Patient case (clinical description): A 70-year-old man comes to the office accompanied by his wife.  The patient has experienced progressive memory loss over the last years.  He needs help with some of his routine activities, such as paying bills.  The patient's wife says, "He used to be such an independent person, but now he needs help with many things, even finding direction to home!"  Medical history includes hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and type 2 diabetes mellitus.  Family history includes Alzheimer disease in his father.  MRI reveals diffuse cortical and hippocampal atrophy. The diagnosis of AD is made using the National Institute on Aging and the Alzheimer's Association (NIA-AA) criteria.

Patient's own account: I am a 70-year-old man, and I paid a visit to the doctor with my wife the other day. I noticed that I tend to forget small things and that my memory has decreased over the past few years. I even ask my wife to help me out with my daily routine. I used to be the one paying the bills, but now she has to give me a hand. My wife mentioned to the doctor that I used to be independent and that I tend to forget where we live. I suffer from hypertension, high cholesterol, and type 2 diabetes. My poor dad was suffering from Alzheimer disease, so I hope I'm not going to end the same way! I did an MRI and they found out that some part of my brain was decreasing. I also did an Alzheimer test.

Clinical trial: Imaging the Neural Network Connectivity on Patients With Mild Cognitive Impairment

Eligibility criteria:
Inclusion Criteria:

        The patients with amnestic MCI

        The patients with single domain amnestic MCI have a Clinical Dementia Rating score of 0.5
        with isolated memory impairment without deficits in other cognitive domains. A cutoff
        scores below 1.5 Standard Deviation (SD) (or 7 percentile) of one of the tests in domains
        of cognitions employed psychometric tests; They should meet the following criteria:

          1. memory complaint

          2. normal general cognition

          3. normal activities of daily living

          4. not demented

        The patients with dysexecutive MCI

        The patients of dMCI have relatively focal dysfunction in executive domain with the tests
        of memory, language and visuospatial skills within normal limits. The patients with single
        domain dysexecutive MCI should meet the following criteria:

          1. relatively focal executive dysfunction

          2. Within reference range on tests of memory, language and visuospatial skills

          3. normal general cognition

          4. normal activities of daily living

          5. not demented

        The healthy volunteers

        The healthy volunteers should be normal neuropsychological assessments as well as CDR=0
        without significant neuropsychiatric disorder, right-handed, gender balanced and meet the
        following criteria:

          1. Age and gender matched healthy subjects without significant neuropsychiatric disorder

          2. Able to understand and provide signed informed consent

        Exclusion Criteria:

        The following exclusion criteria apply to all groups.

          1. Cardiac pacemaker implantation.

          2. Implantation of intracranial metal device.

          3. Other major systemic disease, such as renal failure, heart failure, stroke,
             AMI/unstable angina, poor controlled diabetes mellitus, poor controlled hypertension.

          4. Alcohol or drug abuse

          5. Meet the criteria for dementia ( DSM-IV )

          6. History of neurological disorder

          7. Current psychiatrical illness

          8. Head trauma with loss of consciousness greater than 10 minutes

          9. Severe sensory deficit

         10. Taking medication that affect cognition

         11. Vascular lesion on MRI with Longstreth grade >=4

         12. Structural abnormalities that could produce dementia, such as cortical infarction,
             tumor, or subdural hematoma

         13. Treatments or concurrent illnesses other than Alzheimer disease that interfered with
             cognitive function.

        Conversion Criteria

        Patient with AD is not an enrolling group. The criteria as the MCI patients converted to is
        defined by NINCDS-ADRDA Criteria and CDR=0.5, 1 or 2. The diagnosis is based on the
        following:

          1. CDR = 0.5, 1.0 or 2.0. For those of CDR 0.5, the diagnosis of MCI or AD depends on the
             judgment of the investigators on the level of clinical, ADL and neuropsychological
             impairment.

          2. Probable AD defined by NINCDS/ADRDA criteria.

          3. Caregiver/informant to accompany patient to all scheduled visits.

          4. HAM-D rating scale score of 12 on the 17-item scale(19) or Cornell Scale for
             Depression in Dementia (CSDD) score<8(20).
No condition on gender to be admitted to the trial.
Accepts Healthy Volunteers
Subject must be at least 55 Years old.
Subject must be at most 70 Years

Eligibility (NLI label): Contradiction