scholarly journals Effects of Dog-Assisted Therapies on Cognitive Mnemonic Capabilities in People Affected by Alzheimer’s Disease

Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 1366
Author(s):  
Fausto Quintavalla ◽  
Simona Cao ◽  
Diana Spinelli ◽  
Paolo Caffarra ◽  
Fiammetta M. Rossi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Companion Animals ◽  
Disease Assessment ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Assessment Tests ◽  
Brief Assessment ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
State Examination

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia in humans and, currently, a valid treatment is lacking. Our goal is to demonstrate the importance and benefits of the relationship with companion animals (considered as co-therapists), intended as a means of facilitating social relations and promoting evident wellbeing in AD patients. The study involved 30 randomly chosen patients with Alzheimer’s disease (group T) and three dogs. The group participated in a total of 24 animal-assisted interventions (AAIs) sessions over a span of 12 weeks, using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Wellness and Cognitive Ability Questionnaire (Brief Assessment Cognition or BAC), and Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale (ADAS) as assessment tests. A second group (group C), consisting of 10 people with AD, was enrolled as control group and underwent the same assessment tests but did not benefit from the presence of the dogs. Tests were carried out at time T0 (before starting sessions), T1 (end of sessions), and T2 (two months after last session). People belonging to group T achieved an overall improvement in their perceived state of wellbeing, even on a cognitive and mnemonic plane. However, two months after the end of the sessions, the test results in people suffering from AD decreased towards the baseline (T0). The study shows how such progress can be achieved through activities based on the relationship with an animal, as long as the animal is a steady presence in the life of the patient receiving the intervention. Dogs involved in other dog-assisted therapies have been found suitable also for assisting patients with AD.

Reality orientation therapy combined with cholinesterase inhibitors in Alzheimer's disease: randomised controlled trial

2005 ◽  
Vol 187 (5) ◽  
pp. 450-455 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graziano Onder ◽  
Orazio Zanetti ◽  
Ezio Giacobini ◽  
Giovanni B. Frisoni ◽  
Luisa Bartorelli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Treatment Group ◽  
Cholinesterase Inhibitors ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Disease Assessment ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Randomised Controlled ◽  
Reality Orientation ◽  
State Examination

BackgroundReality orientation therapy combined with cholinesterase inhibitors has not been evaluated in patients with Alzheimer's disease.AimsTo perform such an evaluation.MethodWe randomly assigned 79 of 156 patients treated with donepezil to receive a reality orientation programme. Caregivers of the treatment group were trained to offer the programme at home 3 days a week, 30 min/day for 25 consecutive weeks, and were invited to stimulate and involve patients in reality-based communication.ResultsThe treatment group showed a slight improvement in Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores (mean change + 0.2, s.e. = 0.4) compared with a decline in the control group (mean change −1.1, s.e. =0.4; P=0.02). Similarly for the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale – Cognition (treatment group mean change +0.4, s.e.=0.8; control group –2.5, s.e.=0.8; P = 0.01). The intervention had an equal effect on cognition in those with mild (MMSE score ⩾20) and moderate (score < 20) dementia. No significant effect was observed for behavioural and functional outcomes.ConclusionsReality orientation enhances the effects of donepezil on cognition in Alzheimer's disease.

Validation of the Hungarian version of Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale – Cognitive Subscale

2012 ◽  
Vol 153 (12) ◽  
pp. 461-466 ◽  
Author(s):  
Magdolna Pákáski ◽  
Gergely Drótos ◽  
Zoltán Janka ◽  
János Kálmán
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Mental State ◽  
Mini Mental State Examination ◽  
Assessment Scale ◽  
Disease Assessment ◽  
Control Subjects ◽  
Cognitive Subscale ◽  
State Examination ◽  
Hungarian Version

