Publications by authors named "Ayers Emmeline"
Background: Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive neuromodulation method. Short-term tDCS protocols have shown positive effects on cognitive outcomes in Alzheimer's Disease (AD) populations. Less is known about the long-term benefits of tDCS on cognition in AD.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFValidation of a Malayalam Version of the Apathy Evaluation Scale.
Indian J Psychol Med
September 2024
Background: The apathy evaluation scale (AES) measures apathy, but its usefulness as a screening tool in diverse populations is limited without translation into more languages. To date, there is no reported translation of the AES into Malayalam, a language spoken by over 32 million people in the southern Indian state of Kerala. In the present study, we aimed to validate the Malayalam version of the AES.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- The study investigates the relationship between sleep disturbances and the risk of developing motoric cognitive risk syndrome (MCR), which includes cognitive complaints and slow walking speed, in older adults.
- Researchers analyzed data from 445 community-residing adults aged 65 and older to see how sleep quality impacted both the onset and prevalence of MCR.
- Results indicated that poor sleepers were initially at a higher risk for developing MCR, but this link weakened after considering the influence of depressive symptoms.
Background: Subjective cognitive complaint (SCC) is associated with future cognitive decline and may be a marker for clinical intervention in the progression to dementia. Among the viable predictors of SCC, psychological factors are clinically relevant, non-invasive early indicators of older adults at elevated risk. This aim of this study is to determine whether psychological symptoms: dysphoria and apathy precede incident SCC in the dementia pathway.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCorrection: Linking Dementia Pathology and Alteration in Brain Activation to Complex Daily Functional Decline During the Preclinical Dementia Stages: Protocol for a Prospective Observational Cohort Study.
JMIR Res Protoc
October 2024
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View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Understanding the heterogeneity of brain structure in individuals with the Motoric Cognitive Risk Syndrome (MCR) may improve the current risk assessments of dementia.
Methods: We used data from 6 cohorts from the (N=1987). A weakly-supervised clustering algorithm called HYDRA was applied to volumetric MRI measures to identify distinct subgroups in the population with gait speeds lower than one standard deviation (1SD) above mean.
Correlates and Brain Substrates of Happiness in Community-Dwelling Older Adults in India.
J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci
December 2024
Article Synopsis
- The study explored how happiness affects health outcomes in older adults, focusing on 665 participants from Kerala, India, and looked at various demographic, health, and lifestyle factors.* -
- Key findings revealed that happiness was significantly linked to self-rated health, social networks, and mental health factors like depression and anxiety, while traditional demographic factors didn't show a strong connection.* -
- Additionally, certain brain regions associated with happiness were identified, suggesting a complex relationship between brain structure and subjective well-being that may help explain happiness's resilience against age-related decline.*
Introduction: Motoric cognitive risk (MCR) and amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) syndromes are each reliable predictors of incident Alzheimer's disease (AD), but MCR may be a stronger predictor of vascular dementia than AD. This study contrasted cortical and hippocampal atrophy patterns in MCR and aMCI.
Methods: Cross-sectional data from 733 older adults without dementia or disability (M age = 73.
Linking Dementia Pathology and Alteration in Brain Activation to Complex Daily Functional Decline During the Preclinical Dementia Stages: Protocol for a Prospective Observational Cohort Study.
JMIR Res Protoc
June 2024
Background: Progressive difficulty in performing everyday functional activities is a key diagnostic feature of dementia syndromes. However, not much is known about the neural signature of functional decline, particularly during the very early stages of dementia. Early intervention before overt impairment is observed offers the best hope of reducing the burdens of Alzheimer disease (AD) and other dementias.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDementia is often undiagnosed in primary care, and even when diagnosed, untreated. The 5-Cog paradigm, a brief, culturally adept, cognitive detection tool paired with a clinical decision support may reduce barriers to improving dementia diagnosis and care. We performed a randomized controlled trial in primary care patients experiencing health disparities (racial/ethnic minorities and socioeconomically disadvantaged).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCognition and gait share brain substrates in aging and dementia. Cognitive reserve (CR) allows individuals to cope with brain pathology and delay cognitive impairment and dementia. Yet, evidence for that CR is associated with age-related cognitive decline is mixed, and evidence for that CR is associated with age-related gait decline is limited.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFElevated Blood Homocysteine Increases the Risk of Incident Motoric Cognitive Risk Syndrome: A Two-Cohort Study.
J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci
July 2024
Background: Motoric Cognitive Risk (MCR) syndrome, a predementia syndrome characterized by cognitive complaints and slow gait, may have an underlying vascular etiology. Elevated blood levels of homocysteine, a known vascular risk factor, have been linked to physical and cognitive decline in older adults, though the relationship with MCR is unknown. We aimed to identify the association between homocysteine and MCR risk.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: This study examines the plasma proteomic profile of abdominal obesity in older adults.
Methods: The association of abdominal obesity (waist circumference [WC]) with 4265 plasma proteins identified using the SomaScan Assay was examined in 969 Ashkenazi Jewish participants (LonGenity cohort), aged 65 years and older (mean [SD] age 75.7 [6.
