Therapeutic effects of aerobic exercise on EEG parameters and higher cognitive functions in mild cognitive impairment patients.

BACKGROUND: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is becoming an emerging problem for developing countries where there is an increase in expected age. There is no specific curative therapeutic treatment available for these patients. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to evaluate short and long-term changes in the electroencephalogram (EEG) parameters and cognition of MCI patients with aerobic exercises. METHODS: A randomized controlled trial was conducted on 40 patients which were randomly divided into two groups, 'aerobic exercise treatment group (n = 21)' and 'no-aerobic control group (n = 19)'. Short-term effects of exercise were measured after single session of exercise and long-term effects were measured after an 18 sessions (6 weeks) treatment. The outcomes which were measured were, electroenphelogram paramaters (slowness and complexity of the EEG) and cognitive functions (using mini-mental state examination (MMSE), Montreal cognitive assessment (MoCA), and trail making test (TMT) A and B). RESULTS: After one session of aerobic exercise there were significant improvements in slowness (delta waves; 0.678 ± 0.035 vs 0.791 ± 0.033; p = .015) and complexity (0.601 ± 0.051 vs 0.470 ± 0.042; p = .027) of the EEG in aerobic exercise treated group as compared to no-aerobic exercise group. After six weeks there were significant improvements in slowness (delta waves; 0.581 ± 0.036 vs 0.815 ± 0.025; p = .005) and complexity (0.751 ± 0.045 vs 0.533 ± 0.046; p = .001) of the EEG in the aerobic group as compared to no-aerobic group. Moreover, significant improvements were observed in the MMSE (p = .032), MoCA (p = .036), TMT-A (p = .005), and TMT-B (p = .007) in aerobic exercise group as compared to no-aerobic group. CONCLUSION: Aerobic exercise showed improvement in cognition after short and long-term treatment in MCI subjects and can be used as potential therapeutic candidate.

A tensor decomposition scheme for EEG-based diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment.

Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) is the primary stage of acute Alzheimer's disease, and early detection is crucial for the person and those around him. It is difficult to recognize since this mild stage does not have clear clinical signs, and its symptoms are between normal aging and severe dementia. Here, we propose a tensor decomposition-based scheme for automatically diagnosing MCI using Electroencephalogram (EEG) signals. A new projection is proposed, which preserves the spatial information of the electrodes to construct a data tensor. Then, using parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC) tensor decomposition, the features are extracted, and a support vector machine (SVM) is used to discriminate MCI from normal subjects. The proposed scheme was tested on two different datasets. The results showed that the tensor-based method outperformed conventional methods in diagnosing MCI with an average classification accuracy of 93.96% and 78.65% for the first and second datasets, respectively. Therefore, it seems that maintaining the spatial topology of the signals plays a vital role in the processing of EEG signals.

Acute Effects of Aerobic Exercise on Somatosensory-Evoked Potentials in Patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment.

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is becoming a serious problem for developing countries as the lifespan of populations increases. Exercise is known to be clinically beneficial for MCI patients. Somatosensory-evoked potentials (SEPs) may be a potential diagnostic and prognostic marker for this population. The objective of this study was to determine the acute effects of aerobic exercise on SEPs in patients with MCI, to test whether SEPs are sensitive enough to detect improvements in early somatosensory processing. The study had a randomized parallel-group design and included 28 MCI subjects (14 in the experimental group and 14 in the control group). The experimental intervention was 20 min of aerobic exercise using a stationary bicycle. The control intervention involved 20 min of movements and stretches. Subjects were assessed before and after a single intervention session. SEPs were recorded by stimulating the median nerve of the dominant hand. Analysis of normalized SEP peak amplitudes showed that a single session of aerobic activity significantly reduced the N30 peak at the F3 channel (p = 0.03). There were no significant effects of aerobic exercise on SEP peak latencies. The results indicate that 20 min of aerobic exercise has a significant effect on the N30 SEP peak amplitude in MCI patients. The results suggest that aerobic exercise is likely to provide sensory-enriching inputs that enhance sensorimotor integration. Future studies should assess the effects of aerobic exercise on somatosensory processing in progressive stages of Alzheimer's disease, longer exercise durations, and multiple exercise sessions.

Xbox 360 Kinect Cognitive Games Improve Slowness, Complexity of EEG, and Cognitive Functions in Subjects with Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Randomized Control Trial.

OBJECTIVES: Physical activity and cognitive training are effective to enhance cognition in older patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Xbox 360 Kinect cognitive games are a combination of physical activity and cognitive training. The objective of this study was to determine the short- and long-term effects of Xbox 360 Kinect cognitive games on slowness and complexity of electroencephalography (EEG) and cognitive functions in older subjects with MCI. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A clinical trial was conducted on 44 MCI subjects. Both males and females were randomized into experimental group (participated in Xbox 360 Kinect cognitive games) and control group (range of motion exercises only and no Xbox 360 Kinect cognitive games). Subjects were assessed before and after one session of game intervention for short-term effects and after 6 weeks for long-term effects. The outcome measures were the mini-mental state examination (MMSE), Montreal cognitive assessment scale (MoCA), trail making test (TMT) A and B, and slowness and complexity of EEG. RESULTS: After one session of game intervention, delta (0.704 ± 0.025; P = 0.013), theta (0.128 ± 0.009; P = 0.00127) waves, and complexity of EEG (0.642 ± 0.042; P = 0.008) significantly improved, in eyes closed state. Whereas after 6 weeks intervention of games, delta (0.673 ± 0.029; P = 0.013), theta (0.129 ± 0.013; P = 0.002), beta2 waves (0.044 ± 0.009; P = 0.046), complexity of EEG (0.051 ± 0.042; P = 0.016), MMSE (26.25 ± 0.347 vs. 23.722 ± 0.731; P = 0.003), MoCA (25.65 ± 0.310 vs. 22.00 ± 0.504; P = 0.0001), TMT-A (1.429 ± 0.234 vs. 2.225 ± 0.259; P = 0.028), and TMT-B (2.393 ± 0.201 vs. 3.780 ± 0.195; P = 0.0001) improved significantly. These changes were not observed in the control group. CONCLUSION: Xbox 360 Kinect games showed beneficial effects after short- and long-term intervention on MCI subjects. These games can serve as potential therapeutic candidates for MCI.