Active clinical trials for "Cognitive Dysfunction"

The aim of the present study is threefold: investigating 1) specific cognitive impairments in patients with congestive heart failure, 2) whether cognitive impairments in patients with decompensated heart failure improve after medical recompensation and 3) whether cognitive functioning is related to the long-term prognosis (mortality, rehospitalisation) of those patients.

This study intends to evaluate the relationship between urinary albumin/creatinine ratio and postoperative neurocognitive impairment in elderly non-cardiac surgery patients. The results of the study are to identify risk factors, screen high-risk populations to improve clinical evidence, early detection and early treatment.And reducing the burden of PNCD on patients and their families, hospitals and public resources.

In this observational study, the investigators aim to evaluate whether changes in the retinal and choroidal circulation, as assessed by Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) and the quantification of retinal amyloid deposits using auto-fluorescence and hyperspectral retinal imaging, are correlated with the degree and subtype of dementia and with the presence or absence of a positive amyloid scan. For this purpose, patients with established Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and Lewy Body Dementia (LBD), as well as amyloid positive and amyloid negative Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and aged matched cognitively intact patients will be included in this cross-sectional study.

Insulin resistance (IR), beyond its well-defined role in the appearance and progression of diabetes mellitus (DM), is the recognized pathogenetic factor underlying vascular aging. Recently, the existence of a "cerebral" IR, responsible of the appearance and progression of many forms of dementia and mild cognitive impairment (MCI), has been hypothesized. On the other hand, it is well known that DM acts as a cardiovascular (CV) risk factor per se. In the last years it has been demonstrated that also glucose normotolerant subjects who exhibit plasma glucose levels >155 mg/dL 1h-post load, have a CV risk similar to that of diabetic patients. Thus, these category of subjects is characterized by IR and, being MCI the expression of IR in the brain, the principal hypothesis of our study is that these subjects may also develop neuropsychological alterations, earlier with respect of the general population.

Critically ill patients requiring intensive care suffer to a large extent from cognitive deficits involving higher brain functions that primarily affect memory, learning and the ability to concentrate. While the background to this effect is not fully understood, there are growing evidence to support mechanisms related to neuro inflammation and changes in blood flow with concomitant ischemic brain damage. Patients with covid-19 often suffer from severe inflammatory activity with an increased risk of coagulation abnormalities and brain damage. Covid-19 patients requiring intensive care develope more severe impairment of neurological and cognitive function than critically ill intensive care patients who have not covid-19. This project therefore aims to map the link between inflammation, immunology and coagulation systems as well as biochemical and structural changes in the brain with cognitive effects in patients in intensive care for covid-19.

The Alzheimer's and Blood Glucose Levels Study is researching the differences in blood glucose levels between people with and without Mild Cognitive Impairment or Alzheimer's disease with the aim of early detection of Alzheimer's Disease.

This study is an observational study to confirm usefulness of a home-based cognitive monitoring in non-demented patients with high-risk of dementia

This study compares desflurane with sevoflurane for school-age children in postoperative cognitive function.

Postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) is a subtle cognitive dysfunction, especially postoperative memory impairment lasting for weeks or months. The underlying pathophysiological mechanism of POCD remain unclear. The aim of this study is to explore the epigenetic changes during perioperative period and its correlation with POCD in surgical patients.

The present study aims at combining biochemical methods with various types of imaging techniques to identify the pathophysiology of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The main interest is to find markers associated with the very early steps in the pathology of this disease. The investigators shall thus screen for i) molecules in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and plasma specific for AD, and ii) brain imaging markers (e.g. MRI and PET) that correlate to detailed clinical assessments. Biomarkers of interest would then be useful to: Enable accurate detection of the disease early on. Such biomarkers need to specifically reflect the very early pathophysiology of AD and distinguish it from disorders with similar symptomatology, such as other types of dementia and major depression. The sensitivity and specificity of these biomarkers in combination with clinical assessment should be of at least 90%. Enable prediction of the course of events of the disease, such as the disease rate in individual patients. Biomarkers that can predict the pattern of future symptoms will be extremely valuable. Allow monitoring of early effects of new disease-modifying therapies (so-called surrogate biomarkers). Currently clinical therapeutic trials for AD require large patient groups together with long-term treatment. Both size of the groups and treatment time will be reduced with the help of surrogate biomarkers. Study the pathogenesis of the disease. Biomarkers can be used to investigate in detail early alterations in AD patients. For instance, changes in the levels of certain molecules in CSF together with genetic predisposition could then be correlated to clinical signs and changes detectable by brain imaging. This can lead to identification of new therapeutic targets that could easily be monitored in future trials.