Understanding the relationships between physiological and psychosocial stress, cortisol and cognition.

Stress is viewed as a state of real or perceived threat to homeostasis, the management of which involves the endocrine, nervous, and immune systems. These systems work independently and interactively as part of the stress response. The scientific stress literature, which spans both animal and human studies, contains heterogeneous findings about the effects of stress on the brain and the body.

Psychosocial stress associated with memory performance in older South African adults.

Older adults with past or current chronic stress exposure perform poorly on memory assessments and are at higher risk for Alzheimer's disease (AD). In low- or middle-income countries, many older adults are, or have been, exposed to stress-provoking events. Few published studies examine such populations, however, and few take multiple measures of stress.

Associations between CAMCOG-R subscale performance and formal education attainment in South African older adults.

ABSTRACT Background: The Cambridge Cognitive Examination-Revised (CAMCOG-R) is a sensitive screening tool for the early diagnosis of dementia in older adults. Overall performance on the CAMCOG-R is influenced by educational attainment. Few studies have, however, examined the association between educational attainment and performance on the individual CAMCOG subscales.