Background
Although memory and cognitive declines are associated with normal brain aging, they may also be precursors to dementia.
Objective
We aim to offer a novel approach to prevent or slow the progress of neurodegenerative dementia, or plausibly, improve the cognitive functions of individuals with dementia.
Methods
We will recruit and enroll 75 participants (older than 50 years old with either mild cognitive impairment or probable early or moderate dementia) for this double-blind randomized controlled study to estimate the efficacy of active transcranial alternating current stimulation with cognitive treatment (in comparison with sham transcranial alternating current stimulation). This will be a crossover study; a cycle consists of sham or active treatment for a period of 4 weeks (5 days per week, in two 30-minute sessions with a half-hour break in between), and participants are randomized into 2 groups, with stratification by age, sex, and cognitive level (measured with the Montreal Cognitive Assessment). Outcomes will be assessed before and after each treatment cycle. The primary outcomes are changes in Wechsler Memory Scale Older Adult Battery and Alzheimer Disease Assessment Scale scores. Secondary outcomes are changes in performance on tests of frontal lobe functioning (verbal fluency), neuropsychiatric symptoms (Neuropsychiatric Inventory Questionnaire), mood changes (Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale), and short-term recall (visual 1-back task). Exploratory outcome measures will also be assessed: static and dynamic vestibular response using electrovestibulography, neuronal changes using functional near-infrared spectroscopy, and change in spatial orientation using virtual reality navigation.
Results
As of February 10, 2022, the study is ongoing: 7 patients have been screened, and all were deemed eligible for and enrolled in the study; 4 participants have completed baseline assessments.
Conclusions
We anticipate that transcranial alternating current stimulation will be a well-tolerated treatment, with no serious side effects and with considerable short- and long-term cognitive improvements.
Trial Registration
Clinicaltrials.gov NCT05203523; https://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT05203523
International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)
DERR1-10.2196/37282
The human body is comprised of a series of pressurized vessels, including muscles, organs, abdominal and thoracic compartments. One such vessel is the intra-abdominal volume, or volume contained by the peritoneum, pressurized by intra-abdominal pressure (IAP). Existing clinically-accepted IAP measurement techniques are invasive and not inter-rater reliable. As such, it is the effort of this research to develop a direct, non-invasive, handheld tool to measure internal pressures in pressurized, physiological vessels. The novel device uses a localized known pressure (namely aspiration) to measure resulting tissue deformation, from which internal pressures can be divulged considering the extended Hencky solution. Two male participants were tested to validate the theoretical device function for IAP measurement. Participants' Young's moduli of the abdominal wall were calculated with measured IAP values. Results were consistent with participant body mass indices and overall health. Average measured IAP was 0.42 kPa and 0.46 kPa at supine and inclined positions, respectively. Average measured abdominal wall elasticity was 14.91 kPa and 23.09 kPa at supine and inclined positions, respectively. These preliminary findings suggest the potential use of the device described herein as a measurement system for pressurized vessels, whereas the system will be tested on a larger sample size before recommending clinical use.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.