Background: Many studies have highlighted the positive effects of dance in people with neurodegenerative diseases. Objectives: To explore the effects of International Ballroom Dancing on cognitive function in elders with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI). Methods: One-hundred twenty-nine elderly patients with aMCI diagnosis (mean age 66.8 ± 10.1 years) were randomly assigned into 2 groups: intervention group (IG, n = 66) and control group (CG, n = 63). The IG exercised systematically for 10 months, and both groups were submitted to extensive neuropsychological assessment prior and after the 10-month period. Results: According to the independent sample t test at the follow-up, significant differences between groups were found in benefit of the IG while the CG showed worse performance in the majority of neuropsychological tests. According to the Student t test, better performance is detected in IG in contrast with CG, which had worse performance almost in all scales. Conclusion: Dance may be an important nonpharmacological approach that can benefit cognitive functions.

People with severe neurological impairments face many challenges in sensorimotor functions and communication with the environment; therefore they have increased demand for advanced, adaptive and personalized rehabilitation. During the last several decades, numerous studies have developed brain–computer interfaces (BCIs) with the goals ranging from providing means of communication to functional rehabilitation. Here we review the research on non-invasive, electroencephalography (EEG)-based BCI systems for communication and rehabilitation. We focus on the approaches intended to help severely paralyzed and locked-in patients regain communication using three different BCI modalities: slow cortical potentials, sensorimotor rhythms and P300 potentials, as operational mechanisms. We also review BCI systems for restoration of motor function in patients with spinal cord injury and chronic stroke. We discuss the advantages and limitations of these approaches and the challenges that need to be addressed in the future.

It has been proved that the proposed system is suitable to support clinicians to reliably drive and evaluate clinical interventions toward quality of life improvement of people with cognitive impairment.

There is evidence to suggest the efficacy of Crocus (saffron) in the management of cognitive decline. This study examined the efficacy of Crocus in patients with amnesic and multi domain MCI (aMCImd). The participants included 17 patients on Crocus and 18 on a waiting list, who were examined with a short neuropsychological battery, MRI 3T, while some patients were examined via 256-channel electroencephalogram (HD-EEG) at baseline and after 12 months. The results showed that patients on Crocus had improved Mini-Mental State Examination scores (p = 0.015), while the control group deteriorated. Also, MRI, EEG, and ERP showed improvement in specific domains. This led us to conclude that Crocus is a good choice for management of aMCImd.