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Arsenault Bank posted an update 6 months, 3 weeks ago
The cerebral cortex is a highly convoluted structure with distinct morphologic features, namely the gyri and sulci, which are associated with the functional segregation or integration in the human brain. During the lifespan, the brain atrophy that is accompanied by cognitive decline is a well-accepted aging phenotype. However, the detailed patterns of cortical folding change during aging, especially the changing age-dependencies of gyri and sulci, which is essential to brain functioning, remain unclear. In this study, we investigated the morphology of the gyral and sulcal regions from pial and white matter surfaces using MR imaging data of 417 healthy participants across adulthood to old age (21-92 years). To elucidate the age-related changes in the cortical pattern, we fitted cortical thickness and intrinsic curvature of gyri and sulci using the quadratic model to evaluate their age-dependencies during normal aging. Our findings show that comparing to gyri, the sulcal thinning is the most prominent pattern during the aging process, and the gyrification of pial and white matter surfaces were also affected differently, which implies the vulnerability of functional segregation during aging. Taken together, we propose a morphological model of aging that may provide a framework for understanding the mechanisms underlying gray matter degeneration.Purpose Loss of grip strength and cognitive impairment are prevalent in the elderly, and they may share the pathogenesis in common. Several original studies have investigated the association between them, but the results remained controversial. In this systematic review and meta-analysis, we aimed to quantitatively determine the relationship between baseline grip strength and the risk of cognitive impairment and provide evidence for clinical work. Methods We performed a systematic review using PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane, and Web of Science up to March 23, 2020, and focused on the association between baseline grip strength and onset of cognitive impairment. Next, we conducted a meta-analysis using a hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) as effect measures. Heterogeneity between the studies was examined using I2 and p-value. Sensitivity analyses and subgroup analyses were also performed, and publication bias was assessed by Begg’s and Egger’s tests. Results Fifteen studies were included in this systematic review. After sensitivity analyses, poorer grip strength was associated with more risk of cognitive decline and dementia (HR = 1.99, 95%CI 1.71-2.32; HR = 1.54, 95%CI 1.32-1.79, respectively). Furthermore, subgroup analysis indicated that people with poorer strength had more risk of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and non-AD dementia (HR = 1.41, 95%CI 1.09-1.81; HR = 1.45, 95%CI 1.10-1.91, respectively). Conclusions Lower grip strength is associated with more risk of onset of cognitive decline and dementia despite of subtype of dementia. GSK429286A datasheet We should be alert for the individuals with poor grip strength and identify cognitive dysfunction early.Current methods for early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Dementia include structured questionnaires, structured interviews, and various cognitive tests. Language difficulties are a major problem in dementia as linguistic skills break down. Current methods do not provide robust tools to capture the true nature of language deficits in spontaneous speech. Early detection of Alzheimer’s Dementia (AD) from spontaneous speech overcomes the limitations of earlier approaches as it is less time consuming, can be done at home, and is relatively inexpensive. In this work, we re-implement the existing NLP methods, which used CNN-LSTM architectures and targeted features from conversational transcripts. Our work sheds light on why the accuracy of these models drops to 72.92% on the ADReSS dataset, whereas, they gave state of the art results on the DementiaBank dataset. Further, we build upon these language input-based recurrent neural networks by devising an end-to-end deep learning-based solution that performs a binary classification of Alzheimer’s Dementia from the spontaneous speech of the patients. We utilize the ADReSS dataset for all our implementations and explore the deep learning-based methods of combining acoustic features into a common vector using recurrent units. Our approach of combining acoustic features using the Speech-GRU improves the accuracy by 2% in comparison to acoustic baselines. When further enriched by targeted features, the Speech-GRU performs better than acoustic baselines by 6.25%. We propose a bi-modal approach for AD classification and discuss the merits and opportunities of our approach.Sex-related differences are tied into neurodevelopmental and lifespan processes, beginning early in the perinatal and developmental phases and continue into adulthood. The present study was designed to investigate sexual dimorphism of changes in gray matter (GM) volume in post-adolescence, with a focus on early and middle-adulthood using a structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) dataset of healthy controls from the European Network on Psychosis, Affective disorders and Cognitive Trajectory (ENPACT). Three hundred and seventy three subjects underwent a 3.0 T MRI session across four European Centers. Age by sex effects on GM volumes were investigated using voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and the Automated Anatomical Labeling atlas regions (ROI). Females and males showed overlapping and non-overlapping patterns of GM volume changes during aging. Overlapping age-related changes emerged in bilateral frontal and temporal cortices, insula and thalamus. Both VBM and ROI analyses revealed non-overlapping changes in multiple regions, including cerebellum and vermis, bilateral mid frontal, mid occipital cortices, left inferior temporal and precentral gyri. These findings highlight the importance of accounting for sex differences in cross-sectional analyses, not only in the study of normative changes, but particularly in the context of psychiatric and neurologic disorders, wherein sex effects may be confounded with disease-related changes.Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by an excessive inflammatory response and impaired memory retrieval, including spatial memory, recognition memory, and emotional memory. Acquisition and retrieval of fear memory help one avoid dangers and natural threats. Thus, it is crucial for survival. AD patients with impaired retrieval of fear memory are vulnerable to dangerous conditions. Excessive expression of inflammatory markers is known to impede synaptic transmission and reduce the efficiency of memory retrieval. In wild-type mice, reducing inflammation response can improve fear memory retrieval; however, this effect of this approach is not yet investigated in 3xTg-AD model mice. To date, no satisfactory drug or treatment can attenuate the symptoms of AD despite numerous efforts. In the past few years, the direction of therapeutic drug development for AD has been shifted to natural compounds with anti-inflammatory effect. In the present study, we demonstrate that the compound 4-(phenylsulfanyl) butan-2-one (4-PSB-2) is effective in enhancing fear memory retrieval of wild-type and 3xTg-AD mice by reducing the expression of TNF-α, COX-2, and iNOS.