Carotid pulse pressure and intima media thickness are independently associated with cerebral hemodynamic pulsatility in community-living older adults.

Vascular aging is associated with markers of cerebrovascular impairment. Whether discrete characteristics of arterial structure and function have independent and/or additive effects on cerebral hemodynamics, however, is not completely understood. We examined the association of cerebral hemodynamics with common carotid artery intima-media thickness (IMT) and pulse pressure (PP) in 61 older adults with prevalent cardiometabolic risk but no history of cerebrovascular disease.

The effect of aging and contextual information on manual asymmetry in tool use.

Healthy aging affects manual asymmetries in simple motor tasks, such as unilateral reaching and aiming. The effects of aging on manual asymmetries in the performance of a complex, naturalistic task are unknown, but are relevant for investigating the praxis system. This study examined how aging influences manual asymmetry in different contexts in a tool manipulation task.

End-state comfort in two object manipulation tasks: Investigating how the movement context influences planning in children, young adults, and older adults.

The movement context (pantomime, pantomime with image/object as guide, and actual use) has been shown to influence end-state comfort-the propensity to prioritize a comfortable final hand position over an initially comfortable one-across the lifespan. The present study aimed to assess how the movement context (pantomime, using a dowel as the tool, and actual use) influences end-state comfort when acting with objects (glass/hammer) that differ in use-dependent experience. Children (ages 6-11, n = 70), young adults (n = 21), and older adults (n = 21) picked up an overturned glass to pour water and a hammer to hit a nail, where the handle faced away from the participant.

Acute effects of aerobic exercise on cognitive function in individuals with Parkinson's disease.

Deficits in executive functions are highly prevalent in Parkinson's disease (PD). Although chronic physical exercise has been shown to improve executive functions in PD, evidence of acute exercise effects is limited. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of an acute bout of exercise on cognitive processes underlying executive functions in PD.

Aerobic exercise is more effective than goal-based exercise for the treatment of cognition in Parkinson's disease.

Background: Little is known about how different exercise modalities influence cognition in Parkinson's disease (PD). Moreover, the focus of previous investigations on examining the effects of exercise mainly on executive functions and the exclusion of individuals with cognitive impairment may limit the potential to define exercise as a treatment for cognitive decline in PD.

Objective: The aim of this study was to compare the effects of aerobic and goal-based exercise on five cognitive domains in cognitively normal and impaired individuals with PD.

End-State Comfort Across the Lifespan: A Cross-Sectional Investigation of How Movement Context Influences Motor Planning in an Overturned Glass Task.

Young adults plan actions in advance to minimize the cost of movement. This is exemplified by the end-state comfort (ESC) effect. A pattern of improvement in ESC in children is linked to the development of cognitive control processes, and decline in older adults is attributed to cognitive decline.

Object-Tool-Actor Interaction: Object Information Drives Intended Action.

Tool use is typically explored via actor-tool interactions. However, the target-object (that which is being acted on) may influence perceived action possibilities and thereby guide action. Three different tool-target-object pairings were tested (Experiment 1).

A single session of exercise as a modulator of short-term learning in healthy individuals.

Background: A single session of aerobic exercise is linked to faster motor responses; however, the effect on rate of short-term learning is less clear. The objective was to evaluate the influence of a single bout of aerobic exercise on the rate of short-term acquisition of a shape-letter association task requiring a motor response.

Methods: 23 [11 females, age 20.

The Influence of Parkinson's Disease Motor Symptom Asymmetry on Hand Performance: An Examination of the Grooved Pegboard Task.

This study examined the influence of motor symptom asymmetry in Parkinson's disease (PD) on Grooved Pegboard (GP) performance in right-handed participants. The Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale was used to assess motor symptoms and separate participants with PD into two groups (right-arm affected, left-arm affected) for comparison with a group of healthy older adults. Participants completed the place and replace GP tasks two times with both hands.

How the mode of action affects evidence of planning and movement kinematics in aging: End-state comfort in older adults.

Motor deficits are commonly observed with age; however, it has been argued that older adults are more adept when acting in natural tasks and do not differ from young adults in these contexts. This study assessed end-state comfort and movement kinematics in a familiar task to examine this further. Left- and right-handed older adults picked up a glass (upright or overturned) as if to pour water in four modes of action (pantomime, pantomime with image/cup as a guide, actual grasping).

Disentangling perceptual judgment and online feedback deficits in Parkinson's freezing of gait.

Although the underlying mechanisms of freezing of gait in Parkinson's disease (PD) are not fully understood, impaired sensory-perceptual processing has been proposed as an important contributor to freezing episodes. The aims of this cross-sectional study were to disentangle how sensory-perceptual deficits involved in planning (prior to movement) and sensory-perceptual feedback processing (during movement execution) contribute to freezing of gait in narrow spaces. Thirteen PD participants with freezing (PD FOG), 14 PD participants without freezing (PD non-FOG), and 15 healthy individuals made a perceptual estimate of the width of the distal opening of a corridor in two conditions: parallel and narrowing walls.

Evaluation of a portable markerless finger position capture device: accuracy of the Leap Motion controller in healthy adults.

Although motion analysis is frequently employed in upper limb motor assessment (e.g. visually-guided reaching), they are resource-intensive and limited to laboratory settings.

Handedness throughout the lifespan: cross-sectional view on sex differences as asymmetries change.

