scholarly journals Sex-Specific Association of Endogenous PCSK9 With Memory Function in Elderly Subjects at High Cardiovascular Risk

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paola G. Simeone ◽  
Francesco Vadini ◽  
Romina Tripaldi ◽  
Rossella Liani ◽  
Sonia Ciotti ◽  
...  

Background: Growing evidence indicates that cognitive decline and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) share common vascular risk factors. Protease proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) is associated with CV disease risk and has been also involved in neuronal differentiation.Aim: Evaluate whether in patients at high CV risk cognitive function is related to PCSK9 levels.Methods. One hundred sixty-six patients (67 female) were enrolled. A detailed neuropsychological (NP) assessment was performed. PCSK9 levels were measured with ELISA.Results: Men had significantly higher short-term memory, executive function, and praxic and mental representation skills, as reflected by Forward Digit Span (FDS) (p = 0.005), Trail Making Test-A (TMT-A) (p = 0.047), Clock Drawing Test (CDT) (0.016). Endogenous PCSK9 levels were higher in female (p = 0.005). On linear regression analysis PCSK9 predicts short term memory only in females (Beta = 0.408, p = 0.001), with an interaction between PCSK9 and gender (p = 0.004 for interaction PCSK9 by sex). The association of PCSK9 with FDS in female was partially mediated by waist circumference (mediation effect 8.5%).Conclusions: In patients at high CV risk short term memory was directly related to PCSK9 levels only in women, revealing the relevance of sex in this relationship. The association of PCSK9 with memory function may be mediated, at least in part, by waist circumference.

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-130
Author(s):  
Biyanti Dwi Winarsih ◽  
Yayuk Fatmawati ◽  
Sri Hartini

ENGLISHShort-term memory in school-age children is significant in the learning process and academic ability improvement. Adequate intake of nutrients and body fluids are needed to accelerate brain performance so that children have optimum memory function. A preliminary study on short term memory of students in SD N Gembong 2, Pati Regency showed that some students experienced a decrease in short-term memory. The objective of this study was to analyze the correlation between nutritional status and nutritional status with children's short-term memory. This study used a correlational design and involved 52 students from 4th - 6th grade in elementary school. The measurement of hydration status used urine specific gravity, while short-term memory was measured using a digit span test. Then, the Chi-Square test was applied to analyze the data. This study result showed that more than half of children had normal nutritional status, good hydration status and normal short-term memory. Furthermore, nutritional status and hydration status were associated with children's short-term memory. Parents should provide more attention to their children’s nutritional and fluid needs, by 1) the children are getting used to taking breakfast before going to school and 2) parents provide meals and drinks from home for their children. INDONESIAMemori jangka pendek pada anak usia sekolah sangat berpengaruh terhadap proses belajar dan upaya peningkatan kemampuan akademik. Asupan nutrisi dan cairan tubuh yang cukup dibutuhkan untuk meningkatkan kerja otak sehingga fungsi memori anak lebih optimal.  Data awal penelitian terkait memori jangka pendek anak di SD N Gembong 2 Pati menunjukkan sebagian anak mengalami penurunan memori jangka pendek. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah menganalisis hubungan status gizi dan status nutrisi dengan memori jangka pendek anak. Metode penelitian korelasional dengan jumlah sampel 52 responden anak kelas 4-6 SD. Pengumpulan data status gizi melalui pengukuran berat badan dan tinggi badan. Pengukuran status hidrasi menggunakan pemeriksaan berat jenis urine dan memori jangka pendek menggunakan test digit span. Analisa menggunakan chi square. Hasil penelitian  menunjukkan sebagian besar anak mempunyai status gizi normal, status hidrasi baik dan memori jangka pendek yang normal. Terdapat hubungan antara status gizi dan status hidrasi dengan memori jangka pendek anak. Orang tua sebaiknya lebih memperhatikan kebutuhan nutrisi dan cairan anak  dengan cara: 1) membiasakan sarapan sebelum berangkat sekolah; dan 2) pada saat anak ke sekolah lebih baik dibawakan bekal makanan dan minuman.


