Abstract

Objective

Trail Making Test-Black and White (TMT-B&W) was developed to assess the cognition of patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease. Collection and analysis of test results have been limited due to scoring time and efforts required from both administrators and patients during and after taking the test. To increase efficiency and reducing scoring time, a computer version touchscreen-based digital trail making test-black and white (dTMT-B&W) was developed on Android and it was administered on MCI versus cognitively normal controls (NC) participants. The current study examines the sensitivity of newly developed computer version dTMT-B&W on NC and MCI subjects.

Method

dTMT-B&W was developed using MIT app inventor software, a web-based integrated development environment (IDE) with the Android development tools that are used to build fully functional applications for smartphones and tablets. A total of 44 participants were included, comprised of 22 NC and 22 MCI. The dTMT-TMT-B&W was administered to all NC and MCI subjects.

Result

dTMT-B&W was designed to be as consistent with the pen-paper TMT-B&W (ppTMT-B&W) where the application is a standalone installation. dTMT-B&W is divided into two parts (Part-A and Part-B), in which the subject attempts to connect black and white numbered circles sequentially as quickly as possible, while still maintaining accuracy. Similarly, the paper-based TMT-B&W requires the subject to connect black and white numbered circles in ascending order, except on a sheet of paper rather than a tablet. dTMT-B&W successfully distinguished NC from MCI subjects.

Conclusion

dTMT-B&W is an Android application that was successfully developed to be as consistent as possible with the original pen-paper TMT-B&W to establish equal concurrent validity, with some improved features embedded into the design and dTMT-B&W revealed a significant correlation with frontal executive function and this can help in early diagnosing subjects with MCI among NC subjects.

中文翻译：

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黑白数字线索制作测试：正常vs MCI

摘要

目的

开展了“黑与白跟踪制作测试”（TMT-B＆W）以评估轻度认知障碍（MCI），痴呆和阿尔茨海默氏病患者的认知。由于计分时间和管理人员及患者在参加考试期间和之后所需的努力，考试结果的收集和分析受到限制。为了提高效率并减少评分时间，在Android上开发了基于计算机版本的基于触摸屏的黑白数字足迹测试（dTMT-B＆W），并在MCI与认知正常对照（NC）参与者之间进行了管理。本研究检查了新开发的计算机版本dTMT-B＆W对NC和MCI主题的敏感性。

方法

dTMT-B＆W是使用MIT app inventor软件开发的，该软件是基于Web的集成开发环境（IDE）和Android开发工具，可用于为智能手机和平板电脑构建功能齐全的应用程序。总共包括44名参与者，包括22名NC和22名MCI。将dTMT-TMT-B＆W应用于所有NC和MCI受试者。

结果

dTMT-B＆W的设计与该应用程序是独立安装的笔纸TMT-B＆W（ppTMT-B＆W）一致。dTMT-B＆W分为两部分（A部分和B部分），在此过程中，对象尝试在保持精度不变的情况下尽可能快地顺序连接黑白编号的圆圈。类似地，基于纸的TMT-B＆W要求受试者以黑白编号的圆圈按升序连接，除了在纸上而不是在平板电脑上。dTMT-B＆W成功地将NC与MCI主题区分开。

结论

dTMT-B＆W是一个Android应用程序，已成功开发以与原始笔纸TMT-B＆W保持一致，以建立相等的并发有效性，并在设计中嵌入了一些改进的功能，并且dTMT-B＆W揭示了与额叶的显着相关性执行功能，这可以帮助早期诊断NC患者中的MCI患者。