Background: Recent evidence suggests that speech substantially changes in ageing. As a complex neurophysiological process, it can accurately reflect changes in the motor and cognitive systems underpinning human speech. Since healthy ageing is not always easily discriminable from early stages of dementia based on cognitive and behavioural…

Executive function (EF) decline is a consistent early sign of Alzheimer's disease (AD) among adults with Down syndrome (DS), which means that baseline measures of EF for individuals with DS are vital to allow detection of meaningful decline. We developed a framework to extract measures of three core components of EF (memory updating, inhibitory,…

Purpose: Corpus analyses of spontaneous language fragments of varying length provide useful insights in the language change caused by brain damage, such as caused by some forms of dementia. Sample size is an important experimental parameter to consider when designing spontaneous language analyses studies. Sample length influences the confidence…

This article describes the healing benefits of art therapy for an individual with dementia of the Alzheimer's type. In this clinical case description, a woman diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease received individual art therapy for 17 weeks. The treatment concerns that arose, altered view of reality, agitation, and retrogenesis provide insight on…

Friendships are an integral part of the human experience. Yet, dementia often takes a toll on social relationships, and many friends withdraw. This research, however, focuses on friendships that remain, despite a diagnosis of dementia. It examines the quality of the friendships of people with dementia and long-term friendships. Data were collected…

A randomized controlled trial examined whether the diagnostic process for Alzheimer's disease and other dementias may be influenced by knowledge of the patient's education and/or self-reported race. Four conditions were implemented: diagnostic team knows (a) race and education, (b) education only, (c) race only, or (d) neither. Diagnosis and…

Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is the second commonest cause of dementia in the general population. Several researches have established an association between Down syndrome (DS) and Alzheimer's disease. Very few studies have however showed such an association between dementia with Lewy bodies and Down syndrome. The occurrence of DLB in persons…

The current study investigated the relationship between bilingual language proficiency and onset of probable Alzheimer's disease (AD) in 44 Spanish-English bilinguals at the UCSD Alzheimer's Disease Research Center. Degree of bilingualism along a continuum was measured using Boston Naming Test (BNT) scores in each language. Higher degrees of…

Changes in psychiatric symptoms related to specific stages of dementia were investigated in 224 adults 45 years of age or older with Down syndrome. Findings indicate that psychiatric symptoms are a prevalent feature of dementia in the population with Down syndrome and that clinical presentation is qualitatively similar to that seen in Alzheimer's…

It is estimated that 13 million to 15 million adults in the United States have chronic conditions that impair cognitive function, such as Alzheimer's disease, stroke, Parkinson's disease, and traumatic brain injury. The growing number of people with chronic conditions that include cognitive impairment and the family members who assist them face…

Early differential diagnosis of dementia is becoming increasingly important as new pharmacologic therapies are developed, as these treatments are not equally effective for all types of dementia. Early detection and differential diagnosis also facilitates informed family decision making and timely access to appropriate services. Information about…

Background: The clinical and neuropathological features associated with dementia in Down's syndrome (DS) are not well established. Aims: To examine clinico-pathological correlations and the incidence of cognitive decline in a cohort of adults with DS. Method: A total of 92 hospitalized persons with DS were followed up from 1985 to December 2000.…

The validity and reliability of a novel route learning test were examined to assess the effectiveness of its use in evaluating spatial memory in healthy older adults and patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). The Puget Sound Route Learning Test was significantly correlated with an existing measure of cognitive ability, the Dementia Rating Scale.…