Long-lasting effects of insufficient sleep on neurocognitive development in early adolescence

Importance: Adolescents nowadays often get insufficient sleep. Yet, the long-term adverse effects of sleep loss on developing brain and behavior remains unknown. Objective: To determine whether insufficient sleep leads to long-lasting impacts on mental health, cognition, and brain development in adolescents across two years. Design: This longitudinal study utilized a public dataset, the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study, which is an ongoing study starting from 2016. Setting: Data were collected from 21 research sites in the U.S. Participants: 11,875 9-10-year-olds were recruited using stratified sampling in order to reflect the diversity of the U.S. population. Intervention: Individuals with sufficient versus insufficient sleep (< 9 hours per day for adolescents) were compared after controlling for age (months), sex, race, puberty status, and other 7 covariates based on propensity score matching. Main Outcomes and Measures: Behavior problems, cognition, mental health assessments, resting-state functional connectivity, gray matter volume, cortical area, cortical thickness, and structural connectivity (Fractional anisotropy) were collected and preprocessed by the ABCD study. Independent-sample t-tests and meditation analysis were performed to investigate the effects of insufficient sleep. Results: 3021 matched pairs (50.7% male) were identified based on baseline assessment, with mean (SD) age of 119.5 (7.5) months. In baseline, sufficient sleep is associated less behavioral problems on 18 of 20 assessments, e.g. depress (95% CI of mean difference: -0.28 to -0.47, false discovery rate (FDR)-corrected p < .001, Cohen's d = -0.20), better cognitive performance on 7 of 10 assessments, such as crystal cognition (95% CI: 0.81 to 1.50, FDR-corrected p < .001, Cohen's d = 0.17), better functional connection between cortical regions and basal ganglia (all FDR-corrected p < .05, Cohen's d >0.15), and large structure in ACC and temporal pole (all FDR-corrected p < .05, Cohen's d >0.09). Similar patterns of effect of sufficient sleep were found in FL2 (749 pairs remained) e.g. Cohen's d of function connectivity at baseline was correlated with Cohen's d of that at FL2 (r = 0.54, 95% CI: 0.45 to 0.61, p < 1e-10). Mediation and longitudinal mediation analysis revealed that identified brain measures (e.g. gray matter volume of left temporal pole) at baseline mediated the effect of sufficient sleep on behavioral assessments (e.g. crystal cognition) at baseline and at FL2 (95% CI did not encompass 0, p < 0.05 on 100,000 random-generated bootstrapped samples). Conclusions and Relevance: These results provide strong population-level evidence for the long-lasting detrimental effects of insufficient sleep on mental health, cognition, and brain function and structure in adolescents. The current study identified potential neural mechanisms of adverse effect of insufficient sleep in adolescents, which might provide a theoretical grounding for sleep intervention programs to improve the long-term developmental outcomes in adolescents.

Biological Measures in the WLS: Genetic and Microbiome Data

Ever since releasing genotype data in 2017, the WLS continually expands resources available to users interested in genetic research. Key advantages to the WLS data for genetics research include its sibling sample and nearly full life course longitudinal study design. In 2021, we now have state-of-the-art polygenic scores available in multiple domains, such as health, cognition, fertility, personality, risk behaviors and attitudes, and life satisfaction. The scores cover phenotypes spanning from adventurousness, through educational attainment, to age at which voice deepened. Additionally, the genotype data was re-imputed in 2021 to the superior Haplotype Reference Consortium reference panel and the WLS expects to obtain copy number variants data next year. In addition to genetic data, we have a set of novel microbiome data on a subset of participants that allows researchers to study relationships between environments and gut microbial composition.

