scholarly journals A Two-Year Treatment of Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment using a Compound Chinese Medicine: A Placebo Controlled Randomized Trial

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Junying Zhang ◽  
Zhen Liu ◽  
Huamin Zhang ◽  
Caishui Yang ◽  
He Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Placebo Group ◽  
Mild Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Chinese Medicine ◽  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Goodness Of Fit ◽  
Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Drug Group ◽  
Therapeutic Effects ◽  
Global Connectivity

Abstract We aimed to investigate the long-term therapeutic effects of a compound Chinese medicine, the Bushen capsule, on cognition and brain connectivity in patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI). Thus, sixty aMCI participants were recruited to this 24-month study and were randomly divided into treatment (30 with a Bushen capsule) and placebo (30 with a placebo capsule) groups. Neuropsychological tests with MMSE and episodic memory as the primary outcomes and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) were analyzed before and after the treatment over 24 month period. In contrast to the placebo group, the drug group presented improved or stable general cognitive function, memory, language and executive function especially the primary outcomes MMSE and episodic memory with Bushen capsule treatment. FMRI results showed increased connectivity in the right precuneus and the global connectivity indexed with goodness of fit (GOF) of the default mode network (DMN) in the drug group and decreased GOF in the placebo group. More importantly, we found the GOF change was positively correlated with changes in MMSE and memory scores after 24 months in the drug group. Over 24 months, treatment with the compound Chinese medicine Bushen capsule can improve multiple domains of cognition and increase the functional local (right precuneus) and global connectivity within the DMN, which are associated with better performance.

scholarly journals Sex differences in cortisol and memory following acute social stress in amnestic mild cognitive impairment

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelly J. Murphy ◽  
Travis E. Hodges ◽  
Paul A.S. Sheppard ◽  
Angela K. Troyer ◽  
Elizabeth Hampson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Mild Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Social Stress ◽  
Spatial Working Memory ◽  
Memory Function ◽  
Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment ◽  
Amci Group ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractObjectiveOlder adults with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) develop Alzheimer’s type dementia approximately ten times faster annually than the normal population. Adrenal hormones are associated with aging and cognition. We investigated the relationship between acute stress, cortisol, and memory function in aMCI with an exploratory analysis of sex.MethodSalivary cortisol was sampled diurnally and during two test sessions, one session with the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST), to explore differences in the relationship between cortisol and memory function in age-normal cognition (NA) and aMCI. Participants with aMCI (n=6 women, 9 men; mean age=75) or similarly aged NA (n=9 women, 7 men, mean age=75) were given tests of episodic, associative, and spatial working memory with a psychosocial stressor (TSST) in the second session.ResultsThe aMCI group performed worse on the memory tests than NA as expected, and males with aMCI had elevated cortisol levels on test days. Immediate episodic memory was enhanced by social stress in NA but not in the aMCI group, indicating that stress-induced alterations in memory are different in individuals with aMCI. High cortisol was associated with impaired performance on episodic memory in aMCI males only. Cortisol in Session 1 moderated the relationship with spatial working memory, whereby higher cortisol was associated with worse performance in NA, but better spatial working memory in aMCI. In addition, effects of aMCI on perceived anxiety in response to stress exposure were moderated by stress-induced cortisol in a sex-specific manner.ConclusionsWe show effects of aMCI on Test Session cortisol levels and effects on perceived anxiety, and stress-induced impairments in memory in males with aMCI in our exploratory sample. Future studies should explore sex as a biological variable as our findings suggests that effects at the confluence of aMCI and stress can be obfuscated without sex as a consideration.

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