A systematic review of the effectiveness of patient education through patient portals.

Objective: The objective of this study was to systematically review all literature studying the effect of patient education on patient engagement through patient portals.

Introduction: Patient portals provide patients access to health records, lab results, medication refills, educational materials, secure messaging, appointment scheduling, and telehealth visits, allowing patients to take a more active role in their health care decisions and management. A debate remains around whether these additional aids actually improve patient engagement and increase their ability to manage their own health conditions.

The Brain Health Assessment for Detecting and Diagnosing Neurocognitive Disorders.

Background/objectives: Brief cognitive screens lack the sensitivity to detect mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or support differential diagnoses. The objective of this study was to validate the 10-minute, tablet-based University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Brain Health Assessment (BHA) to overcome these limitations.

Design: Cross-sectional.

Egocentric and allocentric visuospatial working memory in premotor Huntington's disease: A double dissociation with caudate and hippocampal volumes.

Our brains represent spatial information in egocentric (self-based) or allocentric (landmark-based) coordinates. Rodent studies have demonstrated a critical role for the caudate in egocentric navigation and the hippocampus in allocentric navigation. We administered tests of egocentric and allocentric working memory to individuals with premotor Huntington's disease (pmHD), which is associated with early caudate nucleus atrophy, and controls.

Cross-species translation of the Morris maze for Alzheimer's disease.

Analogous behavioral assays are needed across animal models and human patients to improve translational research. Here, we examined the extent to which performance in the Morris water maze - the most frequently used behavioral assay of spatial learning and memory in rodents - translates to humans. We designed a virtual version of the assay for human subjects that includes the visible-target training, hidden-target learning, and probe trials that are typically administered in the mouse version.

Sensitive measures of executive dysfunction in non-demented Parkinson's disease.

Background: We examined the sensitivity of different executive function measures for detecting deficits in Parkinson's disease patients without dementia.

Methods: Twenty-one non-demented PD subjects and 21 neurologically healthy controls were administered widely used clinical executive functioning measures as well as the NIH EXAMINER battery, which produces Cognitive Control, Working Memory, and Verbal Fluency scores, along with an overall Executive Composite score, using psychometrically matched scales.

Results: No significant differences between groups were observed on widely used clinical measures.

Executive functions in premanifest Huntington's disease.

Background: We investigated the viability of psychometrically robust executive function measures as markers for premanifest Huntington's disease (HD).

Methods: Fifteen premanifest HD subjects and 42 controls were compared on the NIH EXAMINER executive function battery. This battery yields an overall executive composite score, plus working memory, cognitive control, and fluency scores that are measured on psychometrically matched scales.

Rivastigmine is associated with restoration of left frontal brain activity in Parkinson's disease.

The objective of this study was to investigate how acetylcholinesterase inhibitor (ChEI) treatment affects brain function in Parkinson's disease (PD). Twelve patients with PD and either dementia or mild cognitive impairment underwent task-free functional magnetic resonance imaging before and after 3 months of ChEI treatment and were compared with 15 age- and sex-matched neurologically healthy controls. Regional spontaneous brain activity was measured using the fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations.