No abstract

The lack of valid norms for the elderly on specialized neuropsychological tests mandates a cautious approach by clinicians interpreting apparently pathological task performances in the aged. Our data on a group of highly intelligent and socially active elderly subjects emphasize this dejiciency. There is a need for a more exhaustive description of cognitive function in the normal elderly rather than comparisons with young adult functioning. This strategy has been appliedto a pattern of performance highly suggestive of brain damage in young adults but of limited clinical significance in the elderly.

Background-Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy ( 1 H MRS) allows measurement of alcohol in the human brain after alcohol consumption. However, the quantity of alcohol that can be detected in the brain by 1 H MRS pulse sequences has been controversial, with values ranging from about 24% to 94% of the temporally concordant blood alcohol concentrations. The quantitation of brain alcohol is critically affected by the kinetics of alcohol uptake and elimination, by the relaxation times of the protons that give rise to the brain alcohol signal, and by the specifics of both pulse sequence timing and radio frequency pulse applications.