SUMMARYThis study compares a new psychogeriatric rating scale, the Organic Brain Syndrome (OBS) scale, which is a combined observation and interview scale, with two other scales. Twenty-eight elderly demented patients took part in the study. The OBS scale was compared to the Gottfries, BrPne and Steen (GBS) scale, the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) scale and a global rating. The correlations between OBS, GBS and MMSE were high, showing that the concurrent validity is good. The ratings of the OBS scale were independent of the patient's physical disabilities as measured by Katz's index, ie the discriminant validity was good. The analyses show similarities and differences between the clinical dimensions described in the rating scales. The OBS scale contributes unique clinical information and is a valid instrument for assessment of dementia symptoms.KEY woms-Dementia, confusion, disorientation, geriatric rating scales, interview, psychogeriatrics.The evaluation of psychopathology in elderly patients has to rely on valid and reliable clinical instruments. The rating scales should enable the investigator to describe a clinical picture in detail and follow a disease process in patients suffering from dementia, delirium, and other organic brain syndromes.A main purpose of the present study was to evaluate a psychogeriatric rating scale-the Organic Brain Syndrome (OBS) scale-by comparison with two other rating scales, the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) (Folstein et al., 1975) and the Gottfries, Brine and Steen (GBS) scale (Gottfries et al., 1982). The OBS scale was primarily devised for the description of patients with dementia and confusional states (Gustafson et al., 1985). It consists of two parts-one patient interview scale giving a short time perspective and one observation scale based on information from staff and caregivers giving a longer time perspective. Thus the OBS scale covers both reported symptoms and observed signs, and it contains more symptoms than can be expected from an interview or an observation scale only. The scale offers a broad description of the psychopathology of organic brain syndromes while also describing various fluctuations of the clinical state which often create a need for extra medical measures and nursing. The OBS scale covers not only primary cognitive dementia symptoms but also other emotional and conative symptoms which are frequently observed in organic brain syndromes but less frequently presented in the rating scales for these conditions.In addition to the MMSE and the GBS there exist many rating scales which could be suitable for evaluating a new rating scale, for instance the Sandoz Clinical Assessment Geriatric (SCAG) scale (Shader et al., 1974) and the Information/ Orientation (10) subtest of the Clifton Assessment Procedure (CAPE) (Pattie and Gilleard, 1979). But both the MMSE and the GBS are widely used and translated into many languages. In particular, there are routines for using these two rating scales in the Scandinavian area. Furthermore, GBS is a comprehe...

SUMMARYIn this study, insomnia in 80-year-olds was related to medical, psychological and social factors. The data were based on examinations every year in people aged between 80 and 89 years. Of 333 people living in the city of Lund and born in 1908, 67% participated. Increased severity of insomnia was significantly associated with use of diuretics, other cardiovascular drugs, hypnotics and laxatives, and with nervousness, difficulty relaxing, anorexia, nausea, constipation, backache, feeling cold, sweating, loss of weight, dizziness, depression, general fatigue, exhaustion, angina pectoris, cardiac insufficiency, worsened objective and subjective health, presence of negative T-waves on ECG, anxiety, total life satisfaction, neuroticism, disbelief in a just world, feeling lonely and lower survival rates. Thus insomnia has widespread associations with different aspects of life in 80-year-olds. aged, depression, insomnia, psychology, quality of life, sociology, survival

[3H]Arachidonic (20:4) and [14C]linoleic acid (18:2) were fed to thoracic duct-cannulated rats in test meals of either tracers alone, cream, Intralipid, pure arachidonic acid, or pure linoleic acid. Less [3H]20:4 than [14C]18:2 was recovered in chyle during the first 5 h. After cream feeding, the proportion of radioactivity found in phospholipids was high and increased during the first 3 h. After the meal (3-5 h) 61 +/- 6% of the 3H and 57 +/- 10% of the 14C was in phosphatidylcholine, and 11 +/- 3% of the 3H and 3.0 +/- 4% of the 14C was in phosphatidylethanolamine. Changing the fat vehicle to Intralipid or pure 18:2 decreased the proportion of label in the phospholipids and increased the 3H and 14C radioactivity in the triacylglycerol fraction, the distribution of 14C being influenced more than that of 3H. After feeding the tracers in 200 microliters of pure 20:4, greater than 90% of both isotopes was in triacylglycerol. During fasting, triacylglycerol transported 56% (0.7 mumol/h), phosphatidylcholine transported 34% (0.4 mumol/h), and phosphatidylethanolamine transported 10% (0.1 mumol/h) of the 20:4 mass. After cream or Intralipid feeding, the output of 20:4-containing phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine increased 2.1- to 2.8-fold, whereas the transport of 20:4 with triacylglycerol remained constant. Phospholipids thus became the predominant transport form for 20:4. After feeding 200 microliters of 20:4, the intestine produced, however, 20:4-rich triacylglycerols that transported 89% of the chyle 20:4.

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The gender differences in growth hormone-binding protein and leptin persist in 80-year-old men and women and is not caused by sex hormones.