scholarly journals Cognitive Training in a Large Group of Patients Affected by Early-Stage Alzheimer's Disease can have Long-Lasting Effects: A Case-Control Study

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 182-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Cavallo ◽  
Enrico Zanalda ◽  
Harriet Johnston ◽  
Alessandro Bonansea ◽  
Chiara Angilletta
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Cognitive Training ◽  
Repeated Measures ◽  
Neuropsychological Tests ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Large Group ◽  
Main Effect ◽  
Control Study

Introduction: Cognitive training in Alzheimer's disease (AD) has recently started to demonstrate its efficacy. We used our ‘puzzle-like’ task (GEO) as training for a large group of early-stage AD patients, to detect its effects over time.Method: AD patients (N = 40) and healthy controls (N = 40) were involved. Participants were administered the Geographical Exercises for cognitive Optimization (GEO) task. Participants underwent individual sessions with GEO three times a week for 2 months, and then their performance was recorded again. Lastly, at the 12-month follow-up the GEO task was administered for the last time.Results: Patients’ scores were significantly worse than controls’ scores only on a few neuropsychological tests. We ran a repeated measures GLM by considering groups’ performance on the GEO task at the assessment points. Results showed a significant main effect of group, and a significant effect of the interaction between group and time: patients’ performances both at the end of the training and at the follow-up were virtually identical to controls’ performances.Conclusions: Patients effectively acquired new procedural abilities, and their achievements were stable at follow-up. This study suggests the GEO is a useful strategy for cognitive training in AD, and should prompt further investigations about the degree of generalisability of patients’ acquired skills.

Cognitive Training for Early-Stage Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia

2009 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 23-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fang Yu ◽  
Karen M. Rose ◽  
Sandra C. Burgener ◽  
Cindy Cunningham ◽  
Linda L. Buettner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Cognitive Training ◽  
Early Stage

scholarly journals Effect of a Cognitive Training Program on the Platelet APP Ratio in Patients with Alzheimer’s Disease

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (14) ◽  
pp. 5110
Author(s):  
Tiziana Casoli ◽  
Cinzia Giuli ◽  
Marta Balietti ◽  
Paolo Fabbietti ◽  
Fiorenzo Conti
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Synaptic Plasticity ◽  
Cognitive Training ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Word Fluency ◽  
Clinical Dementia Rating ◽  
Cognitive Improvement ◽  
App Ratio

In patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), synaptic plasticity seems to be involved in cognitive improvement induced by cognitive training. The platelet amyloid precursor protein (APP) ratio (APPr), i.e., the ratio between two APP isoforms, may be a useful peripheral biomarker to investigate synaptic plasticity pathways. This study evaluates the changes in neuropsychological/cognitive performance and APPr induced by cognitive training in AD patients participating in the “My Mind Project”. Neuropsychological/cognitive variables and APPr were evaluated in the trained group (n = 28) before a two-month experimental protocol, immediately after its termination at follow-up 1 (FU1), after 6 months at follow-up 2 (FU2), and after 24 months at follow-up 3 (FU3). The control group (n = 31) received general psychoeducational training for two months. Some memory and attention parameters were significantly improved in trained vs. control patients at FU1 and FU2 compared to baseline (Δ values). At FU3, APPr and Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores decreased in trained patients. Δ APPr correlated significantly with the Δ scores of (i) MMSE at FU1, (ii) the prose memory test at FU2, and (iii) Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL), the semantic word fluency test, Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR), and the attentive matrices test at FU3. Our data demonstrate that the platelet APPr correlates with key clinical variables, thereby proving that it may be a reliable biomarker of brain function in AD patients.

scholarly journals Evaluation of PiB visual interpretation with CSF Aβ and longitudinal SUVR in J-ADNI study

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 108-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yusuke Okada ◽  
◽  
Takashi Kato ◽  
Kaori Iwata ◽  
Yasuyuki Kimura ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Amyloid Pet ◽  
Negative Group ◽  
Visual Interpretation ◽  
Positive Group ◽  
Amyloid Accumulation ◽  
Over Time

