Clinical trials

This study aims to evaluate the effects of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and aerobic exercise on cognitive function and mental health in older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and comorbid depression. Forty-five participants will be randomly assigned to one of three groups: (1) rTMS alone, (2) rTMS combined with stationary cycling exercise, or (3) sham rTMS combined with stationary cycling exercise. Participants will receive 20 intervention sessions over a 5-week period (4 sessions per week). Outcomes, including cognitive function, depressive symptoms, sleep quality, life satisfaction, self-efficacy, and gait performance, will be assessed at baseline, immediately after completion of the 5-week intervention, and at a 1-month follow-up. The findings may contribute to the development of evidence-based, non-pharmacological interventions for improving cognitive and mental health outcomes in older adults with MCI and comorbid depression.

Acute heart failure (AHF) is defined as new or worsening of symptoms and signs of heart failure and is the most frequent cause of unplanned hospital admission in elderly patients. N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-pro-BNP) is one of the most developed prognostic markers for AHR patients and. NT-pro-BNP has limitations in terms of diagnostic or predictive accuracy in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Plasma proteomics have the potential to examine underlying pathophysiological and prognostic roles, so we compared the plasma proteomic signature to predict outcomes of patients with or without CKD hospitalized for AHF.

Stroke patients often have long-term upper limb dysfunction. Currently, there is still no specific clinical treatment for nerve damage. After acute treatments of stroke, patients' motor ability can only improve by spontaneous recovery of brain and rehabilitation treatment. Transcranial magnetic stimulation uses a magnetic field pulse generated by a coil outside the skull to pass through the skull. It uses the principle that magnetic electricity can generate currents, which activates nearby brain areas or changing the relationship between the left and right brains. Transcranial magnetic stimulation is a non-invasive, safe treatment. Mirror therapy is an emerging rehabilitation method in recent years. As mirror therapy, therapists ask the patient to place the affected hand behind the mirror while looking at the image reflected by the unaffected upper limb. During mirror therapy, patients have to perform upper limb activities and imagine that the affected upper limb is performing the same action. As mentioned above, transcranial magnetic stimulation and mirror therapy improve the recovery of stroke patients by two different ways. Currently, there are no studies that combine these two treatments. Therefore, our study hopes to initially explore the efficacy of transcranial magnetic stimulation and the efficacy of transcranial magnetic stimulation combined with mirror therapy.