Persons with fibromyalgia (FM) report having cognitive dysfunction. Neuropsychological performance was compared across a variety of domains in 43 women with FM (Mage = 63 years) and in 44 women ...without FM (Mage = 65 years).
Measures included explicit memory (Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease CERAD immediate/delayed recall, delayed recognition), aspects of executive function including interference/inhibition (Stroop Color/Word test), working memory (Digit Span Forward/Backward), set-shifting/complex sequencing (Trails B), monitoring (verbal fluency: naming animals), processing speed (Trails A, Digit Symbol Substitution Coding), and problem solving (Everyday Problems Test).
Women with FM performed more poorly than controls on executive function (Stroop Color/Word) and one processing speed measure (Digit Symbol Substitution Coding).
Results partly support altered cognitive function in FM. Mixed findings across cognitive domains among individuals with or without FM is consistent with the literature and suggest that factors beyond those typically controlled for (e.g., heterogeneity in FM) may be influencing findings. Future research is warranted.
Objective
To identify the potential benefits of heightened levels of affect balance in older adults with and without chronic pain on various cognitive domains, physical performance, and perceived ...cognitive and physical health.
Method
Ninety‐one older adults, some with and some without fibromyalgia (FM) participated. Objective tests included cognitive (immediate and delayed recall, delayed recognition—CERAD 10‐item word list) and physical measures (Fullerton Advanced Balance Scale; lower body strength—30‐s chair stand; gait velocity—30‐ft. walk). Self‐report measures were problems with forgetting, activities of daily living (perceived function), and affect (Positive and Negative Affect Scale PANAS). Affect balance was calculated as positive minus negative affect from the PANAS.
Results
Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that—regardless of FM status—higher affect balance was associated with better episodic memory performance (immediate recall, delayed recognition), better balance, enhanced lower body strength (more chair stands), and healthier gait (30‐ft. walk), as well as less forgetfulness and better perceived functional health.
Conclusion
Increased affect balance was associated with better objective and subjective health in older adults both without and with chronic pain. Positive psychology treatments which increase affect balance are easy to administer, cost effective, and may add an important, additional treatment modality for maintaining health in normal aging adults as well as those with chronic pain.
Clinical Relevance
In order to help patients with healthy aging, nurses need to be aware of the potential long‐term effect of emotional state on overall function and be able to counsel patients regarding potential treatments to enhance positive global emotions such as resilience.
The present study explored whether certain physical performance measures could be linked to specific cognitive domains in healthy older adults.
A total of 50 adults (mean age 69.5 years, SD 8.1) were ...evaluated on physical performance using measures of balance (Fullerton Advanced Balance Scale), functional mobility (8-ft up-and-go), lower body strength (30-s chair stand), gait (30-ft walk velocity) and aerobic endurance (6-min walk). Cognitive measures included Stroop Color-Word Test, Digit Span Backward, Trail Making Tests, Everyday Problems Test, Digit Symbol Substitution and a Brown-Peterson test. Principal component analyses reduced cognition to domains of processing speed, inhibition and working memory.
Hierarchical regression analyses were carried out with age and each physical measure as potential predictors of the three cognitive domains. The balance scale and 6-min walk were specifically associated with processing speed, inhibition and working memory.
Better dynamic balance and aerobic endurance predicted enhanced processing speed, inhibition and working memory in older adults, with these last two domains considered components of executive function. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2017; 17: 108-115.
Monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1) is a CC chemokine that attracts monocytes, memory T lymphocytes, and natural killer cells. Because other chemokines have similar target cell specificities ...and because CCR2, a cloned MCP-1 receptor, binds other ligands, it has been uncertain whether MCP-1 plays a unique role in recruiting mononuclear cells in vivo. To address this question, we disrupted SCYA2 (the gene encoding MCP-1) and tested MCP-1-deficient mice in models of inflammation. Despite normal numbers of circulating leukocytes and resident macrophages, MCP-1(-/-) mice were specifically unable to recruit monocytes 72 h after intraperitoneal thioglycollate administration. Similarly, accumulation of F4/80+ monocytes in delayed-type hypersensitivity lesions was impaired, although the swelling response was normal. Development of secondary pulmonary granulomata in response to Schistosoma mansoni eggs was blunted in MCP-1(-/-) mice, as was expression of IL-4, IL-5, and interferon gamma in splenocytes. In contrast, MCP-1(-/-) mice were indistinguishable from wild-type mice in their ability to clear Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Our data indicate that MCP-1 is uniquely essential for monocyte recruitment in several inflammatory models in vivo and influences expression of cytokines related to T helper responses.
To investigate the associations between perceived physical function (self-report) and physical and cognitive performance (objective assessments) in persons with fibromyalgia (FM).
Correlational ...study.
Exercise testing laboratory in Southern California.
Community-residing ambulatory adults meeting the American College of Rheumatology 1990 criteria for FM (N=68; mean age, 59.5y).
Not applicable.
