As per the estimates of the World Health Organization, aging population is increasing in developing countries and dementia is going to become epidemic among elderly in the coming decades. This demands early action to prevent the disease and treatment of the affected persons, which is poorly existent in middle- and low-income countries. The need of the hour to tackle dementia in India is to estimate disease burden in the community, search for risk and protective factors of dementia, and undertake measures to provide social benefits to the sufferers and those who are at risk. Raising awareness among the public and general physicians is an important task ahead. In India, there is lack of good longitudinal studies which can provide true trend of the disease and determine risk factors, paucity of basic and clinical researches on dementia, poor awareness, and inadequate availability of social benefit. India, being a country of diverse ethnicity and cultures, has great advantages to carry out genetic epidemiological study. The information may be useful for undertaking remedial measure. This article will highlight the existing state of the above medical and social issues and deficiencies, so that the stakeholders can make adequate preparation to provide relief to the dementia patients and those who are at risk. It is expected that the medical and scientific community will draw attention to the medical problem with the help of governmental and non-governmental agencies, and the political leadership will be motivated to undertake the issue of providing socioeconomic benefit to families of the victims.

Background:Parkinson's disease (PD) is one of the most common neurodegenerative movement disorders and its incidence is increasing worldwide along with population aging. Previous clinical and histologic studies suggest that the neurodegenerative process, which affects the brain, may also affect the retina of PD patients.Objective:The objective of this study was to determine the thickness changes of retina nerve fibers and macular volume with optical coherence tomography (OCT) in PD patients.Materials and Methods:The spectral domain OCT was used to assess the thickness of retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) and macular volume from 34 PD patients and 50 healthy age-matched controls.Results:Compared with healthy age-matched controls, the RNFL thickness of PD patients was much thinner (P < 0.05) in all retinal quadrants, with temporal thinning being more than nasal thinning. Macular volumes were diminished in both perifoveal and outer macular regions in all sectors (P < 0.05) with preserved foveal volume. The degree of tissue loss corroborated with the severity of disease as objectively assessed by standardized rating scales (UPDRS).Conclusion:There is generalized retinal nerve degeneration in patients of PD and the degree of loss correlated with the severity and duration of disease.

Presence of jaw-closing weakness pointed toward MG, whereas presence of jaw-opening weakness suggested muscle disease (PM/DM and HPP). GBS patients very rarely had jaw muscle weakness.

Background & objectives: There is a paucity of literature on the cognitive profiles of vascular dementia (VaD) in India. The current study was undertaken to investigate the pattern of cognitive deficits in patients with VaD. Methods: Fifty patients fulfilling the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV criteria of dementia and National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke - Association Internationale pour la Recherche et l'Enseignement en Neurosciences criteria for VaD were assessed using Mini Mental State Examination, Kolkata Cognitive Screening Battery and other relevant tests including magnetic resonance imaging of brain. Results: Twenty patients had small vessel dementia, whereas the least common was haemorrhagic dementia in four patients. In patients with small vessel dementia, apart from memory, all patients had problem in attention and executive function, whereas 12 patients had visuoconstructional deficit and eight patients had language problem. In a total of 12 patients with large vessel dementia, apart from memory, executive dysfunction and visuoconstructional deficit were noted in 10 patients, whereas attention deficit was noted in eight patients. Attention was found to be more involved in small-vessel dementia than large-vessel dementia though all had memory impairment ( P <0.01). Interpretation & conclusions: Small vessel dementia was the commonest subtype of VaD in our study. Memory, attention and executive functions were predominantly affected in patients with VaD. Attention was significantly more involved in small vessel dementia than large vessel dementia. Further studies with large sample size need to be done in different regions of the country.