Memory process in demented and non-demented elderly patients

Dementia is characterized by progressive memory loss and other cognitive impairments. Memory impairments are apparent on tasks that require learning and retention of verbal or non-verbal information. Demented patients present severe impairments on recognition and recalling tasks. They have severe deficits in transferring information in to a long-term storage system. The present study investigated any difference between various memory processes in different reproduction phases contribute to discrimination between demented and non-demented elderly patients. Thirty one demented and 25 non-demented elderly patients were selected according to inclusion criteria; all of them were visited by a physician completing the Mini Mental Status Examination [MMSE] and California Verbal Learning Test-Persian version [CVLT-P]. Although demented and non-demented elderly subjects had no difference in relation to age and education, differences on clinical variables were significant and demented patients showed lower means than nondemented ones. A discriminate function analysis showed that CVLT-P had the ability to differentiate between demented and non-demented elderly patients and could correctly classify 94.3% of demented and non-demented older adults. Findings suggest that CVLT-P could discriminate satisfaction between these two groups and according to subscales, learning slope had the highest discrimination coefficient. So demented patients had more deficits in hippocampus causing failure of learning

Ziprasidone in treatment of resistant obsessive-compulsive disorder in a female adolescent

While serotonin reuptake inhibitors [SSRIs] and behavioral therapy are the first-line agents in treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder [OCD], 40-60% of patients with the disorder do not respond to therapy. So other neurotransmitters may play a role in OCD. In this regard, there has been particular interest in the dopaminergic system, with various antipsychotic drugs having been used as adjunctive therapy for refractory OCD. This study describes the efficacy of ziprasidone as adjuncts for treatment-resistant OCD in a young female adolescent