Micronutrient Food Supplements in Patients with Gastro-Intestinal and Hepatic Cancers

Colorectal carcinogenesis is the second most common cause of mortality across all types of malignancies, followed by hepatic and stomach cancers. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy are key approaches to treating cancer patients, but these carry major concerns, such as a high risk of side effects, poor accessibility, and the non-selective nature of chemotherapeutics. A number of natural products have been identified as countering various forms of cancer with fewer side effects. The potential impact of vitamins and minerals on long-term health, cognition, healthy development, bone formation, and aging has been supported by experimental and epidemiological studies. Successful treatment may thus be highly influenced by the nutritional status of patients. An insufficient diet could lead to detrimental effects on immune status and tolerance to treatment, affecting the ability of chemotherapy to destroy cancerous cells. In recent decades, most cancer patients have been taking vitamins and minerals to improve standard therapy and/or to decrease the undesirable side effects of the treatment together with the underlying disease. On the other hand, taking dietary supplements during cancer therapy may affect the effectiveness of chemotherapy. Thus, micronutrients in complementary oncology must be selected appropriately and should be taken at the right time. Here, the potential impact of micronutrients on gastro-intestinal and hepatic cancers is explored and their molecular targets are laid down.

OP0215 MENTAL HEALTH, SLEEP AND COGNITION CHARACTERISTICS IN RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS AND ASSOCIATIONS WITH RHEUMATOID FACTOR STATUS IN THE UK BIOBANK

Background:There are significant gaps in the literature regarding sleep, mental health, and cognition for people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) despite being important aspects of patients’ overall quality of life. Similarly, there is a lack of understanding about the role of rheumatoid factor (RF) on these domains.Objectives:The aim of the current study was to characterize mental health, cognition, and sleep variables in people with RA and to compare these associations in people with positive RF (RF+) and negative RF (RF-) in a large population cohort.Methods:This cross-sectional study used baseline data from the UK Biobank cohort (n= 502,506) to compare people with and without RA and people that are RF+ versus RF- on a variety of sociodemographic, lifestyle, illness-related factors and depression, neuroticism, performance on cognitive tests and sleep-related factors. Logistic regression analyses were also performed to determine whether RF seropositivity was associated with mental health, cognition, and sleep variables. We adjusted for the covariates of age, sex, ethnicity, deprivation index, smoking status, BMI and alcohol intake.Results:In this sample 5,907 people self-reported having RA (1.17%), of which 74% were RF- and 26% were RF+. There were significant differences (p < 0.05) between people with and without RA for depression, neuroticism, nap during the day, getting up in the morning, insomnia, reaction time, fluid intelligence and prospective memory. There were significant differences (p < 0.05) between RF+ and RF- people for depression, neuroticism, sleep duration, nap during the day, getting up in the morning, insomnia, and reaction time. In the unadjusted regression analyses neuroticism (B=-0.06, SE= 0.01, p < 0.001), sleep duration (B=0.02, SE= 0.005, p < 0.001), nap during the day (OR=1.28, 95% CI: 1.02-1.65, p < 0.05) and reaction time (B=4.55, SE=0.53, p< 0.001) were significantly associated with RF status. After adjusting for covariates, only sleep duration (B=0.01, SE=0.005, p< 0.01) remained significant.Conclusion:The current study suggests that RA diagnosis and RF status are associated with differences in mental health, sleep, and cognition, highlighting the importance of addressing these aspects in clinical settings and future research.Disclosure of Interests:None declared

Olfaction and Aging: A Review of the Current State of Research and Future Directions

Olfaction, the sense of smell, is characterized by a notable age-dependency such that aging individuals are more likely to have poor olfactory abilities. These impairments are considered to be mostly irreversible and as having potentially profound effects on quality of life and food behavior, as well as constituting warning signs of mortality, cognitive dysfunction, and dementia. Here, we review the current state of research on aging and olfaction, focusing on five topics which we regard to be of particular relevance for the field: nutrition and health, cognition and dementia, mortality, environment and genetics, and training-based enhancement. Under each of these headlines, we provide a state-of-the-art overview and discuss gaps in our knowledge which might be filled by further research. Understanding how olfactory abilities are diminished in aging, and how they may be alleviated or recovered, involves a set of challenging tasks for researchers in the years to come.

