Dementia is characterized by the presence of cognitive decline and can lead to sensory-perceptual alterations, compromising the functionality in activities of daily living. The main objective of this work is to review the characteristics of sensory stimulation programs in dementia and its effectiveness. Studies were identified through a literature search, following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) and the Cochrane Collaboration Guidelines. Twenty studies were included in this review. The studies used multisensory stimulation at different stages of dementia. The results show a lack of consensus regarding frequency, duration, and number of sessions, as well as the duration of the interventions and assessment instruments used to evaluate the results. Multisensory stimulation, particularly Snoezelen, was the most widely used approach. Vision, hearing, touch, and smell were the most frequently stimulated senses. Most studies comprised pre- and post-intervention assessment, but few studies performed follow-up assessment. The interventions that revealed positive results in dementia were Snoezelen, multisensory environment other than Snoezelen, and Multi-sensory Behavior Therapy. This review weakly supports sensory stimulation in dementia, providing useful information for rehabilitation and future investigations.

The World Health Organization promotes salt iodisation to control iodine deficiency. In Portugal, the use of iodised salt in school canteens has been mandatory since 2013. The present study aimed to evaluate iodine status in school-aged children (6–12 years) and to monitor the use of iodised salt in school canteens. A total of 2018 participants were randomly selected to participate in a cross-sectional survey in northern Portugal. Children’s urine and salt samples from households and school canteens were collected. A lifestyle questionnaire was completed by parents to assess children’s eating frequency of iodine food sources. Urinary iodine concentration (UIC) was measured by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. The median UIC was 129 µg/L which indicates the adequacy of iodine status and 32% of the children had UIC < 100 µg/L. No school canteen implemented the iodised salt policy and only 2% of the households were using iodised salt. Lower consumption of milk, but not fish, was associated with a higher risk of iodine deficiency. Estimation of sodium intake from spot urine samples could be an opportunity for adequate monitoring of population means. Implementation of iodine deficiency control policies should include a monitoring program aligned with the commitment of reducing the population salt intake.

Cognitive assessment is central to the diagnosis of cognitive impairment and dementia, and it should be performed in all patients in the early stages of the disease. Recently, the 3rd version of Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination (ACE-III) has been developed in order to improve the previous versions. The aim of this study was to determine the psychometric properties of the Portuguese version of ACE-III, namely: reliability and discriminative validity (sensitivity and specificity) in the identification of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia, in comparison to other neuropsychological screening tests, as well as to establish its concurrent and divergent validity. The study encompassed a sample of 90 participants distributed into 3 groups: Control (n = 30), MCI (n = 30) and Dementia (n = 30). In addition to ACE-III, Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) were also used. The reliability of ACE-III was very good (α = 0.914). ACE-III significantly differentiated the 3 groups. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves significantly favored ACE-III in comparison to another screening test - MoCA. ACE-III presented higher levels of sensitivity and specificity. Its total score correlated positively with the results on MoCA (ρ = 0.912; p < 0.001) and negatively with a depression scale (ρ = -0.505; p < 0.001). The Portuguese version of ACE-III has very good reliability and high diagnostic capacity in the context of MCI and dementia. ACE-III also holds concurrent and divergent validity.

Background Our aims were to evaluate the neurocognitive performance in adolescents with congenital heart disease (CHD) and to determine whether parameters of fetal development evaluated in neonates, such as head circumference, length, weight, and Apgar scores, are somehow related to their neurocognitive performance. Methods We evaluated 77 CHD patients (43 males) aged from 13 to 18 years old (mean = 15.04 ± 1.86), 46 cyanotic, 23 with tetralogy of Fallot (TF), 23 with transposition of the great arteries (TGA) and 31 acyanotic with ventricular septal defect (VSD) enrolled in this study. The control group included 16 healthy children (11 males) ages ranging from 13 to 18 years old (mean = 15.69 years ± 1.44 years). All assessment measures for CHD patients were once obtained in a tertiary hospital; the control group was evaluated in school. Neuropsychological assessment included Wechsler's Digit Test, direct and reverse (WDD and WDR) and Symbol Search, Rey's Complex Figure (RCF), BADS's Key Searching Test, Color-Word Stroop Test (CWS), Trail Making Test (TMT), and Logical Memory Task (LMT). We evaluated some fetal parameters, such as head circumference, weight and length assessed at birth, and neonatal parameters, such as Apgar scores at 1 and 5 minutes after birth. We also registered some surgical parameters, such as the age at first operation and the number of surgeries. Results CHD patients compared with control group showed lower scores on every test, except for logical memory task. Patients with VSD when compared with patients with TF and TGA showed better results in all neuropsychological tests, although the only significant differences were in RCF, copy (F = 4936; P = .010). Several correlations were apparent between fetal/neonatal parameters and neuropsychological abilities in each type of CHD. However, head circumference at birth stands as the main correlation with cognitive development later on in all kinds of CHD (WDD: rho = .339, P = .011; RCF, copy: rho = 0.297, P = .027; CWS, interference: rho = 0.283, P = .036; TMT-A: rho = −0.321, P = .017). We analyzed the predicting relevance of several variables to cognitive performance of adolescents with CHD and confirmed that “cyanosis” stands as the main predictor (â = −4.758; t = −2.622; P = .011). Conclusions Adolescents with CHD have worse neuropsychological performance than the control group, mainly the cyanotic patients. Fetal circulation seems to have impact on cerebral and somatic growth, predicting cognitive impairment in adolescents with CHD.

The main objectives of this study are to identify the dimensions of Ecological Validity (EV) within the definitions of this concept, understand how they are operationalized in neurocognitive tests,...

Emotional distress in Angolan patients with several types of tuberculosis