Legal and Ethical Issues
Marc E. Agronin in Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias, 2014
Dr. S, the psychiatrist appointed by the court, interviewed Mr. N, his primary care physician, and a distant cousin. During the interview, Mr. N demonstrated poor short-term memory, and his factual account of the car accident was vague at best. He was unable to summarize what happened afterward, and he did not appreciate the severity of the charges against him. He reported that he was able to live alone, and he was oblivious to the poor condition of his house and his malnutrition. He scored 20 of a possible 30 points on the Mini-Mental State Examination. When Dr. S asked Mr. N what would happen if he were to be convicted, he was unable to make a rational connection between the facts of the case and the potential legal consequences. Based on the forensic report, the judge declared Mr. N incompetent to stand trial and ordered that a guardian be appointed for him. He also mandated further evaluation in a geriatric psychiatry hospital unit. After a four-week stay in which a diagnosis of probable Alzheimer's disease was made, Mr. N's guardian moved him into a nursing home.
Case 63: Repeating the same story over and over again
Barry Wright, Subodh Dave, Nisha Dogra in 100 Cases in Psychiatry, 2017
Mental state examination shows that he has good eye contact and sits still in a chair throughout the interview. His speech is slightly laboured and on several occasions he seems to struggle to find the right word. None of his sentences are long or complex. He has no pressure of speech or flight of ideas. Occasionally he will lose the thread of what he is saying and stop talking or start on a different topic. He is uncertain why he is being interviewed. There is no psychomotor retardation or agitation. There is no evidence of hallucinations or psychosis, although his wife says that he sometimes wakes up in the middle of the night thinking that there is an intruder in the bedroom. His Mini Mental State Examination score is 19. He thinks he is in the general practitioner (GP) surgery when in fact he is at the local hospital.
Understanding medications and medical investigations
Ross Balchin, Rudi Coetzer, Christian Salas, Jan Webster in Addressing Brain Injury in Under-Resourced Settings, 2017
Formal neuropsychological assessments are a scarce resource, and briefer forms of evaluation are therefore frequently relied upon. Cognitive screening tools, such as the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) or the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), are often used. Such tools are not as thorough or detailed as clinical assessments by psychologists/neuropsychologists, but instead serve to provide an initial impression of patients’ potential cognitive problems. Such tools briefly cover different combinations of the following functions: OrientationAttentionLanguageMemoryConstructional abilityWritingExecutive controlVisuospatial ability
Can Video Self-Modeling Improve Affected Limb Reach and Grasp Ability in Stroke Patients?
Published in Journal of Motor Behavior, 2018
Kylie Ann Steel, Kurt Mudie, Remi Sandoval, David Anderson, Sera Dogramaci, Mohammad Rehmanjan, Ingvars Birznieks
The Mini–Mental State Examination is a standardized valid screening tool used to quantify cognitive function (Folstein & Folstein, 1975; Rabadi et al., 2008; Tombaugh & McIntyre, 1992). It assesses five related areas: orientation (where are we?), registration (name three objects), concentration (serial 7s), memory (recall of three objects), and language (repeat the following: “No ifs, ands, or buts.”). Lower scores indicate an increased severity of cognitive impairment, whereas a score greater than or equal to 25 implies the person is cognitively intact (Folstein & Folstein, 1975; Rabadi et al., 2008). The University Human Ethics Research Committee approved the methodology and testing procedures used in this study. In addition, all participants were reimbursed $20 per visit as compensation for their time and travel expenses. Informed consent was obtained from all participants prior to the commencement of testing.
Modified Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (M-WCST): Normative Data for the Lebanese Adult Population
Published in Developmental Neuropsychology, 2019
Sahar Rammal, Jessica Abi Chahine, Malak Rammal, Youssef Fares, Linda Abou Abbas
Our normative sample consisted of 220 healthy adults aged between 18 and 64 years. Participants were recruited through convenience sampling at local universities, municipal buildings, and schools in urban and suburban areas across Lebanon. In order to rule out any neurological or psychiatric condition affecting the mental status or the daily activity performance of the participant, a detailed cognitive and psychiatric history was obtained in addition to a medical and surgical background provided by certified therapists. Moreover, exposure to medications, their dosages, and duration of use were also reviewed. Eligible participants were selected according to the following criteria: (a) adults aged between 18 and 64 years, (b) spoke Arabic as their mother tongue, (c) scored within the normal range on the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) (cut-off for inclusion ≥23) (MMSE, Folstein et al., 2000, Wrobel et al., 2008), d) scored ≤4 on the Patient Health Questionnaire–9 (PHQ-9, Kroenke, Spitzer, & Williams, 2001). Participants with a history of head injuries or other medical/psychiatric conditions affecting their neuropsychological status were excluded.
The association of blood non-esterified fatty acid, saturated fatty acids, and polyunsaturated fatty acids levels with mild cognitive impairment in Chinese population aged 35–64 years: a cross-sectional study
Published in Nutritional Neuroscience, 2021
Rong Fan, Lei Zhao, Bing-jie Ding, Rong Xiao, Wei-wei Ma
Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) were performed to assess the cognitive status of participants, with scores ranging from 0 to 30. The cut-off scores of MMSE for screening MCI were as follows: illiterate individuals were 19, individuals with 1–6 years of education were 22, and individuals with 7 or more years of education were 26. The cut-off scores of MoCA for screening MCI was 13 for illiterate individuals, 19 for individuals with 1–6 years of education, and 24 for individuals with at least 7 years of education as mentioned earlier [22]. These criteria have been proved to be suitable for screening MCI in elderly Chinese people in a population-based study [23]. In previous studies, the criteria of MCI screening was based on the earlier study of our research group: MMSE ≥20 and MoCA ≤13 for illiteracy; MMSE ≥23 and MoCA ≤19 for subjects with 1–6 years of education; MMSE ≥27 and MoCA ≤24 for subjects with ≥7 years of education [20].
Related Knowledge Centers
- Cognitive Impairment
- Dementia
- Nosology
- Recall
- Orientation
- Mental Status Examination
- Alzheimer's Disease
- Abbreviated Mental Test Score
- General Practitioner Assessment of Cognition
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