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Two of every three persons living with dementia reside in low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMICs). The projected increase in global dementia rates is expected to affect LMICs disproportionately. However, the majority of global dementia care costs occur in high‐income countries (HICs), with dementia research predominantly focusing on HICs. This imbalance necessitates LMIC‐focused research to ensure that characterization of dementia accurately reflects the involvement and specificities of diverse populations. Development of effective preventive, diagnostic, and therapeutic approaches for dementia in LMICs requires targeted, personalized, and harmonized efforts. Our article represents timely discussions at the 2022 Symposium on Dementia and Brain Aging in LMICs that identified the foremost opportunities to advance dementia research, differential diagnosis, use of neuropsychometric tools, awareness, and treatment options. We highlight key topics discussed at the meeting and provide future recommendations to foster a more equitable landscape for dementia prevention, diagnosis, care, policy, and management in LMICs. Highlights: Two‐thirds of persons with dementia live in LMICs, yet research and costs are skewed toward HICs.LMICs expect dementia prevalence to more than double, accompanied by socioeconomic disparities.The 2022 Symposium on Dementia in LMICs addressed advances in research, diagnosis, prevention, and policy.The Nairobi Declaration urges global action to enhance dementia outcomes in LMICs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

INTRODUCTION: Clinical understanding of primary progressive aphasia (PPA) has been primarily derived from Indo‐European languages. Generalizing certain linguistic findings across languages is unfitting due to contrasting linguistic structures. While PPA patients showed noun classes impairments, Chinese languages lack noun classes. Instead, Chinese languages are classifier language, and how PPA patients manipulate classifiers is unknown. METHODS: We included 74 native Chinese speakers (22 controls, 52 PPA). For classifier production task, participants were asked to produce the classifiers of high‐frequency items. In a classifier recognition task, participants were asked to choose the correct classifier. RESULTS: Both semantic variant (sv) PPA and logopenic variant (lv) PPA scored significantly lower in classifier production task. In classifier recognition task, lvPPA patients outperformed svPPA patients. The classifier production scores were correlated to cortical volume over left temporal and visual association cortices. DISCUSSION: This study highlights noun classifiers as linguistic markers to discriminate PPA syndromes in Chinese speakers. Highlights: Noun classifier processing varies in the different primary progressive aphasia (PPA) variants. Specifically, semantic variant PPA (svPPA) and logopenic variant PPA (lvPPA) patients showed significantly lower ability in producing specific classifiers. Compared to lvPPA, svPPA patients were less able to choose the accurate classifiers when presented with choices.In svPPA, classifier production score was positively correlated with gray matter volume over bilateral temporal and left visual association cortices in svPPA. Conversely, classifier production performance was correlated with volumetric changes over left ventral temporal and bilateral frontal regions in lvPPA.Comparable performance of mass and count classifier were noted in Chinese PPA patients, suggesting a common cognitive process between mass and count classifiers in Chinese languages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Edinburgh Cognitive and Behavioural ALS Screen (ECAS) was developed to assess cognitive and behavioural changes in an anterior frontotemporal syndrome (executive functions, language, fluency and behaviour), common in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and also assesses posterior cerebral dysfunction (memory and visuospatial abilities). Objectives: To validate the ECAS in behavioural variant Frontotemporal Dementia (bvFTD) without ALS, as compared with Alzheimer's disease (AD), against comprehensive neuropsychological assessment. Compare its sensitivity to that of the Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination (ACE‐III) and investigate behavioural changes in both types of dementia. Methods: Retrospective study of 16 people with bvFTD (without ALS), 32 with AD, and 48 healthy controls completed the ECAS, ACE‐III and extensive neuropsychological assessment. Results: The ECAS showed higher sensitivity (94%) and marginally lower specificity (96%) than the ACE‐III for both the bvFTD and AD groups. The anterior composite subscore was sensitive for bvFTD (94%), and slightly less so for AD (84%), while the posterior composite subscore was sensitive for AD (97%), and less so for bvFTD (75%). All people with bvFTD that were impaired on the ECAS total and anterior composite scores were also impaired on the anterior function's tests of the neuropsychological assessment. A cut‐off of four or more behavioural domains affected differentiated well