The cognitive subscale of the Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale is the most widely used test in the diagnostic and research work of Alzheimer’s disease. Aims: The aim of this study was to validate and investigate reliability of the Hungarian version of the Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale in patients with Alzheimer’s disease and healthy control subjects. Methods: syxty-six patients with mild and moderate Alzheimer’s disease and 47 non-demented control subjects were recruited for the study. The cognitive status was established by the Hungarian version of the Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale and Mini Mental State Examination. Discriminative validity, the relation between age and education and Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale, and the sensitivity and specificity of the test were determined. Results: Both the Mini Mental State Examination and the Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale had significant potential in differentiating between patients with mild and moderate stages of Alzheimer’s disease and control subjects. A very strong negative correlation was established between the scores of the Mini Mental State Examination and the Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale in the Alzheimer’s disease group. The Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale showed slightly negative relationship between education and cognitive performance, whereas a positive correlation between age and Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale scores was detected only in the control group. According to the analysis of the ROC curve, the values of sensitivity and specificity of the Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale were high. Conclusions: The Hungarian version of the Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale was found to be highly reliable and valid and, therefore, the application of this scale can be recommended for the establishment of the clinical stage and follow-up of patients with Alzheimer’s disease. However, the current Hungarian version of the Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale is not sufficient; the list of words and linguistic elements should be selected according to the Hungarian standard in the future. Orv. Hetil., 2012, 153, 461–466.

A Biomarker Combining Imaging and Neuropsychological Assessment for Tracking Early Alzheimer's Disease in Clinical Trials

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. 429-442 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nishant Verma ◽  
S. Natasha Beretvas ◽  
Belen Pascual ◽  
Joseph C. Masdeu ◽  
Mia K. Markey ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Clinical Trials ◽  
Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Latent Variable ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Disease Assessment ◽  
Latent Variable Analysis ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Selection Of

Background: Combining optimized cognitive (Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale- Cognitive subscale, ADAS-Cog) and atrophy markers of Alzheimer's disease for tracking progression in clinical trials may provide greater sensitivity than currently used methods, which have yielded negative results in multiple recent trials. Furthermore, it is critical to clarify the relationship among the subcomponents yielded by cognitive and imaging testing, to address the symptomatic and anatomical variability of Alzheimer's disease. Method: Using latent variable analysis, we thoroughly investigated the relationship between cognitive impairment, as assessed on the ADAS-Cog, and cerebral atrophy. A biomarker was developed for Alzheimer's clinical trials that combines cognitive and atrophy markers. Results: Atrophy within specific brain regions was found to be closely related with impairment in cognitive domains of memory, language, and praxis. The proposed biomarker showed significantly better sensitivity in tracking progression of cognitive impairment than the ADAS-Cog in simulated trials and a real world problem. The biomarker also improved the selection of MCI patients (78.8±4.9% specificity at 80% sensitivity) that will evolve to Alzheimer's disease for clinical trials. Conclusion: The proposed biomarker provides a boost to the efficacy of clinical trials focused in the mild cognitive impairment (MCI) stage by significantly improving the sensitivity to detect treatment effects and improving the selection of MCI patients that will evolve to Alzheimer’s disease.

The Role of Apolipoprotein E ε4 in Early and Late Mild Cognitive Impairment

2021 ◽  
Vol 84 (6) ◽  
pp. 472-480
Author(s):  
Yulin Luo ◽  
Li Tan ◽  
Joseph Therriault ◽  
Hua Zhang ◽  
Ying Gao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Mild Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Apolipoprotein E ◽  
Amyloid Β ◽  
Disease Assessment ◽  
Tau Pathology ◽  
Ε4 Allele ◽  
State Examination

<b><i>Background:</i></b> Apolipoprotein E (<i>APOE</i>) ε4 is highly associated with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). However, the specific influence of <i>APOE</i> ε4 status on tau pathology and cognitive decline in early MCI (EMCI) and late MCI (LMCI) is poorly understood. Our goal was to evaluate the association of <i>APOE</i> ε4 with cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) tau levels and cognition in EMCI and LMCI patients in the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative database, and whether this association was mediated by amyloid-β (Aβ). <b><i>Methods:</i></b> Participants were 269 cognitively normal (CN), 262 EMCI, and 344 LMCI patients. They underwent CSF Aβ42 and tau detection, <i>APOE</i> ε4 genotyping, Mini-Mental State Examination, (MMSE), and Alzheimer’s disease assessment scale (ADAS)-cog assessments. Linear regressions were used to examine the relation of <i>APOE</i> ε4 and CSF tau levels and cognitive scores in persons with and without Aβ deposition (Aβ+ and Aβ−). <b><i>Results:</i></b> The prevalence of <i>APOE</i> ε4 is higher in EMCI and LMCI than in CN (<i>p</i> &#x3c; 0.001 for both), and in LMCI than in EMCI (<i>p</i> = 0.001). <i>APOE</i> ε4 allele was significantly higher in Aβ+ subjects than in Aβ− subjects (<i>p</i> &#x3c; 0.001). Subjects who had a lower CSF Aβ42 level and were <i>APOE</i> ε4-positive experienced higher levels of CSF tau and cognitive scores in EMCI and/or LMCI. <b><i>Conclusions:</i></b> An <i>APOE</i> ε4 allele is associated with increased CSF tau and worse cognition in both EMCI and LMCI, and this association may be mediated by Aβ. We conclude that <i>APOE</i> ε4 may be an important mediator of tau pathology and cognition in the early stages of AD.

