Alzheimer Disease: Poncet M

Dartigues JF, Poncet M. · CMRR, service de neurologie, CHU Pellegrin, Bordeaux. · Rev Neurol (Paris). · Pubmed #18680827 No free full text.

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Petit H, Albarède JL, Bakchine S, Boulliat J, Cogneau J, Darcourt G, Dubois B, Forette F, Franco A, Héres J, Hinault P, Laurent B, Léger JM, Marin La Meslée R, Montagne B, Poncet M, Robert P, Sorbé G, Touchon J, Velas B, Vetel JM. · Neurologue (Clinique Neurologique, CHRU Roger Salengro 59037 Lille Cedex, France. · Rev Neurol (Paris). · Pubmed #10844378 No free full text.

This publication has no abstract.

Didic M, Felician O, Ceccaldi M, Poncet M. · Service de Neurologie et Neuropsychologie, Hôpital de la Timone, Marseille. · Rev Neurol (Paris). · Pubmed #10637941 No free full text.

Abstract: Progressive focal cortical atrophies are degenerative conditions characterised by the insidious onset and gradual exacerbation of an impairment in a single cognitive domain related to circumscribed cerebral atrophy. Several focal cortical syndromes with deficits in the realm of cognition are reviewed: progressive impairment of language (primary progressive aphasia), speech (progressive anarthria), semantic memory (semantic dementia), episodic memory (pure progressive amnesia), vision (progressive perceptual or visuo-spatial deficits) and gesture (progressive apraxia). These conditions are histologically heterogeneous and can be associated with focal non-specific neuronal loss and gliosis with some spongiform changes (non-specific lesions), pathological features of Pick's disease (inclusion bodies and swollen neurones) or Alzheimer's disease (AD) (senile plaques and neurofibrillary tangles). A relationship between neuropsychological profiles and lesional types emerges from this review of the literature. Non-fluent primary progressive aphasia, semantic dementia and progressive anarthria are usually associated with non-specific lesions and Pick-type pathology. Progressive disorders of episodic memory and progressive visuo-spatial deficits are more often related to AD. If adequate clinical characterisation can determine the underlying disorder, it appears even more important to establish the neuropsychological profile in patients with cortical degenerative disease. Progressive deficits of only one domain of cognition may well be due to preferential involvement of anatomically and functionally defined neural systems and could therefore be considered as "system atrophies". There remains no doubt that these syndromes are particularly well suited models for studies on the relationship between cerebral functions and their neural substrate.

Barbeau E, Didic M, Tramoni E, Felician O, Joubert S, Sontheimer A, Ceccaldi M, Poncet M. · Laboratoire de Neurophysiologie et Neuropsychologie, Inserm EMI-U 9926, Faculté de Médecine, Univ. Mediterranee, Marseille, France. · Neurology. · Pubmed #15111668 No free full text.

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Neurofibrillary tangles seen early in Alzheimer disease (AD) initially appear in a subregion of the perirhinal cortex. In the monkey, damage to the perirhinal cortex impairs performance on visual recognition memory tasks. The authors evaluated impairment of visual recognition memory as a potential early diagnostic marker of AD. METHODS: The authors developed a visual delayed matching-to-sample task (DMS48) designed to assess visual recognition memory in humans. Twenty-three patients fulfilling the criteria of amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI) (mean Mini-Mental State Examination [MMSE]: 26.6, SD = 1.6) were recruited. All underwent a full neuropsychological evaluation, which included the Free and Cued Selective Reminding (FCSR) test. Their performance was compared with that of 10 patients with mild AD, 20 patients with moderate AD, 20 patients with Parkinson disease (PD), and 40 age-matched controls. RESULTS: Control subjects and patients with PD performed close to ceiling. Patients with mild AD had very low scores, while patients with moderate AD answered at random. MCI patients obtained scores that were between those of control subjects and patients with mild AD (78%, SD = 16%). MCI patients who failed on the DMS48 had lower scores on free recall (p < 0.05) and received less benefit from cueing (p < 0.01) on the FCSR than the other MCI, suggesting a profile of genuine memory impairment related to medial temporal lobe lesions. CONCLUSION: The DMS48, a test of visual recognition memory, is impaired early in the course of patients with MCI. Further studies are necessary to determine whether the evaluation of visual recognition memory may contribute to the identification of patients with AD.

Joubert S, Felician O, Barbeau EJ, Didic M, Poncet M, Ceccaldi M. · Centre de Recherche, Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie de Montréal, Canada. · Behav Neurol. · Pubmed #18413914 No free full text.

Abstract: Although the semantic memory impairment has been largely documented in Alzheimer's disease, little is known about semantic memory in the preclinical phase of the disease (Mild Cognitive Impairment). The purpose of this study was to document the nature of semantic breakdown using a battery of tests assessing different aspects of conceptual knowledge: knowledge about common objects, famous people and famous public events. Results indicate that all domains of semantic memory were impaired in MCI individuals but knowledge about famous people and famous events was affected to a greater extent than knowledge about objects. This pattern of results suggests that conceptual entities with distinctive and unique properties may be more prone to semantic breakdown in MCI. In summary, results of this study support the view that genuine semantic deficits are present in MCI. It could be useful to investigate the etiological outcome of patients failing or succeeding at such tests.

Guedj E, Barbeau EJ, Didic M, Felician O, de Laforte C, Ceccaldi M, Mundler O, Poncet M. · Service Central de Biophysique et de Médecine Nucléaire, Assistance Publique des Hôpitaux de Marseille, Centre Hospitalo-Universitaire de la Timone, Marseille, France. · Neurology. · Pubmed #16864841 No free full text.

Abstract: The DMS48 is a visual recognition memory test designed to detect memory changes in early Alzheimer disease (AD). Patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) who succeeded on this task exhibited frontal hypoperfusion on SPECT. In contrast, failure was associated with temporomesial and temporoparietal hypoperfusion, a pattern usually described in the early stages of AD. It may possible to detect patients at high risk for AD within a population of aMCI.