Background
Depression is common among seniors, both cognitively unimpaired (CU) and in individuals with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). Electroencephalography (EEG) event‐related Potentials‐P300 is ...one of the most commonly used electrophysiological parameter associated with cognition. This study aimed to investigate P300 mean amplitude differences between CU individuals and those with MCI, with and without depressive symptoms.
Method
The study included 20 CU individuals with depression CU‐Dep(+), 21 MCI patients MCI‐Dep(+) with depression, 20 CU individuals without depression CU‐Dep(‐) and 22 MCI patients CU‐Dep(‐) without depression. Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) ≥14, was the cut‐off score for classification of Dep (+) or Dep (‐). CU seniors had no significant neurological abnormality or global cognitive impairment. Participants with MCI had cognitive impairment as defined with performances ≥1.5 standard deviations below for age‐and education‐matched controls and with no impairment of daily‐living activities. The ERPs were recorded with a visual classical oddball paradigm, mean P300 amplitudes were measured in the 250‐550ms time window.
Result
The repeated‐measures ANCOVA showed no effect of age and education on P300 but a LOCATION x GROUP interaction F(6,158) = 2.56,p = 0.035) and main GROUP effect F(3,79) = 2.56,p = 0.003). Post‐hoc analysis revealed CU‐Dep(‐) had higher P300 amplitudes than MCI‐Dep(+). Moreover, CU‐Dep(+) had lower P300 amplitudes than CU‐Dep(‐) in frontal electrode location. Although there were no significant results, there were a gradual decline trend from CU‐Dep(‐) to MCI‐Dep(+)(Figure 1., Table 2.).
Conclusion
The current study showed reduced P300 amplitudes in CU and MCI groups with depression as compared to those without depression. The P300 potential may be a useful tool to determine possible changes or impairments due to sub‐threshold depressive symptoms. However, the lack of significant difference between CU‐Dep(‐) and MCI‐Dep(‐) shows us that the P300 amplitude difference may not always be associated with cognitive status, but may also be associated with depressive symptoms. Thus, it is necessary to consider the depressive symptoms of the participants in cognitive EEG studies.
Introduction and Aim
Stroke is the leading cause of disability in adults and the second most common cause of death, at a rate of 11.8% worldwide. The purpose of this study was to examine the ...aetiological, demographic, and clinical characteristics of patients admitted to hospital because of acute strokes.
Materials and Methods
This multicentre study retrieved information for all patients admitted to hospital because of an acute cerebrovascular event over a six‐month period, and sociodemographic, aetiological, and clinical characteristics were recorded.
Results
A total of 1136 patients, 520 of whom were women (45.7%), with a mean age of 70.3 ± 12.8 years, were included in the study. Of these, 967 were diagnosed with ischaemic stroke (IS) (85.1%), 99 with haemorrhagic stroke (HS) (8.7%), and 70 with transient ischaemic attack (6.1%). The most common risk factor for stroke was hypertension (73%). Carotid disease and hyperlipidaemia rates were higher in patients with HS. Numbers of functionally dependent patients with severe neurological status according to the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale and modified Rankin scale were significantly higher in the HS group (P < .001). When IS was classified according to the Trial of Org 10172 in Acute Stroke Treatment, small vessel disease emerged as the most common cause (41%). The most common lesion localisations were the parietal lobe (23%) in the IS group and the thalamus (35.3%) in the HS group. Eighty‐eight patients (7.7%), 62 (6.4%) in the ischaemic subgroup, and 26 (26.3%) in the haemorrhagic subgroup, died within the first month.
Conclusion
Current and accurate evaluations of stroke aetiology are essential for stroke prevention and treatment planning. This study, shows that no change occurred in the aetiology of stroke and epidemiological characteristics and that accurate identification of modifiable stroke risk factors is still a major goal.
Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (AChE-I) are the core treatment of mild to severe Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, the efficacy of AChE-I treatment on electroencephalography (EEG) and cognition ...remains unclear. We aimed to investigate the EEG power and coherence changes, in addition to neuropsychological performance, following a one-year treatment. Nine de-novo AD patients and demographically-matched healthy controls (HC) were included. After baseline assessments, all AD participants started cholinergic therapy. We found that baseline and follow-up gamma power analyzes were similar between groups. Yet, within the AD group after AChE-I intake, individuals with AD displayed higher gamma power compared to their baselines (P < .039). Also, baseline gamma coherence analysis showed lower values in the AD than in HC (P < .048), while these differences disappeared with increased gamma values of AD patients at the follow-up. Within the AD group after AChE-I intake, individuals with AD displayed higher theta and alpha coherence compared to their baselines (all, P < .039). These increased results within the AD group may result from a subclinical epileptiform activity. Even though AChE-I is associated with lower mortality, our results showed a significant effect on EEG power yet can increase the subclinical epileptiform activity. It is essential to be conscious of the seizure risk that treatment may cause.
Many structural and functional tests are used to explore the nature of neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative diseases. Cognitive involvement has become more and more remarkable in many ...neurological and psychiatric diseases. This condition evoked a paradigm shift, and today disorders are addressed from a neuroscientific perspective, including silent symptoms. The spatial resolution of structural studies is lacking and is combined with the unique temporal resolution of EEG methods. In our current clinical practice, EEG does not have definitive diagnostic value in psychiatric disorders, but it helps to make a correct diagnosis by excluding other neurological diseases. However, the use of EEG for research purposes is promising in both groups. In this review; there is up-to-date information on the use of electrophysiological examinations in neurological diseases, especially Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Frontotemporal dementia, and psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, mood disorders, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder, to define the point we have reached in our journey to understand these disorders.
Aim:Cholinesterase inhibitors (ChEIs), such as donepezil and rivastigmine, are used safely in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, the effects of these drugs on the cardiac conduction ...system are not clear. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effect of donepezil and rivastigmine treatment on the cardiac conduction system in comparison with the controls, especially on the QTc interval.Materials and Methods:We retrospectively enrolled 38 consecutive patients with AD, who were prescribed ChEIs for at least 3 months, and age, sex, and comorbidity-matched treatment-naive 37 control subjects. The electrocardiographic (ECG) parameters including heart rate, PR interval, QRS duration, QT interval, and QTc interval were recorded for each patient and control subject.Results:A total of 24 patients were enrolled in the donepezil treatment group, 14 patients in the rivastigmine treatment group, and 37 patients in the control group. Donepezil treatment resulted in significant prolongation in PR interval, QT interval and QTc interval (p=0.027, p=0.001, p=0.023, respectively). Rivastigmine treatment resulted in significant prolongation only in QTc interval (p=0.018). There was no significant difference between the donepezil and rivastigmine treatment groups for all ECG parameters.Conclusion:Donepezil and rivastigmine treatments significantly prolong QTc interval compared to controls in patients with AD. The donepezil treatment also prolongs PR and QT intervals. The donepezil and rivastigmine therapy had comparable effects on the cardiac conduction system.
•Auditory evoked oscillations are demonstrated first time in drug-naïve PD and controls.•Drug-naïve PD group has larger delta, alpha and theta amplitudes than controls.•Impaired dopamine metabolism ...may lead to an increased auditory brain activity in PD.•Decreased habituation process may result in larger oscillatory responses.
Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disorder affecting the function of dopaminergic cells in basal ganglia. Besides the motor symptoms, tremor, and dysfunction of sensory systems. In the literature, there was limited studies which investigates the basic sensorial processing in PD. Therefore, we aimed to establish the sensorial processing of simple auditory stimulations in naïve PD comparing to healthy controls (HC) via delta, theta, and alpha brain oscillatory responses. 12 naïve PD and 12 HC participated to the study. Brain responses recorded via the 64-channel electroencephalography (EEG) system in an electromagnetically and acoustically isolated room. The auditory stimuli (1500 Hz, 60 dB SPL, 500 ms) were delivered to the subjects via a headphone. The inter-stimulus interval was ranged between 2.5–4.5 s. The peak-to-peak maximum amplitudes were measured in the delta, theta and alpha frequency bands on 11 electrodes (including the frontal, central and parietal areas) for the statistical analysis in which one-way ANOVA test was employed for the comparisons between PD and HC. For the delta oscillatory responses, PD group has bigger amplitudes in frontal, central and parietal areas in comparison with HC. For the theta and alpha oscillatory responses, PD group has bigger amplitudes in parietal areas in comparison with HC. As a result, amplitudes of brain oscillatory responses in PD group were significantly bigger than the HC. In this context, decreased inhibitory mechanisms of cortical auditory processing due to the dysfunction of the dopaminergic activity may lead the increased evoked responses in PD group.
