Early detection of cognitive decline in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease with a novel eye tracking test.

Due to an increasing number of dementia patients, the development of a rapid and sensitive method for cognitive assessment is awaited. Here, we examined the usefulness of a novel and short (3 min) eye tracking device to evaluate the cognitive function of normal control (NC, n = 52), mild cognitive impairment (MCI, n = 52), and Alzheimer's disease (AD, n = 70) subjects. Eye tracking total score declined significantly in MCI (**p < 0.01 vs NC) and AD (**p < 0.01 vs NC, ##p < 0.01 vs MCI), and correlated well with the mini-mental state examination (MMSE) score (r = 0.57, *p < 0.05). Furthermore, the eye tracking test, especially memory and deductive reasoning tasks, effectively discriminated NC, MCI and AD. The present novel eye tracking test clearly discriminated cognitive functions among NC, MCI, and AD subjects, thereby providing an advantage for the early detection of MCI and AD in screening.

[Voluntary return of driver's license and the related activity of a neurocognitive center in Okayama prefecture].

Due to the rapid increase in traffic accidents caused by the old populations of ages 65-74 and more than 75 in Japan, the renewal of driver's licenses has become more difficult following the revision of traffic laws in March 2017. As part of the driver's license clinic at Kurashiki Heisei Hospital, the present study investigated the status of voluntary license surrender in Okayama Prefecture of Japan. From March 2017 to December 2019, the number of voluntary surrenders increased from 5,434 to 10,284 cases, or at a rate of 0.42% to 0.80%, among license holders, with the old-old accounting for 68%-77% of voluntary surrenders. The major reasons for surrender were a decline in physical ability (25%-38%), a decline in driving needs (28%-60%), and family's suggestion (14%-17%). The increase in voluntary license surrender over these 3 years was common across all municipalities within Okayama Prefecture, but the surrender rate was closely correlated with the aged-society rate for both old populations of ages 65-74 and more than 75 (r = -0.5508, **p = 0.002 and r = -0.3086, p = 0.110, respectively). The driver's license clinic at Kurashiki Heisei Hospital received 110 visits during the 3-year period, in which MCI (mild cognitive impairment) accounted for 67% of voluntary surrenders (21.8%). The present study suggests that the increase in the rate of voluntary license surrender during the 3-year period was closely related to the aged-society rate in Okayama Prefecture, and that a driver's license clinic provides a detailed dementia status among license holders who have voluntarily surrendered their license.

[Attitude survey among elderly outpatients in a hospital concerning driving after the implementation of a new road traffic act].

Following the passage of a new traffic law in March 2017, an inquiry survey was performed for 202 patients (men 60.9%, women 39.1%) in a medical center for neurocognitive disorders in Japan. Half of the 108 patients who currently had a driver's license had experienced traffic problems, including nearly crashing accidentally, in the past, but only a few of the men were willing to return their driver's license to the government, regardless of age (<75 and ≥75 years old). They mainly worried about how they would manage daily activities without a car, such as shopping for necessities, visiting the clinic, having the chance to get outside. They also worried about increasing the burden of other family members. In contrast, the other 94 patients who either did not have a driver's license or had already returned them to the government expected only slight issues due to the law, or even felt positive about losing their license. However, roughly half of those 94 patients did not get exchanging benefits (traffic discount card and license record card) on losing licenses probably due to less knowledge about such benefits. The present study revealed various aspects of elderly patients' thoughts concerning their driver's licenses in a local city of Japan.

Clinical Benefits of Antioxidative Supplement Twendee X for Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Multicenter, Randomized, Double-Blind, and Placebo-Controlled Prospective Interventional Study.

Oxidative stress is part of the entire pathological process that underlies the development of Alzheimer's disease (AD), including the mild cognitive impairment (MCI) stage. Twendee X (TwX) is a supplement containing a strong antioxidative mix of eight antioxidants, which has been shown to have a clinical and therapeutic benefit in AD model mice. Here, we conducted a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, and placebo-controlled prospective interventional study to evaluate the efficacy of TwX in mitigating MCI. The primary outcomes were differences in Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Hasegawa Dementia Scale-revised (HDS-R) scores between baseline and six months for placebo and TwX groups. Seventy-eight subjects with MCI were randomized into placebo (n = 37) and TwX (n = 41) groups. MMSE scores at six months differed significantly between the TwX and placebo groups (p = 0.018), and HDS-R scores for the TwX group exhibited a significant improvement at six months relative to baseline (p = 0.025). The TwX group did not show any change in affective or activities of daily living scores at six months. The present study indicates that strong antioxidative supplement TwX is clinical beneficial for cognitive function in subjects with MCI.

Lung adenocarcinoma in a patient with plasmacytoma.

An increased risk of second malignancy is well recognized in patients treated for plasma cell neoplasms. However, second solid tumor is very rare in such patients. We report a case of a 68-year-old woman with plasmacytoma who developed lung adenocarcinoma.