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P OSTER
A BSTRACTS
D28
Interactive video dance and cognition: baseline data.
J. Jovancevic- Misic, S. A. Studenski, Y. Zheng, S. Perera. University
of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA.
Supported By: The research reported in this abstract was supported
by NIH- Claude D Pepper Older Americans Independence Center
Grant, P30 AG024827, and by T32 grant (AG21885).
Purpose: Though some evidence exists that physical exercise has
the potential to affect cognitive function, the majority of evidence relates
to the cognitive effects of fitness training. There is evidence that
video games may induce cognitive improvement and generalize to
daily function, but mostly do not involve physical exercise. Little is
known of how combining these two types of training might impact
cognition, or the role of participants’ cognitive status on their success.
The purpose of this study is to examine the role of visual attention in
learning to process visual info in interactive video dance. Relative
value of participants’ previous experience with video games and
some types of leisure activities in predicting their performance on the
video dance was also investigated.
Methods: This is a cross sectional analysis of the baseline data
from a RCT Adherence and health effects of video dance exercise
and brisk walking in postmenopausal women. We focus on the baseline
data of the interactive video dance group. Participants were 46
overweight, sedantary women aged 50-65. Repeatable Battery for the
Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) test, the Useful
Field of View (UFOV) test and Leisure activity questionnaire were
administered at baseline. Participants’ previous experience with
video games, and ability to master the basics of interactive video
based dance on the first day was noted.
Results: We analyzed the association between two cognitive domains
(attention and visuo-spatial) as measured by RBANS and attention
deployment and visuo-spatial skills (UFOV). All domains
were correlated (Table 1).
Performance on cognitive tests as predictors of success in finishing
video dance lessons the first day was analyzed. The test of divided
attention (UFOV) and RBANS (attention) score tended to have an
impact, though only RBANS effect was significant (p=0.03). Previous
experience with dance and video games was found to have no effect
on the success of video dance performance.
Conclusions: Baseline data indicates that UFOV reflects some
RBANS factors and as such may be related to early success with
learning video dance. Further it would appear that no prior experience
playing video games or dancing is necessary for mastering this
new skill.
D30 Encore Presentation
Skeletal muscle sampling in elderly research participants with
chronic disease.
M. F. Lyles, J. L. Demons, K. M. Murphy, B. J. Nicklas. Internal
Medicine, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston Salem, NC.
Supported By: Claude Pepper Older Americans Independence
Center (1P30 AG21332, WFU General Clinical Research Center
(M01-RR07122), National Institute on Aging (R37 AG018915)
Deficits in skeletal muscle metabolism and function are major
contributors to development of disability in older adults. The conduct
of in vitro experiments of muscle metabolism and function is important
for advancing understanding of aging-related disability progression.
Percutaneous muscle biopsy techniques are widely utilized in
studies of young and/or healthy persons, but are underutilized in the
elderly, especially those with chronic illness, who are at the highest
risk of becoming disabled. The goal of this project was to determine
the feasibility, safety and tissue yield of muscle biopsies performed in
older adults with common chronic diseases enrolled in several clinical
trials. A total of 324 biopsies were performed in research participants
with COPD, CHF, osteoarthritis or obesity, who were enrolled in clinical
trials of weight loss and/or exercise training. Only minor modifications
in safety procedures, such as adjustment of table position,
were needed for biopsy performance in these patients. The average
tissue yield of for all biopsies was 157±90 mg. Participants in which
muscle was obtained (81%) were compared to those in which only
adipose tissue was obtained (19%; Table 1). Successful acquisition of
skeletal muscle was more challenging in women and in more obese
participants. The return rate for post-intervention biopsy was >90%.
Percutaneous muscle biopsy is a feasible, safe and acceptable procedure
in older adults with chronic diseases and provides a tool to understanding
the development of disability in this group.
Characteristics of participants with and without muscle tissue yield
*Average yield = 157±90 mg
D31 Encore Presentation
Extended-release memantine (28 mg, once daily) and sustained
cognitive improvement: Post hoc responder analysis from a
randomized trial in patients with moderate to severe Alzheimer’s
disease.
M. Tocco, 1 S. Hendrix, 2 M. L. Miller, 3 V. Pejovic, 3 S. M. Graham. 1 1.
Forest Research Institute, Jersey City, NJ; 2. Pentara Corporation,
Salt Lake City, UT; 3. Prescott Medical Communications Group,
Chicago, IL.
Supported By: Supported by Forest Laboratories, Inc.
Background: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) trials routinely report
mean score differences between treatment groups; however, it is also
important to compare percentages of patients who respond to treatment.
An extended-release (ER) formulation of memantine (28 mg,
once daily) was recently approved in the US based on a 24-week, randomized,
placebo-controlled trial (NCT00322153) in patients with
moderate to severe AD concurrently taking a cholinesterase inhibitor.
Memantine ER-treated patients significantly outperformed
placebo-treated patients on several outcome measures, including the
Severe Impairment Battery (SIB), an instrument for assessing cognition
in severely demented patients. In this post hoc analysis, we determined
the percentages of patients who achieved a positive response
on the SIB and maintained it throughout the trial.
Methods: Five SIB response levels to double-blind treatment
were selected (improvements of ≥0, ≥5, ≥10, ≥15, and ≥20 points), corresponding
to 0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 standard deviations of the observed
baseline-to-endpoint score change. Numbers of patients (observed
cases) in each group who attained such responses at Weeks 4,
8, 12, or 18 and maintained them through Week 24 (Endpoint) were
compared using Fisher’s exact test, without correcting for multiple
comparisons.
Results: The mean (± SD) Baseline SIB score for the intent-totreat
population (N=661) was 76.1 ± 18.4. A total of 523 patients (memantine
ER, 261; placebo, 262) had available SIB data at all visits.
Significantly more patients in the memantine ER group than the
placebo group maintained Week 8 SIB responses of ≥5 points (26.1%
vs 17.0%; P=0.014) and ≥10 points (14.6% vs 7.6%; P=0.012) through
Endpoint. Similar differences in response maintenance were observed
for responses attained at Week 12 (≥5 points: 28.5% vs 19.9%,
P=0.025; ≥10 points: 16.3% vs 8.2%, P=0.005; ≥15 points: 9.5% vs
4.1%, P=0.015) and Week 18 (≥10 points: 18.8% vs 10.0%, P=0.004;
≥15 points: 10.9% vs 4.5%, P=0.006). No other significant betweengroup
differences were observed.
Conclusions: In this post hoc analysis, memantine ER was associated
with cognitive improvement attained after 8-18 weeks and sustained
through study endpoint.
AGS 2012 ANNUAL MEETING
S197