scholarly journals Apathy in Alzheimer's disease: Contribution to a clinical view on progression of dementia

2010 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 188-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florindo Stella ◽  
Larissa Pires de Andrade ◽  
Thays Martins Vital ◽  
Flávia Gomes de Melo Coelho ◽  
Carla Manuela Crispim Nascimento ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Mini Mental State Examination ◽  
Cognitive Status ◽  
Clinical Dementia Rating ◽  
Global Deterioration Scale ◽  
Severe Dementia ◽  
Coefficient Corrélation ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
State Examination

Abstract In addition to cognitive impairment, apathy is increasingly recognized as an important neuropsychiatric syndrome in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Aims: To identify the relationship between dementia severity and apathy levels, and to discuss the association of this condition with other psychopathological manifestations in AD patients. Methods: This study involved 15 AD patients (mean age: 77 years; schooling: 4.9 years), with mild, moderate and severe dementia, living in Rio Claro SP, Brazil. Procedures included evaluation of cognitive status by the Mini-Mental State Examination, Clinical Dementia Rating, and Global Deterioration Scale. Apathy syndrome was assessed by the Apathy Evaluation Scale and Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI-apathy domain). Other psychopathological manifestations such as depression were also considered. Results: Patients with more severe dementia presented higher levels of apathy, reinforcing the hypothesis that apathy severity aggravates as the disease progresses. Using the Spearman coefficient correlation an association was identified between the MMSE and Apathy Evaluation Scale (r=0.63; p=0.01), and also between the MMSE and NPI-apathy domain (r=0.81; p=0.01). Associations were also found between the Global Deterioration Scale and Apathy Evaluation Scale (r=0.58; p=0.02), and between the Global Deterioration Scale and NPI-apathy domain (r=0.81; p=0.01). Conclusions: Apathy is a distinct syndrome among patients with AD and increases with global deterioration.

scholarly journals Evaluating Digital Device Technology in Alzheimer's Disease via Artificial Intelligence

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meemansa Sood ◽  
Mohamed Aborageh ◽  
Daniel Domingo-Fernandez ◽  
Robbert Harms ◽  
Thomas Lordick ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Functional Activity Questionnaire ◽  
Diagnostic Benefit ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
State Examination ◽  
Device Technology ◽  
Activity Questionnaire

The use of digital technologies may help to diagnose Alzheimer's Disease (AD) at the pre-symptomatic stage. However, before implementation into clinical practice, digital measures (DMs) need to be evaluated for their diagnostic benefit compared to established questionnaire-based assessments, such as Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Functional Activity Questionnaire (FAQ). We analyzed data from smartphone based virtual reality game and Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI). We employed an Artificial Intelligence (AI) based approach to elucidate the relationship of DMs to MMSE and FAQ. Furthermore, we used Machine Learning (ML) and statistical methods to assess the diagnostic benefit of DMs compared to questionnaire-based scores. We found non-trivial relationships between DMs, MMSE, and FAQ which can be visualized as a complex network. DM showed a better ability to discriminate between different stages of the disease than questionnaire-based methods. Our results indicate that DMs have the potential to act as a crucial measure in the early diagnosis and staging of AD.

