Ricardo Nitrini - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Ricardo Nitrini

Research paper thumbnail of Linguistic abilities in major vascular cognitive impairment: a comparative study with Alzheimer's disease

Acta neurologica Belgica, 2018

We assessed the linguistic abilities of multi-infarct (cortical) dementia and subcortical ischemi... more We assessed the linguistic abilities of multi-infarct (cortical) dementia and subcortical ischemic vascular dementia (VaD) patients and compared the linguistic performance of VaD and Alzheimer's Disease (AD) patients. A total of 23 VaD patients, 20 mild AD patients, and 31 controls participated in the study. All were evaluated using the Arizona Battery for Communication Disorders of Dementia (ABCD). Neuropsychological testing was performed to ascertain that VaD and AD patients had comparable cognitive performance. Both dementia groups performed more poorly than controls in the ABCD measures, except for the comparative question subtest. Comparison between VaD and AD patients showed statistically significant differences only in the confrontation naming subtest (p < 0.05), where paraphasias and visual errors were the most prevalent. AD patients showed a trend towards more circumlocution errors than VaD patients (p = 0.0483). When compared to controls, linguistic abilities of VaD...

Research paper thumbnail of Brief cognitive battery in the diagnosis of mild Alzheimer's disease in subjects with medium and high levels of education

Dementia & Neuropsychologia, 2007

There has been an increasing trend to utilize short cognitive batteries for the diagnosis of deme... more There has been an increasing trend to utilize short cognitive batteries for the diagnosis of dementia. Most of these batteries have been designed in countries with high standards of education and are less suitable for populations with low levels of education. We developed a battery that has been previously shown to be highly accurate in the diagnosis of dementia in individuals with low levels of education. The accuracy of this battery for patients with higher levels of education is unknown. Objectives: To evaluate the accuracy of a brief cognitive battery in the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) in subjects with medium and high levels of schooling, and to develop a mathematical model that includes the most discriminative tests. Methods: Seventy-three mildly demented patients with probable AD and 94 control subjects were evaluated. Sixty patients and 60 controls were randomly selected to generate a mathematical model including the most discriminative tests of the battery usin...

Research paper thumbnail of Boston Naming Test (BNT) original, Brazilian adapted version and short forms: normative data for illiterate and low-educated older adults

International Psychogeriatrics, 2016

ABSTRACTBackground:The aims of this study were (1) to describe and compare the performance of ill... more ABSTRACTBackground:The aims of this study were (1) to describe and compare the performance of illiterate and low-educated older adults, without evidence of cognitive impairment, on different versions of the Boston Naming Test (BNT) original, Brazilian adapted, abbreviated 30-item (even and odd) and 15-item from the CERAD (Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease) battery; (2) to compare performance on the original versus adapted versions of the BNT.Methods:A total of 180 healthy older adults (60 years or older) were stratified according to educational level (0, 1–2, and 3–4 years), and age (60–69, 70–79, and ≥ 80 years). The protocol comprised the following instruments: Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Brief Cognitive Screening Battery (BCSB), Functional Activities Questionnaire (FAQ), Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), and the BNT.Results:The illiterate participants had poorer performance than the educated participants. The performance of the two educated ...

Research paper thumbnail of The abbreviated form of the Brief Cognitive Battery in the diagnosis of dementia in Alzheimer's disease

Dementia & Neuropsychologia, 2009

The Brief Cognitive Battery (BCB) developed by our group for cognitive assessment of low educated... more The Brief Cognitive Battery (BCB) developed by our group for cognitive assessment of low educated individuals has also shown to be highly accurate in diagnosing dementia of individuals with medium or high levels of education, making it a useful tool for populations with heterogeneous educational background. The application of BCB takes around eight minutes, a rather long period for a screening test. Objectives: Our aim was to evaluate whether the exclusion of items of the BCB could reduce its application time without losing accuracy. Methods: Patients with Alzheimer's disease with mild or moderate dementia (N=20), and 30 control subjects were submitted to an abbreviated version of the BCB in which the clock drawing test was not included as an interference test for the delayed recall test. Data from another 22 control individuals who were submitted to the original BCB in another study were also included for comparison. A mathematical formula was employed to compare the two versio...

Research paper thumbnail of Phonemic verbal fluency and age: A preliminary study

Dementia & Neuropsychologia, 2008

Verbal fluency (VF) has been one of the most frequently used instruments in clinics and research,... more Verbal fluency (VF) has been one of the most frequently used instruments in clinics and research, both independently or included in a battery recommended for the detection of cognitive alterations. Phonemic-verbal fluency (PVF) is an interesting variant for cognitive diagnosis particularly because studies indicate that it is less influenced by age. Objectives: 1. To estimate the effects of age on PVF tests in their original forms, with the /f/-/a/-/s/ phonemes. 2. To estimate the effects of the phoneme /p/ and compare it to the original form in item generation. 3. To verify associations between the Token Test (TT), Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE) and depressive symptoms on performance with /f/-/a/-/s/-/p/ phonemes. Methods: Forty-eight healthy individuals with ages ranging from 30 to 80 years were evaluated with the MMSE, TT and PVF tests. Results: Age was correlated with the MMSE, TT and depressive symptoms. There was no association between age and performance on the fluency test, in...

Research paper thumbnail of Mini- Mental State Examination among lower educationl levels and illiterates: transcultural evaluation

Dementia & Neuropsychologia, 2010

Cognitive performance among illiterates and low educational levels is poorer than that observed i... more Cognitive performance among illiterates and low educational levels is poorer than that observed in individuals with greater schooling. This difference can be a confounding factor in reaching an accurate diagnosis of cognitive impairment. In addition, there is great heterogeneity in performance among illiterates, probably due to different environmental demands and sociocultural backgrounds. Many reports have described the influence of education on neuropsychological measures and screening tests such as the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Objectives: To analyze performance in two samples with the same educational level, but different social and cultural backgrounds. Methods: Subjects from two different locations in Brazil (rural sample from Northern region and urban sample residing in the largest city of the Southeastern region) were matched for age and education, and submitted to the MMSE. Results: Significant differences between the groups were found in total scores on the MMS...

Research paper thumbnail of Illiteracy and dementia

Dementia & Neuropsychologia, 2010

There is a current concept that illiteracy and lower educational levels are risk factors for cogn... more There is a current concept that illiteracy and lower educational levels are risk factors for cognitive decline and dementia. Our aims were to review the association between illiteracy and dementia; and to describe some results on neuropsychological findings in illiteracy. A literature search of the PubMed database was performed. The search terms were "dementia", "illiteracy", "neuropsychological evaluation", "educational levels", and "education". Only papers published in Portuguese, English, and Spanish were reviewed. Illiteracy is an incontestable risk factor for dementia. It influences performance on almost cognitive tests. Many other factors could be connected to the high prevalence of dementia among illiterates: low cognitive reserve, poor control of cerebrovascular disease risk factors, difficulties in cognitive evaluation, and poor adaptation of neuropsychological tests for this specific population. Functional tests must be cou...

Research paper thumbnail of Incidence of dementia in a community-dwelling Brazilian population

Alzheimer disease and associated disorders

The authors report the incidence of dementia in a community-dwelling Brazilian population. In 199... more The authors report the incidence of dementia in a community-dwelling Brazilian population. In 1997, 1656 individuals aged 65 years or more, the majority being of very low educational level, were screened at their homes in Catanduva, Brazil, and dementia was diagnosed in 118 cases. The remaining 1538 individuals were rescreened 3.25 years later applying a health questionnaire, the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the Pfeffer Functional Activities Questionnaire (PFAQ). According to PFAQ and MMSE scores, selected subjects were submitted to clinical, neurologic, and cognitive evaluations. The subjects diagnosed with dementia underwent laboratory tests and brain computed tomography. A total of 1119 individuals were rescreened and 50 incident cases of dementia (28 with Alzheimer disease [AD]) were identified. The incidence rate of dementia was 13.8 and of AD was 7.7 per 1000 person-years for individuals aged 65 years or older. The incidence rates of dementia almost doubled with ev...

Research paper thumbnail of Evaluation of the balance control in Alzheimer disease

Research paper thumbnail of O3‐06‐06: Anti‐Aβ Autoantibodies in Caa and Ad: Different Singers for the Same Aria?

Alzheimer's & Dementia, 2014

Research paper thumbnail of Brain regions supporting verbal memory improvement in healthy older subjects

Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria, 2014

Despite growing interest in developing cognitive training interventions to minimize the aging cog... more Despite growing interest in developing cognitive training interventions to minimize the aging cognitive decline process, no studies have attempted to explore which brain regions support the application of semantic strategies during verbal memory encoding. Our aim was to investigate the behavioral performance and brain correlates of these strategies in elderly individuals using fMRI in healthy older subjects. Method Subjects were scanned twice on the same day, before and after, directed instructions to apply semantic strategies during the encoding of word lists. Results Improved memory performance associated to increased semantic strategy application and brain activity in the left inferior and middle and right medial superior prefrontal cortex were found after the directed instructions. There was also reduced activation in areas related to strategy mobilization. Conclusion Improved memory performance in older subjects after the application of semantic strategies was associated with f...

Research paper thumbnail of 496 Increased apolipoprotein B serum concentration in Alzheimer's disease

Neurobiology of Aging, 1996

Research paper thumbnail of Autologous anti-Aß antibodies in CAA-ri: New biomarker for detection of amyloid-related imaging abnormalities (ARIA) during Aß-disease modifying therapies for AD

Journal of the Neurological Sciences, 2013

Research paper thumbnail of Performance of illiterate and literate nondemented elderly subjects in two tests of long-term memory

Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 2004

Cognitive evaluation in developing countries is a difficult undertaking due to low levels of scho... more Cognitive evaluation in developing countries is a difficult undertaking due to low levels of schooling and particularly the illiteracy still frequent in the elderly. This study was part of the epidemiologic evaluation of dementia in Catanduva, Brazil, and had the objective of comparing the performance of illiterate and literate nondemented elderly individuals in 2 tests of long-term memory—the delayed recall of a word list from the CERAD and the delayed recall of common objects presented as simple drawings from the Brief Cognitive Screening Battery (BCSB). Fifty-one elderly subjects (23 illiterates) were evaluated, and the performance of the illiterates and literates differed in the CERAD memory test, but not in the BCSB memory test. This test may be more suitable for the assessment of long-term memory in populations with a high frequency of illiterates, and therefore might prove to be a useful screening tool for the diagnosis of dementia. (JINS, 2004,10, 634–638.)

Research paper thumbnail of Cognitive predictors of limited health literacy in adults with heterogeneous socioeconomic backgrounds

Journal of Health Psychology, 2014

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between health literacy and specific co... more The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between health literacy and specific cognitive abilities in hospital users. A neuropsychological battery was administered and the Short Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults was used to classify individuals as having adequate or limited functional health literacy. Of the 322 participants, 102 (31.7%) presented limited health literacy. Even after adjusting for demographics, years of education, and quality of education, health literacy was strongly associated with measures of cognitive performance, but the strength of association was variable across different cognitive abilities.

Research paper thumbnail of Increased levels of apo B and apo AI in Alzheimer's disease

Research paper thumbnail of Anti‐Aβ autoantibodies in cerebral amyloid angiopathy‐related inflammation: Implications for amyloid‐modifying therapies

Research paper thumbnail of Memória: correlatos anátomo-funcionais

Research paper thumbnail of The S-TOFHLA as a Measure of Functional Literacy in Patients with Mild Alzheimer's Disease or Mild Cognitive Impairment

Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 2014

In developing countries, education levels vary dramatically, and the number of years of schooling... more In developing countries, education levels vary dramatically, and the number of years of schooling does not always correlate with the true level of educational competency. This study was designed to verify the accuracy of the Short-Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (S-TOFHLA) in individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and mild Alzheimer's disease (AD), when compared with healthy controls (HCs), in order to assess its utility as a measure of functional literacy. One hundred forty-eight subjects were divided into three groups: HC (n ¼ 61), MCI patients (n ¼ 42), and AD patients (n ¼ 45). The S-TOFHLA does not seem to be suitable as an instrument to measure functional literacy for patients with advanced cognitive impairment, but proved to be appropriate in both the HC group and MCI patients in numeracy and prove to be useful as an adjuvant to estimate IQ, reading ability, and premorbid IQ, as an indicator of cognitive reserve.

Research paper thumbnail of Anti–amyloid β autoantibodies in cerebral amyloid angiopathy–related inflammation: Implications for amyloid‐modifying therapies

Annals of Neurology, 2013

ObjectiveCerebral amyloid angiopathy–related inflammation (CAA‐ri) is characterized by vasogenic ... more ObjectiveCerebral amyloid angiopathy–related inflammation (CAA‐ri) is characterized by vasogenic edema and multiple cortical/subcortical microbleeds, sharing several aspects with the recently defined amyloid‐related imaging abnormalities (ARIA) reported in Alzheimer's disease (AD) passive immunization therapies. Herein, we investigated the role of anti–amyloid β (Aβ) autoantibodies in the acute and remission phases of CAA‐ri.MethodsWe used a novel ultrasensitive technique on patients from a retrospective multicenter case–control study, and evaluated the anti‐Aβ autoantibody concentration in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of 10 CAA‐ri, 8 CAA, 14 multiple sclerosis, and 25 control subjects. Levels of soluble Aβ40, Aβ42, tau, P‐181 tau, and APOE genotype were also investigated.ResultsDuring the acute phase of CAA‐ri, anti‐Aβ autoantibodies were specifically increased and directly correlated with Aβ mobilization, together with augmented tau and P‐181 tau. Following clinical and radio...

Research paper thumbnail of Linguistic abilities in major vascular cognitive impairment: a comparative study with Alzheimer's disease

Acta neurologica Belgica, 2018

We assessed the linguistic abilities of multi-infarct (cortical) dementia and subcortical ischemi... more We assessed the linguistic abilities of multi-infarct (cortical) dementia and subcortical ischemic vascular dementia (VaD) patients and compared the linguistic performance of VaD and Alzheimer's Disease (AD) patients. A total of 23 VaD patients, 20 mild AD patients, and 31 controls participated in the study. All were evaluated using the Arizona Battery for Communication Disorders of Dementia (ABCD). Neuropsychological testing was performed to ascertain that VaD and AD patients had comparable cognitive performance. Both dementia groups performed more poorly than controls in the ABCD measures, except for the comparative question subtest. Comparison between VaD and AD patients showed statistically significant differences only in the confrontation naming subtest (p < 0.05), where paraphasias and visual errors were the most prevalent. AD patients showed a trend towards more circumlocution errors than VaD patients (p = 0.0483). When compared to controls, linguistic abilities of VaD...

Research paper thumbnail of Brief cognitive battery in the diagnosis of mild Alzheimer's disease in subjects with medium and high levels of education

Dementia & Neuropsychologia, 2007

There has been an increasing trend to utilize short cognitive batteries for the diagnosis of deme... more There has been an increasing trend to utilize short cognitive batteries for the diagnosis of dementia. Most of these batteries have been designed in countries with high standards of education and are less suitable for populations with low levels of education. We developed a battery that has been previously shown to be highly accurate in the diagnosis of dementia in individuals with low levels of education. The accuracy of this battery for patients with higher levels of education is unknown. Objectives: To evaluate the accuracy of a brief cognitive battery in the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) in subjects with medium and high levels of schooling, and to develop a mathematical model that includes the most discriminative tests. Methods: Seventy-three mildly demented patients with probable AD and 94 control subjects were evaluated. Sixty patients and 60 controls were randomly selected to generate a mathematical model including the most discriminative tests of the battery usin...

