Are subjective language complaints in memory clinic patients informative?

To diagnose mild cognitive impairment, it is crucial to understand whether subjective cognitive complaints reflect objective cognitive deficits. This question has mostly been investigated in the memory domain, with mixed results. Our study was one of the first to address it for language. Participants were 55-to-93-year-old memory clinic patients (n = 163). They filled in a questionnaire about subjective language and memory complaints and performed two language tasks (naming-by-definition and sentence comprehension). Greater language complaints were associated with two language measures, thus showing a moderate value in predicting language performance. Greater relative severity of language versus memory complaints was a better predictor, associated with three language performance measures. Surprisingly, greater memory complaints were associated with better naming, probably due to anosognosia in further disease progression or personality-related factors. Our findings highlight the importance of relative complaint severity across domains and, clinically, call for developing self-assessment questionnaires asking specific questions about multiple cognitive functions.

Synthesis and the structure of 8-tetrahydrofuronium and 8-tetrahydropyronium derivatives of iron bis(dicarbollide)(-I) and their cleavage reactions.

8-Tetrahydrofuronium and 8-tetrahydropyronium derivatives of iron bis(dicarbollide)(-I) were synthesized. Their reactions of ring cleavage by MeOH, N3(-), amines and 1,2-bis(diphenylphosphino)ethane were investigated. 8-Tetrahydrofuronium iron bis(dicarbollide)(-I) was found to be more active in these reactions in comparison with 8-tetrahydropyronium and 8-dioxonium species, respectively. The first conjugates of iron bis(1,2-dicarbollide)(-I) with 2'-deoxyadenosine modified via the C-8 position of the purine base were synthesized. Reactions of these oxonium compounds with 1,2-bis(diphenylphosphino)ethane (dppe) led to zwitter-ionic monophosphonium salts. One of these compounds has given rise to a novel ferracarborane/cobaltacarborane hybrid complex.

Molecular conductors with a 8-hydroxy cobalt bis(dicarbollide) anion.

Molecular conductors based on the 8-hydroxy cobalt bis(dicarbollide) anion, (TMTTF)[8-HO-3,3'-Co(1,2-C2B9H10)(1',2'-C2B9H11)] (1), (BMDT-TTF)[8-HO-3,3'-Co(1,2-C2B9H10) (1',2'-C2B9H11)] (2), and (BEDT-TTF)[8-HO-3,3'-Co(1,2-C2B9H10)(1',2'-C2B9H11)] (3), were synthesized, and their crystal structures and electrical conductivities were determined. Compounds 2 and 3 are isostructural to the corresponding radical-cation salts of the parent cobalt bis(dicarbollide). All of the radical-cation salts prepared were found to be semiconductors. The relative stability of the rotation conformers of the [8-HO-3,3'-Co(1,2-C2B9H10)(1',2'-C2B9H11)](-) anion was estimated using DFT/BP86 quantum chemical calculations.