Relationships between Environmental Dependency and Closing-in in Patients with Fronto-temporal Dementia

Abstract

Environmental dependency (ED) phenomena, including utilization behavior and imitation behavior, are clinical manifestations typically observed in patients with the behavioral variant of fronto-temporal dementia (bvFTD), who may also show the closing-in (CI) phenomenon. Here, we explored the neuropsychological correlates of ED and CI in bvFTD, and the association of ED with CI to clarify the mechanisms underlying these clinical manifestations. Thirty-one bvFTD patients underwent a wide cognitive assessment in addition to special tasks to detect occurrence of CI and ED phenomena. Both ED and CI phenomena were present in more than half of the sample. Logistic regression analyses revealed that both ED and CI phenomena were significantly associated with poor scores on frontal neuropsychological tests. Although ED and CI often co-occurred, 3/12 patients with CI did not show ED, and 5/18 patients with ED did not show CI. A logistic regression model showed that the presence of ED was not significantly associated to CI. CI and ED are associated to progressive derangement of frontal functions in bvFTD. However, specific frontal dysfunctions might explain the occurrence of either phenomenon in isolation.

Mapping the association of global executive functioning onto diverse measures of psychopathic traits.

“…Furthermore, correlated EF factor domains provide evidence for a general EF factor, which may reflect a central executive function (see example with D-KEFS in Latzman, Elkovitch, Young & Clark, 2010). Evidence for a general EF factor has also been provided by Li et al (2014) based on a sample of adolescents (N= 142, 12-18 years) who were administered the D-KEFS. Moreover, as noted by Crawford et al (2011) the use of a general EF composite also has the advantage of providing greater reliability of EF assessment, given that the individual D-KEFS scores have lower reliability.…”

Drawing Disorders in Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Forms of Dementia

“…On the other hand, one retrospective study showed that CI is as frequent in AD as in FTD patients, but did not provide qualitative observations [187]. Indeed, in a sample of patients with the behavioral variant of FTD, near-CI has been observed more frequently than adherent-CI, and was often (but not obligatorily) associated with other imitation and utilization behaviors [188]. Notably, more frequent occurrence of near-CI than of adherent-CI has been recently reported also in non-demented Parkinson's disease patients [189], whereas the reverse pattern has been observed in Parkinson's disease dementia [190].…”

Disrupted brain network functional dynamics and hyper‐correlation of structural and functional connectome topology in patients with breast cancer prior to treatment

“…Several cross‐sectional and longitudinal studies have demonstrated abnormalities in brain structure and function, particularly in chemotherapy‐treated patients and survivors (D'Agata et al., 2013; Deprez et al., 2014; Jung et al., 2016; Kesler & Blayney, 2015; Lepage et al., 2014; Nudelman et al., 2014; Simo et al., 2015; Stouten‐Kemperman et al., 2014). However, many patients demonstrate differences in brain structure and function prior to chemotherapy suggesting that cancer pathogenesis, surgery/anesthesia, disease burden, host‐related, and/or other factors may contribute to early brain changes (Cimprich et al., 2010; McDonald, Conroy, Ahles, West, & Saykin, 2012; Menning et al., 2015; Sato et al., 2015; Scherling, Collins, Mackenzie, Bielajew, & Smith, 2012; Scherling, Collins, Mackenzie, Lepage, et al., 2012).…”