Functional Living Skills in Patients with Major Neurocognitive Disorder Due to Degenerative or Non-Degenerative Conditions: Effectiveness of a Non-Immersive Virtual Reality Training.

Virtual reality has gained attention as an effective tool for cognitive, motor, and daily activity rehabilitation in patients with major neurocognitive disorder (M-NCD). The first objective of this study was to check for differences between M-NCD caused by degenerative and non-degenerative conditions (DC and NDC, respectively) in terms of relearning four functional living skills (FLSs), by means of a non-immersive virtual reality training (VRT). The second purpose was to verify whether spontaneous transfer from the virtual environment to the real environment occurred.

Functional Living Skills: A Non-Immersive Virtual Reality Training for Individuals with Major Neurocognitive Disorders.

The loss of functional living skills (FLS) is an essential feature of major neurocognitive disorders (M-NCD); virtual reality training (VRT) offers many possibilities for improving FLS in people with M-NCD. The aim of our study was to verify the effectiveness of a non-immersive VRT on FLS for patients with M-NCD. VRT was carried out for 10 to 20 sessions, by means of four 3D apps developed in our institute and installed on a large touch screen.

Telephone-Based Reality Orientation Therapy for Patients With Dementia: A Pilot Study During the COVID-19 Outbreak.

Importance: When in-person rehabilitation is not feasible, interventions delivered in remote telephone-based sessions may be an option.

Objective: To determine whether telephone-based reality orientation therapy (T-ROT) can improve cognition, mood, and neuropsychiatric symptoms among patients with major neurocognitive disorders (NCDs) who are forced to isolate and also whether T-ROT can relieve the burden of distress among their caregivers.

Design: Nonrandomized interventional comparison study.

Group Intensive Cognitive Activation in Patients with Major or Mild Neurocognitive Disorder.

Background: No standard protocols are available for cognitive rehabilitation (CR) in conditions like Major or Mild Neurocognitive disorder (M-NCD or m-NCD, respectively); however, preliminary data seem to indicate that such interventions might have cost-effective beneficial effects and are free from side effect or adverse events. Three basic approaches are known: cognitive stimulation (CS), cognitive training (CT), and CR.

Objective: Aim of this study was to assess the efficacy of a protocol of group intensive cognitive activation (g-ICA) in patients with both M-NCD and m-NCD; the protocol was specifically arranged in our Research Institute, based on the principles of the central role of the patient and the mediation pedagogy.

Effects of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in performing eye-hand integration tasks: four preliminary studies with children showing low-functioning autism.

This report, based on four studies with children with low-functioning autism, aimed at evaluating the effects of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation delivered on the left and right premotor cortices on eye-hand integration tasks; defining the long-lasting effects of high-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation; and investigating the real efficacy of high-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation by comparing three kinds of treatments (high-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, a traditional eye-hand integration training, and both treatments combined). Results showed a significant increase in eye-hand performances only when high-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation was delivered on the left premotor cortex; a persistent improvement up to 1 h after the end of the stimulation; better outcomes in the treatment combining high-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation and eye-hand integration training. Based on these preliminary findings, further evaluations on the usefulness of high-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in rehabilitation of children with autism are strongly recommended.