between the bvFTD and AD groups, while a qualitative analysis of the behavioural interview found different themes between groups. Conclusions: The ECAS is a valid and sensitive assessment for bvFTD without ALS and for AD. The carer behavioural interview makes it particularly suitable to detect behavioural abnormalities related to frontal lobe disorders Key Points: The ECAS showed higher sensitivity (94%) and specificity (96%) for both the bvFTD and AD groups than the ACE‐III.The ECAS performed well against standard comprehensive neuropsychological assessment with perfect concordance between ECAS Total and Anterior functions composite scores, and performance on the anterior functions' tests of the neuropsychological assessment for the bvFTD group. The ECAS total and posterior functions composite scores also showed good validity against the posterior functions' tests of the neuropsychology assessment for the AD group.The most recurrent abnormal behaviour for the bvFTD group was loss of sympathy/empathy (100%), while the most recurrent theme for AD was loss of interest in normal activities (56%). Important thematic differences between diagnoses were (26%) lack of awareness and (66%) lack of manners in people with bvFTD, while AD patients (33%) had a loss of self‐confidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disentangling Parkinson’s disease (PD) and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) may be a diagnostic challenge. Cognitive signs may be useful, but existing screens are often insufficiently sensitive or unsuitable for assessing people with motor disorders. We investigated whether the newly developed ECAS, designed to be used with people with even severe motor disability, was sensitive to the cognitive impairment seen in PD and PSP and able to distinguish between these two disorders. Thirty patients with PD, 11 patients with PSP, and 40 healthy controls were assessed using the ECAS, as well as an extensive neuropsychological assessment. The ECAS detected cognitive impairment in 30% of the PD patients, all of whom fulfilled the diagnostic criteria for mild cognitive impairment. The ECAS was also able to detect cognitive impairment in PSP patients, with 81.8% of patients performing in the impaired range. The ECAS total score distinguished between the patients with PSP and healthy controls with high sensitivity (91.0) and specificity (86.8). Importantly, the ECAS was also able to distinguish between the two syndromes, with the measures of verbal fluency offering high sensitivity (82.0) and specificity (80.0). In sum, the ECAS is a quick, simple, and inexpensive test that can be used to support the differential diagnosis of PSP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents a model of a reference wind farm. The model considers the wind and wave climatologies for a specific site from which two different wind farm layouts are derived. These layouts are examined through the effective wake-enhanced turbulence intensity at the hub height for a given climatology, and a simple model for the influence on capital expenditures is proposed. An electrical design is presented, the cable losses are calculated and the energy yield is determined. An operation and maintenance model is established, and the associated operating expenditure is obtained. All of the models are then summarized in terms of a levelized cost of energy using a numerical simulation tool, which allows the layouts to be compared. The data and models are freely available online for others to use and may serve as a baseline for benchmarking and allow researchers to compare and discuss their results. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction A classification framework for posterior cortical atrophy (PCA) is proposed to improve the uniformity of definition of the syndrome in a variety of research settings. Methods Consensus statements about PCA were developed through a detailed literature review, the formation of an international multidisciplinary working party which convened on four occasions, and a Web-based quantitative survey regarding symptom frequency and the conceptualization of PCA. Results A three-level classification framework for PCA is described comprising both syndrome- and disease-level descriptions. Classification level 1 (PCA) defines the core clinical, cognitive, and neuroimaging features and exclusion criteria of the clinico-radiological syndrome. Classification level 2 (PCA-pure, PCA-plus) establishes whether, in addition to the core PCA syndrome, the core features of any other neurodegenerative syndromes are present. Classification level 3 (PCA attributable to AD [PCA-AD], Lewy body disease [PCA-LBD], corticobasal degeneration [PCA-CBD], prion disease [PCA-prion]) provides a more formal determination of the underlying cause of the PCA syndrome, based on available pathophysiological biomarker evidence. The issue of additional syndrome-level descriptors is discussed in relation to the challenges of defining stages of syndrome severity and characterizing phenotypic heterogeneity within the PCA spectrum. Discussion There was strong agreement regarding the definition of the core clinico-radiological syndrome, meaning