Manual asymmetries has been studied by many researchers, however contradictory findings still exist as to whether preferred manual asymmetries increases with age or do we become more ambidextrous. Recently it was shown that perhaps there is a third option, that there is no increase or decrease in laterality but rather preferred manual asymmetries remains consistent throughout adulthood. Another related finding is that females appear to have an advantage in some handedness tasks, such as the Grooved Pegboard.

Evidence of cognitive decline in older adults after remote traumatic brain injury: an exploratory study.

Separate bodies of literature indicate that a history of a traumatic brain injury (TBI) and natural aging may result in overlapping cognitive profiles, yet little is known about their combined effect. We predicted that a remote TBI would compound normal age-related cognitive decline, particularly affecting executive function. Neuropsychological task performance was compared between a group of older adults who sustained a TBI in their distant past (N = 9) and a group of older adults with no history of head injury (N = 15).

Interaction of memory systems during acquisition of tool knowledge and skills in Parkinson's disease.

Previous research suggests that different aspects of tool knowledge are mediated by different memory systems. It is believed that tool attributes (e.g.

Progression of limb apraxia in corticobasal syndrome: neuropychological and functional neuroimaging report of a case series.

The current study described the progression of limb apraxia in seven corticobasal syndrome patients through a comprehensive battery, including both gesture production tasks and conceptual tool/action knowledge tasks. The examination of the behavioral and neuroimaging (SPECT) data revealed two patient subgroups. One group consisted of patients with preserved conceptual tool/action knowledge, relatively mild gesture production and neuropsychological deficits with few significantly hypoperfused regions of interest.

Measuring life space in older adults with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease using mobile phone GPS.

Background: As an indicator of physical and cognitive functioning in community-dwelling older adults, there is increasing interest in measuring life space, defined as the geographical area a person covers in daily life. Typically measured through questionnaires, life space can be challenging to assess in amnestic dementia associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD). While global positioning system (GPS) technology has been suggested as a potential solution, there remains a lack of data validating GPS-based methods to measure life space in cognitively impaired populations.

Examining the construct validity of the Cognitive Competency Test for occupational therapy practice.

Background: Enhancing occupational therapy practice requires critical examination of assessment tools and the conclusions being drawn from their use. When working with cognitively impaired older individuals, judgments about occupational competence are often informed by an assessment of cognitive competence.

Purpose: The Cognitive Competency Test (CCT) is a frequently used measure in Canada to inform predictions of occupational competence.

Components of cognitive competence predictive of occupational competence in persons with dementia: a Delphi study.

Background: Within the area of dementia care, occupational therapists are asked to predict occupational competence in everyday living and often do so by assessing cognitive competence. Considering the cognitive changes that occur with dementia over time, the construct of cognitive competence is a key consideration. Still, a gap exists in the literature examining the relationship between cognitive competence and occupational competence.

Drivers with Parkinson's disease: are the symptoms of PD associated with restricted driving practices?

This study examined whether symptoms (motor, cognitive, vision, sleepiness, depression) of Parkinson's disease (PD) were associated with restricted driving practices. To quantify driving practices, electronic devices were installed in the vehicles of 27 drivers with PD (78 % men; M = 71.6, SD = 6.

A model-based approach to limb apraxia in Alzheimer's disease.

Limb apraxia is a neurological deficit characterized by an inability to pantomime and/or imitate gestures, which can result from neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease (AD). The major goal of the study was to describe comprehensively the apraxia deficits observed in AD patients and to relate those deficits to general cognitive status, measures of daily activity, and other neuropsychological measures. Limb apraxia was assessed on a variety of conceptual and gesture production tasks in 30 AD patients.

An update on the Conceptual-Production Systems model of apraxia: evidence from stroke.

Limb apraxia is a neurological disorder characterized by an inability to pantomime and/or imitate gestures. It is more commonly observed after left hemisphere damage (LHD), but has also been reported after right hemisphere damage (RHD). The Conceptual-Production Systems model (Roy, 1996) suggests that three systems are involved in the control of purposeful movements: the conceptual, the production and the sensory/perceptual system.

The relationship between the grooved pegboard test and clinical motor symptom evaluation across the spectrum of Parkinson's disease severity.

Background: The Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) is the gold standard for assessing Parkinsonian symptoms, yet objective outcome measures are needed to complement the UPDRS in research and clinical practice.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between performance on the Grooved Pegboard Test (GP) and clinical assessment of Parkinson's motor symptoms with the UPDRS.

Methods: A large sample of individuals with Parkinson's disease (n = 191) were assessed with the GP and UPDRS motor section.

Effects of familiarity and cognitive function on naturalistic action performance.

Objective: This study investigated the effects of familiarity on the performance of routine (familiar) naturalistic actions (NAs) that had been performed several times prior to the experiment (e.g., making coffee) and novel (unfamiliar) naturalistic actions (NNAs) that had not been performed prior to instruction (e.

A model-based approach to long-term recovery of limb apraxia after stroke.

Limb apraxia is a disorder affecting performance of gestures on verbal command (pantomime), on imitation, and/or in tool and action recognition. We aimed to examine recovery on tasks assessing both conceptual and production aspects of limb praxis in left (n = 22) and right (n = 15) stroke patients. Patients were assessed longitudinally on four conceptual tasks (action identification, tool naming by action, tool identification, and tool naming) and five production tasks (pantomime, pantomime by picture, concurrent imitation, delayed imitation, and tool use).