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PubMed2001

Regional magnetic resonance imaging lesion burden and cognitive function in multiple sclerosis: a longitudinal study.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between magnetic resonance imaging regional lesion burden and cognitive performance in multiple sclerosis (MS) over a 4-year follow-up period. DESIGN: Twenty-eight patients with MS underwent magnetic resonance imaging and took the Brief, Repeatable Battery of Neuropsychological Tests in Multiple Sclerosis at baseline, 1-year, and 4-year follow-up. An automated 3-dimensional lesion detection method was used to identify MS lesions within anatomical regions on proton density T2-weighted images. The relationship between magnetic resonance imaging regional lesion volumes and the Brief, Repeatable Battery of Neuropsychological Tests in Multiple Sclerosis results was examined using regression analyses. RESULTS: At all time points, frontal lesion volume represented the greatest proportion of total lesion volume, and the percentage of white matter classified as lesion was also highest in frontal and parietal regions. On neuropsychological testing, when compared with age- and educational level-matched control subjects, patients with MS showed significant impairment on tests of sustained attention, processing speed, and verbal memory (P<.001). Performance on these measures was negatively correlated with MS lesion volume in frontal and parietal regions at baseline, 1-year, and 4-year follow-up (R = -0.55 to -0.73, P<.001). CONCLUSIONS: Multiple sclerosis lesions show a propensity for frontal and parietal white matter. Lesion burden in these areas was strongly associated with performance on tasks requiring sustained complex attention and working verbal memory. This relationship was consistent over a 4-year period, suggesting that disruption of frontoparietal subcortical networks may underlie the pattern of neuropsychological impairment seen in many patients with MS.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

White matter lesions are prevalent but differentially related with cognition in aging and early Alzheimer disease.

BACKGROUND: White matter lesions (WMLs) are prevalent in nondemented aging and in Alzheimer disease (AD). Their relationship with cognition in the earliest stages of AD is unknown. OBJECTIVE: To assess the relationship between WMLs and cognition in nondemented aging and in early-stage AD. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: Alzheimer Disease Research Center, St Louis, MO. PARTICIPANTS: Participants were nondemented (n = 88) or had very mild (n = 48) or mild (n = 20) AD. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Regression coefficients for deep WMLs and periventricular WMLs (PVWMLs) as predictors of cognition, after controlling for age, educational achievement, brain atrophy, and infarctlike lesions. RESULTS: White matter lesions were present in nondemented aging and in early-stage AD, with no group differences in deep WML burden and a modest PVWML burden increase in the AD group. The prevalence of infarctlike lesions was equivalent between groups. Age and hypertension were related to deep WML burden and PVWML burden. Deep WML burden and PVWML burden were associated with reduced global cognition in AD but not in nondemented aging. A PVWML x AD status interaction for global cognition suggests that the relationship between PVWMLs and cognition is modified by AD. In AD, global cognitive reductions were related to impairments in visual memory, processing speed, and executive function. CONCLUSIONS: White matter lesions are prevalent in nondemented aging and in early-stage AD, and their presence influences cognitive impairment in the earliest stages of AD. Individuals with early-stage AD may be more vulnerable to the cognitive effect of WMLs than nondemented aging individuals with similar WML burden.

Age of Onset↗

PubMed2003

Neurobehavioral outcomes of school-age children born extremely low birth weight or very preterm in the 1990s.

