Subjective Cognitive Decline and its Relation to Verbal Memory and Sex in Cognitively Unimpaired Individuals from a Colombian Cohort with Autosomal-Dominant Alzheimer’s Disease

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Jairo E. Martinez ◽  
Enmanuelle Pardilla-Delgado ◽  
Edmarie Guzmán-Vélez ◽  
Clara Vila-Castelar ◽  
Rebecca Amariglio ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Sex Differences ◽  
Cognitive Decline ◽  
Verbal Memory ◽  
Autosomal Dominant ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Subjective Cognitive Decline ◽  
Mutation Carriers ◽  
Study Partner

Abstract Objective: Subjective Cognitive Decline (SCD) may be an early indicator of risk for Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Findings regarding sex differences in SCD are inconsistent. Studying sex differences in SCD within cognitively unimpaired individuals with autosomal-dominant AD (ADAD), who will develop dementia, may inform sex-related SCD variations in preclinical AD. We examined sex differences in SCD within cognitively unimpaired mutation carriers from the world’s largest ADAD kindred and sex differences in the relationship between SCD and memory performance. Methods: We included 310 cognitively unimpaired Presenilin-1 (PSEN-1) E280A mutation carriers (51% females) and 1998 noncarrier family members (56% females) in the study. Subjects and their study partners completed SCD questionnaires and the CERAD word list delayed recall test. ANCOVAs were conducted to examine group differences in SCD, sex, and memory performance. In carriers, partial correlations were used to examine associations between SCD and memory performance covarying for education. Results: Females in both groups had greater self-reported and study partner-reported SCD than males (all p < 0.001). In female mutation carriers, greater self-reported (p = 0.02) and study partner-reported SCD (p < 0.001) were associated with worse verbal memory. In male mutation carriers, greater self-reported (p = 0.03), but not study partner-reported SCD (p = 0.11) was associated with worse verbal memory. Conclusions: Study partner-reported SCD may be a stronger indicator of memory decline in females versus males in individuals at risk for developing dementia. Future studies with independent samples and preclinical trials should consider sex differences when recruiting based on SCD criteria.

scholarly journals Toward Personalizing Alzheimer’s Disease Therapy Using an Intelligent Cognitive Control System

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamdi Ben Abdessalem ◽  
Claude Frasson
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Control System ◽  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Cognitive Decline ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Emotional Reactions ◽  
Subjective Cognitive Decline ◽  
Disease Therapy

Subjective cognitive decline is an early state of Alzheimer’s Disease which affects almost 10 million people every year. It results from negative emotions such as frustration which are more present than healthy adults. For this reason, our work focuses on relaxing subjective cognitive decline patients using virtual reality environments to improve their memory performance. We proposed in our previous work a neurofeedback approach which adapts the virtual environment to each patient according to their emotions using a Neural Agent. We found that the Neural Agent can adapt the environment to each participant but have limitations. This work is a continuation of our approach in which we propose a Limbic Agent able to monitor the interactions between the Neural Agent and patients’ emotional reactions, learn from these interactions, and modify the Neural Agent in order to enhance the adaptation to each patient with an Intelligent Cognitive Control System. Our goal is to create a system able to support the Limbic System which is the main area in charge of controlling emotions and creating memory in the human brain. We used data collected form our previous work to train the Limbic Agent and results showed that the agent is capable of modifying the weight of existing rules, generating new intervention rules, and predicting if they will work or not.

scholarly journals Prefrontal GABA Levels Correlate with Memory in Older Adults at High Risk for Alzheimer’s Disease

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Geetanjali Murari ◽  
Darren Ri-Sheng Liang ◽  
Aliya Ali ◽  
Frankie Chan ◽  
Mirjam Mulder-Heijstra ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Verbal Memory ◽  
Memory Performance ◽  
Verbal Learning ◽  
Subjective Cognitive Decline ◽  
Resonance Spectroscopy ◽  
Gaba A ◽  
Inhibitory Neurotransmitter ◽  
Nonverbal Memory

