Basal Ganglia Mechanical Stiffness is Associated with Fluid Intelligence in Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment.

Background: Magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) is an MRI technique that uses mild, externally applied vibrations to quantify the mechanical properties of tissues in vivo. MRE measures, such as stiffness, have been shown to be sensitive to changes in brain health with aging and neurodegeneration. Here we used MRE to characterize differences in brain mechanical properties between individuals with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) and cognitively unimpaired subjects (CU).

A Feasibility Study of Brain‐WISE: A Group‐Based, Person‐Centered Dementia Risk Reduction Program.

Background: Reducing risk of dementia requires a person to have accessible information about health and risk factors, person‐centered health goals, and self‐efficacy. Here, we test the feasibility of a new risk reduction program called (Brain‐WISE). Its unique features are that it (1) is aligned with a theoretical model of behavior change, (2) is relatively brief (six 90‐min sessions), (3) is conducted with groups of people who have pre‐existing community; (4) includes individual and group activities and person‐centered health goals; and (5) is conducted with speech‐language therapists.

Feasibility of Telehealth Memory Assessments for a Mild Cognitive Impairment Registry: Lessons Learned from a Clinical Coordinator.

Background: To create de novo infrastructure for ADRD research, The Delaware (DE) Center for Cognitive Aging Research (DECCAR) began a telehealth‐based mild cognitive impairment (MCI) registry. The registry included a dynamic recruitment plan and remote intake procedures to classify community‐dwelling adults as having MCI from probable Alzheimer’s Disease. The main goal of the registry was to match participants to DECCAR‐supported research studies.

The effects of added sugar intake on cardiometabolic health and memory recall in midlife adults.

Background: Aging is the primary risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) which is the most common cause of dementia. The risk factors for AD emerge during midlife and are similar to cardiometabolic diseases. Midlife cardiometabolic changes are worsened by poor lifestyle habits, such as consuming a Western Diet (WD), which is partially characterized by high added sugar intake (i.

Basal Ganglia Mechanical Stiffness is Associated with Fluid Intelligence in Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment.

Background: Magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) is an MRI technique that uses mild, externally applied vibrations to quantify the mechanical properties of tissues in vivo. MRE measures, such as stiffness, have been shown to be sensitive to changes in brain health with aging and neurodegeneration. Here we used MRE to characterize differences in brain mechanical properties between individuals with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) and cognitively unimpaired subjects (CU).

Cultural Adaptation of the Functional External Memory Aid Tool for Use in the United Kingdom and Australia.

Purpose: The Functional External Memory Aid Tool (FEMAT) is a performance-based measure of applied cognitive-linguistic abilities and attempted use of compensatory aids and strategies (e.g., using a calendar to recall an appointment) through completion of simulated everyday living tasks.

Montreal Cognitive Assessment Scores Do Not Associate With Communication Challenges Reported by Adults With Alzheimer's Disease or Parkinson's Disease.

Purposes: Screening for cognitive-communication challenges in people with Alzheimer's disease (AD) or Parkinson's disease (PD) may benefit from multiple kinds of information about the client (e.g., patient-reported, performance-based).

Poststroke Communication Ability Predicts Patient-Informant Discrepancies in Reported Activities and Participation.

Background: has been identified by people with aphasia (PWA) as an ultimate outcome of rehabilitation and is often measured with patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) or informant-reported measures. It is known that PWA and informants do not always produce similar scores on measures of activities and participation. However, systematic differences between PWA and informants and the causes of these differences are not well understood.

Exploring symptom clusters in mild cognitive impairment and dementia with the NIH Toolbox.

Objective: Symptom clustering research provides a unique opportunity for understanding complex medical conditions. The objective of this study was to apply a variable-centered analytic approach to understand how symptoms may cluster together, within and across domains of functioning in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia, to better understand these conditions and potential etiological, prevention, and intervention considerations.

Method: Cognitive, motor, sensory, emotional, and social measures from the NIH Toolbox were analyzed using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) from a dataset of 165 individuals with a research diagnosis of either amnestic MCI or dementia of the Alzheimer's type.

Development of consensus-based considerations for use of adult proxy reporting: an ISOQOL task force initiative.

Aims: Many large-scale population-based surveys, research studies, and clinical care allow for inclusion of proxy reporting as a strategy to collect outcomes when patients are unavailable or unable to provide reliable self-report. Prior work identified an absence of methodological guidelines regarding proxy reporting in adult populations, including who can serve as a proxy, and considerations for data collection, analysis, and reporting. The primary objective of this work by the ISOQOL Proxy Task Force was to review documents and clinical outcome assessment measures with respect to proxy reporting and to develop, through consensus, considerations for proxy reporting.

DementiaBank: Theoretical Rationale, Protocol, and Illustrative Analyses.

Purpose: Dementia from Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized primarily by a significant decline in memory abilities; however, language abilities are also commonly affected and may precede the decline of other cognitive abilities. To study the progression of language, there is a need for open-access databases that can be used to build algorithms to produce translational models sensitive enough to detect early declines in language abilities. DementiaBank is an open-access repository of transcribed video/audio data from communicative interactions from people with dementia, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and controls.

Hippocampal subfield viscoelasticity in amnestic mild cognitive impairment evaluated with MR elastography.

Hippocampal subfields (HCsf) are brain regions important for memory function that are vulnerable to decline with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), which is often a preclinical stage of Alzheimer's disease. Studies in aMCI patients often assess HCsf tissue integrity using measures of volume, which has little specificity to microstructure and pathology. We use magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) to examine the viscoelastic mechanical properties of HCsf tissue, which is related to structural integrity, and sensitively detect differences in older adults with aMCI compared to an age-matched control group.

