considering differences in scholarship, was lower in diabetic people (memory p values between .000 and .002; attention p values between .000 and .019; executive function p values between .000 and .001). Correlation between years of disease and cognitive decline was not significant (memory -.055; attention -.040; executive function .0169). Correlation between glycated hemoglobin and cognitive performance was significant for all evaluated functions (memory -.219; attention -.186; executive function -.269). Conclusion: Middle aged diabetic population has lower cognitive performance compared with non diabetics. The identification of individuals at risk for cognitive decline will contribute to the development and implementation of intervention strategies that will allow the slowing of cognitive decline in vulnerable individuals.

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Palabras clave: Alzheimer, Cognición, demencia, deterioro cognitivo, Diabetes mellitus, pruebas neuropsicológicas, salud cerebral,

Keywords: Alzheimer, brain health, Cognition, cognitive impairment, dementia, Diabetes Mellitus, neuropsychological tests,

Estimación de la Función Cognitiva Premórbida con el Test de Acentuación de Palabras. Estimation Of Premorbid Cognitive Function With The Word Accentuation Test.

Objectives: Premorbid estimation of cognitive function is essential for the interpretation of the presence and severity of actual cognitive impairment. The most reliable method in Spanish speaking countries is with the Word Accentuation Test (WAT) / Test de Acentuación de Palabras (TAP). This is used to predict intelligence test scores by linear regression. Results: In an Ecuadorian sample the TAP was found to have good internal consistency and test-retest reliability. The correlation of the TAP with WAIS-IV full IQ scores was high (r= .827), allowing the development of a regression equation to estimate IQ scores from TAP performance. Furthermore, a sample of dementia patients was found to perform normally on the WAT compared to a matched control group. This suggests that WAT performance holds in the presence of neurological illness with associated cognitive impairment. Conclusions: The WAT has good psychometric properties and can be used to rapidly estimate actual intelligence test scores in healthy participants. It can also estimate premorbid intelligence scores in patients with neurological or psychiatric illnesses, allowing a clearer interpretation of the severity of impairment. This simple assessment could be used in various research and clinical contexts.

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Palabras clave: Cognición, neuropsicología, premórbida, test de palabras,

Keywords: Cognition, neurophsycology, premorbid, word test,

Aspectos Moleculares de los Trastornos Cognitivos Ligados al Cromosoma X que Conllevan una Disfunción del Lenguaje.

Molecular characterization of X-linked cognitive disorders in which language impairment is a prominent symptom decisively contributes to a better understanding of the genetic programme involved in the development of the language organ. Proteins encoded by genes mutated in these disorders are structurally and functionally diverse: (i) helicases, (ii) homebox proteins, (iii) transcriptional regulators, (iv) translational regulators, (v) posttranslational regulators, and (vi) phosphoproteins. These proteins ultimately modulateneural development and function, as far as they seem to be involved in the regulation of (i) neural migration, (ii) neural identity, (iii) axonal growth, (iv) dendritic proliferation, (v) synaptogenesis, (vi) myelinization, (vii) neural plasticity, (viii) long-term potentiation and (ix) neural survival, but also in the modulation of basic cellular processes, like (x) chromosome segregation. Though these genes clearly make up the genetic programmes responsible for the emergence of different cognitive modules, they should be taken necessarily into account for an accurate molecular characterization of the language organ, since it is only programmes, but not genes, that should be properly regarded as idiosyncratic (i.e. most genes cannot reasonably be characterized as “linguistic”, unlike the programme itself related to the language organ).

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Palabras clave: Biología molecular, Cognición, cromosoma X, Lenguaje,

Keywords: chromosome X, Cognition, Language, Molecular biology,

Aspectos moleculares de las enfermedades metabólicas que conllevan trastornos del lenguaje.

 

Molecular characterization of metabolic diseases in which language impairment is a prominent symptom decisively contributes to a better understanding of the molecular effects and ontogenetic context on the development of the language organ. Main etiological feature in these diseases is actually diverse, as it may be disturbed in: 1) hormone homeostasis; 2) sugar, creatine, carnitine, lipid, sulphur, organic acid, or aminoacid metabolism; 3) different cellular processes (lysosomal storage and mitochondrial function). Metabolic disturbances ultimately lead to structural and functional anomalies in different brain regions, which positively correlate with the linguistic and cognitive impairments. Functional cloning has greatly helped to identify genes involved in such metabolic diseases, and so to a better understanding of the innate programme involved in the development of the linguistic module.

 

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Palabras clave: Biología molecular, Clonación funcional, Cognición, Lenguaje, Trastornos metabólicos,

Keywords: Cognition, Functional cloning, Language, Metabolic diseases, Molecular biology,

Diabetes Mellitus y Cognición. Estudio Transversal.

Diabetes Mellitus Type 2 is associated with greater impairment of cognitive ability, and abnormalities in brain imaging studies compared with people without diabetes.

Objective: To determine if there is a difference in the score of cognitive function tests Addenbrooke (ACE) and Cognitive Ability Screening Instrument (CASI) among patients with type 2 diabetes and non-diabetics.

Methods: Cross sectional study of patients with a history of more than 5 years of diabetes mellitus type 2, between 45 and 64 years of Outpatient of Endocrinology Department, Hospital Teodoro Maldonado Carbo Guayaquil between September 1 and December 31, 2008, who had the cognitive assessment test: ACE and CASI.

Results: There were a total of 68 patients, of which 60.3% had diabetes mellitus, with an average age of 60 years, of this group: 53.6% were men and 46.3% were women. Hypertension was present in 39%. 14.6% were treated with oral antidiabetic agents and 73.2% with insulin. Glycated haemoglobin (Hb1Ac) was abnormal in 33.8%. With regard to the tests of cognitive assessment: the average score of ACE in diabetic patients was 88. 8 and in non-diabetic patients 90.1 and in the CASI the average was 91.5 in diabetics and 92.5 in non-diabetics.

Conclusions: The score of cognitive function tests Addenbrooke and CASI was lower in diabetics compared to non-diabetics, although there was no significant difference.

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Palabras clave: Addenbrooke, CASI, Cognición, Complicaciones de la Diabetes, demencia, Diabetes mellitus,

Keywords: Addenbrooke, CASI, Cognition, dementia, Diabetes Complications, Diabetes Mellitus,
 
 
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