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Eight subjects, 60-75 years of age, with at least 5 years of education and mild memory impairments were recruited for a rehabilitation program. Other 8 subjects, not exposed to the rehabilitative training and with the same neuropsychological profile, represented a control group. In the first day of this program an evaluation of cognitive/behavioral functions was performed. Our program consisted of a neuropsychological rehabilitative intervention along 12 weeks, with a 5-day-period of domiciliary training with a set of home exercises and a 1-day training in our Center with rehabilitative exercises administered with the aid of a personal computer, each week. Rehabilitative training administered in our Center was aimed at stimulating visuo-verbal, verbal and spatial memory and the utilization of "memory strategies". After 4, 8 and 12 weeks of therapeutic program, other evaluations of the cognitive functions with the same battery tests were performed to evaluate possible improvements: the results indicated an improvement of memory test scores that demonstrated the positive effect of neuropsychological training on memory performances. There was no improvement in the control group.

This study evaluated the impact of aging, gender and education on learning function and memory process. Hundred-six normal subjects, in the age range 20-79 years were recruited, and their following functions were evaluated as inclusion criteria: (i) global cognitive performance by using the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE > or = 24), (ii) depressive disorders by using the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS < 14); (iii) intelligence and "problem solving" ability by means of the Raven's Colored Progressive Matrices (PM 47 > or = 9). The prospective memory and the working memory, the incidental memory, as well as the immediate and delayed visuo-verbal association of these subjects were evaluated in the daily life conditions with the aid of a personal computer. Statistical analysis was performed by a model of multiple linear regression. The results suggested that prospective memory and working memory was influenced by age and education in both sexes. The percental loss of visuo-verbal association was not influenced by education, but was by gender and age. Test exploring incidental memory evidenced a worsening of performance in both sexes, being influenced only by the age.

The association of depression and dementia is far more common than the masking of depression by dementia, i.e., pseudodementia. The impact of aging was investigated on the relationships between mood disorders, evaluated by means of Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) and early cognitive impairments, measured by using the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) in 100 aged subjects (age range 60-84 years). In our population of mildly to moderately depressed elderly people, the aging was associated with a loss of MMSE item "Orientation" and a loss of MMSE item "Recall"; this could be explained by an association of cognitive impairment and mild to moderate depressive disorders which are worsening with aging.

In order to evaluate the correlation between the cognitive-behavioral performances and the regional blood-perfusion deficits of the brain, 18 elderly subjects affected by dementia of probably primary degenerative character have been studied. The patients were first examined by psychometric tests and then submitted to brain Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) using [(99m)Technetium]-d,l-hexamethyl-propylene-amine-oxine (Tc-HMPAO) for regional blood flow evaluation (rCBF). The cognitive-behavioral functions have been estimated by Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), Randt Memory Test, Rey's 15 Words, Corsi's Block Tapping Test, Word Fluency Test, Sentence Construction, Sketch Copy, Toulouse-Pieron's test. Digit Symbol Test from Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, and the Progressive Matrices 1947 (PM 47). The cerebral blood flow reduction in left occipital lobe and left frontal lobe explained 67% of the visuo-verbal memory impairment of the patients. These results suggest that the decrease of cognitive functions is related to some extent to a lower cerebral blood perfusion.