Pragmatic questionnaire-based evaluation of auditory function in individuals with major neurocognitive disorders and hearing loss in diverse contexts.

Background: Hearing impairment in older people is a significant risk factor for cognitive decline and dementia, while it is a source of bias in the diagnostic workup of cognitive complaints. Early detection and intervention are critical, yet audiometric equipment is often unavailable in primary healthcare- and/or community care-, as well as in low-resource settings across the globe.

Objective: This study aims (i) to develop brief accurate instruments for capturing hearing loss severity based on items of the 25-item Hearing Handicap Inventory for the Elderly (HHIE) and its counterpart the Hearing Handicap Inventory for the communication partner (HHIE-SP) and (ii) to compare their usefulness as well as that of the 10-item screening version of HHIE (HHIE-S) in detecting hearing loss severity in people with dementia and hearing loss to HHIE and HHIE-SP.

Pilot study of the Greek Interventional Geriatric Initiative to Prevent Cognitive Impairment and Disability in individuals with subjective cognitive decline: paving the way towards brain health clinics in Greece.

The pilot phase of the Greek Interventional Geriatric Initiative to Prevent Cognitive Impairment and Disability (GINGER) aims to assess the feasibility of a multi-level dementia risk reduction intervention in individuals with subjective cognitive decline (SCD) over a six-month period. The study design incorporates a comprehensive set of trans-disciplinary assessments and interventions in multiple centers across Greece. Individuals 55 years or older with subjective cognitive complaints who do not fulfill criteria for either mild cognitive impairment or dementia are screened for dementia risk factors in the following domains: nutrition, physical activities, vision and hearing, vascular and metabolic parameters, anxiety and depressive symptoms, and insomnia.

The potential of depressive symptoms to identify cognitive impairment in ageing.

Depressive symptoms are common in mild cognitive impairment (MCI), dementia caused by Alzheimer's disease (AD dementia) and in cognitively unimpaired older adults. However, it is unclear whether they could contribute to the identification of cognitive impairment in ageing. To assess the potential utility of depressive symptoms to distinguish between healthy cognitive ageing and MCI and AD dementia.

A method for optimizing text preprocessing and text classification using multiple cycles of learning with an application on shipbrokers emails.

Optimizing text preprocessing and text classification algorithms is an important, everyday task in large organizations and companies and it usually involves a labor-intensive and time-consuming effort. For example, the filtering and sorting of a large number of electronic mails (emails) are crucial to keeping track of the received information and converting it automatically into useful and profitable knowledge. Business emails are often unstructured, noisy, and with many abbreviations and acronyms, which makes their handling a challenging procedure.

Depressive symptoms in the entire spectrum of cognitive ageing in Greece: evidence from the Hellenic Longitudinal Investigation of Aging and Diet (HELIAD).

Objectives: To study (i) the prevalence of mild and moderate-to-severe depressive symptoms in the entire spectrum of cognitive ageing in Greece and (ii) the relationship between these symptoms and demographic and clinical data.

Methods: The study was based on the randomly selected cohort of the Hellenic Longitudinal Investigation of Aging and Diet (HELIAD). Depressive symptoms were assessed with the 15-item version of the Geriatric Depression Scale.

Cognitive function in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: a cross-sectional and prospective pragmatic clinical study with review of the literature.

Background: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) can present with either bulbar or spinal symptoms, and in some cases, both types of symptoms may be present. In addition, cognitive impairment has been observed in ALS. The study aimed to evaluate the frontal and general cognitive performance in ALS not only cross-sectionally but also longitudinally.

Validation of the test for finding word retrieval deficits (WoFi) in detecting Alzheimer's disease in a naturalistic clinical setting.

Background: Detecting impaired naming capacity contributes to the detection of mild (MildND) and major (MajorND) neurocognitive disorder due to Alzheimer's disease (AD). The Test for Finding Word retrieval deficits (WoFi) is a new, 50-item, auditory stimuli-based instrument.

Objective: The study aimed to adapt WoFi to the Greek language, to develop a short version of WoFi (WoFi-brief), to compare the item frequency and the utility of both instruments with the naming subtest of the widely used Addenbrooke's cognitive examination III (ACEIIINaming) in detecting MildND and MajorND due to AD.

Validation of the Cognitive Telephone Screening Instruments COGTEL and COGTEL+ in Identifying Clinically Diagnosed Neurocognitive Disorder Due to Alzheimer's Disease in a Naturalistic Clinical Setting.

Background: Telephone-based neurocognitive instruments embody valuable tools in identifying cognitive impairment in research settings and lately also in clinical contexts due to the pandemic crisis. The accuracy of the Cognitive Telephone Screening Instrument (COGTEL) in detecting mild- (MiND) and major (MaND) neurocognitive disorder has not been studied yet.

Objective: Comparison of the utility of COGTEL and COGTEL+, which is enriched with orientation items, with the modified Mini-Mental State Examination (3MS) in detecting MiND and MaND due to Alzheimer's disease (AD) and assessment of the impact of COGTEL face-to-face-versus telephone administration on individual performance.

COVID-19 Crisis Effects on Caregiver Distress in Neurocognitive Disorder.

Background: The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic seems to have mental health implications for both people with neurocognitive disorder and their caregivers.

Objective: The study aimed to shed light on relations between caregiver mental reaction to the pandemic and caregiver distress related to neuropsychiatric symptoms, memory impairment progression, and functional impairment of people with neurocognitive disorder during the period of confinement in Greece.

Methods: The study included caregivers of patients with mild (N = 13) and major (N = 54) neurocognitive disorder.

Berkson's paradox and weighted distributions: An application to Alzheimer's disease.

One reason for observing in practice a false positive or negative correlation between two random variables, which are either not correlated or correlated with a different direction, is the overrepresentation in the sample of individuals satisfying specific properties. In 1946, Berkson first illustrated the presence of a false correlation due to this last reason, which is known as Berkson's paradox and is one of the most famous paradox in probability and statistics. In this paper, the concept of weighted distributions is utilized to describe Berskon's paradox.

Plasma Levels of Soluble AβPPβ as a Biomarker for Alzheimer's Disease with Dementia.

Cost- and time-effective markers of Alzheimer's disease (AD), reliable and feasible at the population level are urgently needed. Soluble amyloid-β protein precursor β (sAβPPβ) in plasma has attracted scientific attention as a potential AD biomarker candidate. Here we report that plasma sAβPPβ levels in patients with AD dementia and typical for AD cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarker profiles (N = 33) are significantly lower (p < 0.

Cerebrospinal Fluid BACE1 Activity and sAβPPβ as Biomarker Candidates of Alzheimer's Disease.

Background/aims: The utility of β-site amyloid-β precursor protein (AβPP) cleaving enzyme 1 (BACE1) activity and soluble AβPP β (sAβPPβ) levels in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in detecting Alzheimer's disease (AD) is still elusive.

Methods: BACE1 activity and sAβPPβ concentration were measured in patients with AD dementia (n = 56) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) due to AD (n = 76) with abnormal routine AD CSF markers, in patients with MCI with normal CSF markers (n = 39), and in controls without preclinical AD (n = 48). In a subsample with available 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG PET) data, ordinal regression models were employed to compare the contribution of BACE1 and sAβPPβ to correct diagnostic classification to that of FDG PET.