A standard neuropsychological ATM signaling pathway battery was administered. Switching scores tended to be lower in patients. Patients persisted in selecting risky decks throughout the IGT, whereas controls behaved normally. Performance was correlated with hypoxaemia. Brain regions underlying decision making may be affected by OSA-related hypoxaemia. “
“Although alcohol dependency is a burden to society, data on cognitive performance in therapy-resistant patients after multiple withdrawals are poor. In this study, 22 patients without reported

cognitive deficits and 20 control subjects performed extensive cognitive testing and a motor task assessing short-term memory. Patients displayed subtle deficits (mainly in executive function), while memory functions were relatively unimpaired. Our results suggest that subtle

frontal-executive deficits may contribute to a poor prognosis, but could be missed by routine clinical tests. Alcohol dependency is a major burden on society and a devastating disease for many affected individuals. Despite various therapeutic Palbociclib mw approaches, a proportion of patients do not respond to therapy and suffer relapses shortly after hospitalized detoxification and/or withdrawal. While evidence indicates that mild-to-moderate alcohol consumption has neuroprotective effects on cognitive function (Stampfer, Kang, Chen, Cherry, & Grodstein, 2005), excessive drinking has been linked with structural brain damage and deterioration of cognitive performance (Green et al., 2010). The frontal lobes, cerebellum and limbic system appear more vulnerable to the toxic effects of alcohol than other brain areas (Oscar-Berman & Marinkovic, 2007). In particular, several animal studies examining recurrent withdrawals have demonstrated frontal lobe damage due to glutamate-related excitotoxicity (De Witte, Pinto, Ansseau, & Verbanck, 2003; Loeber et al., 2010;

Stephens & Duka, Fludarabine concentration 2008). Unfortunately, studies investigating the neuropsychological sequelae of multiple withdrawals in humans are scarce and provide inconclusive results (Duka, Townshend, Collier, & Stephens, 2003; Loeber et al., 2009, 2010). Furthermore, no studies have examined severely affected individuals who have experienced at least five relapses. We hypothesized that such therapy-resistant patients would suffer from subtle cognitive deficits, especially in frontal-executive functions. A total of 22 inpatients and 20 healthy control subjects were recruited. All subjects gave informed consent, and the study was approved by the local ethics committee. All patients were diagnosed by a senior psychiatrist as being alcohol-dependent according to the criteria of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) 10 (F10.2), and were clinically examined by an experienced neurologist. Additional criteria included a history of more than 5 years of drinking, and to have experienced at least five withdrawals in the last 5 years.