Publications by authors named "Fran Grodstein"

Article Synopsis
  • The study analyzed the relationship between optimism and lifespan among older Japanese adults using data from a nationwide cohort involving over 10,000 participants aged 65 and older.
  • Researchers measured optimism through a validated questionnaire and tracked mortality over a 7-year period, but found no significant link between optimism levels and lifespan after accounting for other health and demographic factors.
  • The results suggest that optimism may not have the same positive impact on longevity for Japanese older adults as seen in previous studies from Western populations, indicating cultural differences in this relationship.
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Background And Objectives: Lifetime risk of Alzheimer disease (AD) dementia is twofold higher in women compared with men, and low estrogen levels in postmenopause have been suggested as a possible contributor. We examined 3 (, , and ) variants in association with AD traits as an indirect method to test the association between estrogen and AD in women. Although the study focus was on women, in a comparison, we separately examined molecular variants in men.

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Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) is a bilateral ocular condition resulting in irreversible vision impairment caused by the progressive loss of photoreceptors in the macula, a region at the center of the retina. The progressive loss of photoreceptor is a key feature of dry AMD but not always wet AMD, though both forms of AMD can lead to loss of vision. Regression-based biological age clocks are one of the most promising biomarkers of aging but have not yet been used in AMD.

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Background: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been linked to cognitive decline, but research in women is generally lacking. We examined whether trauma and elevated PTSD symptoms were associated with worse cognitive function in middle-aged civilian women. A secondary objective was to investigate the possible role of depression in the relation of PTSD symptoms to cognitive function.

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There is a public health demand to prevent health conditions which lead to increased morbidity and mortality among the rapidly-increasing elderly population. Data for the incidence of such conditions exist in cohort studies worldwide, which, however, differ in various aspects. The Consortium on Health and Ageing: Network of Cohorts in Europe and the United States (CHANCES) project aims at harmonizing data from existing major longitudinal studies for the elderly whilst focussing on cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, cancer, fractures and cognitive impairment in order to estimate their prevalence, incidence and cause-specific mortality, and identify lifestyle, socioeconomic, and genetic determinants and biomarkers for the incidence of and mortality from these conditions.

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Background: Greater red meat intake is associated with an increased type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease risk. However, the relation of red meat intake to biomarkers of inflammation and glucose metabolism has not been investigated thoroughly.

Objective: We hypothesized that greater red meat intake would be associated with biomarkers of inflammation and glucose metabolism, which would be partly explained by body mass index (BMI).

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Objective: To evaluate the association between migraine and cognitive decline among women.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Setting: Women's Health Study, United States.

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Alzheimer's disease (AD) is associated with neurodegeneration in vulnerable limbic and heteromodal regions of the cerebral cortex, detectable in vivo using magnetic resonance imaging. It is not clear whether abnormalities of cortical anatomy in AD can be reliably measured across different subject samples, how closely they track symptoms, and whether they are detectable prior to symptoms. An exploratory map of cortical thinning in mild AD was used to define regions of interest that were applied in a hypothesis-driven fashion to other subject samples.

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