Delirium is a common complication developing in elderly patients. Therefore, it is important to diagnose delirium earlier. Family caregivers play an active role in early diagnosis of delirium and ...build a bridge between health professionals and patients. The purpose of this research was to achieve the validity and reliability of the Turkish version of the Informant Assessment of Geriatric Delirium Scale (I-AGeD)..
This is a methodological study. The sample comprised 125 caregivers accepting to participate in the study and offering care to older patients with hip fracture aged ≥60 years. Data were gathered preoperatively and on postoperative days 0, 1 and 2. After achieving the linguistic and content validity of the scale, the known-groups comparison was used to achieve its construct validity. The ROC curve analysis was made to determine the sensitivity and specificity of the scale. Item-total correlations, item analysis based on the difference between the upper 27% and lower 27%, Kuder-Richardson 20 (KR-20) coefficient and parallel forms reliability with the NEECHAM Confusion Scale were adapted to assess discriminant indices of the items in the I-AGeD..
The item-total correlation coefficients of the scale ranged from 0.54 to 0.89 and KR-20 coefficient ranged from 0.09 to 0.91 depending on the measurement times. According to the ROC curve analysis, the sensitivity and specificity of the scale were ≥ 91% and ≥ 96% respectively. The parallel forms reliability analysis showed a highly significant, strong negative relation at each measurement between the I-AGeD and the NEECHAM Confusion Scale. .
The I-AGeD is valid and reliable to diagnose delirium in older Turkish patients in perioperative processes..
Abstract
Background
Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA) is a neurodegenerative syndrome that presents with speech and language impairments and is commonly classified into three variants based on ...varying symptomatology and pathology: semantic (svPPA), nonfluent/ agrammatic (nfvPPA), and logopenic variants (lvPPA). While more than 85% of the world population don’t speak English language as their first or second language, PPA research has largely focused on English speakers. Thus, we may lack adequate understanding to PPA symptoms of typologically different languages. Turkish language is an agglutinative language that commonly combines multiple morphemes in a word. Therefore, Turkish words are frequently high in syllables, morphemes, and words. Repetition test is a frequently used tool to diagnose lvPPA patients by assessing auditory verbal short‐term memory function. However, the capacity for auditory verbal short‐term memory has been known to be influenced by time and morphological structure, which are generally more complex in Turkish. Our study investigates the lexical features critical for repetition task for Turkish language speakers.
Method
In this study, Turkish‐speaking participants are tasked to repeat six lists of words. List 1 and 2 consist of real and pseudo‐words with one morpheme and one word but increasing in syllables; List 3 and 4 comprised of real and pseudo‐words with increasing number of morphemes and syllables; and List 5 and 6 contained words with increasing morphemes, syllables and words. We then studied the performance of cognitively normal and PPA participants when repeating these lists of words and investigated the effect of number of morphemes, syllables and words.
Results
A total of 15 Turkish‐speaking controls and 12 PPA individuals (7 lvPPA, 1 nfvPPA, 4 svPPA) completed the repetition task. Individuals with svPPA and lvPPA scored significantly lower than controls when repeating List 5 and 6 (p = 0.05 and p = 0.03 respectively). Using general linear model, when covarying for number of words, morphemes, and syllable, we found that repetition performance in Turkish‐speaking participants is predicted by the number of words, morphemes, and syllables in both real and pseudo‐word lists.
Conclusion
When designing repetition task for speakers of agglutinative or polysynthetic languages, lexical features such as number of morphemes and syllables might need to be accounted.
