We first reviewed previous research about alexia and agraphia of kana and kanji and highlighted the reading and writing disorders related to Japanese letter properties. Next, we referred the awarded article, which reported a case of a retired accountant who developed alexia specific to single kana (syllabogram) letters after a cerebral infarction in the left medial occipitotemporal region. Finally, we established a neuropsychological role in rehabilitation for alexia and agraphia.

Diagnostic criteria for Alzheimer's disease (AD) has been established mainly based on the clinical features and the exclusion of other types of dementia. New technologies such as biomarkers and molecular imaging have enabled to estimate the pathological changes occurring in patients with AD. Thus, combination of clinical symptoms and biomarker findings have been incorporated into recent diagnostic criteria provided by NIA-AA (2011) and IWG-2 working groups (2014). Recently, research framework criteria (2018) was proposed to understand AD predominantly from the viewpoint of biomarker changes independently from the clinical status. Here, a paradigm shift in diagnostic approach to AD emerged by use of biomarkers is discussed.

Cerebrovascular disease, which are the main cause of higher brain dysfunction, are increasing with the rapid aging in our country and are the leading disease that require nursing care. Knowing the current state of acute-phase treatment is useful for rehabilitation approaches and predicting the course of symptoms. Since the beginning of this century, the treatment modality has dramatically changed with the progress of various medical devices, and as a result, the improvement of the outcome has been realized. Multidisciplinary team medical care has become indispensable for recovery from illness especially for nutrition therapy, and cerebrovascular diseases are no exception. In this article, we introduce the current status of them.