Abstract Objective The objectives of the present study were to investigate (1) whether trinary visual interpretation of amyloid positron emission tomography (PET) imaging (negative/equivocal/positive) reflects quantitative amyloid measurements and the time course of 11C-Pittsburgh compound B (PiB) amyloid accumulation, and (2) whether visually equivocal scans represent an early stage of the Alzheimer’s disease (AD) continuum in terms of an intermediate state of quantitative amyloid measurements and the changes in amyloid accumulation over time. Methods From the National Bioscience Database Center Human Database of the Japanese Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, we selected 133 individuals for this study including 33 with Alzheimer’s disease dementia (ADD), 52 with late mild cognitive impairment (LMCI), and 48 cognitively normal (CN) subjects who underwent clinical assessment, PiB PET, and structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with 2 or 3-years of follow-up. Sixty-eight of the 133 individuals underwent cerebrospinal fluid amyloid-β1-42 (CSF-Ab42) analysis at baseline. The standard uptake value ratio (SUVR) of PiB PET was calculated with a method using MRI at each visit. The cross-sectional values, longitudinal changes in SUVR, and baseline CSF-Ab42 were compared among groups, which were categorized based on trinary visual reads of amyloid PET (negative/equivocal/positive). Results From the trinary visual interpretation of the PiB PET images, 55 subjects were negative, 8 were equivocal, and 70 were positive. Negative interpretation was most frequent in the CN group (70.8/10.4/18.8%: negative/equivocal/positive), and positive was most frequent in the LMCI group (34.6/1.9/63.5%) and in the ADD group (9.1/6.1/84.8%). The baseline SUVRs were 1.08 ± 0.06 in the negative group, 1.23 ± 0.15 in the equivocal group, and 1.86 ± 0.31 in the positive group (F = 174.9, p < 0.001). The baseline CSF-Ab42 level was 463 ± 112 pg/mL in the negative group, 383 ± 125 pg/mL in the equivocal group, and 264 ± 69 pg/mL in the positive group (F = 37, p < 0.001). Over the 3-year follow-up, annual changes in SUVR were − 0.00 ± 0.02 in the negative group, 0.02 ± 0.02 in the equivocal group, and 0.04 ± 0.07 in the positive group (F = 8.4, p < 0.001). Conclusions Trinary visual interpretation (negative/equivocal/positive) of amyloid PET imaging reflects quantitative amyloid measurements evaluated with PET and the CSF amyloid test as well as the amyloid accumulation over time evaluated with PET over 3 years. Subjects in the early stage of the AD continuum could be identified with an equivocal scan, because they showed intermediate quantitative amyloid PET, CSF measurements, and the amyloid accumulation over time.

scholarly journals Cognitive training and brain stimulation in prodromal Alzheimer’s disease (AD-Stim)—study protocol for a double-blind randomized controlled phase IIb (monocenter) trial

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Friederike Thams ◽  
Anna Kuzmina ◽  
Malte Backhaus ◽  
Shu-Chen Li ◽  
Ulrike Grittner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Cognitive Decline ◽  
Cognitive Training ◽  
Anodal Tdcs ◽  
Double Blind ◽  
Link Type ◽  
Control Intervention ◽  
Prodromal Ad

Abstract Background Given the growing older population worldwide, and the associated increase in age-related diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD), investigating non-invasive methods to ameliorate or even prevent cognitive decline in prodromal AD is highly relevant. Previous studies suggest transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to be an effective method to boost cognitive performance, especially when applied in combination with cognitive training in healthy older adults. So far, no studies combining tDCS concurrent with an intense multi-session cognitive training in prodromal AD populations have been conducted. Methods The AD-Stim trial is a monocentric, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, including a 3-week tDCS-assisted cognitive training with anodal tDCS over left DLPFC (target intervention), compared to cognitive training plus sham (control intervention). The cognitive training encompasses a letter updating task and a three-stage Markov decision-making task. Forty-six participants with subjective cognitive decline (SCD) or mild cognitive impairment (MCI) will be randomized block-wise to either target or control intervention group and participate in nine interventional visits with additional pre- and post-intervention assessments. Performance in the letter updating task after training and anodal tDCS compared to sham stimulation will be analyzed as primary outcome. Further, performance on the second training task and transfer tasks will be investigated. Two follow-up visits (at 1 and 7 months post-training) will be performed to assess possible maintenance effects. Structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) will be applied before the intervention and at the 7-month follow-up to identify possible neural predictors for successful intervention. Significance With this trial, we aim to provide evidence for tDCS-induced improvements of multi-session cognitive training in participants with SCD and MCI. An improved understanding of tDCS effects on cognitive training performance and neural predictors may help to develop novel approaches to counteract cognitive decline in participants with prodromal AD. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04265378. Registered on 07 February 2020. Retrospectively registered. Protocol version: Based on BB 004/18 version 1.2 (May 17, 2019). Sponsor: University Medicine Greifswald.

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