Influência da idade, do sexo e da hora do dia no desempenho em teste de labirinto

The increase of elderly population in the world and in Brazil has indicated the necessity of health systems capable to evaluate, to diagnose and to intervene in the conditions of health and disease of that segment. During that stage of human development, physical and cognitive changes happen and they are capable to influence the functional acting. It s important to distinguish the limit between the normal and the pathological. Besides the common changes during the aging, biological rhithmicity changes happen, as alterations in the cycle vigil-sleep that can influence in certain tasks performance. This study aimed to verify the influence of the age, of the sex and of the hour in a maze test performance. Eighty individuals were evaluated, 40 youths (20 men and 20 women) and 40 senior (20 men and 20 women). They were separated in 2 different groups that were tested at 9:00 o clock and at 15:00 o clock. Initially they were submitted to health evaluation, cognitive evaluation and of sleep quality and chronotype. They were instructed to accomplish the maze test whose time of execution was timed and registered. Significant differences were observed according to age for the masculine group between elderly in the morning and in the afternoon and in the feminine group between youth and elderly in the test accomplished in the morning and in the afternoon. Significant differences were not observed according to sex and hour of the day and also between attempts. In compare between the 30th and the31st, accomplished in a 15minutes of interval, significant difference was observed just for the elderly group in the morning and in the afternoon. We observed significant correlations in the maze test performance with the cronotype, with the age, with the education and with the cognitive acting. The maze test was capable to detect differences between age in the acting profile and in the evaluation of the information maintenance after 15 minutes, however it was not possible to verify difference between sex and hour of the day. Finally the correlations of the maze test with another varied may indicate your importance as coadjutant instrument in those functions evaluation

Perfil desenvolvimental das funções executivas em crianças de 05 a 08 anos da cidade de Natal - RN

This study aimed to establish the developmental profile of executives components in typical child development. This is a correlational cross-sectional study of predominantly quantitative. The instruments for data collection are the subtests included in the NEPSY-II Attention and Executive Functioning domain. Eighty children between 5 and 8 years of age, of both genders, students from public and private schools in the city of Natal were evaluated. The sample was divided into six-month intervals for subsequent analysis of strategies and types of errors. Analysis of variance (univariate and multivariate) and Tukey and Games-Howell post hoc tests were conducted to verify the effect of age on test performance. Subsequent correlations indicate the strength and direction of the relationship between variables. Were identified two peaks of development in the six-month interval adopted for the skills of selective attention and inhibitory control. The results indicate that there’s no significant influence of sex and type of school on the performance of the sample. The performance of preschool children (5 and 6 years) was lower than the other subgroups in most tests. Highlights the role of autoregulation discourse among preschool children during activities of greater executive demand and the abstraction resource as a resolution strategy between the older. Were identified similar development trajectories among selective attention abilities and inhibitory control. In general, there is a decrease in the number of mistakes and increase of success with the age progression. Future longitudinal research can extend the age range encompassed in this study, investigating the developmental course of executive abilities.

Graph analysis of verbal fluency test discriminate between patients with Alzheimer’s disease, Mild Cognitive Impairment and normal elderly controls

Verbal fluency is the ability to produce a satisfying sequence of spoken words during a given time interval. The core of verbal fluency lies in the capacity to manage the executive aspects of language. The standard scores of the semantic verbal fluency test are broadly used in the neuropsychological assessment of the elderly, and different analytical methods are likely to extract even more information from the data generated in this test. Graph theory, a mathematical approach to analyze relations between items, represents a promising tool to understand a variety of neuropsychological states. This study reports a graph analysis of data generated by the semantic verbal fluency test by cognitively healthy elderly (NC), patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment – subtypes amnestic(aMCI) and amnestic multiple domain (a+mdMCI) - and patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Sequences of words were represented as a speech graph in which every word corresponded to a node and temporal links between words were represented by directed edges. To characterize the structure of the data we calculated 13 speech graph attributes (SGAs). The individuals were compared when divided in three (NC – MCI – AD) and four (NC – aMCI – a+mdMCI – AD) groups. When the three groups were compared, significant differences were found in the standard measure of correct words produced, and three SGA: diameter, average shortest path, and network density. SGA sorted the elderly groups with good specificity and sensitivity. When the four groups were compared, the groups differed significantly in network density, except between the two MCI subtypes and NC and aMCI. The diameter of the network and the average shortest path were significantly different between the NC and AD, and between aMCI and AD. SGA sorted the elderly in their groups with good specificity and sensitivity, performing better than the standard score of the task. These findings provide support for a new methodological frame to assess the strength of semantic memory through the verbal fluency task, with potential to amplify the predictive power of this test. Graph analysis is likely to become clinically relevant in neurology and psychiatry, and may be particularly useful for the differential diagnosis of the elderly.

