Improvements in Cognitive Performance with Computerized Training in Older People with and without Cognitive Impairment: Synergistic Effects of Skills-Focused and Cognitive-Focused Strategies

Omega-3 fatty acids (ω-3FAs), carotenoids, and vitamin E are important constituents of a healthy diet. While they are present in brain tissue, studies have shown that these key nutrients are depleted in individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in comparison to cognitively healthy individuals. Therefore, it is likely that these individuals will benefit from targeted nutritional intervention, given that poor nutrition is one of the many modifiable risk factors for MCI. Evidence to date suggests that these nutritional compounds can work independently to optimize the neurocognitive environment, primarily due to their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. To date, however, no interventional studies have examined the potential synergistic effects of a combination of ω-3FAs, carotenoids and vitamin E on the cognitive function of patients with MCI. Individuals with clinically confirmed MCI consumed an ω-3FA plus carotenoid plus vitamin E formulation or placebo for 12 months. Cognitive performance was determined from tasks that assessed global cognition and episodic memory. Ω-3FAs, carotenoids, and vitamin E were measured in blood. Carotenoid concentrations were also measured in tissue (skin and retina). Individuals consuming the active intervention (n = 6; median [IQR] age 73.5 [69.5–80.5] years; 50% female) exhibited statistically significant improvements (p < 0.05, for all) in tissue carotenoid concentrations, and carotenoid and ω-3FA concentrations in blood. Trends in improvements in episodic memory and global cognition were also observed in this group. In contrast, the placebo group (n = 7; median [IQR] 72 (69.5–75.5) years; 89% female) remained unchanged or worsened for all measurements (p > 0.05). Despite a small sample size, this exploratory study is the first of its kind to identify trends in improved cognitive performance in individuals with MCI following supplementation with ω-3FAs, carotenoids, and vitamin E.

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Cognitive Impairment High Among Older People, Study Suggests

PsycEXTRA Dataset ◽

10.1037/e301692003-001 ◽

2001 ◽

Author(s):

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Impairment ◽

Older People

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Analysis of Functional and Cognitive Impairment in Institutionalized Individuals with Movement Disorders

Endocrine Metabolic & Immune Disorders - Drug Targets ◽

10.2174/1871530319666190311104247 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 19 (7) ◽

pp. 1022-1031 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Paula D. Cebrián ◽

Omar Cauli

Keyword(s):

Parkinson’S Disease ◽

Parkinson's Disease ◽

Cognitive Impairment ◽

Activities Of Daily Living ◽

Cognitive Performance ◽

Functional Impairment ◽

Movement Disorders ◽

Neurological Disorders ◽

Daily Living ◽

Severe Cognitive Impairment

Background: Many neurological disorders lead to institutionalization and can be accompanied in their advanced stages by functional impairment, and progressive loss of mobility, and cognitive alterations. Objective: We analyzed the relationship between functional impairment and cognitive performance and its related subdomains in individuals with Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease accompanied by motor dysfunction, and with other neurological disorders characterized by both motor and cognitive problems. Methods: All participants lived in nursing homes (Valencia, Spain) and underwent cognitive evaluation with the Mini-Mental State Examination; functional assessment of independence in activities of daily living using the Barthel score and Katz index; and assessment of mobility with the elderly mobility scale. Results: The mean age of the subjects was 82.8 ± 0.6 years, 47% of the sample included individuals with Parkinson’s disease, and 48 % of the sample presented severe cognitive impairment. Direct significant relationships were found between the level of cognitive impairment and functional capacity (p < 0.01) and mobility (p < 0.05). Among the different domains, memory impairment was not associated with altered activities of daily living or mobility. The functional impairment and the risk of severe cognitive impairment were significantly (p<0.05) higher in female compared to male patients. Among comorbidities, overweight/obesity and diabetes were significantly (p < 0.05) associated with poor cognitive performance in those individuals with mild/moderate cognitive impairment. Conclusion: In institutionalized individuals with movement disorders there is an association between functional and cognitive impairment. Reduction of over-weight and proper control of diabetes may represent novel targets for improving cognitive function at such early stages.