Composite Physical Function scale, Senior Fitness Test (3 items), Fullerton Advanced Balance scale, 30-foot walk, Trail Making Test parts A and B, Digit Symbol Substitution Test, a composite score of these 3 cognitive measures, attention/executive function composite, processing speed composite, problem solving, inhibition, and episodic memory composite.
Hierarchical regression analyses showed that after controlling for age and FM symptoms, better physical performance (based on assessments, not self-report) was associated with higher cognitive function in attention/executive function, processing speed, problem solving, and inhibition.
Researchers should continue to investigate the relationship between physical and cognitive function in both clinical and nonclinical populations, as well as explore changes across time. Because physical activity has been associated with neural improvements, further research may identify whether particular mechanisms, such as neurogenesis, synaptogenesis, or changes in inflammatory marker levels, are involved.
Participants (N = 202) were students at a college in the northeastern United States who participated in the 2010 Core Alcohol and Drug survey. Data were collected on prepartying behavior, preparty ...social norms, and individual-difference variables. Using multivariate logistic and least-squares regression, it was found that descriptive social norms were associated with prepartying in women and injunctive social norms were associated with prepartying in men. Prepartying also was found to be negatively related to underage status and GPA in women and positively related to Greek membership and athlete status in men. Implications for social-norms interventions and suggestions for future social-norms research are discussed.
This study sought to investigate the existence of subgroups within a fibromyalgia (FM) sample based on physical and cognitive performance measures, as well as self-report psychological measures. A ...multisystem disorder characterized by widespread musculoskeletal pain and co-morbid conditions, FM can lead to declines in cognitive functioning and difficulty with psychological health.
Community participants (n = 57 women) recruited from support groups and university center databases provided documentation of having met the criteria for diagnosis of FM. Measures included validated performance and self-report instruments. Analysis was completed using hierarchical cluster analysis; a four cluster solution was chosen for its level of interpretability. The resulting model identified four distinct subgroups based upon patterns of performance and symptomology. Significant group differences were found on pain, fatigue, stiffness, and level of physical activity.
Study results support the existence of subgroups among the FM population based on levels of cognitive and physical performance and psychological symptoms.
Nurse practitioners aware of potential subgroups within FM should be better prepared to recommend treatment options for patients that target subgroup characteristics (e.g., high vs. low levels of psychological symptoms).
Cherry BJ, Weiss J, Barakat BK, Rutledge DN, Jones CJ. Physical performance as a predictor of attention and processing speed in fibromyalgia.
To explore the associations between physical (both ...self-report and objective measures) and cognitive function for persons with fibromyalgia (FM).
Correlational study.
An exercise testing laboratory in southern California.
Community-residing and functionally independent (not wheelchair-bound) adults meeting the American College of Rheumatology 1990 criteria for FM (N=51) with a mean age of 54 years and no history of stroke.
Not applicable.
Composite Physical Function Scale, Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire, adapted Trail Making Test parts A (TMT-A) and B (TMT-B), Digit Symbol Substitution Test, a composite index of TMT-A, TMT-B, and Digit Symbol Substitution Test combined, and physical performance assessments.
Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that better objective physical performance predicted increased cognitive function for TMT-A and the composite cognitive score after controlling for age and symptom burden. That is, as the physical performance level decreased, cognitive performance levels decreased.
Findings suggest that research is needed to determine whether patterns of physical activity participation, through their effects on physical fitness and performance, can enhance cognitive performance in persons with FM. Physiologic changes in specific brain regions in FM (eg, hippocampus, neural pain regions) suggest that further research is also warranted in determining specific relationships between biomarkers and cognitive performance in persons with FM.
Borrelia burgdorferi is difficult to detect in synovial fluid, which limits our understanding of the pathogenesis of Lyme arthritis, particularly when arthritis persists despite antibiotic therapy.
...Using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), we attempted to detect B. burgdorferi DNA in joint-fluid samples obtained over a 17-year period. The samples were tested in two separate laboratories with four sets of primers and probes, three of which target plasmid DNA that encodes outer-surface protein A (OspA).
B. burgdorferi DNA was detected in 75 of 88 patients with Lyme arthritis (85 percent) and in none of 64 control patients. Each of the three OspA primer-probe sets was sensitive, and the results were moderately concordant in the two laboratories (kappa = 0.54 to 0.73). Of 73 patients with Lyme arthritis that was untreated or treated with only short courses of oral antibiotics, 70 (96 percent) had positive PCR results. In contrast, of 19 patients who received either parenteral antibiotics or long courses of oral antibiotics (> or = 1 month), only 7 (37 percent) had positive tests (P < 0.001). None of these seven patients had received more than two months of oral antibiotic treatment or more than three weeks of intravenous antibiotic treatment. Of 10 patients with chronic arthritis (continuous joint inflammation for one year or more) despite multiple courses of antibiotics, 7 had consistently negative tests in samples obtained three months to two years after treatment.
PCR testing can detect B. burgdorferi DNA in synovial fluid. This test may be able to show whether Lyme arthritis that persists after antibiotic treatment is due to persistence of the spirochete.
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