Memory test7/19/2023 ![]() ![]() And even though all initial participants were carefully chosen to rule out anyone with impaired cognition (thinking ability), 511 of the 4,484 people screened (11.4%) were classified in SOMI-3 or -4, indicating that SOMI testing can detect significant memory impairment among people who ostensibly were cognitively normal. In addition, the SOMI-4, -3, and -2 subgroups had smaller hippocampal volumes than the SOMI-0 and -1 subgroups. More specifically, the SOMI-3 and -4 subgroups had significantly higher levels of amyloid than SOMI-0 and SOMI-1 subgroups. Among all trial participants, individuals classified in higher SOMI stages had significantly higher amyloid levels than those in lower SOMI stages. The presence of Alzheimer’s pathology in the brains of participants was found to track closely with memory impairment based on SOMI testing. In addition to PET scanning, the trial participants also underwent magnetic resonance imaging to measure the volume of the hippocampus and other brain regions, since brain atrophy is associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Those individuals (1,262) with significant brain amyloid are now enrolled in the A4 clinical trial, which is evaluating a drug designed to slow memory and cognitive decline by targeting beta amyloid. Results from this research add to the accumulating evidence that cognitive impairment, if measured properly, can be detected very early in the disease process. They then underwent positron emission tomography (PET) brain scans to detect beta amyloid, a protein whose build-up may cause Alzheimer’s. All participants were diagnosed as cognitively normal (i.e., showed no signs of Alzheimer’s disease). The SOMI system was used to screen 4,484 possible participants (average age 71.3) in the Anti-Amyloid Treatment in Asymptomatic Alzheimer’s (A4) study, an ongoing clinical trial of an Alzheimer’s drug. Typically, impaired memory retrieval characterizes preclinical Alzheimer’s disease, while problems with memory storage that can’t be corrected with cueing predominate in the later stages. The SOMI system’s ability to distinguish memory retrieval impairments from those involving memory storage may make the SOMI system superior to other memory tests at predicting mild cognitive impairment as well as dementia. Then comes the test phase, in which participants are asked to recall the items if they have trouble, they’re presented with the category cues used in the study phase to help prompt their recall.īased on their recall, people are assigned to one of 5 stages, ranging from SOMI-0 (no memory impairment) to SOMI-4 (memory impairment compatible with dementia). The test begins with a study phase in which people are shown 4 cards, each containing drawings of 4 items, and are asked to identify the item belonging to a particular category (e.g., participants would name the item “grapes” after being asked to identify a “fruit.”). The Stages of Objective Memory Impairment (SOMI) system is based on the Einstein-developed Free and Cued Selective Reminding Test (FCSRT). “Results from this research add to the accumulating evidence that cognitive impairment, if measured properly, can be detected very early in the disease process.” Korey Department of Neurology at Einstein and corresponding author of the Neurology study. “We used to think that cognitive impairment developed long after toxic proteins, such as beta amyloid and tau, became well established in the brain,” said Ellen Grober, Ph.D., clinical professor in the Saul R. The findings were published today in the journal Neurology. ![]() The test, developed by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, could potentially identify people in the very first stages of Alzheimer’s-before dementia is diagnosable-and help in selecting those especially likely to benefit from therapies. February 23, 2022-(BRONX, NY)-In a large study of cognitively normal older adults, results from a simple memory test correlated closely with the early presence of toxic brain proteins that appear to cause Alzheimer’s disease.
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