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Using historical data to facilitate clinical prevention trials in Alzheimer disease? An analysis of longitudinal MCI (mild cognitive impairment) data sets

Alzheimer s Research & Therapy ◽

10.1186/s13195-021-00832-5 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Manfred Berres ◽

Andreas U. Monsch ◽

René Spiegel

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Impairment ◽

Mild Cognitive Impairment ◽

Cognitive Performance ◽

Placebo Treatment ◽

Drug Trial ◽

The Other ◽

Data Sets ◽

Control Groups ◽

Community Needs ◽

Clinical Prevention

Abstract Background The Placebo Group Simulation Approach (PGSA) aims at partially replacing randomized placebo-controlled trials (RPCTs), making use of data from historical control groups in order to decrease the needed number of study participants exposed to lengthy placebo treatment. PGSA algorithms to create virtual control groups were originally derived from mild cognitive impairment (MCI) data of the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) database. To produce more generalizable algorithms, we aimed to compile five different MCI databases in a heuristic manner to create a “standard control algorithm” for use in future clinical trials. Methods We compared data from two North American cohort studies (n=395 and 4328, respectively), one company-sponsored international clinical drug trial (n=831) and two convenience patient samples, one from Germany (n=726), and one from Switzerland (n=1558). Results Despite differences between the five MCI samples regarding inclusion and exclusion criteria, their baseline demographic and cognitive performance data varied less than expected. However, the five samples differed markedly with regard to their subsequent cognitive performance and clinical development: (1) MCI patients from the drug trial did not deteriorate on verbal fluency over 3 years, whereas patients in the other samples did; (2) relatively few patients from the drug trial progressed from MCI to dementia (about 10% after 4 years), in contrast to the other four samples with progression rates over 30%. Conclusion Conventional MCI criteria were insufficient to allow for the creation of well-defined and internationally comparable samples of MCI patients. More recently published criteria for MCI or “MCI due to AD” are unlikely to remedy this situation. The Alzheimer scientific community needs to agree on a standard set of neuropsychological tests including appropriate selection criteria to make MCI a scientifically more useful concept. Patient data from different sources would then be comparable, and the scientific merits of algorithm-based study designs such as the PGSA could be properly assessed.

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Is Tai Chi an effective intervention for enhancing health‐related quality of life in older people with mild cognitive impairment? An interventional study

International Journal of Older People Nursing ◽

10.1111/opn.12400 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Mei‐yi Siu ◽

Diana T. F. Lee

Keyword(s):

Quality Of Life ◽

Cognitive Impairment ◽

Mild Cognitive Impairment ◽

Older People ◽

Tai Chi ◽

Health Related Quality ◽

Interventional Study ◽

Related Quality ◽

Health Related

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Activities of Daily Living and Categorization Skills of Elderly with Cognitive Deficit: A Preliminary Study

Brain Sciences ◽

10.3390/brainsci11020213 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 213

Author(s):

Dulce Romero-Ayuso ◽

Cristian Cuerda ◽

Carmen Morales ◽

Ricardo Tesoriero ◽

José Matías Triviño-Juárez ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Impairment ◽

Older People ◽

Activities Of Daily Living ◽

Daily Living ◽

Deductive Reasoning ◽

Personal Autonomy ◽

Assessment Process ◽

Digital Version ◽

Routine Tasks

Cognitive dysfunction affects the performance of Activities of Daily Living (ADL) and the quality of life of people with these deficits and their caregivers. To the knowledge of the authors, to date, there are few studies that focus on knowing the relationship between personal autonomy and deductive reasoning and/or categorization skills, which are necessary for the performance of the ADL. The aim of this study was to explore the relationships between ADL and categorization skills in older people. The study included 51 participants: 31 patients with cognitive impairment and 20 without cognitive impairment. Two tests were administered to assess cognitive functions: (1) the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA); and (2) the digital version of Riska Object Classification test (ROC-d). In addition, the Routine Tasks Inventory-2 (RTI-2) was applied to determine the level of independence in activities of daily living. People with cognitive impairment performed poorly in categorization tasks with unstructured information (p = 0.006). Also, the results found a high correlation between cognitive functioning and the performance of ADLs (Physical ADL: r = 0.798; p < 0.001; Instrumental ADL: r = 0.740; p < 0.001), a moderate correlation between Physical ADLs and categorization skills (unstructured ROC-d: r = 0.547; p < 0.001; structured ROC-d: r = 0.586; p < 0.001) and Instrumental ADLs and categorization skills in older people (unstructured ROC-d: r = 0.510; p < 0.001; structured ROC-d: r = 0.463; p < 0.001). The ROC-d allows the assessment of categorization skills to be quick and easy, facilitating the assessment process by OT, as well as the accuracy of the data obtained.

