Older adults who ultimately develop dementia experience accelerated cognitive decline long before diagnosis. A similar acceleration in cognitive decline occurs in the years before death as well. To ...evaluate preclinical and terminal cognitive decline, past researchers have incorporated change points in their analyses of longitudinal data, identifying point estimates of how many years prior to diagnosis or death that decline begins to accelerate. The current systematic review aimed to summarize the published literature on preclinical and terminal change points in relation to mild cognitive impairment (MCI), dementia, and death, identifying the order in which cognitive and neurological outcomes decline and factors that modify the onset and rate of decline. A systematic search protocol yielded 35 studies, describing 16 longitudinal cohorts, modeling change points for cognitive and neurological outcomes preceding MCI, dementia, or death. Change points for cognitive abilities ranged from 3-7 years prior to MCI diagnosis, 1-11 years prior to dementia diagnosis, and 3-15 years before death. No sequence of decline was observed preceding MCI or death, but the following sequence was tentatively accepted for Alzheimer's disease: verbal memory, visuospatial ability, executive functions and fluency, and last, verbal IQ. Some of the modifiers of the onset and rate of decline examined by previous researchers included gender, education, genetics, neuropathology, and personality. Change point analyses evidence accelerated decline preceding MCI, dementia, and death, but moderators of the onset and rate of decline remain ambiguous due to between-study modeling differences, and coordinated analyses may improve comparability across future studies.
Systematic Review of Pulmonary Function and Cognition in Aging Duggan, Emily Clare; Graham, Raquel B; Piccinin, Andrea M ...
The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences,
04/2020, Letnik:
75, Številka:
5
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Abstract
Background
Substantial research is dedicated to understanding the aging-related dynamics among individual differences in level, change, and variation across physical and cognitive abilities. ...Evaluating replicability and synthesizing findings has been limited by differences in measurements, samples, study design, and statistical analyses that confound between-person differences with within-person changes. Here, we systematically reviewed longitudinal results on the aging-related dynamics linking pulmonary function and cognitive performance.
Methods
Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses guidelines were used to systematically review longitudinal studies of pulmonary function and cognition.
Results
Only four studies thoroughly investigating cognitive and pulmonary longitudinal associations (three or more measurement occasions) were identified. Expanded review criteria identified three studies reporting two measurement occasions, and seven studies reporting one measurement of pulmonary function or cognition and two or more measurements of the other. We identified numerous methodological quality and risk for bias issues across studies.
Conclusions
Despite documented correlational associations between pulmonary function and cognition, these results show there is very limited research thoroughly investigating their longitudinal associations. This highlights the need for longitudinal data, rigorous methodological design including key covariates, and clear communication of methods and analyses to facilitate replication across an array of samples. We recommend systematic study of outcome measures and covariates, inclusion of multiple measures (e.g., peak expiratory flow, forced expiratory volume in 1 s, and forced vital capacity), as well as application of the same analytic approach across multiple datasets.
A flow-based method for the spectrophotometric determination of chromium (VI) in recreational waters with different salinities was developed. Chromium can occur in the environment in different ...oxidation states with different related physiological properties. With regard to chromium, the speciation is particularly important, as the hexavalent chromium is considered to be carcinogenic. To achieve that purpose, the use of the diphenylcarbazide (DPC) selective colored reaction with the hexavalent chromium was the chosen strategy. The main objective was to develop a direct and simple spectrophotometric method that could cope with the analysis of different types of environmental waters, within different salinity ranges (fresh to marine waters). The potential interference of metal ions, that can usually be present in environmental waters, was assessed and no significant interferences were observed (<10%). For a complete Cr(VI) determination (three replicas) cycle, the corresponding reagents consumption was 75 µg of DPC, 9 mg of ethanol and 54 mg of sulfuric acid. Each cycle takes about 5 min, including the system clean-up. The limit of detection was 6.9 and 12.2 µg L−1 for waters with low and high salt content, respectively. The method was applied for the quantification of chromium (VI) in both fresh and marine water, and the results were in agreement with the reference procedure.
Although rates of tobacco use and exposure to second-hand smoke (SHS) are declining in Canada, SHS exposure among non-smoking adolescents remains high. This study aimed to describe frequency, ...locations, and avoidance behavior related to SHS exposure among adolescent girls in British Columbia, Canada.
Data were analyzed from 841 adolescent girls aged 13 to 15 years old who completed an internet-delivered survey as part of a cohort study examining SHS exposure and substance use. Measures assessed demographics, smoking behavior and intentions, frequency and locations of SHS exposure, and avoidance behavior related to SHS.
Excluding their own smoking, 27% of girls reported exposure at least once a week and an additional 17% reported daily or almost daily exposure over the past month. Among girls who reported daily or almost daily exposure, the locations of most frequent levels of high exposure were in the home, at or near school, inside a vehicle, and outdoor public places. Avoidance behavior related to SHS exposure significantly differed by overall SHS exposure in the past month.