Research paper thumbnail of Boston Naming Test (BNT) original, Brazilian adapted version and short forms: normative data for illiterate and low-educated older adults

International Psychogeriatrics, 2016

ABSTRACTBackground:The aims of this study were (1) to describe and compare the performance of ill... more ABSTRACTBackground:The aims of this study were (1) to describe and compare the performance of illiterate and low-educated older adults, without evidence of cognitive impairment, on different versions of the Boston Naming Test (BNT) original, Brazilian adapted, abbreviated 30-item (even and odd) and 15-item from the CERAD (Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease) battery; (2) to compare performance on the original versus adapted versions of the BNT.Methods:A total of 180 healthy older adults (60 years or older) were stratified according to educational level (0, 1–2, and 3–4 years), and age (60–69, 70–79, and ≥ 80 years). The protocol comprised the following instruments: Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Brief Cognitive Screening Battery (BCSB), Functional Activities Questionnaire (FAQ), Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), and the BNT.Results:The illiterate participants had poorer performance than the educated participants. The performance of the two educated ...

Research paper thumbnail of The abbreviated form of the Brief Cognitive Battery in the diagnosis of dementia in Alzheimer's disease

Dementia & Neuropsychologia, 2009

The Brief Cognitive Battery (BCB) developed by our group for cognitive assessment of low educated... more The Brief Cognitive Battery (BCB) developed by our group for cognitive assessment of low educated individuals has also shown to be highly accurate in diagnosing dementia of individuals with medium or high levels of education, making it a useful tool for populations with heterogeneous educational background. The application of BCB takes around eight minutes, a rather long period for a screening test. Objectives: Our aim was to evaluate whether the exclusion of items of the BCB could reduce its application time without losing accuracy. Methods: Patients with Alzheimer's disease with mild or moderate dementia (N=20), and 30 control subjects were submitted to an abbreviated version of the BCB in which the clock drawing test was not included as an interference test for the delayed recall test. Data from another 22 control individuals who were submitted to the original BCB in another study were also included for comparison. A mathematical formula was employed to compare the two versio...

Research paper thumbnail of Phonemic verbal fluency and age: A preliminary study

Dementia & Neuropsychologia, 2008

Verbal fluency (VF) has been one of the most frequently used instruments in clinics and research,... more Verbal fluency (VF) has been one of the most frequently used instruments in clinics and research, both independently or included in a battery recommended for the detection of cognitive alterations. Phonemic-verbal fluency (PVF) is an interesting variant for cognitive diagnosis particularly because studies indicate that it is less influenced by age. Objectives: 1. To estimate the effects of age on PVF tests in their original forms, with the /f/-/a/-/s/ phonemes. 2. To estimate the effects of the phoneme /p/ and compare it to the original form in item generation. 3. To verify associations between the Token Test (TT), Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE) and depressive symptoms on performance with /f/-/a/-/s/-/p/ phonemes. Methods: Forty-eight healthy individuals with ages ranging from 30 to 80 years were evaluated with the MMSE, TT and PVF tests. Results: Age was correlated with the MMSE, TT and depressive symptoms. There was no association between age and performance on the fluency test, in...

Research paper thumbnail of Mini- Mental State Examination among lower educationl levels and illiterates: transcultural evaluation

Dementia & Neuropsychologia, 2010

Cognitive performance among illiterates and low educational levels is poorer than that observed i... more Cognitive performance among illiterates and low educational levels is poorer than that observed in individuals with greater schooling. This difference can be a confounding factor in reaching an accurate diagnosis of cognitive impairment. In addition, there is great heterogeneity in performance among illiterates, probably due to different environmental demands and sociocultural backgrounds. Many reports have described the influence of education on neuropsychological measures and screening tests such as the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Objectives: To analyze performance in two samples with the same educational level, but different social and cultural backgrounds. Methods: Subjects from two different locations in Brazil (rural sample from Northern region and urban sample residing in the largest city of the Southeastern region) were matched for age and education, and submitted to the MMSE. Results: Significant differences between the groups were found in total scores on the MMS...