CONTEXT: The outcome into school age of regional cohorts of children born in the 1990s with birth weights less than 1000 g (extremely low birth weight, ELBW) or earlier than 28 weeks' gestation (very preterm) is not known. OBJECTIVE: To determine the cognitive, educational, and behavioral outcome of ELBW or very preterm infants born in the 1990s compared with normal birth weight (NBW) controls. DESIGN: Regional cohort study. SETTING: Victoria, Australia. PARTICIPANTS: The ELBW or very preterm cohort was composed of 298 consecutive survivors born during 1991-1992. The NBW cohort was composed of 262 randomly selected children with birth weights of more than 2499 g. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Cognitive ability, educational progress, and behavioral problems. RESULTS: The follow-up rates from birth to 8 years of age for survivors were 92.3% (275/298) for the ELBW or very preterm cohort and 85.1% (223/262) for the NBW cohort. The ELBW or very preterm children scored significantly below NBW controls on full-scale IQ (mean difference, -9.4; 95% confidence interval [CI], -12.1 to -6.7; P<.001) and indices of verbal comprehension (mean difference, -6.8; 95% CI, -9.5 to -4.2; P<.001), perceptual organization (mean difference, -9.9; 95% CI, -12.7 to -7.2; P<.001), freedom from distractibility (mean difference, -8.1; 95% CI, -10.8 to -5.5; P<.001), and processing speed (mean difference, -6.7; 95% CI, -9.4 to -4.0; P<.001). The ELBW or very preterm children performed significantly worse than the NBW cohort on tests of reading (mean difference, -6.7; 95% CI, -9.5 to -3.9; P<.001), spelling (mean difference, -5.6; 95% CI, -8.0 to -3.3; P<.001), and arithmetic (mean difference, -8.8; 95% CI, -11.3 to -6.2; P<.001). Attentional difficulties, internalizing behavior problems, and immature adaptive skills were more prevalent in the ELBW or very preterm cohort. CONCLUSION: School-aged ELBW or very preterm children born in the 1990s continue to display cognitive, educational, and behavioral impairments.

Child↗

PubMed1997

Automated sample preparation using membrane microtiter extraction for bioanalytical mass spectrometry.

The development and application of membrane solid phase extraction (SPE) in 96-well microtiter plate format is described for the automated analysis of drugs in biological fluids. The small bed volume of the membrane allows elution of the analyte in a very small solvent volume, permitting direct HPLC injection and negating the need for the time consuming solvent evaporation step. A programmable liquid handling station (Quadra 96) was modified to automate all SPE steps. To avoid drying of the SPE bed and to enhance the analytical precision a novel protocol for performing the condition, load and wash steps in rapid succession was utilized. A block of 96 samples can now be extracted in 10 min., about 30 times faster than manual solvent extraction or single cartridge SPE methods. This processing speed complements the high-throughput speed of contemporary high performance liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (HPLC/MS) analysis. The quantitative analysis of a test analyte (Ziprasidone) in plasma demonstrates the utility and throughput of membrane SPE in combination with HPLC/MS. The results obtained with the current automated procedure compare favorably with those obtained using solvent and traditional solid phase extraction methods. The method has been used for the analysis of numerous drug prototypes in biological fluids to support drug discovery efforts.

Autoanalysis↗

PubMed2026

Wearable Sleep Monitoring in Pediatric Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia: Associations With Subjective Sleep Ratings and Neurocognitive Functioning.

BACKGROUND: Sleep disturbances are associated with increased fatigue, reduced quality of life, and neurocognitive dysfunction and have emerged as a common complication among pediatric cancer survivors. Sleep disturbances are particularly concerning given their potential to exacerbate existing neurocognitive impacts of cancer treatments. This pilot study examined the feasibility and acceptability of a home-wearable EEG-based sleep device (Sleep ProfilerTM) for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) survivors as well as associations between specific sleep parameters and neurocognitive functioning. PROCEDURE: Children (ages 8-12; M = 10 years, SD = 1.6; N = 23) >6 months post-treatment for ALL were enrolled at clinical visits and wore the Sleep ProfilerTM for two consecutive nights at home, followed by neurocognitive testing of attention, inhibitory control, working memory, and processing speed. Parents completed subjective measures of child sleep, anxiety, depression, and acceptability. Feasibility reflected the percentage of children wearing the device at least one night and the percentage of nights with good EEG quality data. RESULTS: All participants wore the device both nights, with 84% meeting the threshold for good quality measurement. Few children met recommended quantity and quality sleep thresholds based on objective measurement, including 5 patients with elevated snoring levels; 43.5% of subjective ratings fell above the threshold for sleep disturbance. Greater sleep latency was associated with worse inhibitory control (r = -0.42, p = 0.046), and total sleep time was positively associated with inhibitory control and attention. CONCLUSIONS: Findings confirm the feasibility and acceptability of home EEG sleep monitoring in school-age survivors, and associations of sleep latency and snoring with reduced neurocognitive functioning may offer modifiable risk factors for aspects of neuropsychological dysfunction common in pediatric survivorship. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: At the time this study was conducted, we were not required to register the study on ClinicalTrials.gov. It was a single-institution feasibility study without intervention, which was not considered a clinical trial.

Humans↗

PubMed2007

Effects of SCA1, MJD, and DPRLA triplet repeat polymorphisms on cognitive phenotypes in a normal population of adolescent twins.

The expansion of unstable trinucleotide CAG repeat polymorphisms of a number of genes causes several neurodegenerative disorders with decreased cognitive function, the severity of the disorder being related to allele length at the triplet repeat locus. While the effects of repeat length have been well studied in clinical samples, there has been little investigation of the effects of triplet repeat variation in the normal range for these genes. We have, therefore, examined linkage and association for three CAG triplet repeat markers (Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 1, SCA1; Machado-Joseph Disease, MJD; Dentatorubro-pallidoluysian Atrophy, DRPLA) to assess their contribution to variation in cognitive ability (IQ, reading ability, processing speed) in a normal, unselected sample of adolescent twins (248 dizygotic (DZ) sibling pairs, aged 16 years). Association tests, performed in Mx and QTDT, showed a consistent positive association of SCA1 with Arithmetic (P = 0.04). While association was supported between SCA1 and Cambridge reading scores and between DRPLA and inspection time, results were inconsistent across software packages. Given the number of statistical tests performed, it is unlikely that trinucleotide repeat variation in the normal range for these genes influences variation in normal cognition.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2002

Rapid technique for imaging the blood vascular system using stereoangiography.

Data on vascular anatomy traditionally have been derived from time-consuming gross dissection and histology, which has prevented the assembly of large sample sizes. Vascular injection of radiopaque medium (angiography) is a rapid technique, but, as typically performed, it has limitations (e.g., superimposition and poor subsequent dissectibility). We present a novel angiographic technique comprised of two elements: 1) a new, dissectible injection medium; and (2) stereoradiography. The injection medium consists of liquid barium (providing radiopacity) and latex (providing dissectibility). Domestic duck heads were the study system. The relative concentrations of barium and latex were varied, and the resulting radiographs were assayed for vessel radiopacity and the number of observable vessels. A wide range of barium percentages yielded excellent results, suggesting that preparation of the medium can be "eyeballed" for most applications, which enhances processing speed. The stereoradiographic element solved the superimposition problem, allowing stunning resolution of the spatial relationships of vessels to each other and to other tissues. Stereoangiography is a fast and easy technique that permits the acquisition of detailed anatomical data from many specimens, thereby enabling something rarely achieved: population-level anatomical studies.

Angiography↗

PubMed2006

Use of computerized assessment to predict neuropsychological functioning and emotional distress in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

OBJECTIVE: Cognitive dysfunction and neuropsychiatric disturbance are common in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). This study addressed the ability of the Automated Neuropsychological Assessment Metrics (ANAM), a computerized cognitive testing battery consisting of cognitive subtests, a sleepiness rating scale, and a mood scale, to predict neuropsychological status in patients with SLE. METHODS: Sixty individuals with SLE and no overt neuropsychiatric symptoms were administered ANAM to determine its validity as a screening measure of cognitive dysfunction and emotional distress in SLE. RESULTS: Performance on ANAM was compared with results of a consecutively administered, 2-hour battery of traditional neuropsychological tests and the Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II). Individual ANAM cognitive test scores were significantly correlated with most neuropsychological tests, particularly those measuring psychomotor processing speed and executive functioning. Using logistic regression, ANAM cognitive subtests successfully predicted individuals with SLE who had probable versus no impairment after controlling for premorbid levels of cognitive ability. Sensitivity of group classification was 76.2% and specificity was 82.8%, with 80% correct classification overall. ANAM's ability to predict neuropsychological functioning remained even after controlling for subjective reports of depressed mood and current sleepiness. Further, the ANAM mood scale was significantly correlated with the BDI-II (r = 0.67, P < 0.001), indicating its potential future use as a screening tool for emotional distress. CONCLUSION: ANAM shows promise as a time- and cost-efficient tool for screening and monitoring cognitive and emotional functioning in SLE, and can indicate when a more thorough neuropsychological investigation is warranted.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

The cognitive sequelae of standard-dose adjuvant chemotherapy in women with breast carcinoma: results of a prospective, randomized, longitudinal trial.

