Cognitive considerations for adults with sickle cell disease completing the brief pain inventory.

Introduction: Accurate assessment of pain severity is important for caring for patients with sickle cell disease (SCD). The Brief Pain Inventory was developed to address limitations of previous pain-rating metrics and is available in a short form (BPI-SF). However, the BPI-SF is a self-report scale dependent on patient comprehension and interpretation of items.

Cardiorespiratory fitness is associated with cognitive function in late adulthood: baseline findings from the IGNITE study.

Objectives: To evaluate the association between cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and cognition in a large sample of older adults, and to examine clinical and demographic factors that might moderate these associations.

Methods: CRF was measured with a graded exercise test performed on a motorised treadmill. A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted using data from a comprehensive neuropsychological battery to obtain latent factors reflecting core cognitive domains.

Influence of medical conditions on the diagnostic accuracy of plasma p-tau217 and p-tau217/Aβ42.

Introduction: Blood-based biomarkers (BBMs) can enable early detection of brain amyloid beta (Aβ) pathology in cognitively unimpaired individuals. However, the extent to which common medical conditions affect biomarker performance remains unclear.

Methods: Participants (n = 348) included individuals without cognitive impairment.

Changes in stress pathways as a possible mechanism of aerobic exercise training on brain health: a scoping review of existing studies.

Physical activity (PA) in the form of aerobic exercise (AE) preserves and improves neurocognitive function across the lifespan. However, a mechanistic understanding of the pathways by which aerobic exercise impacts brain health is still lacking, particularly with respect to stress-related pathways. One mechanistic hypothesis is that AE improves neurocognitive health in part by modifying circulating levels of stress-related hormones and signaling factors associated with the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and autonomic nervous system (ANS), as commonly measured by the biomarkers cortisol (CORT) and salivary α-amylase (sAA).

Cardiorespiratory fitness is associated with hippocampal resting state connectivity in women newly diagnosed with breast cancer.

Background: Breast cancer and its treatment are associated with aberrant patterns of resting state functional connectivity (rsFC) between the hippocampus and several areas of the brain, which may account for poorer cognitive outcomes in patients. Higher cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) has been associated with enhanced rsFC and cognitive performance; however, these associations have not been well studied in breast cancer. We examined the relationship between CRF, rsFC of the hippocampus, and cognitive performance among women newly diagnosed with breast cancer.

Reduced brain activity during a working memory task in middle-aged apolipoprotein E ε4 carriers with overweight/obesity.

Objective: The apolipoprotein E ε4 (APOE ε4) allele and midlife obesity are independent risk factors for Alzheimer's disease (AD). Both of these risk factors are also associated with differences in brain activation, as measured by blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) responses, in the absence of detectable cognitive deficits. Although the presence of these risk factors may influence brain activity during working memory tasks, no study to date has examined whether the presence of the ε4 allele explains variation in working memory brain activity while matching for levels of overweight/obesity.

A case-control and seven-year longitudinal neurocognitive study of adults with sickle cell disease in Ghana.

Ageing in sickle cell disease (SCD) is associated with a myriad of end-organ complications, including cerebrovascular damage and cognitive impairment (CI). Although CI is very common in SCD, little is known about cognitive functioning and how it changes with age. This study examines cognitive patterns of 63 adults with SCD and 60 non-SCD, age- and education-matched controls in Ghana.

Obesity, Psychological Distress, and Resting State Connectivity of the Hippocampus and Amygdala Among Women With Early-Stage Breast Cancer.

Objective: Overweight and obesity [body mass index (BMI) ≥ 25 kg/m] are associated with poorer prognosis among women with breast cancer, and weight gain is common during treatment. Symptoms of depression and anxiety are also highly prevalent in women with breast cancer and may be exacerbated by post-diagnosis weight gain. Altered brain function may underlie psychological distress.