that the current consensus statement should be regarded as a refinement, development, and extension of previous single-center PCA criteria rather than any wholesale alteration or redescription of the syndrome. The framework and terminology may facilitate the interpretation of research data across studies, be applicable across a broad range of research scenarios (e.g., behavioral interventions, pharmacological trials), and provide a foundation for future collaborative work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Life‐course experiences such as education and bilingualism can be protective against dementia. The cognitive effects of bilingualism are specific while education has a more pervasive effect on general cognitive abilities, indicating that there is a likelihood of a variability in mechanisms underlying resilience. India is characterised by educational diversity and bilingualism. Importantly, bilingualism is not always associated with confounding effects of education, socioeconomic class or immigration. This makes the population uniquely suited for the study of resilience and opens up the possibility to disentangle the independent effects of bilingualism and education. Recent evidence indicates that surface‐based morphometric features of the cortical thickness and surface area are significantly modulated by life course experiences. Therefore, in this study, the independent influence of bilingualism and education on cortical thickness and surface area in dementia were studied to investigate the mechanisms that underlie resilience. Method: Forty‐five patients with Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) were enrolled. 27 bilinguals were matched with 18 monolinguals for demographic factors and clinical severity. We examined the independent associations of bilingualism and education with cortical thickness and surface area using a surface based morphometric approach. Result: Bilinguals with FTD had greater cortical thickness and reduced surface area in bilateral dorsolateral and medial frontal areas, and right parietotemporal cortex, regions associated with executive control. Bilinguals also demonstrated lesser cortical thickness in the language processing areas of left superior temporal, inferior parietal and lateral occipital regions compared to monolinguals. On the other hand, higher education was associated with decreased cortical thickness and increased surface area in bilateral frontal, medial temporal, parietal, occipital, and left temporal regions. Conclusion: This study explores for the first‐time, associations of two different proxies of resilience with cortical thickness and surface area in FTD. Our findings indicate that the neural substrate underlying the protective effects of bilingualism differ from education in FTD, and can be related to their differential effects on cognition. Results indicate specific neural correlates of resilience for different life‐course experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main goal of this paper is to establish the present state of the art for wind farm control. The control area that will be focused on is the mechanical/aerodynamic part, which includes the wind turbines, their power production, fatigue and wakes affecting neighbouring wind turbines. The sub-objectives in this area of research are as follows: (i) maximizing the total wind farm power production; (ii) following a reference for the total wind farm active power; and (iii) doing this in a manner that minimizes fatigue loading for the wind turbines in the farm. Each of these sub-objectives is discussed, including the following important control issues: choice of input and output, control method and modelling used for controller design and simulation. The available literature from industry is also considered. Finally, a conclusion is presented discussing the established results, open challenges and necessary research. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a new fault-tolerant control (FTC) method for discrete-time linear parameter varying (LPV) systems using a reconfiguration block. The basic idea of the method is to achieve the FTC goal without redesigning the nominal controller by inserting a reconfiguration block between the plant and the nominal controller. The reconfiguration block is realized by an LPV virtual actuator and an LPV virtual sensor. Its goal is to transform the signals from the faulty system such that its behavior is similar to that of the nominal system from the viewpoint of the controller. Furthermore, it transforms the output of the controller for the faulty system such that the stability and performance goals are preserved. Input-to-state stabilizing LPV gains of the virtual actuator and sensor are obtained by solving LMIs. We show that separate design of these gains guarantees the input-to-state stability (ISS) of the closed-loop reconfigured system. Moreover, we obtain performances in terms of the ISS gains for the virtual actuator, the virtual sensor, and their interconnection. Minimizing these performances is formulated as convex optimization problems subject to LMI constraints. Finally, the effectiveness of the method is demonstrated via a numerical example and stator current control of an induction motor. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent evidence suggests a positive impact of bilingualism on cognition, including later onset of dementia. However, monolinguals and bilinguals might have different baseline cognitive ability. We present the first study examining the effect of bilingualism on later-life cognition controlling for childhood intelligence. We studied 853 participants, first tested in 1947 (age = 11 years), and retested in 2008-2010. Bilinguals performed significantly better than predicted from their baseline cognitive abilities, with strongest effects on general intelligence and reading. Our results suggest a positive effect of bilingualism on later-life cognition, including in those who acquired their second language in adulthood. Ann Neurol 2014;75:959-963 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is an emerging literature suggesting that speaking two or more languages may significantly delay the onset of dementia. Although the mechanisms are unknown, it has been suggested that these may involve cognitive reserve, a concept that has been associated with factors such as higher levels of education, occupational status, social networks, and physical exercise. In the case of bilingualism, cognitive reserve may involve reorganization and strengthening of neural networks that enhance executive control. We review evidence for protective effects of bilingualism from a multicultural perspective involving studies in Toronto and Montreal, Canada, and Hyderabad, India. Reports from Toronto and Hyderabad showed a significant effect of speaking two or more languages in delaying onset of Alzheimer's disease by up to 5 years, whereas the Montreal study showed a significant protective effect of speaking at least four languages and a protective effect of speaking at least two languages in immigrants. Although there were differences in results across studies, a common theme was the significant effect of language use history as one of the factors in determining the onset of Alzheimer's disease. Moreover, the Hyderabad study extended the findings to frontotemporal dementia and vascular dementia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose To investigate brain-wide white matter structural changes associated with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) using an automatic single seed point tractography-based segmentation method, probabilistic neighborhood tractography (PNT), which provides quantitative measures of both tract integrity and shape. Materials and Methods Diffusion MRI data were acquired from 30 patients with ALS (ALS Functional Rating Scale-Revised score > 20) and 30 matched controls. PNT was used to segment 12 major projection, commissural and association fibers, and assess differences in how the shape of an individual subject's tract compares to that of a predefined reference tract, in addition to providing tract-average mean diffusivity (〈D〉) and fractional anisotropy (FA) data. Results Across all 12 tracts, group-averaged 〈D〉 was larger, while group-averaged FA was equal to or smaller in value for patients than controls. These differences were significant for right cingulum 〈D〉, and left and right corticospinal tract (CST) 〈D〉 and FA ( P-values 6 × 10−5 to 0.03). Tract shape modeling indicated that there were significantly greater topological differences from the reference tract in left and right CST, and right uncinate fasciculus ( P-values 0.02 to 0.04) for patients than controls. The rate of disease progression was significantly negatively correlated with bilateral CST FA ( P-values 0.01 to 0.02). Conclusion ALS, although particularly affecting CST, is associated with subtle changes in white matter tract integrity and shape in several other major fibers within the brain. Correlations between CST integrity and disease progression rate suggest that quantitative tractography may provide useful biomarkers of disease evolution in ALS. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2013;38:1140-1145. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Progressive MS is associated with a high frequency of cognitive impairment. However, it is not clear to what extent this reflects global dysfunction, or independent deficits in specific functions. OBJECTIVE: To characterise patterns of cognitive impairment in progressive MS on a multi-dimensional cognitive assessment tool well established in neurodegenerative diseases. METHODS: Patients with secondary (SPMS; n=60) and primary progressive MS (PPMS; n=28) were assessed using the Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination-Revised (ACE-R) multi-dimensional cognitive assessment scale. Independent dimensions of impairment and their relative contribution to the overall burden of cognitive dysfunction were then determined by factor analysis. RESULTS: Two independent dimensions of impairment were seen: frontal-executive (attention, verbal fluency, recall) on one hand, and language and visuospatial functions on the other. These accounted for 55% and 45% respectively of the variance not explained by a global influence (14.2% and 