PHYSICAL VERSUS COGNITIVE ACTIVITY FOR SUCCESSFUL AGING: BRAIN MAINTENANCE OR COGNITIVE RESERVE?

Abstract Mechanisms by which physical (PA) and cognitive (CA) activities promote healthy cognitive aging are unknown. We examined independent contributions of PA and CA to “brain maintenance” (MRI markers of brain integrity) versus “cognitive reserve” (better cognition than predicted by brain integrity) in two independent samples of non-demented older adults (UCSF n=344; UCD n=482). In UCSF, only PA was positively associated with white matter (WM) integrity, while CA attenuated the relationship between WM and cognition. This pattern suggests PA supports brain maintenance, while CA contributes to cognitive reserve. In UCD, CA was positively associated with total gray matter volume; PA was positively associated with age-related WM integrity, and attenuated the association between WM and cognition. This indicates that both PA and CA support brain maintenance, with PA more strongly related to cognitive reserve. There may be preferential, but overlapping pathways by which PA and CA maintain age-related brain and cognitive health.

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Housing quality and behavior affect brain health and anxiety in healthy Japanese adults

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-91363-4 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Juan Cesar D. Pineda ◽

Keisuke Kokubun ◽

Toshiharu Ikaga ◽

Yoshinori Yamakawa

Keyword(s):

Sedentary Behavior ◽

Fractional Anisotropy ◽

Gray Matter ◽

Gray Matter Volume ◽

Housing Quality ◽

Valuable Insight ◽

Brain Health ◽

Matter Volume ◽

Japanese Adults ◽

The Relationship

AbstractCountless studies in animals have shown how housing environments and behaviors can significantly affect anxiety and brain health, giving valuable insight as to whether this is applicable in the human context. The relationship between housing, behavior, brain health, and mental wellbeing in humans remains poorly understood. We therefore explored the interaction of housing quality, weekend/holiday sedentary behavior, brain structure, and anxiety in healthy Japanese adults. Whole-brain structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) methods based on gray matter volume and fractional anisotropy were used as markers for brain health. Correlation tests were conducted, and then adjusted for multiple comparisons using the False Discovery Rate method. Housing quality and weekend/holiday sedentary behavior were associated with fractional anisotropy, but not with gray matter volume. Fractional anisotropy showed significant associations with anxiety. Lastly, both weekend/holiday sedentary behavior and housing quality were indirectly associated with anxiety through fractional anisotropy. These results add to the limited evidence surrounding the relationship among housing, behavior, and the brain. Furthermore, these results show that behavior and housing qualities can have an indirect impact on anxiety through neurobiological markers such as fractional anisotropy.

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Gene Expression Profile in Different Age Groups and Its Association with Cognitive Function in Healthy Malay Adults in Malaysia

Cells ◽

10.3390/cells10071611 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (7) ◽

pp. 1611

Author(s):

Nur Fathiah Abdul Abdul Sani ◽

Ahmad Imran Zaydi Amir Amir Hamzah ◽

Zulzikry Hafiz Abu Abu Bakar ◽

Yasmin Anum Mohd Mohd Yusof ◽

Suzana Makpol ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Gene Expression ◽

Cognitive Decline ◽

Cognitive Aging ◽

Successful Aging ◽

Expression Patterns ◽

Age Groups ◽

Genetic Network ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Age Related ◽

Age Related Cognitive Decline

The mechanism of cognitive aging at the molecular level is complex and not well understood. Growing evidence suggests that cognitive differences might also be caused by ethnicity. Thus, this study aims to determine the gene expression changes associated with age-related cognitive decline among Malay adults in Malaysia. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 160 healthy Malay subjects, aged between 28 and 79, and recruited around Selangor and Klang Valley, Malaysia. Gene expression analysis was performed using a HumanHT-12v4.0 Expression BeadChip microarray kit. The top 20 differentially expressed genes at p < 0.05 and fold change (FC) = 1.2 showed that PAFAH1B3, HIST1H1E, KCNA3, TM7SF2, RGS1, and TGFBRAP1 were regulated with increased age. The gene set analysis suggests that the Malay adult’s susceptibility to developing age-related cognitive decline might be due to the changes in gene expression patterns associated with inflammation, signal transduction, and metabolic pathway in the genetic network. It may, perhaps, have important implications for finding a biomarker for cognitive decline and offer molecular targets to achieve successful aging, mainly in the Malay population in Malaysia.

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The gray matter volume of the right insula mediates the relationship between symptoms of depression/anxiety and sleep quality among college students

Journal of Health Psychology ◽

10.1177/1359105319869977 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 135910531986997 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Huazhan Yin ◽

Li Zhang ◽

Dan Li ◽

Lu Xiao ◽

Mei Cheng

Keyword(s):

College Students ◽

Sleep Quality ◽

Gray Matter ◽

Emotional Processing ◽

Gray Matter Volume ◽

Critical Role ◽

Symptoms Of Depression ◽

Matter Volume ◽

The Right ◽

The Relationship

This study investigated the neuroanatomical basis of the association between depression/anxiety and sleep quality among 370 college students. The results showed that there was a significant correlation between sleep quality and depression/anxiety. Moreover, mediation results showed that the gray matter volume of the right insula mediated the relationship between depression/anxiety and sleep quality, which suggested that depression/anxiety may affect sleep quality through the right insula volume. These findings confirmed a strong link between sleep quality and depression/anxiety, while highlighting the volumetric variation in the right insula associated with emotional processing, which may play a critical role in improving sleep quality.

