Severe bilateral anterior cingulum injury in patients with mild traumatic brain injury

The cingulum,the neural tract connecting the orbitofrontal cortex with the medial temporal lobe,plays an important role in cognition（Bush et al.,2000）.It is also important in memory because it provides cholinergic innervations to the cerebral cortex after obtaining innervation from the medial septal nucleus,the vertical nucleus of the diagonal band, and the nucleus basalis of Meynert via the medial cholinergic pathway （Nieuwenhuys et al., 2008; Naidich and Duvernoy, 2009; Hong and Jang, 2010a）.

Usefulness of the Japanese version of Rapid Dementia Screening Test for mild cognitive impairment in older patients with cardiovascular disease:a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND Cognitive decline is common among older patients with cardiovascular disease(CVD) and can decrease their self-management abilities. However, the instruments for identifying mild cognitive impairment(MCI) are not always feasible in clinical practice. Therefore, this study evaluated whether MCI could be detected using the Japanese version of the Rapid Dementia Screening Test(RDST-J), which is a simple screening tool for identifying cognitive decline.METHODS This retrospective single-center study included patients who were ≥ 65 years old and hospitalized because of CVD.Patients with a pre-hospitalization diagnosis of dementia were excluded. Each patient's cognitive function had been measured at discharge using the RDST-J and the Japanese version of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment(Mo CA-J), which is a standard tool for MCI screening. The correlation between the two scores was evaluated using Spearman's rank correlation coefficient. Receiver operating characteristic(ROC) analysis was also to evaluate whether the RDST-J could identify MCI, which was defined as a Mo CA-J score of ≤ 25 points.RESULTS The study included 78 patients(mean age: 77.2 ± 8.9 years). The RDST-J and Mo CA-J scores were strongly correlated(r = 0.835, P < 0.001). The ROC analysis revealed that an RDST-J score of ≤ 9 points provided 75.4% sensitivity and 95.2% specificity for identifying MCI, with an area under the curve of 0.899(95% CI: 0.835-0.964). The same cut-off value was identified when excluding patients with a high probability of dementia(RDST-J score of ≤ 4 points).CONCLUSIONS The RDST-J may be a simple and effective tool for identifying MCI in older patients with CVD.

Jian Nao Ning for Treatment of Memory Impairment in Patients with Mild or Moderate Multi-infarct Dementia

Forty patients with multi-infarct dementia (MID) were randomly assigned to the treatment group (25 cases) treated with Jian Nao Ning (健脑宁JNN) and the duxil control group (15 cases). Memory function were assessed at baseline and endpoint using memory subscales of a battery of New Psychometric Tests (Chinese version) including mini-mental state examination (MMSE), verbal memory, and non-verbal memory, etc. After treatment, the mean scores of verbal memory in the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test (P<0.05) and total memory scores of memory items (P<0.001) in JNN group increased significantly; and improvement in episodic memory function including story recall (immediate and delayed), delayed word recall, verbal learning and verbal recognition and visual recognition in the JNN group was better than that in the duxil control group, suggesting that JNN can obviously improve memory function for the patients with mild or moderate multi-infarct dementia.

Effect of mild hypothermia on glucose metabolism and glycerol of brain tissue in patients with severe traumatic brain injury

To study the effect of mild hypothermia on glucose metabolism and glycerol of brain tissue in patients with severe traumatic brain injury (sTBI).Methods All 33 patients with sTBI(GCS≤8) were randomly divided into hypothermic group and control group.Microdialysis catheters were inserted into the cerebral cortex of perilesion,relative normal brain tissue and subcutaneous tissue of abdomen in order to analyze the concentrations of lactate/pyruvate (L/P),lactate/glucose (L/G) and the glycerol(Gly) in extracellular fluid (ECF).Results In comparison with the control group,the concentration of L/G,L/P and Gly in periphery and that of L/P in ECF of the “normal brain tissue” were significantly decreased in the hypothermic group.In control group,concentration of L/G,L/P and Gly in periphery were higher than those in relative normal brain.In the hypothermic group,L/P concentration in periphery was higher than that in relative normal brain.Conclusion Mild hypothermia protects brain by decreasing concentrations of L/G,L/P and Gly in periphery and L/P concentration in “normal brain tissue”.The energy crisis and membrane phospholipid breakage in periphery are easier to happen after TBI,where mild hypothermia exerts significant protgective role.12 refs,3 tabs.

Weak phonation due to unknown injury of the corticobulbar tract in a patient with mild traumatic brain injury: a diffusion tensor tractography study

In this study,we report on a patient who showed weak phonation following mild traumatic brain injury（TBI）,which was demonstrated by diffusion tensor tractography（DTT）.