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VAMP-2 is a surrogate cerebrospinal fluid marker of Alzheimer-related cognitive impairment in adults with Down syndrome

Alzheimer s Research & Therapy ◽

10.1186/s13195-021-00861-0 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Alberto Lleó ◽

Maria Carmona-Iragui ◽

Laura Videla ◽

Susana Fernández ◽

Bessy Benejam ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cerebrospinal Fluid ◽

Down Syndrome ◽

Cognitive Impairment ◽

Episodic Memory ◽

Cognitive Performance ◽

Synaptic Proteins ◽

Selected Reaction Monitoring ◽

Synaptic Protein ◽

Csf Levels ◽

Syntaxin 1B

Abstract Background There is an urgent need for objective markers of Alzheimer’s disease (AD)-related cognitive impairment in people with Down syndrome (DS) to improve diagnosis, monitor disease progression, and assess response to disease-modifying therapies. Previously, GluA4 and neuronal pentraxin 2 (NPTX2) showed limited potential as cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) markers of cognitive impairment in adults with DS. Here, we compare the CSF profile of a panel of synaptic proteins (Calsyntenin-1, Neuroligin-2, Neurexin-2A, Neurexin-3A, Syntaxin-1B, Thy-1, VAMP-2) to that of NPTX2 and GluA4 in a large cohort of subjects with DS across the preclinical and clinical AD continuum and explore their correlation with cognitive impairment. Methods We quantified the synaptic panel proteins by selected reaction monitoring in CSF from 20 non-trisomic cognitively normal controls (mean age 44) and 80 adults with DS grouped according to clinical AD diagnosis (asymptomatic, prodromal AD or AD dementia). We used regression analyses to determine CSF changes across the AD continuum and explored correlations with age, global cognitive performance (CAMCOG), episodic memory (modified cued-recall test; mCRT) and CSF biomarkers, CSF Aβ42:40 ratio, CSF Aβ1-42, CSF p-tau, and CSF NFL. P values were adjusted for multiple testing. Results In adults with DS, VAMP-2 was the only synaptic protein to correlate with episodic memory (delayed recall adj.p = .04) and age (adj.p = .0008) and was the best correlate of CSF Aβ42:40 (adj.p = .0001), p-tau (adj.p < .0001), and NFL (adj.p < .0001). Compared to controls, mean VAMP-2 levels were lower in asymptomatic adults with DS only (adj.p = .02). CSF levels of Neurexin-3A, Thy-1, Neurexin-2A, Calysntenin-1, Neuroligin-2, GluA4, and Syntaxin-1B all strongly correlated with NPTX2 (p < .0001), which was the only synaptic protein to show reduced CSF levels in DS at all AD stages compared to controls (adj.p < .002). Conclusion These data show proof-of-concept for CSF VAMP-2 as a potential marker of synapse degeneration that correlates with CSF AD and axonal degeneration markers and cognitive performance.

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The role of lipoprotein profile in depression and cognitive performance: a network analysis

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-020-77782-9 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Qiu-fang Jia ◽

Han-xue Yang ◽

Nan-nan Zhuang ◽

Xu-yuan Yin ◽

Zhen-hua Zhu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Impairment ◽

Network Analysis ◽

High Density Lipoprotein ◽

Lipid Profile ◽

Cognitive Performance ◽

Serum Lipid ◽

Density Lipoprotein ◽

Lipoprotein Profile ◽

Depressive State

AbstractLipid profile (total cholesterol and lipoprotein fractions) has been found to correlate with depression and cognitive impairment across the lifespan. However, the role of lipid levels in self-rated depressive state and cognitive impairment remains unclear. In this study, we examined the relationship between lipid profile (total cholesterol, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol) and cognition in adults with and without self-rated depression. Four hundred and thirty-eight healthy participants completed the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS), the Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS), and a serum lipoprotein test. Using multivariate ANOVA, partial correlation and network analysis, a network linking lipoprotein profile, depressive state and cognition was constructed. A significant difference in serum lipid profile between the high and low depressive groups was detected. Depressive state had a strong negative correlation with cognitive performance. Of the lipid profile, only high-density lipoprotein was positively correlated with depressive symptom severity, whereas the other three indices showed negative correlation with both depressive state and cognitive performance. Our results suggest that serum lipid profile may be directly linked to self-rated depression and cognitive performance. Further studies recruiting larger clinical samples are needed to elucidate the specific effect of lipoprotein on cognitive impairment in mood disorder.

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