BACKGROUND: Retrospective trials have reported that chemotherapy-induced cognitive dysfunction was experienced by a subset of patients with breast carcinoma. However, recent evidence indicated that a subset also exhibited impaired cognitive function at baseline, before the start of chemotherapy. A prospective, longitudinal trial that incorporates baseline neuropsychologic evaluations is necessary to determine to what extent cognitive dysfunction is attributable to chemotherapy in this population. METHODS: Eighteen women with breast carcinoma underwent a comprehensive neuropsychologic evaluation before treatment and at short-term and long-term intervals after chemotherapy. The incidence, nature, severity, and chronicity of cognitive dysfunction developing in patients with breast carcinoma treated with a standard dose of adjuvant chemotherapy were assessed. RESULTS: Before the start of systemic therapy, 33% of women in the current cohort exhibited cognitive impairment. At the short-term postchemotherapy time point, 61% of the cohort exhibited a decline relative to baseline in 1 or more domains of cognitive functioning and reported greater difficulty in maintaining their ability to work. The most common domains of cognitive dysfunction were related to attention, learning, and processing speed. At the long-term postchemotherapy time point, approximately 50% of patients who experienced declines in cognitive function demonstrated improvement, whereas 50% remained stable. Self-reported ability to perform work-related activities also improved over this interval. Neither impairment at baseline nor subsequent treatment-related cognitive decline exhibited any statistically significant correlation with affective well-being or with demographic or clinical characteristics. CONCLUSIONS: The current study is the first longitudinal trial to report evidence of an association between cognitive dysfunction and chemotherapy in a subgroup of women with nonmetastatic breast carcinoma. The importance of using prospective research designs, appropriate cognitive measures, and statistical methods to evaluate subgroup effects was discussed. Identification of mechanisms associated with cognitive dysfunction and of risk factors contributing to subgroup vulnerability is necessary.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

'Chemobrain' in breast carcinoma?: a prologue.

BACKGROUND: Chemotherapy-induced cognitive dysfunction in patients with breast carcinoma has been described previously. However, those studies only assessed patients' postchemotherapy cognitive functioning and were not able to determine the relation between cognitive function and other treatments, such as surgery and radiotherapy, that often precede systemic chemotherapy. METHODS: Eighty-four women with breast carcinoma underwent a comprehensive neuropsychologic evaluation before receiving adjuvant therapy for nonmetastatic primary breast carcinoma. RESULTS: Before the start of systemic therapy, 35% of women in the current cohort exhibited cognitive impairment. Verbal learning (18%) and memory function (25%) were impaired significantly more frequently relative to normative expectations. Although the impairments were not significant in the women who were examined, nonverbal memory (17%), psychomotor processing speed and attention (13%), confrontational naming (13%), visuoconstruction (13%), and upper-extremity fine motor dexterity (12%) were impaired more frequently than was expected. Affective distress was related significantly to cognitive impairment (Pearson chi-square = 9.90; P = 0.002). Given the conservative statistical approach employed, extent of surgery, hormone replacement therapy history, and current menopausal status failed to achieve statistical significance, but these variables did exhibit provocative trends with respect to cognitive impairment. CONCLUSIONS: Cognitive impairment frequently is observed before the administration of systemic chemotherapy. Thus, investigations purporting to measure chemotherapy-induced cognitive dysfunction must employ study designs that incorporate prechemotherapy baseline assessments to accurately detect changes in cognitive function that are attributable to chemotherapy.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

A metaanalysis of studies of the effects of cancer chemotherapy on various domains of cognitive function.

BACKGROUND: Little is known about the effects of chemotherapy on cognitive function. The purposes of this metaanalysis were to estimate the effect sizes for the effect of chemotherapy on each domain of cognitive function and to differentiate effect sizes by each method of comparison of effects (i.e., normative data, control group, or baseline data). METHODS: Sixteen studies that evaluated cognitive function in chemotherapy patients were included in the study. DSTAT metaanalysis software was used to calculate an effect size and confidence intervals for each neuropsychologic test. Tests were assigned to a specific cognitive domain, and an average effect size was determined for each domain. RESULTS: Only one domain of cognitive function (i.e., visual memory) had significant chemotherapy-induced impairment across all comparison types. However, when the neuropsychologic test scores of chemotherapy patients were compared with normative data, significant effect sizes were found for four domains of cognitive function (i.e., executive function, information processing speed, verbal memory, visual memory). In addition, significant, albeit small, effect sizes were found for language and verbal memory when chemotherapy patients' test scores were compared with test scores of healthy matched controls. All significant averaged effect sizes were in the negative direction, indicating that mean scores on neuropsychologic tests for patients who had received chemotherapy were on average lower than comparison scores. CONCLUSION: Data from this metaanalysis supported the hypothesis that chemotherapy can have a negative impact on cognitive function. However, most deficits in this study ranged from small to moderate and were nonsignificant.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

Effects of resolution reduction on data analysis.

