Step length and step width variability is increased in people with MCI during GI, particularly in a condition involving a secondary cognitive task. These findings suggest that individuals with MCI have reduced balance control when undertaking a challenging walking task such as gait initiation, and this is exacerbated with an added cognitive task. Future studies should prospectively investigate the relationship between GI variability and fall risk in this population.

This study examined the effects of a cognitive training program on cognitive function and neurochemistry changes in individuals with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI). Ten individuals with aMCI were randomly assigned to the experimental (n = 5) and control (n = 5) groups. The experimental group took part in an 18session cognitive training program over a 6-week period. After completing the cognitive training course, the experimental group demonstrated significant improvement in memory, attention, and executive functions. With respect to the neurochemistry biomarkers, the myoinositol/creatine (mI/Cr) ratio was significantly decreased in the hippocampus, prefrontal cortex, and anterior cingulate cortex of the experimental group after training. Findings demonstrate that the cognitive training program showed promising evidence in improving cognitive functions in individuals with aMCI. The observed cognitive function improvement was accompanied by a decrease of mI levels. examine how improvement on theses psychological tests is related to functional changes. CONCLUSIONThis preliminary study demonstrated the beneficial effect of the cognitive training program in improving memory, attention, and executive function of individuals with aMCI. The cognitive improvement was accompanied by the decrement of mI/Cr in both sides of the hippocampus, PFC, and ACC. Thus, a cognitive training program may potentially be an effective interventional approach to delay the conversion from aMCI to AD. Further study is needed to confirm these preliminary findings. ACKNOWLEDGMENTSFunds for this research were granted by the Office of the Higher Education Commission, Thailand, and the

With increasing global life expectancy, Alzheimer's disease will become an increasingly prevalent health problem. The development of biomarkers that predict risk for both Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment will be useful for early diagnosis of dementia. To date, no surrogate blood biomarker exists to classify between Alzheimer's disease/mild cognitive impairment and normal controls or Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment/normal control as a diagnostic parameter. In this study, we analyzed serum levels of amyloid-β 40 (Aβ 40), amyloid-β 42 (Aβ 42), clusterin (CLU) and p97 using ELISA kits from 157 subjects with normal cognition, mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease. We found a significant increase in serum levels of Aβ 42 (P<0.05) and serum clusterin (P<0.001) between normal and Alzheimer's disease subjects and between normal and mild cognitively impaired subjects. In contrast, serum Aβ 40 and p97 levels did not differ significantly between all groups. We also used receiver operating characteristic curves to determine the cutoff point of Aβ 42 and clusterin to differentiate either cognitively normal from cognitively impaired subjects (both Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment) or cognitively normal and mild cognitively impaired subjects from those with Alzheimer's disease. Only clusterin with 84% sensitivity, 75% specificity and good accuracy of diagnosis showed promise for diagnosing patients with cognitive impairment (Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment).