UNASSIGNED: This review aimed to assess the impact of different exercise dosages on cognitive function in individuals with post-stroke cognitive impairment (PSCI).
UNASSIGNED: Four electronic databases-Embase, PubMed, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library-were systematically searched from inception to 01 January 2024, focusing on the impact of exercise therapy on cognitive function in individuals with PSCI. Only randomized controlled trials meeting the criteria were included. The exercise therapy dose and adherence were evaluated following the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) guidelines, categorized into a high compliance group with ACSM recommendations and a low or uncertain compliance group. A random-effects model compared the effect of ACSM compliance on cognitive function in individuals with PSCI, with the effect size represented by the standardized mean difference (SMD) and a 95% confidence interval (CI).
UNASSIGNED: In total, 18 studies meeting the criteria were included, with data from 1,742 participants. The findings suggested a beneficial effect of exercise on cognitive function in individuals with PSCI [SMD = 0.42, 95% CI (0.20, 0.65)]. Ten studies were categorized as the \"high adherence group\" and eight in the \"low or uncertain adherence group\" based on the ACSM recommendations. The subgroup analysis revealed that the SMD of the high compliance group was 0.46 (95% CI: 0.10, 0.82) (p = 0.01), while the SMD of the low or uncertain compliance group was 0.38 (95% CI: 0.07, 0.70) (p = 0.02).
UNASSIGNED: Our study indicates the beneficial impact of exercise for patients with PSCI over no exercise. Furthermore, high adherence to the exercise dose recommended by ACSM guidelines demonstrated a more substantial improvement in cognitive function than low or uncertain adherence in patients with PSCI. Systematic Review Registration: https:// www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/#myprospero, identifier CRD42023487915.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has been found to be promising in the neurorehabilitation of post-stroke patients. Aphasia and cognitive impairment (CI) are prevalent post-stroke; however, there is still a lack of consensus about the characteristics of interventions based on TMS and its neuropsychological and anatomical-functional benefits. Therefore, studies that contribute to creating TMS protocols for these neurological conditions are necessary. To analyze the evidence of the neuropsychological and anatomical-functional TMS effects in post-stroke patients with CI and aphasia and determine the characteristics of the most used TMS in research practice. The present study followed the PRISMA guidelines and included articles from PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, and EMBASE databases, published between January 2010 and March 2023. In the 15 articles reviewed, it was found that attention, memory, executive function, language comprehension, naming, and verbal fluency (semantic and phonological) are the neuropsychological domains that improved post-TMS. Moreover, TMS in aphasia and post-stroke CI contribute to greater frontal activation (in the inferior frontal gyrus, pars triangularis, and opercularis). Temporoparietal effects were also found. The observed effects occur when TMS is implemented in repetitive modality, at a frequency of 1 Hz, in sessions of 30 min, and that last more than 2 weeks in duration. The use of TMS contributes to the neurorehabilitation process in post-stroke patients with CI and aphasia. However, it is still necessary to standardize future intervention protocols based on accurate TMS characteristics.

BACKGROUND: Stroke is a significant global cause of mortality and morbidity, and post-stroke cognitive impairment (PSCI) affects up to half of stroke patients. Despite the availability of pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions, there is a lack of definitive effective treatments for PSCI. Non-invasive brain stimulation, particularly intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS), has emerged as a promising therapy for the treatment of PSCI.
OBJECTIVE: This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of iTBS in enhancing cognitive function among patients with PSCI.
METHODS: A comprehensive search was conducted across multiple databases, including PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, Cochrane Library, and CNKI, to identify relevant randomized controlled trials published before April 2023. The primary outcome measured changes in global cognitive scales, while the secondary outcomes focused on improvements in attention, orientation, visual-spatial perception, and activities of daily living.
RESULTS: The meta-analysis encompassed six studies involving 325 patients. The results demonstrated that iTBS led to a significant improvement in global cognitive scales (SMD = 1.12, 95% CI = [0.59 to 1.65], P < 0.0001), attention (SMD = 0.48, 95% CI [0.13 to 0.82], P = 0.007), visual perception (SMD = 0.99, 95% CI [0.13 to 1.86], P = 0.02), and activities of daily living (SMD = 0.82, 95% CI [0.55 to 1.08], P < 0.00001). However, there was no significant effect on orientation (SMD = 0.36, 95% CI [- 0.04 to 0.76], P = 0.07). Subgroup analysis based on the number of sessions was conducted, revealing a significant improvement in global cognition among patients with PSCI across the three categories (10 sessions, 20 sessions, and 30 sessions) with no between-group difference (P = 0.28). None of the included studies reported any serious adverse effects.
CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, iTBS appears to be a safe and effective non-invasive treatment that can enhance the cognitive abilities and daily living skills of patients with post-stroke cognitive impairment. However, our conclusion is constrained by the limited number of studies. Further high-quality, large-sample RCTs with extended follow-up periods are necessary to validate these findings. Integrating iTBS with brain imaging techniques, such as functional near-infrared spectroscopy and functional magnetic resonance, could aid in understanding the mechanism of iTBS action.

In recent years, the stroke incidence has been increasing year by year, and the related sequelae after stroke, such as cognitive impairment, motor dysfunction, and post-stroke depression, seriously affect the patient\'s rehabilitation and daily activities. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), as a safe, non-invasive, and effective new rehabilitation method, has been widely recognized in clinical practice. This article reviews the application and research progress of rTMS in treating different functional impairments (cognitive impairment, motor dysfunction, unilateral spatial neglect, depression) after stroke in recent years, and preliminary summarized the possible mechanisms. It has been found that the key parameters that determine the effectiveness of rTMS in improving post-stroke functional impairments include pulse number, stimulated brain areas, stimulation intensity and frequency, as well as duration. Generally, high-frequency stimulation is used to excite the ipsilateral cerebral cortex, while low-frequency stimulation is used to inhibit the contralateral cerebral cortex, thus achieving a balance of excitability between the two hemispheres. However, the specific mechanisms and the optimal stimulation mode for different functional impairments have not yet reached a consistent conclusion, and more research is needed to explore and clarify the best way to use rTMS. Furthermore, we will identify the issues and challenges in the current research, explore possible mechanisms to deepen understanding of rTMS, propose future research directions, and offer insightful insights for better clinical applications.

Background: Stroke survivors are at significantly increased risk of cognitive impairment, which affects patients\' independence of activities of daily living (ADLs), social engagement, and neurological function deficit. Many studies have been done to evaluate the efficacy and safety of post-stroke cognitive impairment (PSCI) treatment, and due to the largely inconsistent clinical data, there is a need to summarize and analyze the published clinical research data in this area. Objective: An umbrella review was performed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of PSCI therapies. Methods: Three independent authors searched for meta-analyses and systematic reviews on PubMed, the Cochrane Library, and the Web of Science to address this issue. We examined ADL and Barthel index (BI), Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), neurological function deficit as efficacy endpoints, and the incidence of adverse events as safety profiles. Results: In all, 312 studies from 19 eligible publications were included in the umbrella review. The results showed that angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI) and N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) antagonists, cell therapies, acupuncture, and EGB76 can improve the MoCA and ADL, and the adverse effects were mild for the treatment of PSCI. Moreover, Vinpocetine, Oxiracetam, Citicoline, thrombolytic therapy, Actovegin, DL-3-n-Butylphthalide, and Nimodipine showed adverse events or low article quality in patients with PSCI. However, the research evidence is not exact and further research is needed. Conclusion: Our study demonstrated that ACEI inhibitors (Donepezil) and NMDA antagonists (Memantine), EGB761, and acupuncture are the ADL and BI, MoCA, and neurological function deficit medication/therapy, respectively, for patients with PSCI. Clinical Trial Registration: https://inplasy.com/inplasy-2022-11-0139/; Identifier: INPLASY2022110139.

