Cognitive Neurology

Question 1

what is cognition?

Answer 1

mental action of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience and the senses

Question 2

what process are encompassed by cognition?

Answer 2

attention

social functioning

language

learning and memory

Question 3

diagnosis of dementia needs evidence of decline in how many cognitive areas?

Answer 3

at least one

Question 4

what acute disorders can cause cognitive decline?

Answer 4

viral encephalitis

head injury

stroke

Question 5

describe transient global amnesia

Answer 5

difficulty in laying down new memories

settles within 24 hours

Question 6

transient global amnesia is common in which population?q

Answer 6

retirement

thought to be related to emotional change/trauma

Question 7

which cognitive disorder is assoc w temporal lobe seizures?

Answer 7

transient epileptic amnesia

Question 8

how long does transient epielptic amnesia generally last?

Answer 8

20-30mins

should repsond to anti epileptic medication

Question 9

which subacute disorders can cause cogtinive decline?

Answer 9

alocohol

CO

neurodegeneration

metabolic

infection/inflammatory

Question 10

what is functional cognitive disorder?

Answer 10

everyday forgetfullness that has an impact on functioning

(sympoms can flutuate but not attributed to any specific cognitive disorder)

Question 11

what are some examples of ‘forgetfullness’ seen in functional cognitve disorder?

Answer 11

losing keys and wallet

forgetting car journeys

losing track of conversations

Question 12

what is prion disease?

Answer 12

group of progressive neurodegenerative conditions

prion protein causes abnornal folding of proteins within the brain

Question 13

what is the most common type of prion disease?

Answer 13

Creutsfeldt-Jakob disease

Question 14

is creutz-jakob disease fatal?

Answer 14

yes

onset around 60 and usually die within a year

Question 15

what are gradual onset disorders that cause cognitive decline?

Answer 15

alzheimer’s

frontotemproal dementia

vascualr dementia

dementia w lewy bodies

parkinsons

huntingtons

Question 16

what protein is present in alzheimers disease?

Answer 16

amyloid plaques → present w forgetfullness

Question 17

what is an unusual presentation of alzheimers?

Answer 17

posterior cortical atrophy- visuospatial distrubance

commonly referred from ophthalmology

Question 18

what is teh age of onset of frontotemproal dementia?

Answer 18

<65yrs

Question 19

what causes damage in frontotemproal dementia?

Answer 19

protein aggregation leads to cell damage

Question 20

what are early frontal features of frontotemporal dementia?

Answer 20

disinhibition (no filter)

loss of empathy

compulsive beahviours

Question 21

what is the age of onset of vascular dementia?

Answer 21

>65yrs

Question 22

what will be present in vascular dementia?

Answer 22

cerbrovascular disease

Question 23

small vessel disease in vascular dementia casues what symtpoms?

Answer 23

dec in attention

slowed processing

difficulty pallning

trouble understanding

Question 24

dementia w lewy bodies leads to disruption of which pathways?

Answer 24

cholinergic and dopaminergic

Question 25

fluctuating cognition and recurrent well formed visual hallucinations is seen in which type of dementia?

Answer 25

lewy body dementia

Question 26

of frontotmeporal and vascualr dementia, which is early and which is late onset?

Answer 26

early onset = frontotemporal <65yrs

late onset = vascular >65yrs