Abstract γ-Aminobutyric acid (GABA), a primary inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain, plays a significant role in aging and in neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease (AD). We investigated the relationship between GABA levels in the dorsomedial/dorsoanterolateral prefrontal cortex (DM/DA-PFC) and memory in high-AD risk participants. Thirty-eight participants (14 Cognitively Normal [CN], 11 with Subjective Cognitive Decline (SCD), and 13 Mild Cognitive Impairment [MCI]) underwent magnetic resonance spectroscopy at 3 Tesla. SCD and MCI participants were grouped together to form a single high-AD risk group (N = 24) for the purposes of statistical analyses. Partial correlations of GABA+/Cr level with verbal memory, assessed on California Verbal Learning Test-II, and nonverbal memory, assessed on Brief Visuospatial Memory Test and Rey-Osterrieth test, were examined separately within the high-AD risk and CN groups. GABA+/Cr levels were positively correlated with long-delayed verbal memory (r = 0.69, P = 0.009) and immediate nonverbal memory (r = 0.97, P = 0.03) in high-AD risk, but not in CN participants. These results remained significant after controlling for depression. These preliminary findings, which require replication due to the limited sample sizes, are the first report of an association between GABA+/Cr levels within the DM/DA-PFC and memory performance in high-AD risk individuals.

Subjective Spatial Navigation Complaints - A Frequent Symptom Reported by Patients with Subjective Cognitive Decline, Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer's Disease

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 219-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiri Cerman ◽  
Ross Andel ◽  
Jan Laczo ◽  
Martin Vyhnalek ◽  
Zuzana Nedelska ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Mild Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Cognitive Decline ◽  
Spatial Navigation ◽  
Subjective Cognitive Decline ◽  
Great Effort ◽  
Frequent Symptom ◽  
Normal Controls

Background: Great effort has been put into developing simple and feasible tools capable to detect Alzheimer's disease (AD) in its early clinical stage. Spatial navigation impairment occurs very early in AD and is detectable even in the stage of mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Objective: The aim was to describe the frequency of self-reported spatial navigation complaints in patients with subjective cognitive decline (SCD), amnestic and non-amnestic MCI (aMCI, naMCI) and AD dementia and to assess whether a simple questionnaire based on these complaints may be used to detect early AD. Method: In total 184 subjects: patients with aMCI (n=61), naMCI (n=27), SCD (n=63), dementia due to AD (n=20) and normal controls (n=13) were recruited. The subjects underwent neuropsychological examination and were administered a questionnaire addressing spatial navigation complaints. Responses to the 15 items questionnaire were scaled into four categories (no, minor, moderate and major complaints). Results: 55% of patients with aMCI, 64% with naMCI, 68% with SCD and 72% with AD complained about their spatial navigation. 38-61% of these complaints were moderate or major. Only 33% normal controls expressed complaints and none was ranked as moderate or major. The SCD, aMCI and AD dementia patients were more likely to express complaints than normal controls (p's<0.050) after adjusting for age, education, sex, depressive symptoms (OR for SCD=4.00, aMCI=3.90, AD dementia=7.02) or anxiety (OR for SCD=3.59, aMCI=3.64, AD dementia=6.41). Conclusion: Spatial navigation complaints are a frequent symptom not only in AD, but also in SCD and aMCI and can potentially be detected by a simple and inexpensive questionnaire.

scholarly journals Assessing visuo-constructive functions in patients with subjective cognitive decline, mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease with the Vienna Visuo-Constructional Test 3.0 (VVT 3.0)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noel Valencia ◽  
Johann Lehrner
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Mild Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Cognitive Decline ◽  
Multinomial Logistic Regression ◽  
Subjective Cognitive Decline ◽  
Healthy Controls ◽  
Considerable Potential ◽  
Multinomial Logistic Regression Analysis

Summary Background Visuo-Constructive functions have considerable potential for the early diagnosis and monitoring of disease progression in Alzheimer’s disease. Objectives Using the Vienna Visuo-Constructional Test 3.0 (VVT 3.0), we measured visuo-constructive functions in subjective cognitive decline (SCD), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and healthy controls to determine whether VVT performance can be used to distinguish these groups. Materials and methods Data of 671 participants was analyzed comparing scores across diagnostic groups and exploring associations with relevant clinical variables. Predictive validity was assessed using Receiver Operator Characteristic curves and multinomial logistic regression analysis. Results We found significant differences between AD and the other groups. Identification of cases suffering from visuo-constructive impairment was possible using VVT scores, but these did not permit classification into diagnostic subgroups. Conclusions In summary, VVT scores are useful indicators for visuo-constructive impairment but face challenges when attempting to discriminate between several diagnostic groups.

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