Diagnosis and treatment of senile dementia : with 54 tables

Senile dementia is one of the major health problems confronting mankind in this century. To some extent the problem has, of course, always existed. The condition was sufficiently troubling to classical philosophers and jurists to have apparently provoked comments by Solon in approximately 500 B. C. and Plato in the fourth century B. C. (Plutarch 1967 translation; Plato 1921 translation). Medical recognition can be traced at least as far back as the second century A. D. (Adams 1861). However, several factors have converged in this century to extend the absolute dimensions of the problem of senile dementia and to increase societal, medical, and scientific recogni­ tion of the magnitude of the condition. Perhaps the most important factor relating to the present importance of senile dementia is demographic. Although the human population has been increasing since the mid-eighteenth century, it has only been since the advent of the twentieth century that a decrease in mortality has been noted for those over the age of 45 (McKeown 1976). Consequently, the absolute number of aged persons and the proportion of increasingly aged persons in the populations of the world's industrial nations have been steadily increasing. For example, in the United States, 4% ofthe population was over the age of 65 in 1900. In the 1970 census, this proportion had grown to 10%. Front Matter....Pages I-XX Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Future of Psychogeriatrics: A Multidisciplinary Approach with Applications for Clinical Practice....Pages 3-13 Front Matter....Pages 15-15 What is New and what is Necessary in Dementia Research?....Pages 17-20 Front Matter....Pages 21-21 Epidemiological Study on Age-Associated Dementia in Japan....Pages 23-32 Risk Factors for Dementia: A Review of Hypotheses and Current Epidemiological Evidence....Pages 33-42 Front Matter....Pages 43-43 Alzheimer’s Disease — Histopathological, Neurochemical and Molecular Biological Aspects....Pages 45-53 Neurochemistry of Dementia: Clinical Pathological Relationships....Pages 54-59 Front Matter....Pages 61-61 Depression Versus Dementia: Further Evidence from the Liverpool Outcome Studies....Pages 63-71 Age-Associated Memory Impairment, Benign Forgetfulness and Dementia....Pages 72-82 Current Problems in the Clinical Diagnosis of Vascular Dementia....Pages 83-89 Affective Disorders in Elderly and Dementing Patients....Pages 90-125 Front Matter....Pages 127-127 Psychological and Cognitive Factors in Psychogeriatric Memory Assessment....Pages 129-141 Essentials of Psychological Assessment of the Mentally Ill Elderly: Mild Cognitive Impairment and the Issue of Plasticity....Pages 142-148 Psychological Methods for the Assessment of Performance and Emotionality in Elderly Patients....Pages 149-163 The SKT — A Short Cognitive Performance Test as an Instrument for the Assessment of Clinical Efficacy of Cognition Enhancers....Pages 164-174 Front Matter....Pages 175-175 Early Diagnosis of Dementias....Pages 177-192 Symptomatic Changes in CNS Aging and Dementia of the Alzheimer Type: Cross-sectional, Temporal, and Remediable Concomitants....Pages 193-223 Diagnosis and Treatment of Senile Dementia: Early Diagnosis and Differential Diagnosis....Pages 224-233 Strategies for Treating Alzheimer’s Disease and Age-Associated Memory Impairment....Pages 234-242 The Use of Positron Emission Tomography in the Early Diagnosis of Senile Dementia....Pages 243-258 Front Matter....Pages 259-259 Molecular Pharmacology of Calcium Channel Modulation....Pages 263-275 Front Matter....Pages 259-259 Calcium Homeostasis in Brain Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease....Pages 276-287 Nimodipine and Neural Plasticity....Pages 288-294 Old Rats as an Animal Model for Senile Dementia: Behavioural Effects of Nimodipine....Pages 295-307 Transfer of Nimodipine and Another Calcium Antagonist Across the Blood-Brain Barrier and Their Regional Distribution In Vivo....Pages 308-321 Tissue and Cellular Protective Effects of Nimodipine....Pages 322-335 Therapeutic Efficacy of Nootropic Drugs — A Discussion of Clinical Phase III Studies with Nimodipine as a Model....Pages 339-349 Therapeutic Results with Nimodipine in Primary Degenerative Dementia and Multi-Infarct Dementia....Pages 350-359 Nimodipine Treatment Improves Cognitive Functions in Vascular Dementia....Pages 360-365 Nimodipine in the Treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease....Pages 366-373 Nimodipine for Psychogeriatric Use: Methods, Strategies, and Considerations Based on Experience with Clinical Trials....Pages 374-381 Back Matter....Pages 383-389