Cognitive defects in migraine have been reported by several authors. These findings however, are controversial. In this study we carried out an investigation on 14 patients with migraine with aura and 16 with migraine without aura according to the International Headache Society criteria. They were submitted to a comprehensive battery of neuropsychological tests. The patients were compared with a control group not significantly different as to age, sex and education. Migraine subjects showed impaired neuropsychological performances only on some cognitive tests. Both groups of patients did worse than the control group on visuo-spatial memory tasks, while only migraineurs without aura showed significantly impaired verbal memory performances. The memory defects, both on visuo-spatial and on verbal cognitive tasks, could depend on an impaired recall mechanism. These memory difficulties seem related to strategically and organizationally defective aspects of learning.

The findings demonstrate that clinical and genetic factors play a role in men affected by MS developing cognitive impairment.

Cognitive dysfunction is considered one of the clinical markers of multiple sclerosis (MS). However, in the literature there are inconsistent reports on the prevalence of cognitive dysfunction, and separate data for the relapsing-remitting (RR) type of the disease are not always presented. In this study, we submitted 461 RRMS patients to a battery of neuropsychological tests to investigate their impairment in various cognitive domains. As a consequence of the exclusion criteria, the sample is not fully representative of the entire population of RRMS patients. In this selected sample, when only the eight scores of a core battery (Mental Deterioration Battery) were considered (with respective cutoffs), it emerged that 31% of the patients were affected by some degree of cognitive deficit. In particular, 15% had mild, 11.2% moderate and 4.8% had severe impairment. Information processing speed was the most frequently impaired area, followed by memory. When two other tests (SDMT and MCST) were added and cognitive domains were considered, it emerged that 39.3% of the patients were impaired in two or more domains. When four subgroups were obtained by means of cluster analysis and then compared, it emerged that information processing speed and memory deficits differentiated the still cognitively unimpaired from the mildly impaired MS patients. Significant associations were found between cognitive and clinical characteristics. However, due to the large sample size, clinically irrelevant relationships may also have emerged. Even with the limitations imposed by the sample selection and the possible underestimation of the prevalence and severity of cognitive dysfunction, these results seem to provide further evidence that information processing speed deficit may be an early and important marker of cognitive impairment in MS patients.

No abstract

Several data suggest that physical activity and cognitive stimulation have a positive effect on the quality of life (QoL) of people with Alzheimer's disease (AD), slowing the decline due to the disease. A pilot project was undertaken to assess the effect of cognitive stimulation, physical activity, and socialization on patients with AD and their informal caregiver's QoL and mood. Fourteen patients with AD were randomly divided into active treatment group and control group. At the end of treatment, a significant improvement in apathy, anxiety, depression, and QoL in the active treatment group was found. Considering caregivers, those of the active treatment group exhibited a significant improvement in their mood and in their perception of patients' QoL. This study provides evidence that a combined approach based on cognitive stimulation, physical activity, and socialization is a feasible tool to improve mood and QoL in patients with AD and their caregivers.

No abstract

On the basis of our results, white matter lesions load on magnetic resonance imaging do not seem to contribute to neuropsychological performances deficit in migraineurs.

In our population the APOE epsilon4 allele and the -491 A/T APOE promoter polymorphism are not associated with a more rapid course of MS.