Recognizing facial emotions is an important aspect of interpersonal communication that may be impaired in Alzheimer's disease (AD). The authors examined facial emotion matching, facial emotion labeling, and same--different emotion differentiation in AD patients, healthy elderly volunteers, and elderly, nondemented psychiatric outpatients. Compared with both control groups, AD patients were significantly impaired on all three measures. AD patients were also impaired on a facial identity matching task. Using facial identity matching scores as a covariate provided evidence suggesting the facial emotion processing deficit may be independent of impairment in nonemotional face processing. AD patients also had selective impairment in labeling facial expressions of sadness. The authors conclude that patients with AD have deficits in recognizing facial emotions, which may be independent of their impairment in recognizing nonemotional features of faces.

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The goals of this study were to assess (1) the prevalence of major and minor depression in Alzheimer's disease (AD), ischemic vascular dementia (IVD), and mixed dementia (AD/IVD); (2) demographic and clinical variables that may be associated with depression; and (3) the relationship between depression severity and the level of functional impairment and cognitive decline. Demographic variables, depression diagnoses, Mini-Mental State Examination scores, and Blessed Roth Dementia Rating Scale scores were compared in patients with AD (N = 582), IVD (N = 48), and mixed dementia (N = 61) using analysis of variance and linear regression models. Data were collected using standardized rating instruments at the time of the patients' initial evaluations at the University dementia clinics. The results were that (1) depression was related to lower education, (2) major depression was more prevalent in IVD compared to probable AD, and (3) functional impairment was greater in patients with minor or major depression compared to patients without depression. Our data suggest that the level of functional disability in dementia may be related to severity of depression. Additional studies are needed to validate our results and examine the contribution of additional neurobiologic factors to the pathophysiology of depression in dementia.

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Purpose: Apoptosis is commonly observed in a variety of human tumors, and some of the genetic events which control this process have been identified in vitro. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of apoptosis in colorectal neoplasms, and to examine its relationship to a number of pathological parameters, to the presence of mutations in the p53 tumor suppressor gene, and to overexpression of the bcl-2 oncoprotein. Methods: A total of 109 colorectal neoplasms (26 adenomas, 83 carcinomas) were examined. An in situ end-labelling assay was used to detect apoptosis in paraffin-embedded tumor sections, and scores were determined by light microscopy. The p53 and bcl-2 status were determined by immunohistochemistry. Results: Apoptotic frequency increased with tumor progression. Normal mucosa contained significantly fewer apoptotic cells than adenomas or carcinomas. Similarly, adenomas showed less apoptosis than carcinomas, and the frequency of apoptosis increased with Dukes’ stage. Overall, changes in apoptotic frequency were inversely related to the level of bcl-2 expression, but were not related to the p53 status of the tumors. Conclusions: The frequency of apoptosis in colorectal neoplasia appears to increase in the course of tumor progression in association with a decline in bcl-2 expression, but is not influenced by p53 gene mutations.