Active clinical trials for "Cognitive Dysfunction"

Cognitive outcome (delirium and post-operative cognitive deficiency) in patients undergoing two-time liver resection.

A monocentric prospective open study to evaluate the frequency and nature of cognitive complications in the 3rd month post pulmonary transplant.

This study may determine the incidence of complications that occur after patients undergo a surgery called Carotid Endarterectomy (CEA), which is a surgery that aims to decrease the risk of strokes in patients with a condition called carotid stenosis. Medical records will be accessed to find any information pertaining to postoperative complications. Additionally, it may determine the cognitive dysfunction of patients undergoing CEA, assessed by Mini Mental Status Examination (MMSE).

Older people are a rapidly growing proportion of the world's population and their number is expected to increase twofold by 2050. When these people become patients that require surgery, they are at particular high risk for postoperative delirium (POD), which is associated with longer hospital stays, higher costs, risk for delayed complications and cognitive dysfunction (POCD). Having suffered an episode of delirium is furthermore a predictor of long-term care dependency. Despite these risks, an increasing number of elderly undergo major elective surgery. This is reflected by the frequency of elective spinal surgery, in general, and instrumented fusions, in particular, which has markedly increased over the past few decades. It is yet insufficiently understood, which, particularly modifiable, factors contribute to the development of POD and POCD following these major but plannable surgeries. A better understanding of risk factors would facilitate informed patient decisions and surgical strategies could be tailored to individual risk profiles.

The current study will examine the effects of a brief mindfulness based intervention (BMBI) on mood, memory and attention in comparison to a wait-list control (WLC) group. Participants for the study will be 90 adults aged 50 years and above who have presented at a memory clinic within SLaM NHS Trust with subjective cognitive concerns and/or those who have received a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) from their memory clinic.

The aim of the study is to determine: (1) the effects of combined physical exercise and cognitive training versus exercise or cognitive training alone on cognition, physical function, daily function, quality of life and social participation outcomes, (2) determine the relative effects of simultaneous vs. sequential combination of physical exercise and cognitive training on these health-related outcomes, (3) determine the long-term effects of different types of trainings on these outcome measures.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) has a detrimental impact on cognitive functions. Based on pilot studies results in patients with neurodegenerative brain diseases the investigators aim for promoting the brain plasticity and improving cognition by noninvasive brain stimulation (NIBS) in healthy young, healthy aged and subjects with mild cognitive impairment due to AD. Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is an intermediate stage between the expected cognitive decline of normal aging and the more-serious decline of dementia. Different new brain targets, cognitive tasks and stimulation protocols will be tested and optimized for specific subject groups. Design of a functional MRI (fMRI) - repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) - fMRI study will enable us to explore and identify effect of age, presence of the disease and genetic risk factor (APOE4) on repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS)-induced changes in cognition and related brain connectivity/activations. The study results will improve our understanding of healthy and pathological brain aging and will provide novel information about the usefulness of NIBS in specific subject groups. These results will have an important impact on future non-pharmacological treatment strategies.

Chronic rhinosinusitis presents with a plethora of symptoms including non-rhinologic symptoms such as depression, sleep disturbances & the more recently recognized cognitive dysfunction. It has recently been identified that sinus specific treatments such as endoscopic sinus surgery can improve cognitive outcomes in patients with cognitive deficit secondary to chronic inflammation in the upper and lower airway. However, it remains to be seen whether or not offering surgery to these patients at an earlier date has an impact on the degree of improvement on cognitive function in comparison to patients who have to wait long periods for their treatment.

Study Title: Gene Expression, Meditative Movement and Emotional Distress (GME) Background and Objectives: Breast cancer survivors (BCS) often report decrements in cognitive functioning. Cognitive impairment (CI) is generally understood as resulting from chemotherapy or radiation, but may also result from chronic emotional distress experienced by breast cancer patients and survivors. Meditation and exercise are both known to reduce stress, with growing evidence for the potential of each to also improve cognitive functioning in cancer patients and survivors. A Meditative Movement (MM) program (Qigong/Tai Chi Easy) offers the potential of combining both benefits of meditation and exercise for breast cancer survivors. This is a pilot study, testing the MM program to effect changes in cognitive functioning and associated symptoms/conditions such as anxiety, depression, sleep quality and using gene expression factors as biomarkers to potentially measure the molecular signature of these changes. Forty BCS will be consented and assigned to an intensive eight week MM program. Cognitive functioning and associated symptoms/conditions will be assessed before and after the 8-week MM program to examine the participants' behaviors and symptoms. Peripheral blood samples will be collected before and after the 8-week MM program and will be analyzed for gene expression changes. If successful, this study may provide preliminary data for a full powered randomized control trial if results show promise in the psycho-behavioral outcomes and genomic expression results.

The composite effect of reduced balance, cognition, gait abnormalities/gait disturbances, and physical activity in older adults with mild cognitive impairments (MCI) leads to fear of falling and reduced participation in daily activities, which results in reduced cardiovascular fitness and deconditioning. Although many conventional balance and strength training programs have been implemented for older adults with MCI; these adults do not receive adequate practice dosage to make significant improvements, most likely due to lack of adherence to therapy and/or inadequate incorporation of all domains of the ICF model (body functions and structures, activities and participation) and lack of targeting cognitive-motor interference (deterioration of motor and/or cognitive function when both tasks are performed together). The use of alternative therapies such as dance and virtual reality (VR) has been found to be relatively enjoyable for older adults due to increased motivation, which led to the added improvement of physical and cognitive functioning. The overall aims of this pilot is to test the feasibility of VR-based dance therapy paradigm for older adults with MCI as well as its effect on enhancing balance, gait, and cognition, and physical fitness. Investigators also hope that the net effect of improvement in these domains of health outcomes will result in pre and post reduction of fall risk and improved quality of life of older adults with MCI. The study investigates the effectiveness of a VR (Kinect)-based dance therapy in older adults with MCI by demonstrating its feasibility and compliance rate and also determine the efficacy of the VR-based dance therapy in improving health outcomes such as motor and cognitive functions, thereby reducing cognitive-motor interference. The study will also aim to determine the effectiveness of the VR-based dance paradigm in improving cardiovascular fitness and physical activity (PA) in older adults with MCI