Establishing severity levels for patient-reported measures of functional communication, participation, and perceived cognitive function for adults with acquired cognitive and language disorders.

Purpose: To empirically assign severity levels (e.g., mild, moderate) to four relatively new patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) for adults with acquired cognitive/language disorders.

The Functional External Memory Aid Tool Version 2.0: A How-To Clinical Guide.

Purpose: Although compensatory cognitive rehabilitation is a common treatment approach for adults with cognitive-communication disorders, there are few assessment tools available to support clinicians in developing person-centered treatment plans. In addition to understanding a client's cognitive and functional abilities, it is also important to understand how they compensate for their weaknesses, specifically with external aids (e.g.

The "Counseling+" Roles of the Speech-Language Pathologist Serving Older Adults With Mild Cognitive Impairment and Dementia From Alzheimer's Disease.

Purpose: Persons with dementia and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) are major consumers of services provided by speech-language pathologists (SLPs). These services include not only direct assessment and treatment of communication and swallowing but also counseling, collaboration, prevention, and wellness. These "counseling+" activities can be especially challenging for SLPs to deliver because of the lack of evidence, as well as the complex nature of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other conditions that cause MCI and dementia.

Survey Results of Speech-Language Pathologists Working With Cognitive-Communication Disorders: Improving Practices for Mild Cognitive Impairment and Early-Stage Dementia From Alzheimer's Disease.

Purpose: As the incidence of Alzheimer's disease (AD) continues to rise, there is a need for interventions that focus on risk reduction and early disease management. Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) can contribute to risk reduction efforts and deliver cognitive interventions; however, the nature and frequency of current clinical practice in those areas is unclear. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to conduct an exploratory survey of the cognitive-communication practices and needs of SLPs for adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and early-stage dementia from AD, to inform future research and clinical training efforts.

Spinal Cord Injury-Functional Index/Capacity: Responsiveness to Change Over Time.

Objective: To establish responsiveness of 3 Spinal Cord Injury-Functional Index/Capacity (SCI-FI/C) item banks in the first year after spinal cord injury (SCI).

Design: Longitudinal patient-reported outcomes assessment replicated through secondary analysis of an independent data set.

Setting: A total of 8 SCI Model Systems rehabilitation hospitals in the United States.

Adapting a Patient-Reported Outcome Bookmarking Task to be Accessible to Adults With Cognitive and Language Disorders.

Background Patient-reported outcome (PRO) measures produce scores that do not always have obvious clinical meaning. The PRO-bookmarking procedure is a new and promising way to make PRO measures more meaningful and interpretable. However, the materials and procedures of the task may benefit from adaptations to be more accessible to individuals with cognitive and language disorders.

Fluid Cognition Relates to Locomotor Switching in Neurotypical Adults, Not Individuals After Stroke.

Background And Purpose: The ability to switch between walking patterns (ie, locomotor switching) is vital for successful community navigation and may be impacted by poststroke impairments. Thus, the purpose of this work was to examine locomotor switching and the relationship between locomotor switching and fluid cognition in individuals after stroke compared with neurotypical adults.

Methods: Twenty-nine individuals more than 6 months after stroke and 18 neurotypical adults participated in a 2-day study.

Clinical Use of PROMIS, Neuro-QoL, TBI-QoL, and Other Patient-Reported Outcome Measures for Individual Adult Clients with Cognitive and Language Disorders.

Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) assess health outcomes from the patient's perspective. The National Institutes of Health has invested in the creation of numerous PROMs that comprise the PROMIS, Neuro-QoL, and TBI-QoL measurement systems. Some of these PROMs are potentially useful as primary or secondary outcome measures, or as contextual variables for the treatment of adults with cognitive/language disorders.

The use of proxies and proxy-reported measures: a report of the international society for quality of life research (ISOQOL) proxy task force.

Aims: Proxy reports are often used when patients are unable to self-report. It is unclear how proxy measures are currently in use in adult health care and research settings. We aimed to describe how proxy reports are used in these settings, including the use of measures developed specifically for proxy reporting in adult health populations.

Fluid Cognitive Abilities Are Important for Learning and Retention of a New, Explicitly Learned Walking Pattern in Individuals After Stroke.

Background: There is significant variability in poststroke locomotor learning that is poorly understood and affects individual responses to rehabilitation interventions. Cognitive abilities relate to upper extremity motor learning in neurologically intact adults, but have not been studied in poststroke locomotor learning.

Objective: To understand the relationship between locomotor learning and retention and cognition after stroke.

Blood lipid markers are associated with hippocampal viscoelastic properties and memory in humans.

Age-related memory loss shares similar risk factors as cardiometabolic diseases including elevated serum triglycerides (TGs) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and reduced high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C). The mechanisms linking these aberrant blood lipids to memory loss are not completely understood but may be partially mediated by reduced integrity of the hippocampus (HC), the primary brain structure for encoding and recalling memories. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that blood lipid markers are independently associated with memory performance and HC viscoelasticity-a noninvasive measure of brain tissue microstructural integrity assessed by high-resolution magnetic resonance elastography (MRE).

Patient-Reported Outcomes and Evidence-Based Practice in Speech-Language Pathology.

Purpose The patient's perspective of their health is a core component of evidence-based practice (EBP) and person-centered care. Patient-reported outcomes (PROs), captured with PRO measures (PROMs), are the main way of formally soliciting and measuring the patient's perspective. Currently, however, PROs play a relatively small role in mainstream speech-language pathology practice.