Objective: Although neurocognitive disorders (NCD) are common post-stroke, many populations do not have adapted cognitive screens and cut-offs. We therefore reviewed the appropriateness of the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and Oxford Cognitive Screen (OCS) for diagnosing NCD in culturally diverse stroke populations. Method: Using an extensive search string, diagnostic accuracy studies for MMSE, MoCA and OCS in the stroke population were retrieved from four databases. We compared translations and adaptations, adjustments in scores and cut-offs, and their diagnostic accuracy. Results: The search resulted in 28 MMSE, 39 MoCA and 5 OCS-studies in 13 western, educated, industrialized, rich and democratic (WEIRD) and 4 other countries. There was a lack of studies on South-American, African, and non-Chinese-Asian populations. All three tests needed adaptation for less WEIRD populations and populations with languages with non-Latin features. Optimal MMSE and OCS subtest cut-offs were similar across WEIRD and less WEIRD populations, whereas optimal MoCA cut-offs appeared lower for less WEIRD populations. The use of adjusted scores resulted in different optimal cut-offs or similar cut-offs with better accuracy. Conclusions: MoCA, MMSE and OCS are promising tools for diagnosing post-stroke-NCD. For culturally diverse populations, translation, adaptation and adjusted scores or cut-offs are necessary for diagnostic accuracy. Available studies report scarcely about their sample\'s cultural background and there is a lack of diagnostic accuracy studies in less WEIRD or culturally diverse populations. Future studies should report more cultural characteristics of their sample to provide better insight into the tests\' accuracy in culturally diverse populations.

Post-stroke cognitive impairment (PSCI) is one of the serious complications of stroke. The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), as a brief cognitive impairment screening tool, is widely used in stroke survivors. However, some studies have suggested that the use of the universal cutoff value of 26 may be inappropriate for detecting cognitive impairments in stroke settings.
We conducted this study to identify the optimal cutoff value of the MoCA in screening for PSCI.
PubMed, CINAHL, Embase, the Cochrane Library, and Web of Science were searched for eligible studies until March 23, 2023. All studies were screened by two independent researchers. The quality of each article was evaluated by the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies-2 tool. A bivariate mixed-effects model was used to pool sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio, negative likelihood ratio, diagnostic odds ratio, and the summary receiver operating characteristic curve.
Twenty-four studies with a total of 4231 patients were included in this review. Despite the lack of evidence of publication bias, a high degree of heterogeneity was observed. A meta-analysis revealed that a cutoff value of 21/22 yielded the best diagnostic accuracy. The optimal cutoff varied in different regions, stroke types, and stroke phases as well.
The optimal cutoff of MoCA was 21/22 for stroke populations rather than the initially recommended cutoff of 26. A revised (lower) cutoff should be considered for stroke survivors.

Post-stroke cognitive impairment, is a major complication of stroke, characterized by cognitive dysfunction, which directly affects the quality of life. Post-stroke cognitive impairment highlights the causal relationship between stroke and cognitive impairment. The pathological damage of stroke, including the increased release of excitatory amino acids, oxidative stress, inflammatory responses, apoptosis, changed neurotrophic factor levels and gene expression, influence synaptic plasticity. Synaptic plasticity refers to the activity-dependent changes in the strength of synaptic connections and efficiency of synaptic transmission at pre-existing synapses and can be divided into structural synaptic plasticity and functional synaptic plasticity. Changes in synaptic plasticity have been proven to play important roles in the occurrence and treatment of post-stroke cognitive impairment. Evidence has indicated that Chinese herbal drugs have effect of treating post-stroke cognitive impairment. In this review, we overview the influence of pathological damage of stroke on synaptic plasticity, analyze the changes of synaptic plasticity in post-stroke cognitive impairment, and summarize the commonly used Chinese herbal drugs whose active ingredient or extracts can regulate synaptic plasticity. This review will summarize the relationship between post-stroke cognitive impairment and synaptic plasticity, provide new ideas for future exploration of the mechanism of post-stroke cognitive impairment, compile evidence of applying Chinese herbal drugs to treat post-stroke cognitive impairment and lay a foundation for the development of novel formulas for treating post-stroke cognitive impairment.

UNASSIGNED: Cognitive impairment is one of the common sequelae after stroke, which not only hinders the recovery of patients but also increases the financial burden on families. In the absence of effective therapeutic measures, acupuncture treatment has been widely used in China to treat post-stroke cognitive impairment (PSCI), but the specific efficacy is unclear. Therefore, this review aimed to evaluate the true efficacy of acupuncture treatment in patients with PSCI.
UNASSIGNED: We searched eight databases [PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, China Biomedical Literature Database (CBM), China Science and Technology Journal (VIP) database, the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) database, and Wan fang database] from the inception to May 2022 for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) related to acupuncture treatment combined with cognitive rehabilitation (CR) for PSCI. Two investigators independently used a pre-designed form to extract valid data from eligible RCTs. The risk of bias was assessed through tools provided by the Cochrane Collaboration. The meta-analysis was implemented through Rev Man software (version 5.4). The strength of the evidence obtained was evaluated using GRADE profiler software. Adverse events (AEs) were collected by reading the full text and used to evaluate the safety of acupuncture treatment.
UNASSIGNED: Thirty-eight studies involving a total of 2,971 participants were included in this meta-analysis. Overall, the RCTs included in this meta-analysis were poor in methodological quality. The combined results showed that acupuncture treatment combined with CR showed significant superiority compared to CR alone in terms of improving cognitive function [Mean Difference (MD) = 3.94, 95% confidence intervals (CI): 3.16-4.72, P < 0.00001 (MMSE); MD = 3.30, 95%CI: 2.53-4.07, P < 0.00001 (MoCA); MD = 9.53, 95%CI: 5.61-13.45, P < 0.00001 (LOTCA)]. Furthermore, the combination of acupuncture treatment and CR significantly improved patients\' self-care ability compared to CR alone [MD = 8.66, 95%CI: 5.85-11.47, P < 0.00001 (MBI); MD = 5.24, 95%CI: 3.90-6.57, P < 0.00001 (FIM)]. Meanwhile, subgroup analysis showed that MMSE scores were not sufficiently improved in the comparison of electro-acupuncture combined with CR versus CR alone (MD = 4.07, 95%CI: -0.45-8.60, P = 0.08). However, we also observed that electro-acupuncture combined with CR was superior to the use of CR alone in improving MoCA and MBI scores in patients with PSCI [MD = 2.17, 95%CI: 0.65-3.70, P = 0.005 (MoCA); MD = 1.74, 95%CI: 0.13-3.35, P = 0.03 (MBI)]. There was no significant difference in the occurrence of adverse events (AE) between acupuncture treatment combined with CR and CR alone (P > 0.05). The certainty of the evidence was rated low level because of flaws in the study design and considerable heterogeneity among the included studies.
UNASSIGNED: This review found that acupuncture treatment combined with CR may have a positive effect on improving cognitive function and self-care ability in PSCI patients. However, our findings should be treated with caution owing to the existence of methodological quality issues. High-quality studies are urgently required to validate our results in the future.
UNASSIGNED: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42022338905, identifier: CRD42022338905.

Post-stroke cognitive impairment (PSCI) imposes a huge burden on patients and society as a whole; however, unequivocally effective treatments for PSCI are still lacking. Therefore, the exploration of effective and safe non-pharmacological treatment modalities for PSCI is a key imperative. Moxibustion has been widely used for cognitive rehabilitation; however, there is a paucity of systematic reviews of the available evidence. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that investigated the effectiveness of moxibustion for treatment of PSCI to provide evidence base for the treatment of PSCI with moxibustion.
To evaluate the efficacy of moxibustion in improving cognitive function and activities of daily living (ADLs) in patients with PSCI.
Systematic review and meta-analysis of RCTs.
Patients with a clinical diagnosis of PSCI.
Relevant studies published in English or Chinese were retrieved from ten databases until December 2021. RCTs that assessed the efficacy of moxibustion on cognitive functioning and ADL in patients with PSCI were included. Two reviewers independently identified the trials and extracted the data. Risk-of-bias was assessed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool. Cochrane\'s Review Manager (RevMan 5.4) software was used for the meta-analysis.
Eighteen RCTs (1290 participants) qualified the inclusion criteria and were included. Compared with the control group, the addition of moxibustion significantly improved the cognitive function, evaluated using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) [pooled mean difference (MD): 2.27, 95% CI: 1.98, 2.55, I2  = 22%]. The pooled MD of Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score was 1.85 (95% CI: 1.56, 2.15, I2  = 26%), and the pooled odds ratios (OR) total effective rate was 4.74 (95% CI: 2.55, 8.80, I2  = 0%) (p < 0.05 for all). Moxibustion also significantly improved ADL, assessed using Modified Barthel Index (MBI) (pooled MD = 4.10, 95% CI: 2.10 to 6.10, I2  = 0%) and Barthel Index (pooled MD: 8.63, 95% CI: 7.47, 9.79, I2  = 5%) (p < 0.05 for all).
Compared with control group, the addition of moxibustion significantly improved the cognition and ADL of patients with PSCI.
Nurses can incorporate moxibustion into the rehabilitation nursing of PSCI.