Neuropsychiatric Inventory data in a Belgian sample of elderly persons with and without dementia.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: This study assesses and compares prevalence of psychological and behavioral symptoms in a Belgian sample of people with and without dementia. METHODS: A total of 228 persons older than 65 years with dementia and a group of 64 non-demented persons were assessed using the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) in 2004. RESULTS: Within the group without dementia, the most frequent symptoms were depression, agitation, and irritability. Within the group with dementia, the most common symptoms were depression, irritability, apathy, and agitation. Prevalence of delusions (P < 0.05), hallucinations (P < 0.05), anxiety (P < 0.05), agitation (P < 0.05), apathy (P < 0.01), aberrant motor behavior (P < 0.01), and eating disorders (P < 0.05) were significantly higher in the group with dementia. CONCLUSION: Depression, elation, irritability, disinhibition, and sleeping disorders are not specific to dementia. Agitation, apathy, anxiety, and delusions are more frequent in dementia but were not specific to the dementia group because their prevalence rates were close to 10% in the group without dementia. Hallucinations, aberrant motor behavior, and eating disorders are specific to dementia. The distinction between specific and nonspecific symptoms may be useful for etiological research on biological, psychological, and environmental factors.

Robust thermophysics-based interpretation of radiometrically uncalibrated IR images for ATR and site change detection.

We previously formulated a new approach for computing invariant features from infrared (IR) images. That approach is unique in the field since it considers not just surface reflection and surface geometry in the specification of invariant features, but it also takes into account internal object composition and thermal state that affect images sensed in the nonvisible spectrum. In this paper, we extend the thermophysical algebraic invariance (TAI) formulation for the interpretation of uncalibrated infrared imagery and further reduce the information that is required to be known about the environment. Features are defined such that they are functions of only the thermophysical properties of the imaged objects. In addition, we show that the distribution of the TAI features can be accurately modeled by symmetric alpha-stable models. This approach is shown to yield robust classifier performance. Results on ground truth data and real infrared imagery are presented. The application of this scheme for site change detection is discussed.

A twenty-year evaluation of subperiosteal implants.

All Vitallium subperiosteal mandibular implants placed at UMKC from 1955 to 1975 were reevaluated from four objective and subjective standpoints. It can be concluded that (1) the UMKC implants surpass the 5- and 10-year longevity standards of the Harvard Conference on Dental Implants; (2) periodic recall is an important part of an implant program; (3) acute inflammation is prevalent among implant patients; (4) surgical removal of part of an implant framework can be preventive treatment and prolong the life of the implant; (5) all but one of the implants reviewed were successful to a degree; (6) unilateral anesthesia or paresthesia can be expected in approximately 50% of patients; (7) anesthesia was not a deterrent to success in this study; (8) satisfaction with the implants was absolute; and (9) if removal of an implant was necessary, patients requested replacement if possible.

Sleep apnea syndrome: report of case.

Sleep apnea syndrome encompasses several entities that are characterized by the inability of the victim to achieve restful sleep. The only known treatment for the syndrome is a tracheostomy. Further research and experimentation are required. We are of the opinion that the appliance described in this article offers some promise as an alternative treatment.