Cognitive function in fibromyalgia patients.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate fibromyalgia (FM) patients for the presence of cognitive deficits and to test the hypothesis that abnormalities would fit a model of cognitive aging. METHODS: We studied 3 groups of patients: FM patients without concomitant depression and in the absence of medications known to affect cognitive function (n = 23), age- and education-matched controls (n = 23), and education-matched older controls who were individually matched to be 20 years older (+/- 3 years) than the FM patients (n = 22). We measured speed of information processing, working memory function, free recall, recognition memory, verbal fluency, and vocabulary. We correlated performance on cognitive tasks with FM symptoms, including depression, anxiety, pain, and fatigue. We also determined if memory complaints were correlated with cognitive performance. RESULTS: As expected, older controls performed more poorly than younger controls on speed of processing, working memory, free recall, and verbal fluency. FM patients performed more poorly than age-matched controls on all measures, with the exception of processing speed. FM patients performed much like older controls, except that they showed better speed of processing and poorer vocabulary. Impaired cognitive performance in FM patients correlated with pain complaints, but not with depressive or anxiety symptoms. FM patients reported more memory problems than did the older and younger controls, and these complaints correlated with poor cognitive performance. CONCLUSION: Cognitive impairment in FM patients, particularly memory and vocabulary deficits, are documented in the study. Nevertheless, the intact performance on measures of information processing speed suggests that the cognitive deficits are not global. FM patients' complaints about their memory are likely to be legitimate, since their memory function is not age appropriate.

Amiloride inhibits taste nerve responses to NaCl and KCl in Sprague-Dawley and Fischer 344 rats.

In a two-bottle test, Sprague-Dawley rats preferentially consume a greater amount of hypotonic and isotonic NaCl solutions relative to water, whereas inbred Fischer 344 (F344) rats fail to prefer NaCl solutions at any concentration relative to water. To determine whether taste contributes to this strain difference, we measured the integrated neural responses of the chorda tympani nerve to a concentration range of NaCl and KCl solutions. The amiloride-sensitive component of the taste nerve response was assessed by adding amiloride during salt stimulation in Experiment 1, and by pretreating the taste receptors with amiloride prior to salt stimulation in Experiment 2. Adding amiloride to NaCl during sustained neural activity suppressed chorda tympani nerve responses more than pretreating the tongue with amiloride. Adding amiloride during salt stimulation also partially suppressed chorda tympani neuron responses to KCl, a presumed control stimulus. The neural responses of the chorda tympani nerve to NaCl and KCl were similar for salt-avoiding F344 and salt-preferring Sprague-Dawley rats. However, amiloride pretreatment suppressed the taste nerve responses to NaCl significantly less in F344 rats than in Sprague-Dawley rats. The strain difference in the amiloride-sensitive component of the taste response may contribute to the difference in NaCl preference.

Implementing an executive information system.

Too often information systems have not provided the information executives need, in the necessary time frame and at the level of usability that they require. Executive information systems, which are designed to quickly cull through critical information and present it in a highly usable format, are appropriately positioned to fill this growing need.