Research paper thumbnail of Illiteracy and dementia

Dementia & Neuropsychologia, 2010

There is a current concept that illiteracy and lower educational levels are risk factors for cogn... more There is a current concept that illiteracy and lower educational levels are risk factors for cognitive decline and dementia. Our aims were to review the association between illiteracy and dementia; and to describe some results on neuropsychological findings in illiteracy. A literature search of the PubMed database was performed. The search terms were "dementia", "illiteracy", "neuropsychological evaluation", "educational levels", and "education". Only papers published in Portuguese, English, and Spanish were reviewed. Illiteracy is an incontestable risk factor for dementia. It influences performance on almost cognitive tests. Many other factors could be connected to the high prevalence of dementia among illiterates: low cognitive reserve, poor control of cerebrovascular disease risk factors, difficulties in cognitive evaluation, and poor adaptation of neuropsychological tests for this specific population. Functional tests must be cou...

Research paper thumbnail of Incidence of dementia in a community-dwelling Brazilian population

Alzheimer disease and associated disorders

The authors report the incidence of dementia in a community-dwelling Brazilian population. In 199... more The authors report the incidence of dementia in a community-dwelling Brazilian population. In 1997, 1656 individuals aged 65 years or more, the majority being of very low educational level, were screened at their homes in Catanduva, Brazil, and dementia was diagnosed in 118 cases. The remaining 1538 individuals were rescreened 3.25 years later applying a health questionnaire, the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the Pfeffer Functional Activities Questionnaire (PFAQ). According to PFAQ and MMSE scores, selected subjects were submitted to clinical, neurologic, and cognitive evaluations. The subjects diagnosed with dementia underwent laboratory tests and brain computed tomography. A total of 1119 individuals were rescreened and 50 incident cases of dementia (28 with Alzheimer disease [AD]) were identified. The incidence rate of dementia was 13.8 and of AD was 7.7 per 1000 person-years for individuals aged 65 years or older. The incidence rates of dementia almost doubled with ev...

Research paper thumbnail of Evaluation of the balance control in Alzheimer disease

Research paper thumbnail of O3‐06‐06: Anti‐Aβ Autoantibodies in Caa and Ad: Different Singers for the Same Aria?

Alzheimer's & Dementia, 2014

Research paper thumbnail of Brain regions supporting verbal memory improvement in healthy older subjects

Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria, 2014

Despite growing interest in developing cognitive training interventions to minimize the aging cog... more Despite growing interest in developing cognitive training interventions to minimize the aging cognitive decline process, no studies have attempted to explore which brain regions support the application of semantic strategies during verbal memory encoding. Our aim was to investigate the behavioral performance and brain correlates of these strategies in elderly individuals using fMRI in healthy older subjects. Method Subjects were scanned twice on the same day, before and after, directed instructions to apply semantic strategies during the encoding of word lists. Results Improved memory performance associated to increased semantic strategy application and brain activity in the left inferior and middle and right medial superior prefrontal cortex were found after the directed instructions. There was also reduced activation in areas related to strategy mobilization. Conclusion Improved memory performance in older subjects after the application of semantic strategies was associated with f...

Research paper thumbnail of 496 Increased apolipoprotein B serum concentration in Alzheimer's disease

Neurobiology of Aging, 1996

Research paper thumbnail of Autologous anti-Aß antibodies in CAA-ri: New biomarker for detection of amyloid-related imaging abnormalities (ARIA) during Aß-disease modifying therapies for AD

Journal of the Neurological Sciences, 2013

Research paper thumbnail of Performance of illiterate and literate nondemented elderly subjects in two tests of long-term memory

Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 2004

Cognitive evaluation in developing countries is a difficult undertaking due to low levels of scho... more Cognitive evaluation in developing countries is a difficult undertaking due to low levels of schooling and particularly the illiteracy still frequent in the elderly. This study was part of the epidemiologic evaluation of dementia in Catanduva, Brazil, and had the objective of comparing the performance of illiterate and literate nondemented elderly individuals in 2 tests of long-term memory—the delayed recall of a word list from the CERAD and the delayed recall of common objects presented as simple drawings from the Brief Cognitive Screening Battery (BCSB). Fifty-one elderly subjects (23 illiterates) were evaluated, and the performance of the illiterates and literates differed in the CERAD memory test, but not in the BCSB memory test. This test may be more suitable for the assessment of long-term memory in populations with a high frequency of illiterates, and therefore might prove to be a useful screening tool for the diagnosis of dementia. (JINS, 2004,10, 634–638.)

Research paper thumbnail of Cognitive predictors of limited health literacy in adults with heterogeneous socioeconomic backgrounds

Journal of Health Psychology, 2014

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between health literacy and specific co... more The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between health literacy and specific cognitive abilities in hospital users. A neuropsychological battery was administered and the Short Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults was used to classify individuals as having adequate or limited functional health literacy. Of the 322 participants, 102 (31.7%) presented limited health literacy. Even after adjusting for demographics, years of education, and quality of education, health literacy was strongly associated with measures of cognitive performance, but the strength of association was variable across different cognitive abilities.

Research paper thumbnail of Increased levels of apo B and apo AI in Alzheimer's disease

Research paper thumbnail of Anti‐Aβ autoantibodies in cerebral amyloid angiopathy‐related inflammation: Implications for amyloid‐modifying therapies

Research paper thumbnail of Memória: correlatos anátomo-funcionais

Research paper thumbnail of The S-TOFHLA as a Measure of Functional Literacy in Patients with Mild Alzheimer's Disease or Mild Cognitive Impairment

Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 2014

In developing countries, education levels vary dramatically, and the number of years of schooling... more In developing countries, education levels vary dramatically, and the number of years of schooling does not always correlate with the true level of educational competency. This study was designed to verify the accuracy of the Short-Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (S-TOFHLA) in individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and mild Alzheimer's disease (AD), when compared with healthy controls (HCs), in order to assess its utility as a measure of functional literacy. One hundred forty-eight subjects were divided into three groups: HC (n ¼ 61), MCI patients (n ¼ 42), and AD patients (n ¼ 45). The S-TOFHLA does not seem to be suitable as an instrument to measure functional literacy for patients with advanced cognitive impairment, but proved to be appropriate in both the HC group and MCI patients in numeracy and prove to be useful as an adjuvant to estimate IQ, reading ability, and premorbid IQ, as an indicator of cognitive reserve.

Research paper thumbnail of Anti–amyloid β autoantibodies in cerebral amyloid angiopathy–related inflammation: Implications for amyloid‐modifying therapies

Annals of Neurology, 2013

ObjectiveCerebral amyloid angiopathy–related inflammation (CAA‐ri) is characterized by vasogenic ... more ObjectiveCerebral amyloid angiopathy–related inflammation (CAA‐ri) is characterized by vasogenic edema and multiple cortical/subcortical microbleeds, sharing several aspects with the recently defined amyloid‐related imaging abnormalities (ARIA) reported in Alzheimer's disease (AD) passive immunization therapies. Herein, we investigated the role of anti–amyloid β (Aβ) autoantibodies in the acute and remission phases of CAA‐ri.MethodsWe used a novel ultrasensitive technique on patients from a retrospective multicenter case–control study, and evaluated the anti‐Aβ autoantibody concentration in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of 10 CAA‐ri, 8 CAA, 14 multiple sclerosis, and 25 control subjects. Levels of soluble Aβ40, Aβ42, tau, P‐181 tau, and APOE genotype were also investigated.ResultsDuring the acute phase of CAA‐ri, anti‐Aβ autoantibodies were specifically increased and directly correlated with Aβ mobilization, together with augmented tau and P‐181 tau. Following clinical and radio...