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For many years there has been uncertainty regarding how apolipoprotein E (APOE) E2 and E4 variants may influence overlapping features of neurodegeneration, such as cognitive impairment. We aimed to identify whether the APOE variants are associated with cognitive function across various neurodegenerative and cerebrovascular diagnoses (n = 513). Utilizing a comprehensive neuropsychology battery, multivariate multiple regression was used to assess the influence of APOE carrier status and disease cohort on performance across five cognitive domains. Irrespective of disease cohort, E4 carriers had significantly lower performance in verbal memory and visuospatial domains than those with E3/3, while E2 carriers' cognitive performance was not significantly different. However, E2 carriers with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) performed significantly worse than those with E3/3 in the attention/working memory, executive function, and visuospatial domains. Our results highlight that the influence of APOE variation on cognition is complex, in some cases varying based on diagnosis and possibly underlying disease pathology., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Poor dual-task gait (walking while performing a cognitively demanding task) has been linked to progression to dementia in older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). However, many of these findings come from research environments; gait performance across the cognitive spectrum has not previously been studied in a clinical setting., Objective: To examine whether patients from a memory clinic show differences in usual and dual-task gait speed and dual-task cost (DTC) based on cognitive diagnosis., Methods: Patients in the Aging Brain and Memory Clinic (London, ON) performed a usual gait walk and three dual-task gait walks: counting backwards by ones, naming animals, and counting backwards by seven (serial sevens) out loud. Patients were timed with a stopwatch over a six-meter path marked on the floor. One-way ANOVA was performed to evaluate associations between gait speed and DTC (%) across groups., Results: One hundred ninety-four patients with subjective cognitive impairment (SCI; n = 46), MCI (n = 77), or dementia (n = 71) were assessed. Performance in usual (p < 0.001) and dual-task gait speed (counting gait p < 0.001; naming animals p < 0.001; serial sevens p = 0.004) decreased across the spectrum of cognitive impairment. Patients with dementia had significantly higher DTC in both counting gait (p = 0.02) and naming animals (p = 0.04) conditions compared with patients with SCI and MCI, who had statistically similar DTC in all conditions., Conclusion: Dual-task gait performance significantly declines across the cognitive spectrum in a clinical setting. Dual-task gait testing may be used in conjunction with traditional assessments for diagnosing cognitive impairments.

Fit elderly score higher on tests of fluid intelligence than aged-matched sedentary controls. Elderly patients who have taken part in exercise programs have shown improvement in mental function. We compared the effects of 45 minutes of exercise on memory, mood, and cognitive function in elderly subjects to a control intervention using a randomized control study design. Neuropsychological tests employed where the color slide test, digit symbol test, digit span test, logical memory test, word fluency test, and the Mini-Mental State Examination. We measured mood using a mood test and geriatric depression scale. Each subject was tested before, and immediately after, control and exercise sessions. Fifteen elderly subjects [ten men and five women; mean age, 66 years, (range, 60 to 85 years)] completed the study. There was a greater improvement in six of the eight scores of cognitive function following exercise, compared to control. These differences were significantly greater following exercise for the logical memory test score (P less than or equal to 0.02) and Mini-Mental State Examination (P less than or equal to 0.025) compared with the control intervention.