2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gurinder S. Bains ◽  
Lee Berk ◽  
Noha Daher ◽  
Pooja Deshpande ◽  
Everett Lohman ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Na Zhang ◽  
Song M. Du ◽  
Jian F. Zhang ◽  
Guan S. Ma

Water accounts for 75% of brain mass. Associations may exist between hydration and cognitive performance. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of dehydration and rehydration on cognitive performance and mood. In this self-control trial, 12 men were recruited from a medical college in Cangzhou, China. After 12 h of overnight fasting, the participants took baseline tests at 8:00 AM on day 2. First morning urine and blood osmolality were analyzed to determine hydration state. Height, weight, and blood pressure were measured following standardized procedures. A visual analog scale for the subjective sensation of thirst was applied, and a profile of mood states questionnaire was applied. Tests were conducted for cognitive performance, including a test of digit span forward and backward, digit-symbol substitutions, dose-work, and stroop effects. Participants were required not to drink water for 36 h but were given three meals on day 3. On day 4, the same indexes were tested as a baseline test. At 8:30 AM, participants drank 1500 mL of purified water over 15 min. After a 1 h interval, the same measurements were performed. Compared with baseline test results, during the dehydration test, participants had lower scores of vigor (11.9 vs. 8.8, %, p = 0.007) and esteem-related affect (8.2 vs. 5.7, %, p = 0.006), lower total scores of digit span (14.3 vs. 13.3, %, p = 0.004), and higher error rates for dose-work (0.01 vs. 0.16, %, p = 0.005). Compared with the dehydration test scores, rehydration test scores showed that fatigue (4.3 vs. 2.1, %, p = 0.005) and total mood disturbance (TMD) (99.0 vs. 90.2, %, p = 0.008) improved, and scores of forward, backward, and total digit span increased (7.7 vs. 8.6, p = 0.014; 5.7 vs. 1.2, p = 0.019; 13.3 vs. 15.4, p = 0.001). Increases were also noted in correct number of digit symbol substitutions, reading speed, and mental work ability (70.8 vs. 75.4, p < 0.001; 339.3 vs. 486.4, n/min, p < 0.001; 356.1 vs. 450.2, p < 0.001), and reaction time decreased (30.2 vs. 28.7, s, p = 0.002). As a conclusion, dehydration had negative effects on vigor, esteem-related affect, short-term memory, and attention. Rehydration after water supplementation alleviated fatigue and improved TMD, short-term memory, attention, and reaction.


2020 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 326-332
Author(s):  
Audreaiona Waters ◽  
Liye Zou ◽  
Myungjin Jung ◽  
Qian Yu ◽  
Jingyuan Lin ◽  
...  

Objective: Sustained attention is critical for various activities of daily living, including engaging in health-enhancing behaviors and inhibition of health compromising behaviors. Sustained attention activates neural networks involved in episodic memory function, a critical cognition for healthy living. Acute exercise has been shown to activate these same neural networks. Thus, it is plausible that engaging in a sustained attention task and engaging in a bout of acute exercise may have an additive effect in enhancing memory function, which was the purpose of this experiment. Methods: 23 young adults (Mage = 20.7 years) completed 2 visits, with each visit occurring approximately 24 hours apart, in a counterbalanced order, including: (1) acute exercise with sustained attention, and (2) sustained attention only. Memory was assessed using a word-list paradigm and included a short- and long-term memory assessment. Sustained attention was induced via a sustained attention to response task (SART). Acute exercise involved a 15-minute bout of moderate-intensity exercise. Results: Short-term memory performance was significantly greater than long-term memory, Mdiff = 1.86, p < .001, and short-term memory for Exercise with Sustained Attention was significantly greater than short-term memory for Sustained Attention Only, Mdiff = 1.50, p = .01. Conclusion: Engaging in an acute bout of exercise before a sustained attention task additively influenced short-term memory function.


2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Helge H.O. Müller ◽  
Mareen Reike ◽  
Simon Grosse-Holz ◽  
Mareike Röther ◽  
Caroline Lücke ◽  
...  

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is effective in the treatment of treatment-resistant major depression. The fear of cognitive impairment after ECT often deters patients from choosing this treatment option. There is little reliable information regarding the effects of ECT on overall cognitive performance, while short-term memory deficits are well known but not easy to measure within clinical routines. In this pilot study, we examined ECT recipients’ pre- and posttreatment performances on a digital ascending number tapping test. We found that cognitive performance measures exhibited good reproducibility in individual patients and that ECT did not significantly alter cognitive performance up to 2 hours after this therapy was applied. Our results can help patients and physicians make decisions regarding the administration of ECT. Digital measurements are recommended, especially when screening for the most common side effects on cognitive performance and short-term memory.


2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (7) ◽  
pp. 1441-1452 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oliver Bracko ◽  
Brendah N Njiru ◽  
Madisen Swallow ◽  
Muhammad Ali ◽  
Mohammad Haft-Javaherian ◽  
...  