11.6% respectively of total variance). Isolated language and visuospatial dysfunction was seen in both groups, whereas isolated impairment in frontal-executive functions was underrepresented in SPMS (p=0.001) and not seen in PPMS patients (p=0.040). CONCLUSIONS: In addition to a prominent global influence on cognitive performance, patients with progressive MS commonly exhibit language and visuospatial deficits. Evaluation of these abilities should therefore be included in clinical assessment of cognition in progressive MS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT A novel control approach is proposed to optimize the fatigue distribution of wind turbines in a large-scale offshore wind farm on the basis of an intelligent agent theory. In this approach, each wind turbine is considered to be an intelligent agent. The turbine at the farm boundary communicates with its neighbouring downwind turbines and organizes them adaptively into a wind delivery group along the wind direction. The agent attributes and the event structure are designed on the basis of the intelligent agent theory by using the unified modelling language. The control strategy of the intelligent agent is studied using topology models. The reference power of an individual wind turbine from the wind farm controller is re-dispatched to balance the turbine fatigue in the power dispatch intervals. In the fatigue optimization, the goal function is to minimize the standard deviation of the fatigue coefficient for every wind turbine. The optimization is constrained such that the average fatigue for every turbine is smaller than what would be achieved by conventional dispatch and such that the total power loss of the wind farm is restricted to a few percent of the total power. This intelligent agent control approach is verified through the simulation of wind data from the Horns Rev offshore wind farm. The results illustrate that intelligent agent control is a feasible way to optimize fatigue distribution in wind farms, which may reduce the maintenance frequency and extend the service life of large-scale wind farms. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Visual delta event-related (ERO) and evoked oscillations (EO) of Alzheimer patients (AD) are different than healthy. In the present study, the analysis is extented to include auditory ERO and EO in AD. The rationale is to reveal whether the auditory ERO delta responses are also reduced, and whether this is a general phenomenon in Alzheimer patients upon applying stimuli with cognitive load. Methods: Thirty-four mild AD subjects [17 de-novo and 17 medicated (cholinergic)] and seventeen healthy controls were included. Auditory oddball paradigm and sensory auditory stimuli were applied to the subjects. Oscillatory responses were analyzed by measuring maximum amplitudes in delta frequency range (0.5-3.5 Hz). Results: Auditory delta ERO (0.5-3.5 Hz) responses of healthy controls were higher than either de-novo AD or medicated AD group, without a difference between two AD subgroups. Furthermore, the auditory EO after presentation of tone bursts yielded no group difference. Conclusion: Our findings imply that delta ERO is highly unstable in AD patients in comparison to age-matched healthy controls only during the cognitive paradigm. Our results favor the hypothesis that neural delta networks are activated during cognitive tasks and that the reduced delta response is a general phenomenon in AD, due to cognitive impairment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The appropriate mathematical model for the problem space of tower transformation tasks is the state graph representing positions of discs or balls and their moves. Graph theoretical quantities like distance, eccentricities or degrees of vertices and symmetries of graphs support the choice of problems, the selection of tasks and the analysis of performance of subjects whose solution paths can be projected onto the graph. The mathematical model is also at the base of a computerized test tool to administer various types of tower tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite a vast literature examining semantic impairment in Alzheimer's disease (AD), consensus regarding the nature of the deficit remains elusive. We re-considered this issue in the context of a framework that assumes semantic cognition can break down in two ways: (1) core semantic representations can degrade or (2) cognitive control mechanisms can become impaired [1]. We hypothesised and confirmed that the nature of semantic impairment in AD changes with disease severity. Patients at mild or severe stages of the disorder exhibited impairment across various semantic tasks but the nature of those deficits differed qualitatively for the two groups. Commensurate with early dysfunction of the cognitive control, temporoparietal-frontal-cingulate network, characteristics of deregulated semantic cognition were exhibited by the mild AD cases. In contrast, the severe AD group reproduced features of additional degradation of core semantic representations. These results suggest that spread of pathology into lateral anterior temporal lobes in later stage AD produces degradation of semantic representations, exacerbating the already deregulated system. Moreover, the dual nature of severe patients' impairment was highlighted by disproportionately poor performance on tasks placing high demand on both conceptual knowledge and control processes - e.g., category fluency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is generally accepted that the anterior temporal lobes support knowledge of famous people. The specific roles of the right and left temporal lobe remain a subject of debate, with some studies suggesting differential roles based on modality (visual versus verbal information) and others category (person knowledge versus general semantics). The present study re-examined performance of semantic dementia patients with predominantly right and predominantly left temporal lobe atrophy on famous face, famous name and general semantic tasks, with the specific aim of testing the hypothesis that the right temporal lobe has a privileged role for person knowledge and the left temporal lobe for general semantic knowledge. Comparisons of performance rankings across tasks showed no evidence to support this hypothesis. By contrast, there was robust evidence from naming, identification and familiarity measures for modality effects: right-sided atrophy being associated with relatively greater impairment for faces and visual tasks and left-sided atrophy for names and verbal tasks. A double dissociation in test scores in two patients reinforced these findings. The data present a challenge for the influential `semantic hub' model, which views the anterior temporal lobes as an area of convergence in which semantic information is represented in amodal form. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patients with frontotemporal dementia (both behavioural variant [bvFTD] and semantic dementia [SD]) as well as those with Alzheimer's disease (AD) show deficits on tests of face emotion processing, yet the mechanisms underlying these deficits have rarely been explored. We compared groups of patients with bvFTD (n=17), SD (n=12) or AD (n=20) to an age- and education-matched group of healthy control subjects (n=36) on three face emotion processing tasks (Ekman 60, Emotion Matching and Emotion Selection) and found that all three patient groups were similarly impaired. Analyses of covariance employed to partial out the influences of language and perceptual impairments, which frequently co-occur in these patients, provided evidence of different underlying cognitive mechanisms. These analyses revealed that language impairments explained the original poor scores obtained by the SD patients on the Ekman 60 and Emotion Selection tasks, which involve verbal labels. Perceptual deficits contributed to Emotion Matching performance in the bvFTD and AD patients. Importantly, all groups remained impaired on one task or more following these analyses, denoting a primary emotion processing disturbance in these dementia syndromes. These findings highlight the multifactorial nature of emotion processing deficits in patients with dementia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We sought to investigate the decision making profile of Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA) by assessing patients diagnosed with this disease (n=10), patients diagnosed with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD, n=35), and matched controls (n=14) using the Iowa Gambling Task, a widely used test that mimics real-life decision making. Participants were also evaluated with a complete neuropsychological battery. Patients with PPA were unable to adopt an advantageous strategy on the IGT, which resulted in a flat performance, different to that exhibited by both controls (who showed advantageous decision making) and bvFTD patients (who showed risk-appetitive behavior). The decision making profile of PPA patients was not associated with performance on language tasks and did not differ between sub-variants of the disease (namely, semantic dementia and progressive nonfluent aphasia). Investigating decision making in PPA is crucial both from a theoretical perspective, as it can shed light about the way in which language interacts with other cognitive functions, as well as a clinical standpoint, as it could lead to a more objective detection of impairments of decision making deficits in this condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corticobasal syndrome (CBS) has been associated with a heterogeneous spectrum of pathologies with an increasing number of reports of Alzheimer's type pathology. There is, however, no means of predicting pathology of CBS in vivo at present. We compared the clinical features of patients presenting with CBS who have either pathologic changes of classic corticobasal degeneration (CBD) or Alzheimer's disease (AD) at post-mortem to identify predictors of the specific pathological processes in life. Twelve patients with CBS were followed prospectively; six had AD and six had classic CBD neuropathology. After review of the presenting clinical features, we identified nine potential predictor variables, compared their frequency in the two groups, and performed a discriminant function