No abstract

Although deficits in Executive Functioning (EF) are reported frequently in young individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), they remain relatively unexplored later in life (>50 years). We studied objective performance on EF measures (Tower of London, Zoo map, phonetic/semantic fluency) as well as subjective complaints (self- and proxy reported BRIEF) in 36 ASD and 36 typically developed individuals (n = 72). High functioning older adults with ASD reported EF-impairments in metacognition, but did not deviate in EF task performance, except for a longer execution time of the Tower of London. The need for additional time to complete daily tasks may contribute to impairments in daily life and may be correlated to a higher level of experienced EF-difficulties in ASD.

Speed of information processing in the subacute stage after stroke was studied in 88 first ever, unilateral, ischemic stroke patients. The patient group included 42 right and 46 left hemisphere patients. Seventy-one control subjects were also examined. Four reaction time tasks with different levels of complexity were used: two visuomotor, and two semantic categorisation tasks. The results showed that stroke causes a decrease in decision making speed, but that the effect is different for right and left hemisphere patients. The right hemisphere group were slower than the control group on all reaction time tasks, and slower than the left hemisphere patients on the visuomotor tasks. The left hemisphere patients were slower than the healthy controls, only on the most complex tasks, the categorisation tasks.

The presence and severity of changes in emotion and cognition experienced by left- and right-sided stroke patients and observed by their partners were compared at 3 months poststroke. The results showed that, regardless of the side of stroke, several changes were reported by half of the stroke patients and their partners. It appeared that while left hemisphere stroke patients agreed with their partners on the number and severity of most changes, partners of right hemisphere patients reported more frequent and more severe changes than the patients themselves. The level of observability of the altered behaviour, distress of the partner, distress of left-sided stroke patients and hemispatial neglect of right-sided stroke patients emerged as factors related to disagreement between stroke patient and partner.

Background: Special care facilities for patients with dementia gain increasing attention. However, an overview of studies examining the differences between care facilities with respect to their effects on behavior, cognition, functional status and quality of life is lacking. Results: Our literature search resulted in 32 studies published until October 2012. Overall, patients with dementia who lived at special care units (SCUs) showed a significantly more challenging behavior, more agitation/aggression, more depression and anxiety, more cases of global cognitive impairment and a better psychosocial functioning. There was a tendency towards a better functional status in specialized care facilities, and a better quality of life was found in favor of the SCU group compared to the traditional nursing home (n-SCU) group. Longitudinal studies showed an increased number of neuropsychiatric cases, more patients displaying deteriorating behavior and resistance to care as well as less decline in activities of daily living (ADL) in the SCU group compared to the n-SCU group. Patients in small-scale, homelike SCUs showed more agitation and less ADL decline compared to SCU patients. Conclusion: This review shows that the patient characteristics in SCU and n-SCU settings and, to a minor extent, in SCU and small-scale, homelike SCU settings are different. Over time, there are differences between n-SCU, SCU and small-scale, homelike SCU facilities for some variables.