Alzheimer’s disease is associated with a 20–30% reduction in cerebral blood flow. In the APP/PS1 mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease, inhibiting neutrophil adhesion using an antibody against the neutrophil specific protein Ly6G was recently shown to drive rapid improvements in cerebral blood flow that was accompanied by an improvement in performance on short-term memory tasks. Here, in a longitudinal aging study, we assessed how far into disease development a single injection of anti-Ly6G treatment can acutely improve short-term memory function. We found that APP/PS1 mice as old as 15–16 months had improved performance on the object replacement and Y-maze tests of spatial and working short-term memory, measured at one day after anti-Ly6G treatment. APP/PS1 mice at 17–18 months of age or older did not show acute improvements in cognitive performance, although we did find that capillary stalls were still reduced and cerebral blood flow was still increased by 17% in 21–22-months-old APP/PS1 mice given anti-Ly6G antibody. These data add to the growing body of evidence suggesting that cerebral blood flow reductions are an important contributing factor to the cognitive dysfunction associated with neurodegenerative disease. Thus, interfering with neutrophil adhesion could be a new therapeutic approach for Alzheimer’s disease.


2010 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 499-512 ◽  
Author(s):  
RACHEL L. COLE ◽  
SUSAN J. PICKERING

This study investigated the encoding strategies employed by Chinese and English language users when recalling sequences of pictured objects. The working memory performance of native English participants (n = 14) and Chinese speakers of English as a second language (Chinese ESL; n = 14) was compared using serial recall of visually-presented pictures of familiar objects with three conditions: (i) phonologically and visually distinct, (ii) phonologically similar and visually distinct, and (iii) phonologically distinct and visually similar. Digit span, visual pattern span and articulation rate were also measured. Results indicated that whilst English participants were affected by the phonological but not the visual similarity of items, the performance of Chinese ESL participants was comparable across all three conditions. No significant differences in digit span, visual memory or articulation rate were found between groups. These results are discussed in the light of our understanding of the use of cognitive resources in short-term memory in users of diverse orthographies.


2004 ◽  
Vol 94 (3) ◽  
pp. 888-888
Author(s):  
Hubert Suszek

In a sample of 55 students, self-pluralism and the number of subselves were positively correlated ( rs = .33 and .28, respectively) with WAIS–R Digit Span scores as an index of short-term memory.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 72-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yasuhisa Sakurai ◽  
Emi Furukawa ◽  
Masanori Kurihara ◽  
Izumi Sugimoto

We report a patient with phonological agraphia (selective impairment of kana [Japanese phonetic writing] nonwords) and acalculia (mental arithmetic difficulties) with impaired verbal short-term memory after a cerebral hemorrhage in the opercular part of the left precentral gyrus (Brodmann area 6) and the adjacent postcentral gyrus. The patient showed phonemic paragraphia in five-character kana nonword writing, minimal acalculia, and reduced digit and letter span. Mental arithmetic normalized after 8 months and agraphia recovered to the normal range at 1 year after onset, in parallel with an improvement of the auditory letter span score from 4 to 6 over a period of 14 months and in the digit span score from 6 to 7 over 24 months. These results suggest a close relationship between the recovery of agraphia and acalculia and the improvement of verbal short-term memory. The present case also suggests that the opercular part of the precentral gyrus constitutes the phonological route in writing that conveys phonological information of syllable sequences, and its damage causes phonological agraphia and acalculia with reduced verbal short-term memory.


1998 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 665-673 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. E. GOLDBERG ◽  
K. J. PATTERSON ◽  
Y. TAQQU ◽  
K. WILDER

Background. Capacity limitation theories have proved to be surprisingly resilient in characterizing some of the cognitive deficits in schizophrenia. However, this perspective has not generally been applied to short-term verbal memory tasks. We explored this issue by first attempting to ascertain if gross misallocations of processing resources might explain impairments in short-term memory in schizophrenia on a classic digit span task and in a second study by attempting to determine what effects delay and memory set size had on a divided attention short-term verbal memory paradigm.Methods. In the first study 16 patients with schizophrenia and 21 normal controls received 40 trials of a three digit task and 20 trials of a six digit span task. As the absolute number of digits presented and duration of presentation in two conditions were identical, subjects thus had equivalent ‘opportunities’ to make errors if distraction, in the sense of misallocation of cognitive resources, were at the root of poor performance. In the second study 15 patients with schizophrenia and 15 normal controls were tested in conditions in which two, four or six words were presented and in which rehearsal was prevented by an interference task (colour naming) for delays of 5, 10 or 15 s.Results. Patients had disproportionate difficulty on the six digit rather than the three digit condition, suggesting that deficits in the verbal working memory short-term store may not be the result of attentional factors. In the second study, patients' performance was differentially worsened by the interference task, by memory set size (i.e. a capacity limitation) and by delay, a measure of decay rate.Conclusions. In concert, these studies demonstrate that schizophrenia patients have difficulties on verbal short-term memory span tasks not because of misallocation of resources, but rather because of limitations in ‘representational capacity’ and maintenance of information over delays.


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