Electroencephalogram Recording in Patients With Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

A measure of the amount and relationship of theta and gamma waves in the EEG recording. The ability to perform the block building task and the ability to choose among unfolded three-dimensional objects.

Patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) often experience a frustrating decline of
 their cognitive skills that includes considerable problems in attention, learning, and
 memory. This lupus-related cognitive dysfunction (termed SLE-CD) is recognized as the most
 prevalent of the nineteen neuropsychiatric SLE syndromes, as it affects up to 80% of patients
 and can significantly decrease their quality of life. The goal is to have tools that can be
 used for diagnosis and for monitoring responses after targeted interventions and therapies.
 This study will focus on electroencephalographic (EEG) signals, which will be detected
 noninvasively from scalp placed surface electrodes while the subjects are in a state of
 wakeful rest. Our hypothesis is that a subset of brain oscillations known as theta and gamma,
 and their co-modulation or coupling will be disrupted in SLE patients. This research protocol
 will subject patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) to scalp electroencephalography
 (EEG), with the goal of determining whether specific EEG patterns ('theta-gamma coupling')
 appear abnormal during wakeful-rest periods of 20 minutes. The investigators are interested
 in using scalp EEG because it is a standard, safe and robust technique for monitoring the
 electrophysiological activity of neurons in the cerebral cortex.