In this ISLAND Newsletter

• 2023 Cognitive Tests - why it's so important to do them every year
• CANTAB and TAS Test - your cognitive tests for 2023
• Research Success for the ISLAND Project
• Dementia Resource for Consumers - Primary Health Tasmania

Thanks for being involved in ISLAND and helping us reduce dementia risk in Tasmania. 

2023 Cognitive Tests - why it's so important that you do them every year

We ask you to do many things in the ISLAND Project and very much appreciate everything that you do for our research. From our perspective, there are three activities that are vitally important to the eventual success of our overall research framework: -

1. The annual surveys you complete every October

2.  A blood donation every two years, and

3.  Your online cognitive assessments.

Shortly, we will email you and ask you to do your online cognitive assessments for 2023. This year, those assessments will be CANTAB and TAS Test and we've provided information on each of those later in this newsletter.

We often get asked why we keep asking you to repeat the three things listed above. We are really interested in how behaviour change might be reflected in biomarkers and cognition. Repeated assessment allows us to analyse changes across modifiable dementia risk, cognition, and blood biomarkers.

One thing we hope to find is that the people who make positive changes to their personal risk will have positive change reflected in their cognition and blood biomarkers. This will be one of many possible positive findings that might result from your involvement in ISLAND and that might help prevention, treatment and care for future generations affected by dementia. 

We hope this makes it clear why it is so important that you keep repeating these three activities. Thank you again from all of us at the ISLAND Team. 

CANTAB and TAS Test - your cognitive tests for 2023

Cognitive assessments are invaluable for understanding changes in brain function through ageing and how this may relate to neurodegenerative conditions such as dementia. The data you provide when you repeat these assessments provides us a powerful approach to understanding the longitudinal dimension to brain ageing as well as the impact of various interventions such as dementia risk reduction on brain function.

This year, we hope you will complete two assessments for us - CANTAB and TAS Test.

CANTAB

The CANTAB cognitive assessment technology is world renowned as the gold standard cognitive assessment and data collection instrument.

Using CANTAB, users complete a set of tests that focus on cognitive functions such as thinking speed, spatial awareness, organisation, focus and self-control. Cognitive functioning is a core focus of dementia research and software such as CANTAB allows for cognitive testing in peoples own homes, using their own computer and when it is convenient to them. 

TAS Test

Thank you to everyone who has already taken part in the various iterations of TAS Test! Over 3,000 of you have now completed TAS Test online at home or by coming into our research centres at Hobart and Launceston.

TAS Test (or “Tasmanian Test”) is a world-first test that uses precise computer analysis of hand movements to predict risk of dementia – potentially about 10-15 years earlier than standard cognitive tests. TAS Test is our very own cognitive test that we have developed right here at UTAS. We’re very proud of it and very grateful to those of you who have helped us develop it to this point. 

Even more impressive, is that almost 2,000 of you have completed TAS Test again in 2022 – this means we have a large group of ISLAND participants who have completed TAS Test two or three times over the last couple of years. This ‘longitudinal’ data is really valuable to the project as it allows us to measure change over time, rather than just a one-off measure.

Research Success for the ISLAND Project

Thanks to your participation in the ISLAND Project, our research has been accepted into the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Amsterdam in July and the Australian Dementia Network Research Forum to be held on the Gold Coast this month.

Both conferences are very prestigious for dementia research. ISLAND researchers, including Dr Eddy Roccati, will be presenting on blood biomarker research, our REM sleep disorder study and our online cognitive tests. 

Our latest TAS Test analysis is showing some exciting results. These results are attracting international attention and will be presented by Associate Professor Jane Alty at the World Parkinson’s Congress in Barcelona, and the Alzheimer’s Association International Congress in Amsterdam – both in July. 

We will share all these results with you as soon as they are published. In the meantime, thank you again to each and every one of you. Without your involvement, we could not be having such an impact with our research. 

Dementia Resources - Primary Health Tasmania

Primary Health Tasmania has released an excellent resource that brings together where to find services and supports about dementia.

Please follow this link to access their information on resources and support to help you, or a loved one, live well after a diagnosis of dementia. 

The University of Tasmania received funding from the Australian Government. Views and conclusions expressed in this publication are those of its authors, and may not be the same as those held by the Department of Health.

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