ObjectiveThe Trail Making Test (TMT) and Stroop Test (ST) are attention tests widely
used in clinical practice and research. The aim of this study was to provide
normative data for the adult Brazilian population and to study the influence
of gender, age and education on the TMT parts A and B, and ST cards A, B and
C.MethodsWe recruited 1447 healthy subjects aged ≥18 years with an educational
level of 0-25 years who were native speakers of Portuguese (Brazilian). The
subjects were evaluated by the Matrix Reasoning and Vocabulary subtests of
the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III, along with the TMTA, TMTB and ST
A, B and C.ResultsAmong the participants, mean intellectual efficiency was 103.20 (SD: 12.0),
age 41.0 (SD: 16.4) years and education 11.9 (SD: 5.6) years. There were
significant differences between genders on the TMTA (p=0.002), TMTB
(p=0.017) and STC (p=0.024). Age showed a positive correlation with all
attention tests, whereas education showed a negative correlation. Gender was
not found to be significant on the multiple linear regression model, but age
and education maintained their interference.ConclusionGender did not have the major impact on attentional tasks observed for age
and education, both of which should be considered in the stratification of
normative samples.
Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder that affects motor skills and cognition. As brain structure and function are compromised, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) can be a helpful tool to further investigate how intrinsic connectivity is impaired on the disease. The precuneus and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) are hub regions involved on the default mode network (DMN), a system that is active during rest and related to cognitive processes. We hypothesized that PD patients would present a decrease in functional connectivity among these two regions and the rest of the brain. Our goal was to identify regions in which functional connectivity to precuneus and mPFC was altered in PD. This study was based on resting-state fMRI data from 37 healthy subjects and 55 PD patients. Precuneus and mPFC were selected as seed regions in a whole brain functional connectivity mapping. As expected, we found abnormal connectivity from precuneus to motor system regions in PD patients, pointing toward a decreased connectivity in the disease. No significant group effects were found for the mPFC. Our findings suggest that internetwork connectivity from DMN to motor system is impaired in PD.
• SN-FA appears insufficiently sensitive and specific to diagnose PD. • Radiologists must be careful when translating mean group results to clinical practice. • Imaging protocol and analysis standardization is necessary for developing reproducible quantitative biomarkers.
ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to describe the performance of healthy
elderly patients with aging-related pathologies (MCI) and patients with AD
on a lexical decision test.MethodsThe study included 38 healthy elderly subjects, 61 MCI and 26 AD patients
from the Neurology Department of the Hospital das Clinicas, Behavioral and
Cognitive Neurology Group. The neuropsychological instruments included the
episodic memory test (RAVLT), subtests from the WAIS-III (Matrix Reasoning
and Vocabulary) to determine estimated IQ, the Boston naming test (BNT) and
Lexical Decision Test (LDT).ResultsAll groups differed on the MMSE, as expected according to their pathologies,
memory tests, naming and estimated IQ. For the vocabulary and the LDT –
measures of crystalized intelligence no differences were found.ConclusionThe LDT demonstrated that lexical decision can be used as a measure of
pre-morbid IQ among the individuals assessed in a Brazilian sample.
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