Smoking-Related Health Beliefs in a Sample of Psychiatric Patients: Factors Associated with the Health Beliefs and Validation of the Health Belief Questionnaire

This study examined the (a) health beliefs and emotions (perception of risk, benefits, severity, and worry) about smoking among current and former smokers, (b) their awareness of health warnings, (c) factors associated with smoking-related health beliefs, and (d) the factor structure of the health belief questionnaire. Participants (n = 184) were recruited from a tertiary psychiatric care hospital. Current smokers showed a significantly higher risk perception and lower perceived benefits compared to former smokers. Younger age (<40 years), nicotine dependence (ND), a history of smoking-related diseases (SRD), and intention to quit were significantly associated with a higher risk perception in current smokers. Younger age, a history of SRDs, and motivation to quit were positively associated with health beliefs, while the latter two were associated with worry. Motivation and younger age were associated with a better perception of benefits and severity. Information on the cigarette packets was the major source of awareness for the sample, and 69% reported that existing campaigns were not effective in discouraging their smoking. Personalized risk communication and educational initiatives must focus on improving the knowledge of risk, benefits, and increase motivation to promote health cognition and thus smoking cessation.

Polygenic burden has broader impact on health, cognition, and socioeconomic outcomes than most rare and high-risk copy number variants

Copy number variants (CNVs) are associated with syndromic and severe neurological and psychiatric disorders (SNPDs), such as intellectual disability, epilepsy, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. Although considered high-impact, CNVs are also observed in the general population. This presents a diagnostic challenge in evaluating their clinical significance. To estimate the phenotypic differences between CNV carriers and non-carriers regarding general health and well-being, we compared the impact of SNPD-associated CNVs on health, cognition, and socioeconomic phenotypes to the impact of three genome-wide polygenic risk score (PRS) in two Finnish cohorts (FINRISK, n = 23,053 and NFBC1966, n = 4895). The focus was on CNV carriers and PRS extremes who do not have an SNPD diagnosis. We identified high-risk CNVs (DECIPHER CNVs, risk gene deletions, or large [>1 Mb] CNVs) in 744 study participants (2.66%), 36 (4.8%) of whom had a diagnosed SNPD. In the remaining 708 unaffected carriers, we observed lower educational attainment (EA; OR = 0.77 [95% CI 0.66–0.89]) and lower household income (OR = 0.77 [0.66–0.89]). Income-associated CNVs also lowered household income (OR = 0.50 [0.38–0.66]), and CNVs with medical consequences lowered subjective health (OR = 0.48 [0.32–0.72]). The impact of PRSs was broader. At the lowest extreme of PRS for EA, we observed lower EA (OR = 0.31 [0.26–0.37]), lower-income (OR = 0.66 [0.57–0.77]), lower subjective health (OR = 0.72 [0.61–0.83]), and increased mortality (Cox’s HR = 1.55 [1.21–1.98]). PRS for intelligence had a similar impact, whereas PRS for schizophrenia did not affect these traits. We conclude that the majority of working-age individuals carrying high-risk CNVs without SNPD diagnosis have a modest impact on morbidity and mortality, as well as the limited impact on income and educational attainment, compared to individuals at the extreme end of common genetic variation. Our findings highlight that the contribution of traditional high-risk variants such as CNVs should be analyzed in a broader genetic context, rather than evaluated in isolation.

Measuring consumer' willingness to pay for food safety certification labels of packaged rice

<abstract> <p>Food safety is vital for public health, influencing a country's economic development and international reputation. In recent years, Taiwan has encountered several food quality problems, with consequent public questioning and mistrust of food safety. If consumers are unaware of the quality of a product, their perception and demands can be influenced by the credibility of the food safety certification labels. This study uses the contingent valuation method (CVM) to analyze the factors influencing consumer willingness to pay (WTP) for food safety certification labels of packaged rice. Questionnaires are randomly adopted and assigned to 434 participants. The results indicate that product factors should be presented clearly on their packaging and advertisements. Consumers focus on certification labels for food safety perception. Gender, education level, place of purchase, certification cognition, and health cognition are all found to affect willingness to pay. These significant results indicate that women were more willing to pay than men; people were willing to pay a higher amount for purchases of packaged rice at supermarkets or hypermarkets; health cognition was estimated to be negative and significant, showing that health cognition negatively affected WTP, perhaps because participants did not sufficiently trust the foundation's assurance that the rice was safe. In the valuation of WTP for food safety certification, each person was willing to pay on average NT31.07 annually to reduce the risk of food safety problems.</p> </abstract>