In FTD, CSF levels of tau are elevated and Abeta42 levels are decreased. With use of these markers, subjects with FTD can be distinguished from control subjects and from patients with AD with reasonable accuracy.

Background: Until recently, frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) was considered a rare neurodegenerative disorder that was difficult to diagnose. The publication of consensus criteria for FTLD, however, prompted systematic studies. The criteria categorize FTLD into 3 subgroups: frontotemporal dementia, semantic dementia, and progressive nonfluent aphasia. Objective: To compare demographic characteristics of patients in the 3 FTLD subgroups. Design: We compared diagnostic breakdown, age at onset, sex, Mini-Mental State Examination score at first visit, education, and neuropathological diagnoses in a large sample of FTLD patients from 3 different university dementia clinics, including 2 neurologic clinics in the United States and 1 psychiatric clinic in Germany. Results: The frontotemporal dementia subgroup represented approximately half of all FTLD diagnoses. Patients diagnosed as having frontotemporal dementia (mean age, 57.5 years) and semantic dementia (mean age, 59.3 years) had an earlier age at onset than patients diagnosed as having progressive nonfluent aphasia (mean age, 63.0 years). There were significantly more men diagnosed as having frontotemporal dementia (63.5%) and semantic dementia (66.7%) when compared with progressive nonfluent aphasia (39.1%) (P =.005 for frontotemporal dementia vs progressive nonfluent aphasia and P=.002 for semantic dementia vs progressive nonfluent aphasia). Generally, the demographic features and diagnostic categories of the patient populations across the 3 sites were comparable. There were 68 deaths and 37 autopsies. Frontotemporal lobar degeneration with ubiquitin-positive-negative inclusions (48.5%), dementia lacking distinctive histopathological features (18.2%), and Pick disease (15.2%) were the most common neuropathological diagnoses. Conclusions: These findings show that cohorts of patients can be combined using new research criteria for FTLD and demonstrate striking demographic differences among FTLD subgroups. The sex and age-atonset differences suggest that there may be biological differences among FTLD subgroups. In this sample, FTLD with ubiquitin-positive inclusions accounted for half of all neuropathological diagnoses.

Background: Visual hallucinations (VHs) occur frequently in advanced stages of Parkinson disease (PD). Which brain regions are affected in PD with VH is not well understood.Objectives: To characterize the pattern of affected brain regions in PD with VH and to determine whether functional changes in PD with VH occur preferentially in visual association areas, as is suggested by the complex clinical symptomatology.Design: Positron emission tomography measurements using fluorodeoxyglucose F 18. Between-group statistical analysis, accounting for the variance related to disease stage.Setting: University hospital.Patients: Eight patients with PD and VH and 11 patients with PD without VH were analyzed. The presence of VH during the month before positron emission to-mography was rated using the Neuropsychiatric Inventory subscale for VH (PD and VH, 4.63; PD without VH, 0.00; PϽ.002).Results: Parkinson disease with VH, compared with PD without VH, was characterized by reduction in the regional cerebral metabolic rate for glucose consumption (P Ͻ.05, corrected for false discovery rate) in occipitotemporoparietal regions, sparing the occipital pole. No significant increase in regional glucose metabolism was detected in patients with PD and VH. Conclusions:The pattern of resting-state metabolic changes in regions of the dorsal and ventral visual streams, but not in primary visual cortex, in patients with PD and VH, is compatible with the functional roles of visual association areas in higher-order visual processing. These findings may help to further elucidate the functional mechanisms underlying VH in PD.

Subjective memory complaint is common in later life. Its relationship to future risk of dementia is unclear, although many reports have found a positive association. We designed the present cross‐sectional survey to investigate the clinical features associated with subjective memory impairment. One hundred and eight volunteers and 38 non‐complainers acting as age‐matched controls were recruited. Eleven subjects with memory complaints were excluded because of prior stroke or low MMSE score. The CAMCOG was used to measure cognition; complainers had significantly lower scores (p<0.001). Univariate analysis showed that complainers had greater prevalence of depression, anxiety, insomnia, psychotic phenomenon, difficulties with ADL and word‐finding difficulties. The frequency distribution of the apolipoprotein E ϵ4 allele was similar for both groups (p=0.469). Logistic regression analysis indicated that CAMCOG scores (p=0.002) and word‐finding difficulty (p=0.002) were independently associated with memory complaints. These results show that memory complainers have worse cognitive performance than non‐complainers and support the findings of other studies that suggest that subjective memory loss may be a reliable indicator of cognitive decline. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

After 2 consecutive follow-up periods, we were able to verify significant deteriorations of cognition accompanied by neurophysiological and neuroradiological changes in AD, but not in normal ageing. In clinically diagnosed AD, cognitive performance at the followup examination could not be predicted by the previous alpha/theta ratio or by the previous degree of global brain atrophy, whereas the cognitive test score determined not only performance, but also structural findings at follow-up. Performance on cognitive tests appears to be a more sensitive indicator of the degenerative process than EEG band-power and morphological changes in manifest AD. Neuroimaging, neurophysiology and genetic risk markers may be more important for the early differential diagnosis than for the prediction of the course of illness.