Search results for " research."
showing 10 items of 13407 documents
Peripheral Maintenance of the Axis SIRT1-SIRT3 at Youth Level May Contribute to Brain Resilience in Middle-Aged Amateur Rugby Players
2019
Physical exercise performed regularly is known to improve health and to reduce the risk of age-related diseases. Furthermore, there is some evidence of cognitive improvement in physically active middle-aged and older adults. We hypothesized that long-term physically active middle-aged men may have developed brain resilience that can be detected with the analysis of peripheral blood markers. We aimed to analyze the activation of pathways potentially modulated by physical activity in a cohort of healthy amateur rugby players (n = 24) and control subjects with low physical activity (n = 25) aged 45¿65 years. We had previously reported neuropsychological improvement in immediate memory response…
Neuropsychiatric Symptoms as Predictors of Clinical Course in Neurodegeneration. A Longitudinal Study
2019
Background: To study the extent to which neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) influence the cognitive and functional decline in frontotemporal degeneration (FTD) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Methods: We assessed the progression of NPS and their influence on cognitive and functional progression in a group of FTD (n = 36) and AD patients (n = 47) at two different stages of the disease (2.5 years). A standardized scale was used to assess NPS—the Columbia University Scale for Psychopathology in Alzheimer’s Disease (CUSPAD)—which tracks different symptoms including depression, psychotic symptoms, as well as sleep and conduct problems. In addition, in a subsample of patients (AD n = 14 and FTD n = 14…
Cellular and molecular basis of the imbalance between vascular damage and repair in ageing and age-related diseases: As biomarkers and targets for ne…
2016
Preclinical and clinical studies suggest that specific subsets of cells isolated from the peripheral blood, play an essential role in the imbalance of damage and repair during age-associated diseases, such as metabolic syndrome, diabetes, atherosclerosis, neurodegenerative diseases, osteoporosis and cancer. Endogenous regeneration of the vessel wall involves cells of the vascular wall, inflammatory cells, circulating precursors, and mature endothelial cells, which are capable to restore the endothelium in a concerted interaction. Early detection of such imbalances with specific biomarkers may reduce age-associated diseases and subsequent cardiovascular events. Likewise, new strategies have …
Age-related trends of lesser pelvic architecture in females and males: a computed tomography pelvimetry study
2017
The pelvis and the spine form a system balancing human skeleton. Within this system, the pelvis adapts to age-related changes in the spine. Previous studies were predominantly focused on changes of pelvic parameters in the sagittal plane. The aim of this study was to reveal age-related changes of lesser pelvic dimensions at different levels of the pelvic cavity in the sagittal and coronal planes and to explore sexual dimorphism in age-related tendencies. The computed tomography pelvimetry was performed on the three-dimensional workstation. The research sample included 211 females aged 18 to 84 years and 181 males aged 18 to 82 years, who underwent an examination at the Riga East University …
Adult rat myelin enhances axonal outgrowth from neural stem cells.
2018
Axon regeneration after spinal cord injury (SCI) is attenuated by growth inhibitory molecules associated with myelin. We report that rat myelin stimulated the growth of axons emerging from rat neural progenitor cells (NPCs) transplanted into sites of SCI in adult rat recipients. When plated on a myelin substrate, neurite outgrowth from rat NPCs and from human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived neural stem cells (NSCs) was enhanced threefold. In vivo, rat NPCs and human iPSC-derived NSCs extended greater numbers of axons through adult central nervous system white matter than through gray matter and preferentially associated with rat host myelin. Mechanistic investigations excluded …
Heterogeneous Indicators of Cognitive Performance and Performance Variability Across the Lifespan
2020
Reaction time (RT) and RT variability are core components of cognitive performance that can be captured through brief and easy-to-administer tasks of simple RT and choice RT. The current study aims to describe age-related differences in cognitive performance, toward better characterizing normative performance across the lifespan. We examined mean and variability of response times on a simple RT and choice RT tasks in a large and diverse web-based sample (10,060 visitors to TestMyBrain.org). We also examined lifespan-related differences in response time variability using multiple different approaches (raw variability, mean scaled variability, and mean residualized variability). These analyse…
Differential Associations of IL-4 With Hippocampal Subfields in Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer’s Disease
2019
Background/Aims: A bi-directional communication between the immune system and the central nervous system has been recently suggested. Among many cytokines, the role of IL-4 - with anti-inflammatory properties- in counteracting age-related inflammatory changes in the brain is strongly supported among studies. With this study, we aimed at investigating the association between volumetric measures of hippocampal subregions -in healthy older controls (HC), subjects affected by mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer’s Disease (AD)- with circulating levels of IL-4. Methods: From AddNeuroMed Project 113 HC, 101 stable MCI (sMCI), 22 converter MCI (cMCI) and 119 AD were included. Hippocampal …
THE EFFICACY AND SAFETY OF INFLUENZA VACCINATION IN OLDER PEOPLE: AN UMBRELLA REVIEW OF EVIDENCE FROM META-ANALYSES OF BOTH OBSERVATIONAL AND RANDOMI…
2020
Vaccination is the main public health intervention to prevent influenza. We aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of influenza vaccination including systematic reviews and meta-analyses of observational studies and randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Peer-reviewed systematic reviews with meta-analyses of prospective studies that investigated the association of influenza vaccination with any health-related outcome, as well as RCTs that investigated the efficacy and safety of influenza vaccination, were included. Among 1240 references, 6 meta-analyses were included. In cohort studies of community-dwelling older people influenza vaccination was associated with a lower risk of hospitalizat…
Determinants of Quality of Life According to Cognitive Status in Parkinson’s Disease
2020
Background: Quality of life (QoL) was worse in Parkinson's disease patients with mild cognitive impairment (PD-MCI) or dementia (PDD) than PD patients with normal cognition (PD-NC). The aim of this study was to investigate and compare the potential heterogeneous determinants of QoL in PD patients with different cognitive statuses. Methods: We recruited 600 PD patients, including 185 PD-NC patients, 336 PD-MCI patients and 79 PDD patients, in this cross-sectional study. All patients completed the QoL assessment by the 39-item Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire (PDQ-39), as well as clinical evaluations and neuropsychological tests. The determinants of the QoL were analysed by multiple stepwise…
Incidence of Mild Cognitive Impairment and Dementia in Parkinson's Disease: The Parkinson's Disease Cognitive Impairment Study.
2018
Background: Cognitive impairment in Parkinson's disease (PD) includes a spectrum varying from Mild Cognitive Impairment (PD-MCI) to PD Dementia (PDD). The main aim of the present study is to evaluate the incidence of PD-MCI, its rate of progression to dementia, and to identify demographic and clinical characteristics which predict cognitive impairment in PD patients. Methods: PD patients from a large hospital-based cohort who underwent at least two comprehensive neuropsychological evaluations were retrospectively enrolled in the study. PD-MCI and PDD were diagnosed according to the Movement Disorder Society criteria. Incidence rates of PD-MCI and PDD were estimated. Clinical and demographic…