The Clinical Analysis of Combined Effects of Huperzine A and Memantine for Alzheimer’s Disease

2011 ◽  
pp. 112-116
Author(s):  
Shouzi Zhang ◽  
Qinyun Li ◽  
Maolong Gao
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Treated Group ◽  
Clinical Analysis ◽  
Huperzine A ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Clinical Effects ◽  
Activity Of Daily Living ◽  
State Examination ◽  
Target Activity

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical effects of a combination of Huperzine A and memantine for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Sixty patients (aged 69 ± 4.5), treated in both outpatient and hospital settings, were divided into two groups, the treated group and the control group. Over 24 weeks of clinical therapy, 30 patients received treatment with Huperzine A (0.2 mg/d), and the other 30 patients received a combination of Huperzine A (0.2 mg/d) and memantine (20 mg/d). Mini-mental State Examination (MMSE) was taken as the main value target. Activity of Daily Living Scale (ADL) and Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) were secondary targets. Results: After 24 weeks, the scores from the MMSE, ADL, and NPI of the treatment group were more improved than those of the control group (P=0.05). Combination treatment with Huperzine A and memantine will be more effective for treating AD than treatment with Huperzine A alone.

Drinking Behavior and Vasopressin Responses to Hyperosmolality in Alzheimer's Disease

1994 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stewart G. Albert ◽  
B. R. S. Nakra ◽  
George T. Grossberg ◽  
Eduardo R. Caminal
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Water Intake ◽  
Drinking Behavior ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Serum Osmolality ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Fluid Restriction ◽  
Global Deterioration Scale ◽  
State Examination

Individuals with Alzheimer's disease (AD) have been shown to have abnormalities in response to fluid restriction. Twelve subjects with AD and ten elderly controls underwent overnight fluid restriction followed by measurement of plasma and urine vasopressin and serum osmolality. Estimates of “thirst” were determined after one hour of ad libitum water intake. All subjects were tested with a Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Global Deterioration Scale (GDS). Individuals with AD had a greater degree of overnight dehydration than the elderly control group (serum osmolality 310 +/−1 vs. 305 +/−1 mosmol/kg, p = 0.02). There was no difference between the groups in the plasma or urinary levels of vasopressin. There was a direct correlation (r = 0.45, p = 0.03) of the amount of water intake as a measure of “thirst” with the MMSE score as a measure of cognitive functioning. Individuals with advanced cognitive impairment may be at risk of dehydration due to loss of protective “thirst” responses with secondary complications of dehydration.

Identification of Serum Biomarkers in Patients with Alzheimer’s Disease by 2D-DIGE Proteomics

Gerontology ◽  
2022 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Xuezhi Zhang ◽  
Wenwen Yu ◽  
Xuelei Cao ◽  
Yongbin Wang ◽  
Chao Zhu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Western Blot ◽  
Mini Mental State Examination ◽  
Serum Biomarkers ◽  
Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Strongly Correlated ◽  
State Examination ◽  
Normal Controls

<b><i>Aim:</i></b> The aim of this study is to identify potential serum biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) for early diagnosis and to evaluate these markers on a large cohort. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> We performed two-dimensional difference gel electrophoresis to compare the serum of AD patients and normal controls. Western blot or enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to identify the expression levels of proteins. <b><i>Results:</i></b> In this study, a total of 13 differentially expressed proteins were identified. Among them, 2 proteins (inter-alpha-trypsin inhibitor heavy chain H4 [ITI-H4], Apolipoprotein A-IV) were validated by Western blot and 4 proteins (Cofilin 2, Tetranectin, Zinc-alpha-2-glycoprotein [AZGP1], Alpha-1-microglobulin/bikunin precursor [AMBP]) were validated by ELISA, respectively. Western blot results showed that the full size of the ITI-H4 protein was increased, while a fragment of ITI-H4 was decreased in AD patients. In contrast, 1 fragment of Apo A-IV was mainly found in control group and rare to be detected in AD patients. On the other hand, ELISA results showed that Cofilin 2, Tetranectin, AZGP1, and AMBP were significantly increased in AD patients, and Cofilin 2 is strongly correlated with the Mini-Mental State Examination scores of the AD patients. Serum Cofilin 2 was unchanged in Parkinson disease patients as compared to the control group, indicating a specific correlation of serum Cofilin 2 with AD. Moreover, Cofilin 2 was increased in both the serum and brain tissue in the APP/PS1 transgenic mice. <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> Our study identified several potential serum biomarkers of AD, including: ITI-H4, ApoA-IV, Cofilin 2, Tetranectin, AZGP1, and AMBP. Cofilin 2 was upregulated in different AD animal models and might play important roles in AD pathology.

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