BACKGROUND: There is often a need in flow cytometry to display and analyze histograms at resolutions lower than those native to the data. It is common, for example, to analyze DNA histograms at 256-channel resolution, even though the data were acquired at 1,024 channels or more. The most common method for reducing resolution, referred to as the consecutive summation (CS) method, can introduce distortions into the shape of histograms. Peaks that were symmetric in the original data can become skewed in the reduced-resolution histogram. Data analysis can be negatively affected by the distortions produced by reducing the histogram resolution. An alternative technique for reducing histogram resolution, the unbiased summation (US) method, minimizes shape distortion. This paper describes the US method and examines the benefits it provides in the analysis of DNA histograms. METHODS: Reduced chi-square (RCS) was used to measure the response to three experimental variables in the least-squares analysis of simulated DNA histograms. For each variable (the percentage of coefficient of variation [%CV], number of events, and mean position of the G1 distribution), a test data set of 1,000 histograms was generated at 1,024-channel resolution. Histogram resolutions were reduced with each method and then analyzed with ModFit LT cell-cycle analysis software (Verity Software House, Topsham, ME). S-phase error and processor computation time of each method also were evaluated. A Monte Carlo experiment was performed to compare CS and US methods to theoretically correct reductions. RESULTS: CS method analysis results were negatively affected by changes in %CV, number of events, and G1 peak position. The US method produced consistently lower RCS values (more accurate results) within the tested ranges. The US method eliminated bias in S-phase error and had negligible impact on analysis processing speed. It improved RCS values 44.50% on average (P < 0.0002) with actual DNA histograms. Whereas the CS method became less accurate (chi-square test) as the amount of reduction increased, the US method was unaffected, producing consistently better results. CONCLUSIONS: The US method is recommended for reducing histogram resolution in modeling applications such as DNA cell-cycle analysis. It may have implications in other areas of flow cytometric data analysis.

Algorithms↗

PubMed2003

Monitoring dyslexics' intelligence and attainments: a follow-up study.

Intelligence (Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children R and III, 1992) and written language attainment (BAS Word Reading, Neale Analysis of Reading, Vernon Graded Word Spelling) data for around 250 children attending a specialist school for dyslexics are presented. The Wechsler scales data show some evidence for 'ACID' and 'SCAD' profile effects on the subtests, with specifically weak Index scores on Freedom from Distractibility and Processing Speed. The relationship between intelligence and reading development is also examined, with evidence for significant correlations between intelligence and written language and a longitudinal study showing that there is no 'Matthew' or drop-off effect in intelligence. The attainments tests demonstrate that the widening gap between a dyslexic's chronological age and his/her attainments can be closed, and how attainments may be monitored within the context of 'growth curves'. The results are discussed in relation to recent reports (e.g. B.P.S. on Dyslexia, Literacy and Psychological Assessment) on the relationship between intelligence and attainments and it is concluded that this report could be seriously misleading for practising educational psychologists.

Achievement↗

PubMed2005

Utility of lab-on-a-chip technology for high-throughput nucleic acid and protein analysis.

On-chip electrophoresis can provide size separations of nucleic acids and proteins similar to more traditional slab gel electrophoresis. Lab-on-a-chip (LoaC) systems utilize on-chip electrophoresis in conjunction with sizing calibration, sensitive detection schemes, and sophisticated data analysis to achieve rapid analysis times (<120 s). This work describes the utility of LoaC systems to enable and augment systems biology investigations. RNA quality, as assessed by an RNA integrity number score, is compared to existing quality control (QC) measurements. High-throughput DNA analysis of multiplex PCR samples is used to stratify gene sets for disease discovery. Finally, the applicability of a high-throughput LoaC system for assessing protein purification is demonstrated. The improvements in workflow processes, speed of analysis, data accuracy and reproducibility, and automated data analysis are illustrated.

