Marked WISC-R verbal-performance discrepancy commonly leads to the assumption that such children have brain pathology or cognitive disorders. Children without brain dysfunction may also exhibit wide discrepancy, but a discrepancy score of 30 is assumed to occur in only 2&#x25; of the population. The actual investigation presents an 11-year-old child showing a 54-point discrepancy between the two scales of the WISC-R. Results of wide ranging testing and other considerations strongly suggested that this child didn't manifest any kind of brain dysfunction. It was concluded that the particular academic environment of the child, an alternative school, exerted a very strong influence on her results on the WISC-R. This conclusion is furthermore supported by the results of a follow-up evaluation, done 1 year after the child has been transferred to a traditional school, which revealed a WISC-R verbal-performance discrepancy of only 12 points.

D. Lapierre

C. M. J. Braun

L. Le Pailleur

A 54-Point Verbal-Performance IQ Discrepancy on the WISC-R: Cognitive Functioning of a Child from an Alternative School

Dementia of frontal lobe type may precede motor signs in a number of adult patients with amyotrophy. Neuropathological studies have shown neuron loss, spongiosis and gliosis mainly in layers II and III of the frontal and temporal lobes, together with myelin pallor of the subcortical white matter. Golgi studies revealed loss of dendritic spines on the apical dendrite of layer III pyramidal neurons, decreased numbers of dendrites, amputation and tortuosities of dendrites, and distal and proximal dendritic swellings and enlargements. Calbindin D-28K immunocytochemistry revealed a marked decrease in the number of cortical immunoreactive neurons and loss of immunoreactivity in dendrites of the remaining cells. These features indicate that pyramidal and non-pyramidal neurons in layers II and III are severely damaged, and suggest that cortical processing is seriously impaired in patients with frontal lobe type dementia.

I. Ferrer

Dementia of Frontal Lobe Type and Amyotrophy

Thirty patients with Parkinson's disease experiencing hallucinations during long-term treatment were compared with 20 parkinsonian patients without hallucinations. No differences were found in the duration of disease, L-dopa treatment or disease severity between the two groups. The hallucinators however, were significantly older and more cognitively impaired. Visual hallucinations occurring only during &#x201c;off periods of immobility&#x201d; were relatively common and improved concurrently with parkinsonian disabilities after L-dopa. Although visual hallucinations were commonest auditory hallucinations occurred in one third of the hallucinators.

W. Fernandez

G. Stern

A. J. Lees

Hallucinations and parkinsonian Motor Fluctuations

In this study, the influence of partnership on depression and coping with Parkinson's disease has been investigated. Twenty-three single female patients, 46 married patients (23 female, 23 male) with unimpaired partnership and 42 patients (21 female, 21 male) whose partnership had worsened since the onset of disease, were compared with regard to depression and self reported extent of psychosocial distress. Single female patients tended to have higher depression scores than patients in a stable partnership, especially in items concerning personal worthlessness and senselessness of life. Patients differed in the extent of distress concerning social behavior, psychological problems/anxiety and efficiency. Within the group of single female patients two subgroups emerged: (1) patients with low extent of distress in all aspects; (2) patients who were highly distressed by psychological problems and physical disability but weakly distressed from social interaction. Male and female patients living in a stable partnership reported only a generally low to moderate extent of distress. More than half of the male and female patients who reported an impairment of their relationship also had scores of moderate to severe depression. These patients also had the highest extent of distress in each of the aspects assessed. The results are discussed with regard to possible interactive effects of the disease, quality of the partnership and availability of coping strategies.

S. Seiler

B. Perleth

T. Gasser

G. Ulm

W. H. Oertel

H. Ellgring

Partnership and Depression in Parkinson&#x2019;s Disease

A brief review of the literature on retrograde amnesia in Korsakoff's syndrome is presented. Various explanations of the phenomenon are discussed including the notions that it results from the effects of &#x201c;state-dependency&#x201d;, that it occurs as a result of a progressive learning problem and that it arises through a failure in contextual processing. None of these hypotheses can satisfactorily account for the length and temporal gradient of alcoholic amnesics retrograde amnesia. Although some evidence points towards the hypothesis that anterograde and retrograde amnesia might result from separate and independent impairments, this view is presently unproven and leaves open what causes the form and duration of Korsakoffs retrograde amnesia.

P. R. Meudell

Irrelevant, Incidental and Core Features in the Retrograde Amnesia Associated with Korsakoff&#x2019;s Psychosis: A Review

John Duncan

Women and Epilepsy, Edited by M.R. Trimble, 1991. Wiley

Fifty patients from a longitudinal study on 178 cases of Alzheimer's disease were examined at postmortem. The clinical features, CT-scans and neuropathological findings of five patients, with verified Alzheimer's disease, who had bilateral basal ganglia mineralization (BGM; 2 male, 3 female; age 78&#x2013;91 years) were compared with the data of five age- and sex-matched Alzheimer patients without BGM and of five control subjects. Persecutory and other delusions (4 patients), persistent depression (2), parkinsonism (4), myoclonus (1) and epileptic seizures (1) were observed more frequently in the patients with BGM than was expected. The BGM-group had significantly lower counts of large neurons in the pallidum internum than the demented patients without BGM or the control group. We did not find other differences between the dementia groups regarding the CT-scans, or plaque, tangle and neuron counts in neocortex and brainstem. We suggest that the combined effects of Alzheimer pathology and BGM might lead to an increased manifestation of psychotic and motor disturbances.

H. F&#xf6;rstl

A. Burns

N. Cairns

P. Luthert

R. Levy

Basal Ganglia Mineralization in Alzheimer&#x2019;s Disease: A Comparative Study of Clinical, Neuroradiological and Neuropathological Findings

Obsessive&#x2013;compulsive disorder (OCD) is an increasingly recognized disorder with a prevalence of 2&#x2013;3&#x25; (Robins et al., 1984). Once thought to be psychodynamic in origin, OCD is now generally recognized as having a neurobiological cause. Although the exact pathophysiology of OCD in its pure form remains unknown, there are numerous reports of obsessive&#x2013;compulsive symptoms arising in the setting of known neurological disease. In this paper, we review the reported cases of obsessive&#x2013;compulsive symptoms associated with neurologic diseases and outline the known facts about the underlying neurobiology of OCD. Finally, we synthesize these findings into a proposed theory of the pathophysiology of OCD, in both its pure form and when it accompanies other neurological illness.

M. S. George

J. A. Melvin

C. H. Kellner

Obsessive&#x2013;Compulsive Symptoms in Neurologic Disease: A Review

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Behavioural Neurology provides a platform for researchers and clinicians working in the areas of cognitive neuroscience, neuropsychology, and neuropsychiatry.

Behavioural Neurology