analysis. Initial episodic memory complaints and poor performance on the combined orientation-memory subtest of the Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination (ACE) reliably predicted AD pathology while varying combinations of early frontal-lobe type behavioral symptoms, nonfluent language disturbance, orobuccal apraxia, and utilization behavior predicted CBD pathology ante-mortem. CBS is frequently associated with Alzheimer's disease pathology. Early episodic memory impairment versus early behavioral symptomatology appears to best predict AD or CBD pathology in life. © 2009 Movement Disorder Society [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To adapt the Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination (ACE) as a dementia-screening tool in a community in south India. To establish that items in the adapted version are equivalent to that in the original. Methods The ACE was adapted into the local language, Malayalam (m-ACE), following cultural/linguistic modifications. To establish equivalence, qualitative comparisons were made (on the distribution of scores, percentage scoring at ceiling, and relative difficulty across items) between a UK sample receiving the ACE (n = 50; mean age = 67.9 ± 7.4; education ≥ 9, mean = 10.9 ± 2.5) and a community-based educationally-stratified Indian sample receiving the m-ACE: ‘India ≥ 9’ (n = 50; mean age = 67.8 ± 5.2; education ≥ 9, mean = 13.9 ± 2.7) and ‘India ≤ 8’ (n = 50; mean age = 67.1 ± 5.3; education ≤ 8, mean = 3.1 ± 2.0). Results Most ACE items were retained. The score distribution (mean ± 1SD), percentage at ceiling, and relative difficulties across items is comparable between the UK and the educationally equivalent India ≥ 9 groups. Language, Naming, Attention and Orientation are relatively easy (≥ 80% at ceiling) and Recall and Verbal fluency are relatively difficult (≤ 22% at ceiling). Although the percentage at ceiling were lower for the India ≤ 8 group, the order of relative difficulty was similar and the percentage scoring at floor was ≤ 10% on all except visuospatial item. Conclusions The m-ACE provides a culture-fair Malayalam adaptation of the ACE with component items of equivalent difficulty. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Converging evidence from across the world suggests positive effects of bilingualism on cognitive ageing and dementia, including a ca. 4‐6 years delay in the onset of dementia and'or Mild Cognitive Impairment. However, it is less clear whether language learning can also have a positive effect after the onset of dementia. A positive influence would include psychological and social variables, such as patients' well‐being and their relationship with relatives and carers. Method: We examined the feasibility and tolerability of language learning for people in early stages of dementia and their family carers in two Scottish Dementia Day Care Centres. A total of 12 people with dementia and 7 family carers participated in the study. All participants had only limited experience of language learning and none were bi‐/multilingual. The 2‐week courses of beginners Italian were delivered by specially trained tutors from Lingo Flamingo, a social enterprise specialising in language teaching for older learners and learners with Dementia. Before and after the course, we conducted focus group sessions with learners and their carers as well as interviews with teachers and Day Centre care workers. Results: Qualitative analyses revealed a positive perception of the courses by patients, carers, and centre managers, impacting both the individual (e.g., boosting self‐esteem) and group (e.g., socialising) levels. No adverse effects (e.g., confusion) were reported. The family carers perceived the courses as empowering, as they allowed them to take an active part. The courses led also to a higher attendance in other activities conducted in the Day Care Centre. Conclusions: Despite initial fears from professional carers that being confronted with the task of learning a new language might be stressful and lead to frustration and confusion, all participants reported a highly positive experience of the course, including a higher self‐esteem and self‐confidence as well as establishment of new social contacts and a more positive attitude to other activities of the day care centre. Further studies will be required to determine the optimal frequency, intensity and duration of language courses for people with dementia as well as the best practice of their delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Slater K, Ludkowski M, Mehling J, Forman L, Pieramici E, Wachs ME, Kam I, Bak TE. Hepatic artery pseudoaneurysm– duodenal fistula after living donor liver transplant.Clin Transplant 2004 DOI: 10.1111/j.1399-0012.2004.00258.x© Blackwell Munksgaard, 2004A 38-yr-old woman who underwent living donor liver transplant for alcoholic cirrhosis presented 2 months after transplant with gastrointestinal bleeding from an hepatic artery pseudoaneurysm eroding into the duodenum. She underwent endovascular hepatic artery stenting, resulting in cessation of hemorrhage and salvage of the graft. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]