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Subjective cognitive decline-related worries modulate the relationship between global amyloid load and gray matter volume in preclinical Alzheimer’s disease

Brain Imaging and Behavior ◽

10.1007/s11682-021-00558-w ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Xiaoqi Wang ◽

Min Wang ◽

Xiaoni Wang ◽

Feifan Zhou ◽

Jiehui Jiang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Alzheimer’S Disease ◽

Alzheimer's Disease ◽

Cognitive Decline ◽

Gray Matter ◽

Gray Matter Volume ◽

Subjective Cognitive Decline ◽

Preclinical Alzheimer’S Disease ◽

Matter Volume ◽

Amyloid Load ◽

The Relationship

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Age-related changes in baroreflex sensitivity and cardiac autonomic tone in children mirrored by regional brain gray matter volume trajectories

Pediatric Research ◽

10.1038/pr.2017.273 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 83 (2) ◽

pp. 498-505 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Mark W DiFrancesco ◽

Abu Shamsuzzaman ◽

Keith B McConnell ◽

Stacey L Ishman ◽

Nanhua Zhang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Gray Matter ◽

Baroreflex Sensitivity ◽

Gray Matter Volume ◽

Autonomic Tone ◽

Matter Volume ◽

Regional Brain ◽

Age Related ◽

Age Related Changes

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COGNITIVE AGING AND COGNITIVE RESERVE: POINT OF CONTACT

Успехи геронтологии ◽

10.34922/ae.2020.33.2.006 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 256-264

Author(s):

В. С. Мякотных ◽

А. П. Сиденкова ◽

Е. С. Остапчук ◽

И. А. Кулакова ◽

Н. А. Белых ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Aging ◽

Cognitive Reserve ◽

Cognitive Disorders ◽

The Elderly ◽

Educational Process ◽

Special Role ◽

Age Related ◽

The Central Nervous System ◽

The One

Высокий риск когнитивных расстройств у лиц пожилого и старческого возраста заставляет, с одной стороны, искать их причины, с другой - возможности профилактики. В связи с этим в последние годы получило распространение понятие когнитивного резерва, подразумевающего совокупность количественных параметров головного мозга и его способности сохранять высокую функциональную активность в процессе старения и на фоне связанной с возрастом патологии головного мозга. Представленный в статье материал на основе обзора научной литературы освещает два основных момента, касающихся возможности сохранения когнитивного резерва, - гендерный и образовательный факторы. Указывается на разные возможности женщин и мужчин, связанные со структурными и функциональными особенностями ЦНС у представителей разного пола, и на особую роль поддерживаемого в течение всей жизни образовательного процесса. Обозначена авторская позиция о необходимости разделения понятий образования и образованности, то есть уровня общей культуры и создания удобного инструмента для определения последнего. Это, в свою очередь, помогло бы в разработке модели когнитивного резерва, нацеленной на предотвращение трансформации физиологического когнитивного старения в патологическое. The high risk of cognitive disorders in the elderly and senile age makes, on the one hand, to look for their causes, on the other - the possibility of prevention. In this regard, in recent years, the concept of cognitive reserve has become widespread, implying a set of quantitative parameters of the brain and its ability to maintain high functional activity in the process of aging and against the background of age-related brain pathology. The material presented in the article on the basis of the review of scientiﬁc literature highlights two main points concerning the possibility of preserving the cognitive reserve-gender and educational factors. It is pointed to the different opportunities of women and men associated with the structural and functional characteristics of the Central nervous system in representatives of different sexes and the special role of the educational process supported throughout life. The author’s position on the need to separate the concepts of education and the level of General culture, and the creation of a convenient tool for determining the latter is indicated. This, in turn, would help in the development of a cognitive reserve model aimed at preventing the transformation of physiological cognitive aging into pathological aging.

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Age-Related Structural and Functional Changes of the Hippocampus and the Relationship with Inhibitory Control

Brain Sciences ◽

10.3390/brainsci10121013 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (12) ◽

pp. 1013

Author(s):

Sien Hu ◽

Chiang-shan R. Li

Keyword(s):

Reaction Time ◽

Cognitive Aging ◽

Gray Matter Volume ◽

Stop Signal ◽

Sequential Effect ◽

Stop Signal Task ◽

Functional Changes ◽

Age Related ◽

Stop Signal Reaction Time ◽

Age Related Changes

Aging is associated with structural and functional changes in the hippocampus, and hippocampal dysfunction represents a risk marker of Alzheimer’s disease. Previously, we demonstrated age-related changes in reactive and proactive control in the stop signal task, each quantified by the stop signal reaction time (SSRT) and sequential effect computed as the correlation between the estimated stop signal probability and go trial reaction time. Age was positively correlated with the SSRT, but not with the sequential effect. Here, we explored hippocampal gray matter volume (GMV) and activation to response inhibition and to p(Stop) in healthy adults 18 to 72 years of age. The results showed age-related reduction of right anterior hippocampal activation during stop success vs. go trials, and the hippocampal activities correlated negatively with the SSRT. In contrast, the right posterior hippocampus showed higher age-related responses to p(Stop), but the activities did not correlate with the sequential effect. Further, we observed diminished GMVs of the anterior and posterior hippocampus. However, the GMVs were not related to behavioral performance or regional activities. Together, these findings suggest that hippocampal GMVs and regional activities represent distinct neural markers of cognitive aging, and distinguish the roles of the anterior and posterior hippocampus in age-related changes in cognitive control.

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