Acurácia do teste de labirinto no rastreamento de déficits cognitivos em idosos

This study intended to evaluate the maze test accuracy in cognitive deficit screening in elderly with or without neuropsychological pathology. The sample included 40 healthy young (18-25 years old; mean- 21 ± 1.6), 40 healthy old (60-77 years old; mean- 67 ± 5.1) and 18 patients with probable diagnosis of Alzheimer s disease initial stage (52-90 years old; mean- 78 ± 9.2). Data analysis was made using Anova with Tukey s post hoc, multiple linear regression analysis and ROC curve analysis. According to Tukey s test Alzheimer patients spent more time (46843 ± 37926 ms) to execute the test than healthy young (5482 ± 2873 ms; p= 0.0001) and elderly (17978 ± 13700; p= 0.0001); healthy young executed test n lower time (p= 0.035). According to the regression analysis of age, education level and cognitive performance of the three groups, the cognitive performance was the predictor of the execution time. When analyzing young and elderly only age was the predictor and the cognitive performance was the only factor to influence the test of old aged healthy and patients. The ROC curve analysis indicated 72% accuracy for young and elderly and 36% for healthy and elderly patients. The maze execution time represented a better balance between sensibility (75%) and the specificity (61%) was near 13575 ms, indicating that those subjects that execute the maze in a time higher to this value may show cognitive deficit related to the executive function. According to the results it is suggested that the maze test used in this study shows a good accuracy in the cognitive deficit tracking and may discriminate age changes

A Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB) como preditora da fragilidade em idosos residentes na comunidade

Introduction: The SPPB provides information about physical function and is a predictor of adverse events in the elderly. Frailty is a multidimensional syndrome that increases susceptibility to diseases and disability. However it may be possible to prevent or postpone frailty if is identified early. Our objective is to analyze SPPB s ability in screening for frailty a community-dwelling young elderly from cities with distinct socioeconomic conditions. Methods: Data were originated from community dwelling adults (65-74 years old) in Canada (Saint Bruno; n = 60) and Brazil (Santa Cruz; n = 64). SPPB was used to assess physical performance. Frailty was defined as the presence of ≥ 3 of these criteria: weight loss, exhaustion, weakness, mobility limitation and low physical activity. One point was given for each criterion met, totalizing a frailty score ranged from 0 to 5. The Linear Regression and Receiver Operating Characteristics analyses were performed to evaluate the SPPB s screening ability. Results: Mean age was 69.48, 10.0% of the Saint Bruno s sample and 28.1% of Santa Cruz s were frail (p = 0.001), the SPPB score means were 9.6 and 8.5 respectively (p = 0.01). SPPB correlated with the frailty score (R2 = 0.33), with better results for Saint Bruno. A cutoff of 9 in SPPB had good sensitivity and specificity in discriminating frail from non frail in Saint Bruno (AUC = 0.81) but showed fair results in Santa Cruz (AUC = 0.61). Conclusion: The SPPB has moderate ability in predicting frailty among older adult s population, and is an useful test to identify people with good functionality and low frailty when SPPB scores are ≥9

Investigação do funcionamento cognitivo de pacientes pediátricos diagnosticados com leucemia linfóide aguda - LLA

The present work investigated the cognitive operation of children diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL), accompanied at pediatric oncologic institutions at the city of Natal/RN. Had participated in this study twenty children, of both sexes, between six and twelve years old, with the ALL diagnostic, who were in treatment (n=10) and out of treatment for at least one year (n=10) and were submitted exclusively to chemotherapy as CNS prophylaxis. The utilized protocol of neuropsychological evaluation covered the following cognitive abilities: intellective capability, attentional and memory systems, and executive functions. Data was analyzed through descriptive and inferential measures, with the support of the Mann-Whitney U Test and T-test, considering the influence of the variables sex, age at diagnostic and the past time since the beginning of the treatment over children s performance. The intellective capability evaluation showed low score to the out-of-treatment groups, female and children under five years old to the diagnostic. In concern of attentional systems, groups showed the expected performance. In a relevant way, in the evaluation of executive functions, were found reduced scores within all groups, especially inside the in-treatment group. Memory evaluation pointed to reduced performance in items concerning to learning evolution and spontaneous evocation after interference to the several groups. It can be concluded, reffer to the occurrence of transitory and permanent impact associated to the intrusion of chemotherapic components during the maturational course of the CNS. It s expected that the present investigation and the development of similar studies enable major comprehension about the mode, extension and repercussion of these damages subsidizing the development of strategies which may minimize them and provide better xxiii life quality to this clinical subgroup

Avaliação das habilidades neurocognitivas em crianças e adolescentes sobreviventes da Leucemia Linfoide Aguda - LLA

The present study investigated the impact of the treatment modalities of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia on neurocognitive abilities of children and adolescents survivors, aged between 6 and 16 years of age, accompanied in pediatric oncology sectors of public health services in the cities of Campina Grande-PB and Natal-RN. The study included 52 children, 13 of these being children and adolescents diagnosed with leukemia and 39 healthy children matched in relation to the study group considering gender, age, school type and level of maternal education. Later the group of children with leukemia was subdivided into two subgroups depending on treatment modality which were submitted: Group 1A (only chemotherapy) and 1B (chemotherapy and radiotherapy). All participants were subjected to a battery of neuropsychological tests that investigated the following neurocognitive abilities: intellectual ability, memory system, attention, visuospatiality and visuoconstruction, processing speed and executive functions. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential measurements with the aid of the U test of Mann-Whitney and T test, considering the influence of the variables: sex, age at diagnosis, time since completion of treatment and level of schooling mothers, on the performance of children. Overall, it is concluded that the illness and the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia significantly favors the emergence of cognitive deficits, particularly in terms of visuospatial skills, and executive skills visoconstrutivas. In turn, the treatment modality of radiotherapy is associated with the presence of more severe deficits, highlighting the significant impact on the speed of information processing. It is hoped that the results presented here will contribute to a better understanding of the nature and extent of neurocognitive effects arising ALL treatment