Your search for: 'author:("Scaricamazza, Eugenia")' has returned 4 results. (0.011s) Save search

Authors: Gainotti, Guido | Spinelli, Pietro | Scaricamazza, Eugenia | Marra, Camillo

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: The mechanisms subsuming the brain organization of categories and the corresponding gender related asymmetries are controversial. Some authors believe that the brain organization of categories is innate, whereas other authors maintain that it is shaped by experience. According to these interpretations, gender-related asymmetries should respectively be inborn or result from the influence of social roles. In a previous study, assessing the familiarity of young students with different 'biological' and 'artefact' categories, we had observed no gender-related difference on any of these categories. Since these data could be due to the fact that our students belonged to a generation in which …the traditional social roles have almost completely disappeared, we predicted that gender-related asymmetries should be found in older men and women. The familiarity of young and elderly men and women with various semantic categories was, therefore, studied presenting in the verbal and pictorial modality different kinds of living and artefact categories. Results confirmed the hypothesis, because elderly women showed a greater familiarity for flowers and elderly men for animals. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis assuming that gender-related asymmetries for different semantic categories is due to the influence of gender-related social roles. Show more

Keywords: Semantic categories, gender-related asymmetries, living beings, familiarity ratings, social roles

DOI: 10.3233/BEN-120277

Citation: Behavioural Neurology, vol. 27, no. 2, pp. 175-181, 2013

Authors: Marra, Camillo | Gainotti, Guido | Fadda, Lucia | Perri, Roberta | Lacidogna, Giordano | Scaricamazza, Eugenia | Piccininni, Chiara | Quaranta, Davide

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: Taking into the account both the severity and the consistency of performances obtained on memory tests by patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) could improve the power to predict their progression to Alzheimer’s disease. For this purpose, we constructed the Episodic Memory Score (EMS), which is obtained by subdividing in tertiles performances obtained at baseline in verbal (RAVLT) and visual episodic memory (Rey-Osterrieth Figure-delayed recall) and giving a score ranging from 1 (worst result) to 3 (best result) to results falling within each tertile. The EMS was computed for each patient by summing the tertile score obtained on each …memory task, so that the total score ranged from 4 (worst performance) to 12 (best performance). The aMCI sample consisted of 198 subjects who completed the two-year follow-up, at the end of which 55 subjects had converted to dementia. The mean EMS score obtained by aMCI converters was significantly lower than that of aMCI-stable patients. In detecting conversion to dementia, the comparison between EMS and individual memory scores obtained at baseline was made by computing ROC curves, and estimating the respective area under the curve (AUC). The EMS had a larger AUC than the individual memory scores. At baseline aMCI converters performed worse than non-converters not only on memory tasks, but also on executive functions tasks. However, in a multiple variables logistic regression analysis in which all scores showing statistically significant differences between aMCI-converters and aMCI-stable were entered, the EMS was the only reliable predictor of progression from aMCI to dementia. Show more

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease, amnestic mild cognitive impairment, conversion, integration of memory scores, neuropsychological markers, Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure delayed reproduction, verbal immediate and delayed recall

DOI: 10.3233/JAD-150613

Citation: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, vol. 50, no. 1, pp. 61-70, 2016

Authors: Vita, Maria Gabriella | Marra, Camillo | Spinelli, Pietro | Caprara, Alessia | Scaricamazza, Eugenia | Castelli, Diana | Canulli, Serena | Gainotti, Guido | Quaranta, Davide

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: Semantic and, to a lesser extent, phonological verbal fluency tasks are impaired in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and in amnesic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI). Furthermore, both fluency tasks have been considered as possible markers of conversion from aMCI to AD. Up to recent years, the use of fluency tasks has been limited to word count, but, more recently, linguistic variables, such as word frequency, age of acquisition, familiarity, and typicality, have also been considered. In particular, attention has been focused on typicality of words produced on semantic verbal fluency tasks, because the tendency to produce only the more typical members of …various categories points to an impoverishment of semantic memory. The aim of our study was to compare in aMCI, AD, and control subjects a lexical (word frequency) and a lexical-semantic variable (item typicality) in a semantic verbal fluency task, and to evaluate the possible value of these variables in predicting conversion from aMCI to AD during a 2 years follow-up period. We found no difference in mean typicality of words produced by aMCI and AD subjects whereas both groups produced words of higher mean typicality than control subjects. Furthermore, to assess the relationship between typicality values and risk of conversion to AD, the aMCI group was split in two subgroups, including subjects who obtained a mean typicality value lower or higher than the median value of the whole aMCI group. Consistent with our hypothesis, conversion to AD was significantly more frequent in high typicality than in low typicality subjects. Show more

Keywords: Alzheimer's disease, frequency of use, mild cognitive impairment, semantic disturbance, semantic fluency, typicality

DOI: 10.3233/JAD-140570

Citation: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, vol. 42, no. 4, pp. 1171-1178, 2014

Authors: Motta, Caterina | Finardi, Annamaria | Toniolo, Sofia | Di Lorenzo, Francesco | Scaricamazza, Eugenia | Loizzo, Stefano | Mercuri, Nicola Biagio | Furlan, Roberto | Koch, Giacomo | Martorana, Alessandro

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: Background: Neuroinflammatory cytokines can play a pivotal role in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) contributing to the evolution of degenerative processes. Objective: We aimed at evaluating the levels of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) inflammatory cytokines, chemokines, and growth factors in subjects with diagnosis of amnestic mild cognitive impairment and mild AD. Methods: We evaluated CSF contents of inflammatory cytokines in 66 patients divided according to the NIA-AA research framework and the APOE genotype. CSF of a group of cognitively unimpaired individuals (n  = 23) was evaluated as control. All patients were evaluated for 24 months using Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Results: We found significant …increased levels of IL-4, IL-6, IL-8, and G-CSF in the CSF of A+/T–APOE4 carriers, respect to A+/T–patients homozygous for APOE3 , respect to A+/T+ patients, regardless the APOE status, and respect to controls. Over a period of 24 months, A+/T–APOE4 carriers, with increased levels of cytokines, showed a preserved cognitive evaluation when compared to the other subgroups of patients (delta MMSE at 24 months respect to baseline: 0.10±0.35; p  < 0.05). Conclusion: Our data suggest that during early phases of AD, in APOE4 carriers, Aβ pathology likely induces a specific cytokines pattern synthesis associated to cognitive preservation. These data highlight the different role that neuroinflammation can play in AD pathology based on the presence of specific CSF biomarkers and on the APOE status. Show more

Keywords: Amyloid-β 42, APOE, cognitive decline, G-CSF, interleukins, tau

DOI: 10.3233/JAD-191250

Citation: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, vol. 76, no. 2, pp. 681-689, 2020