Test scores from a comprehensive neuropsychological battery administered to 1602 subjects consisting of 1347 subjects with probable Alzheimer's disease (AD), 100 subjects with questionable dementia (QD) and 155 non-demented elderly control subjects were cross-sectionally analyzed. Subjects with probable AD were categorized as mild (n = 244), moderate (n = 480), severe (n = 376), and very severe (n = 247) according to modified mini mental status exam (mMMSE) scores. Mean scores on individual neuropsychological tests are provided for each group of subjects. Stratified random sampling was performed to select a sample of mild AD subjects who were matched in age and education to non-demented elderly controls, and analyses focused on the performance of QD subjects and mild AD subjects, whose scores were compared to those of the elderly control subjects. Selected scores were organized by cognitive domain and logistic regressions were used to determine the domains and individual tests within each that were most predictive of group status. Results suggested a profile of scores associated with QD and mild AD including impaired recall of verbal information for both groups. Areas of lower functioning in QD subjects as compared to elderly controls included category fluency and visuospatial ability.

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RG, a patient with probable Alzheimer's disease, showed a severe impairment in nonword reading. RG's word reading was intact, for example, as demonstrated by her scores in standardised reading tasks, which were comparable to those of normal controls. No phonological impairment was apparent in speech production and comprehension. Moreover, RG performed well in a series of phonological tasks (e.g., production of a rhyming word, phoneme identification) on which patients with a reading deficit selective for nonwords have been reported to encounter problems. RG's data severely constrain reading models proposing that nonword reading deficits are caused by phonological deficits. However, RG's data are compatible with dual-route reading models, which do not propose a link between nonword reading deficits and phonological impairment.

• Explain why asthmatic patients were used as a patient control group in this study of the role of psychiatric abnormality in patients with multiple chemical sensitivities (MCS).• Recall the difference among MCS patients, asthmatics, and normal control subjects in psychiatric history, current psychiatric illness. and neuropsychological function.• Comment on the therapeutic implications of the present findings for MCS patients. AbstractPatients with sensitivities to multiple chemicals report symptoms of cognitive dysfunction, respiratory distress, and mood disturbance. Lifetime Med. 2002;44:890 -901)