neurocognitive disorders

Question 1

cognition

Answer 1

operation of the mind including “the mental faculty of knowing, perceiving, recognizing, conceiving, judging, reasoning, and imagining”

primarily intellectual, perceptual but closely integrated with emotional and spiritual values

Question 2

attention

Answer 2

ability to maintain focus on persons, tasks, or happenings in the environment

Question 3

executive functioning

Answer 3

ability to PLAN, make suitable decisions, rely on memory, or respond appropriately to feedback (JUDGMENT)

Question 4

social recognition

Answer 4

ability to recognize, empathize with the EMOTIONS, thoughts, desires, or intentions of others

Question 5

neurocognitive disorders

Answer 5

disorders that impair the brain’s ability to carry out normal cognitive functioning; affect the brain’s ability to function intellectually, emotionally, socially, occupationally

interchangeable with “cognitive disorders”

Question 6

parietal & occipital lobes

Answer 6

attend to stimuli, association with ADLs

Question 7

temporal lobe

Answer 7

identifies stimuli; perceptual and intellectual

Question 8

frontal lobe

Answer 8

plans appropriate response; integration of emotions and values

Question 9

delirium

Answer 9

acute confusion always s/t another condition; syndrome NOT disease

• develops rapidly, fluctuates in intensity, is transient
• disturbance in consciousness and attention
• impairment in cognition

Question 10

sundown syndrome

Answer 10

symptoms and problem behaviors become more pronounced in evening

may occur in both delirium and dementia

Question 11

dementia

Answer 11

serious, major neurocognitive disorder with insidious onset compromised of multiple cognitive deficits

• impairment in MEMORY and COGNITION
• WITHOUT impairment in consciousness

60-90% Alzheimer’s

Question 12

primary dementia

Answer 12

primary encephalopathy

no known cause or cure, progressive and irreversible

80% of dementias irreversible

Question 13

secondary dementia

Answer 13

reversible components typically s/t pathology

Question 14

alzheimer’s disease

Answer 14

begins to damage brain long before symptoms appear; affects processes keeping neurons healthy (communication, metabolism, repair)

• tau protein responsible for stability of microtubules
• destruction/death of cells
• anatomical: neurofibrillary tangles, senile plaques, granulovascular degeneration, brain atrophy

Question 15

beta-amyloid plaques

Answer 15

aka senile plaques; higher amount correlated with degree of mental deterioration in alzheimer’s disease

Question 16

neurofibrillary tangles

Answer 16

found in hippocampus (short-term memory) and often seen in alzheimer’s

Question 17

granulovascular degeneration

Answer 17

filling of brain cells with fluid and granular material seen in alzheimer’s

Question 18

chromosome #19

Answer 18

apolipoprotein E (apoE) manufacture of proteins to help with cholesterol transport in blood stream

E4 - increased risk of alzheimer’s
E2 - decreased risk of alzheimer’s

Question 19

chromosome #21

Answer 19

amyloid precursor protein (APP)

• presence indicating early-onset defect
• associated with beta-amyloid plaques, formation of tau protein results in tangles

Question 20

acetylcholine in alzheimer’s

Answer 20

decreased due to decrease in acetyltransferase, which joins acetyl-CoA to choline to create ACh

Question 21

glutamate in alzheimer’s

Answer 21

increased, resulting in overstimulation of NMDA

- increased intracellular calcium resulting in neuron degeneration, death

Question 22

confabulation

Answer 22

making up of stories or answers to maintain self-esteem when person does not remember

seen in alzheimer’s

Question 23

perseveration

Answer 23

repetition of phrases or behavior eventually seen in alzheimer’s and often intensified in stress

Question 24

aphasia

Answer 24

loss of language ability; progresses with disease

1 of 4 traits of impaired cognitive function seen in alzheimer’s

Question 25

agnosia

Answer 25

loss of sensory ability to recognize objects, sounds, people, body parts

1 of 4 traits of impaired cognitive function seen in alzheimer’s

Question 26

apraxia

Answer 26

loss of purposeful movement in absence of motor or sensory impairment (dressing, walking)

1 of 4 traits of impaired cognitive function seen in alzheimer’s

Question 27

amnesia

Answer 27

memory impairment; gradual deterioration to include both recent and remote memory

1 of 4 traits of impaired cognitive function seen in alzheimer’s

Question 28

alzheimer’s: stage 1

Answer 28

forgetfulness

• not diagnosable
• loss of energy, drive, initiative
• difficulty learning new things
• depression, apathy

Question 29

alzheimer’s: stage 2

Answer 29

confusion

• deterioration becomes evident
• short term memory impairment
• ADL decline, hygiene suffers
• in-home assistance needed

Question 30

alzheimer’s: stage 3

Answer 30

severe, ambulatory dementia

• reasoning, verbal communication poor
• severe agnosia, advanced apraxia, wandering
• ADL losses
• verbal, physical outbursts

Question 31

alzheimer’s: stage 4

Answer 31

late, end stage

• loss of recognition, ability to talk, walk
• agraphia, hyperorality
• forgets how to eat/toilet
• progresses to stupor, coma

Question 32

pseudodementia

Answer 32

cognitive and memory impairment which are usually symptoms of depression (that’s Inott)
- treatable and reversible

also used by health care community to describe disorder that mimics dementia (drug toxicity, metabolic disorders, infections, nutritional deficiencies)