Article Synopsis
- The study examined the effectiveness of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) in identifying cognitive impairment in older adults from diverse ethnic and linguistic backgrounds, specifically in the Bronx, NY.* -
- Researchers recruited 231 participants aged 65 and older, administering the MoCA in both Spanish and English, and used neuropsychological evaluations to determine their cognitive status, finding significant differences in average MoCA scores based on demographic factors.* -
- The findings suggested that the standard cutoffs for MoCA scores were too high, resulting in many false positives for mild cognitive impairment (MCI); adjusted lower cutpoints for both language versions were proposed to enhance diagnostic accuracy.*
Article Synopsis
- Motoric cognitive risk syndrome (MCR) is a pre-dementia condition marked by cognitive complaints and slow walking, which correlates with difficulties in daily activities.
- A study compared 46 older adults who developed MCR to 264 who remained cognitively intact, revealing that those in the pre-MCR stage faced significant challenges in complex tasks like managing finances and hobbies.
- The findings indicate that these functional limitations can appear before a formal diagnosis of MCR, highlighting the importance of monitoring daily activity difficulties as early risk indicators.
Article Synopsis
- The Kerala Einstein Study (KES) is a research project aimed at understanding the early stages of cognitive decline, specifically the motoric cognitive risk syndrome (MCR), in older adults living in Kerala, India.
- Initiated in 2008, the study plans to enroll 1,000 individuals aged 60 and above to identify risk factors related to MCR and compare profiles between urban and rural populations.
- The research includes comprehensive assessments of cognitive and physical functions, medical backgrounds, lifestyle habits, and imaging tests to gather data on the prevalence and implications of predementia syndromes like MCR in the aging population of Kerala.
Frailty Resilience Score: A Novel Measure of Frailty Resilience Associated With Protection From Frailty and Survival.
J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci
October 2023
Article Synopsis
- Frailty in older adults leads to higher risks of disability and mortality, making it essential to identify factors that promote resilience against it.
- A new measure called the Frailty Resilience Score (FRS) was developed, which takes into account genetic risks, age, and sex to reliably quantify frailty resilience.
- In a study involving older adults, FRS was validated as a strong predictor of survival, showing that increases in the score correlate with significantly reduced mortality risks, and it facilitated the identification of a related proteomic profile.
Objective: Motoric cognitive risk (MCR) syndrome, a predementia syndrome characterized by slow gait and subjective cognitive concerns, is associated with multiple age-related risk factors. We hypothesized that MCR is associated with biological age acceleration. We examined the associations of biological age acceleration with MCR, and mortality risk in MCR cases.
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- This study compared the effects of 6 months of social ballroom dancing and treadmill walking on executive functions in older adults at risk for dementia, using various mental tasks for measurement.
- Both groups showed improvements in their composite executive function scores after the intervention, but the study found no significant differences between the two activities overall.
- Notably, social dancing led to better results in a specific task (digit symbol substitution test) and showed less brain atrophy in the hippocampus compared to walking, suggesting potential benefits that warrant further research.
Background: Impairment in gait domains such as pace, rhythm, and variability are associated with falls, cognitive decline, and dementia. However, the longitudinal changes in these gait domains are poorly understood. The aim of this study was to examine age-related changes in gait domains overall and in those with cognitive impairment and mobility disability.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInflammatory biomarkers and motoric cognitive risk syndrome: Multicohort survey.
Cereb Circ Cogn Behav
September 2022
Article Synopsis
- Inflammation may contribute to Motoric Cognitive Risk (MCR), a syndrome in older adults characterized by slow walking and cognitive issues.
- A study analyzed the relationship between inflammatory markers (IL-6 and CRP) and MCR using data from over 3,100 older adults across five different research cohorts.
- The findings indicated that higher levels of IL-6 and CRP were significantly linked to increased risk of MCR, particularly varying based on the presence of vascular disease in the participants.
Background And Objectives: To examine associations between olfactory dysfunction, Alzheimer disease (AD) pathology, and motoric cognitive risk syndrome (MCR), a predementia syndrome characterized by cognitive complaints and slow gait that is associated with risk for AD and other dementias.
Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of a prospective cohort study to examine whether baseline olfactory function was associated with the risk of incident MCR in 1,119 adults aged 60 years and older (75.1% female).
Objective: To examine whether falls are associated with longitudinal changes in different gait domains and onset of clinical gait abnormalities.
Design: Longitudinal study.
Setting: General community.
Article Synopsis
- - The study investigates the relationship between social support and the incidence of motoric cognitive risk syndrome (MCR) in older adults, a condition linked to slow gait and cognitive complaints, to see if social support impacts dementia risk.
- - Researchers analyzed data from 506 older adults over a median follow-up of 2.5 years and found that higher levels of tangible support and overall social support were linked to a significant decrease in MCR risk by 30% and 33%, respectively.
- - The findings suggest that boosting social support, particularly tangible support, could be an effective strategy for reducing the risk of MCR and potentially preventing dementia in the aging population.
Background And Purpose: Motoric cognitive risk syndrome (MCR) is a gait-based pre-dementia syndrome associated with risk of dementia. Ascertaining subjective cognitive and motoric complaints may facilitate early and remote identification of individuals with MCR as they are reported to precede and predict objective cognitive and motoric impairments in aging.
Methods: The validity of five subjective motoric complaint (SMC) questions and 10 subjective cognitive complaint (SCC) questions was examined for discriminating MCR in 538 non-demented community-dwelling adults.