Despite historically low smoking rates, many adolescent girls continue to report regular SHS exposure in multiple locations in British Columbia. Girls with the most frequent exposure were significantly less likely to report habitual avoidance behavior related to SHS compared to those less frequently exposed. This study elucidates settings of high SHS exposure among adolescent girls that could be targeted in future policy interventions. Additionally, future interventions could target adolescent girls who are frequently exposed to SHS and report infrequent avoidance behavior around their SHS exposure.
To gather feedback on an innovative gender-sensitive booklet that draws on emotional connections and relationship factors to motivate smoking cessation.
Qualitative, descriptive.
Six provinces in ...Canada.
30 family members of patients with lung cancer who were currently smoking or had recently quit.
Parallel booklets for women and men were developed using language and images to emphasize family relationships and gender considerations to motivate smoking cessation. Participants were provided with the women's and men's versions of the resource, and they were asked to review the gender-specific version of the booklet that was relevant to them. Semistructured telephone interviews were conducted, and transcriptions were analyzed for themes.
Three themes were evident in the data, including "new perspectives.
A gender-sensitive approach that focuses on relationship factors represents an acceptable way to engage relatives of patients with lung cancer in discussions to support smoking cessation.
Approaches to supporting smoking cessation among relatives of patients diagnosed with lung cancer should draw on positive relationship bonds and caring connections to motivate cessation.
Abstract
Objective
Handgrip strength, an indicator of overall muscle strength, has been found to be associated with slower rate of cognitive decline and decreased risk for cognitive impairment and ...dementia. However, evaluating the replicability of associations between aging-related changes in physical and cognitive functioning is challenging due to differences in study designs and analytical models. A multiple-study coordinated analysis approach was used to generate new longitudinal results based on comparable construct-level measurements and identical statistical models and to facilitate replication and research synthesis.
Methods
We performed coordinated analysis on 9 cohort studies affiliated with the Integrative Analysis of Longitudinal Studies of Aging and Dementia (IALSA) research network. Bivariate linear mixed models were used to examine associations among individual differences in baseline level, rate of change, and occasion-specific variation across grip strength and indicators of cognitive function, including mental status, processing speed, attention and working memory, perceptual reasoning, verbal ability, and learning and memory. Results were summarized using meta-analysis.
Results
After adjustment for covariates, we found an overall moderate association between change in grip strength and change in each cognitive domain for both males and females: Average correlation coefficient was 0.55 (95% CI = 0.44–0.56). We also found a high level of heterogeneity in this association across studies.
Discussion
Meta-analytic results from nine longitudinal studies showed consistently positive associations between linear rates of change in grip strength and changes in cognitive functioning. Future work will benefit from the examination of individual patterns of change to understand the heterogeneity in rates of aging and health-related changes across physical and cognitive biomarkers.
Since initial reports regarding the impact of motion artifact on measures of functional connectivity, there has been a proliferation of participant-level confound regression methods to limit its ...impact. However, many of the most commonly used techniques have not been systematically evaluated using a broad range of outcome measures. Here, we provide a systematic evaluation of 14 participant-level confound regression methods in 393 youths. Specifically, we compare methods according to four benchmarks, including the residual relationship between motion and connectivity, distance-dependent effects of motion on connectivity, network identifiability, and additional degrees of freedom lost in confound regression. Our results delineate two clear trade-offs among methods. First, methods that include global signal regression minimize the relationship between connectivity and motion, but result in distance-dependent artifact. In contrast, censoring methods mitigate both motion artifact and distance-dependence, but use additional degrees of freedom. Importantly, less effective de-noising methods are also unable to identify modular network structure in the connectome. Taken together, these results emphasize the heterogeneous efficacy of existing methods, and suggest that different confound regression strategies may be appropriate in the context of specific scientific goals.
•We evaluate 14 participant-level de-noising pipelines for functional connectivity.•Pipeline performance is markedly heterogeneous.•GSR minimizes the impact of motion but introduces distance dependence.•Censoring reduces motion and improves network identifiability.
DNA-dependent RNA polymerase II (RNAP II) largest subunit RPB1 C-terminal domain (CTD) kinases, including CDK9, are serine/threonine kinases known to regulate transcriptional initiation and ...elongation by phosphorylating Ser 2, 5, and 7 residues on CTD. Given the reported dysregulation of these kinases in some cancers, we asked whether inhibiting CDK9 may induce stress response and preferentially kill tumor cells. Herein, we describe a potent CDK9 inhibitor, LY2857785, that significantly reduces RNAP II CTD phosphorylation and dramatically decreases MCL1 protein levels to result in apoptosis in a variety of leukemia and solid tumor cell lines. This molecule inhibits the growth of a broad panel of cancer cell lines, and is particularly efficacious in leukemia cells, including orthotopic leukemia preclinical models as well as in ex vivo acute myeloid leukemia and chronic lymphocytic leukemia patient tumor samples. Thus, inhibition of CDK9 may represent an interesting approach as a cancer therapeutic target, especially in hematologic malignancies.
Newborn screening using dried plasma spots offers preanalytical advantages over conventional cards for plasma-associated targets of interest. Herein we present dried plasma spot–based methods for ...measuring metabolites using a 250+ compound liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry library. Quality assurance reduced this library to 134, and from these, 30 compounds determined the normal newborn reference ranges.
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