DNA↗

PubMed2007

A double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of memantine in age-associated memory impairment (memantine in AAMI).

OBJECTIVES: To determine the safety and efficacy of memantine in treating Age-Associated Memory Impairment (AAMI). METHODS: Sixty adults between 50-79 years of age meeting diagnostic requirements for AAMI were randomly assigned to either memantine (titrated to 20 mg) or a matched placebo and treated for 90 days. An extensive battery of computerized cognitive tests was administered at screening, baseline and, thereafter, at monthly intervals. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Study results suggest that the primary cognitive effects of memantine in this population are on attention and information processing speed, rather than on memory. There were no differences in adverse events between memantine and placebo.

Age Factors↗

PubMed2003

Apathy and cognitive performance in older adults with depression.

OBJECTIVES: Recent studies have linked apathy to frontal lobe dysfunction in persons with dementia, but few studies have explored this relationship in older, depressed persons without dementia. We examined the association between apathy and cognitive function in a group of older persons with major depression using standardized neuropsychological tests. We hypothesized that presence of apathy in depression is associated with poorer frontal executive performance. METHODS: We analyzed data from 89 older adults with major depression. We defined apathy using four items from the Hamilton Psychiatric Rating Scale for Depression which reflect the clinical state of apathy, including 'diminished work/interest,' 'psychomotor retardation,' 'anergy' and 'lack of insight.' RESULTS: Apathy most strongly correlated with two verbal executive measures (Stroop C and FAS), a nonverbal executive measure (Wisconsin Card Sorting Test-Other Responses), and a measure of information processing speed (Stroop B). Apathy was not associated with age, sex, education, medical illness burden, Mini-Mental State Examination score and Full Scale IQ score. Stepwise regression analyses of significant cognitive tests showed that apathy alone or apathy plus depression severity, age, or education accounted for a significant amount of the variance. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study provide support for an apathy syndrome associated with poorer executive function in older adults with major depression.

Affective Symptoms↗

PubMed2003

Specific memory deficits in ecstasy users? The results of a meta-analysis.

A meta-analysis was carried out on the possible functional neurotoxic effects of ecstasy use in humans on verbal short-term memory (STM), verbal long-term memory (LTM), processing speed (RT) and % errors (attention). To that end studies were found on the effect of ecstasy that fulfilled the criteria for a meta-analysis (number of subjects, means and standard deviations of the dependent variables). Ten studies were included on STM, ten on LTM, eight on RT and eight on % errors (attention). In addition meta-regression analyses were carried out on the effect sizes with total lifetime ecstasy consumption (TLEC) as predictor. It was found that in all four meta-analyses the mean effect size (ES) was significant: ecstasy users had lower verbal STM and LTM scores, reacted slower and made more errors. The meta-regression coefficients were not significant, indicating no support for a linear relationship between the mean ES values and TLEC, leaving open the possibility for a stepwise relationship. Additional meta-analyses on ecstasy groups that did not differ in lifetime cannabis consumption showed that only the ES for LTM became insignificant. This suggests that ecstasy use does not decrease LTM, but the number of studies on which this conclusion is based was very low.

Attention↗

PubMed2004

Effects of a combined extract of Ginkgo biloba and Bacopa monniera on cognitive function in healthy humans.

Extracts of Ginkgo biloba and Bacopa monniera have been shown to produce positive effects on cognitive function in healthy subjects. While the exact mechanisms are not known, it has been suggested that antioxidant properties and cholinergic modulation may play a role. In the current study the sub-chronic (2 weeks) and chronic (4 weeks) effects of an extract containing Ginkgo biloba (120 mg) and Bacopa monniera (300 mg) (Blackmores Ginkgo Brahmi) on cognitive function were examined. The study was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, independent group design in which 85 healthy subjects were allocated to one of two treatment conditions (placebo or combined Ginkgo biloba and Bacopa monniera extract). Testing was conducted at baseline and 2 and 4 weeks post treatment. The results showed that the combined extract relative to placebo did not demonstrate any significant effects on tests investigating a range of cognitive processes including attention, short-term and working memory, verbal learning, memory consolidation, executive processes, planning and problem solving, information processing speed, motor responsiveness and decision making. These findings suggest that at least within the current treatment duration and doses, an extract containing Ginkgo biloba and Bacopa monniera had no cognitive enhancing effects in healthy subjects.

Adult↗