Yasushi Moriyama

Primary alcoholic dementia and alcohol-related dementia

Clinicopathological issues regarding so‐called ‘alcoholic dementia’ remain under debate. Although clinical observation favors the diagnosis of primary alcohol dementia, caused by direct alcohol neurotoxicity, further confirmation from neuropathological and biochemical perspectives is warranted. Repeat episodes of subclinical Wernicke–Korsakoff’s syndrome may partially account for the chronic state of primary alcoholic dementia, thus supporting the notion that primary alcoholic dementia exists in continuum with chronic and subclinical types of Wernicke–Korsakoff’s syndrome. Diagnostic criteria for alcohol related dementia, as detailed by Oslin et al., represent a purer form of alcoholic dementia and are useful for the scientific discussion of this condition.

Family history of alcoholism and cognitive recovery in subacute withdrawal

Abstract  A family history of alcoholism has been demonstrated to be an important factor affecting cognitive function. However, no studies have yet been conducted to compare cognitive recovery of family history‐positive (FH+) and family history‐negative (FH–) alcoholics in the subacute withdrawal period. To tackle this problem, a neuropsychological test battery consisting of six computerized tests was administered to 19 FH+ and 20 FH– alcoholics at 2 and 7 weeks after abstinence. At 2 weeks after abstinence, overall performance of both FH+ and FH– groups was significantly poorer than that of healthy controls. At 7 weeks, these performances tended to recover, but in Trail Making A and Figure Position, performances of FH+ alcoholics remained worse than those of controls, while those of FH– alcoholics did not. Thus cognitive recovery during the subacute withdrawal period was worse among FH+ alcoholics than FH– alcoholics, and this finding should be considered when planning alcohol rehabilitation programs.

Validation study of the Japanese version of the Obsessive–Compulsive Drinking Scale

Abstract The Obsessive–Compulsive Drinking Scale (OCDS) is a self‐rating questionnaire that measures cognitive and behavioral aspects of craving for alcohol. The OCDS consists of two subscales: the obsessive thoughts of drinking subscale (OS) and the compulsive drinking subscale (CS). This study aims to validate the Japanese version of the OCDS. First, internal consistency and discriminant validity were evaluated. Second, a prospective longitudinal 3‐month outcome study of 67 patients with alcohol dependence who participated in a relapse prevention program was designed to assess the concurrent and predictive validity of the OCDS. The OCDS demonstrated high internal consistency. The OS had high discriminant validity, while the CS did not. Twenty‐three patients (34.3%) dropped out of treatment. These patients had significantly higher OS scores than those who completed the program. At 3 months, the relapse group had significantly higher OCDS scores than the no relapse group. Also, the OCDS score was higher in subjects who had early‐onset alcohol dependence than late‐onset dependence. The OCDS is useful for evaluating cognitive aspect of craving and predicts dropout and relapse.

Further evidence for a comparable memory advantage of self-performed tasks in Korsakoff's syndrome and nonamnesic control subjects.

Two experiments were carried out to examine memory in persons with amnesia using self-performed tasks. In Experiment 1, persons with Korsakoffs syndrome and nonamnesic participants with alcoholism learned action phrases not involving real objects by either self-performed tasks or verbal tasks. As indexed by free recall and recognition tests, a memory advantage favoring self-performed tasks was confirmed in both participant groups. In Experiment 2, persons with Korsakoffs syndrome, nonamnesic alcoholic participants, and young control participants learned object names under three different study conditions that differed from one another as to whether actions for each name were verbally generated and whether actions actually were performed. Verbal generation with or without performing the action facilitated recognition, whereas recall advantage was found only in the verbal generation-plus performance condition. These findings confirm a comparable memory advantage of self-performed tasks for a group with Korsakoffs syndrome and a group of nonamnesic comparison participants. Action memory therefore has potential therapeutic implications for memory rehabilitation.

The Japanese version of the Rapid Dementia Screening Test is effective compared to the clock-drawing test for detecting patients with mild Alzheimer's disease.

The Japanese version of the Rapid Dementia Screening Test (RDST‐J) and the clock‐drawing test (CDT) are both brief psychometric screening tools used to detect the severity of Alzheimers disease. It remains unclear, however, which is more effective when screening for mild Alzheimers disease.

Detailed analysis of the supermarket task included on the Japanese version of the Rapid Dementia Screening Test.

The supermarket task, which is included in the Japanese version of the Rapid Dementia Screening Test, requires the quick (1 min) generation of words for things that can be bought in a supermarket. Cluster size and switches are investigated during this task. We investigated how the severity of dementia related to cluster size and switches on the supermarket task in patients with Alzheimers disease.

Detailed analysis of error patterns in the number‐transcoding task on the Japanese version of the Rapid Dementia Screening Test

The number‐transcoding task on the Japanese version of the Rapid Dementia Screening Test requires mutual conversion between Arabic and Chinese numerals (e.g. 209 → 二百九, 4054 → 四千五十四, 六百八十一 → 681, 二千二十七 → 2027). During this task, some characteristic errors have been seen among patients with Alzheimers disease (AD). The objective of this study was to clarify whether the frequency of appearance of error patterns differs between patients with mild and severe AD according to Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) scores.

Detailed analysis of the Japanese version of the Rapid Dementia Screening Test using Arabic-hiragana conversion

The number‐transcoding task on the Japanese version of the Rapid Dementia Screening Test (RDST‐J) requires conversion between Arabic and Chinese numerals (209 to 二百九, 4054 to 四千五十四, 六百八十一 to 681, 二千二十七 to 2027). In this task, questions and answers are written for Chinese‐Arabic conversion. We reported that the RDST‐J could distinguish subjects with Alzheimers disease with a Clinical Dementia Rating Scale score of 0.5 from controls. In this study, we investigated the impact of changing the task to a hiragana‐Arabic conversion.

Detailed analysis of the Japanese version of the Rapid Dementia Screening Test, revised version

The number‐transcoding task on the Japanese version of the Rapid Dementia Screening Test (RDST‐J) requires mutual conversion between Arabic and Chinese numerals (209 to 二百九, 4054 to 四千五十四, 六百八十一 to 681, 二千二十七 to 2027). In this task, question and answer styles of Chinese numerals are written horizontally. We investigated the impact of changing the task so that Chinese numerals are written vertically.