Structural and functional sex differences in medial temporal lobe subregions at midlife.

Background: Research has increasingly recognized sex differences in aging and Alzheimer's Disease (AD) susceptibility. However, sex effects on the medial temporal lobe (MTL), a crucial region affected by aging and AD, remain poorly understood when it comes to the intricacies of morphology and functional connectivity. This study aimed to systematically analyze structural and functional connectivity among MTL subregions, which are known to exhibit documented morphological sex differences, during midlife, occurring before the putative pivotal age of cerebral decline.

Association between large neutral amino acids and white matter hyperintensities in middle-aged adults at varying metabolic risk.

This investigation delves into the interplay between large neutral amino acids (LNAA) and metabolic syndrome (MetS) in midlife adults, examining their collective influence on brain structure. While LNAA, such as tryptophan and phenylalanine, are known to bolster cognition in youth, these relationships often reverse later in life. Our study hypothesized an earlier reversal of these benefits in middle-aged adults with MetS, potentially signaling premature brain aging.

Interplay of Large Neutral Amino Acids, Metabolic Syndrome, and Apolipoprotein E ε4 on Brain Integrity at Midlife.

Introduction: Large neutral amino acids (LNAAs) tryptophan and phenylalanine have been implicated in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases. Given limited research on the effects of LNAA on brain health across different life stages, vascular risk, and genetic backgrounds, our study aimed to explore the interaction of LNAA levels, metabolic syndrome (MetS), and the presence of the apolipoprotein E ε4 (ApoE ε4) allele brain integrity at midlife.

Methods: Sixty-eight adults aged 40-61 underwent a health assessment to calculate the number of MetS components, quantify LNAA, measure white matter hyperintensity (WMH) volume, and genotype ApoE ε4.

Large Neutral Amino Acids Moderate the Effects of Metabolic Syndrome on Cognitive Performance in Middle-Aged Adults.

Introduction: Two large neutral amino acids (LNAA), tryptophan and tyrosine, are precursors to cerebral neurotransmitters and are involved in cognitive function. Higher levels of LNAA in young adults are associated with improved cognition, although these associations appear to reverse over time. Given that exposure to metabolic syndrome (MetS) may induce premature cognitive aging, the current project aims to fill the gap in the literature by examining the effect of LNAA on cognitive performance in midlife adults with metabolic risks.

Association between Large Neutral Amino Acids and Brain Integrity in Middle-Aged Adults at Metabolic Risk.

This investigation delves into the interplay between large neutral amino acids (LNAA) and metabolic syndrome (MetS) in midlife adults, examining their collective influence on brain structure and cognitive function. While LNAA, such as tryptophan and phenylalanine, are known to bolster cognition in youth, our study hypothesizes a reversal of these benefits in older adults with MetS, potentially signaling premature cognitive aging. Eighty participants between 40-61 years underwent MetS component quantification, LNAA measurement via high-performance liquid chromatography, and brain imaging to evaluate white matter hyperintensity (WMH) volume and medial temporal lobe (MTL) cortical thickness.

Hippocampal Volume and Episodic Associative Memory Identify Memory Risk in Subjective Cognitive Decline Individuals in the CIMA-Q Cohort, Regardless of Cognitive Reserve Level and APOE4 Status.

Background: Subjective cognitive decline (SCD) was proposed to identify older adults who complain about their memory but perform within a normal range on standard neuropsychological tests. Persons with SCD are at increased risk of dementia meaning that some SCD individuals experience subthreshold memory decline due to an underlying progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD).

Objective: Our main goal was to determine whether hippocampal volume and APOE4, which represent typical AD markers, predict inter-individual differences in memory performance among SCD individuals and can be used to identify a meaningful clinical subgroup.

"Ten euros now" temporal discounting in Huntington disease.

Background: When making decisions, one often faces a trade-off between immediate and long-term rewards. In these situations, people may prefer immediate over later rewards, even if immediate rewards are smaller than later ones; a phenomenon known as temporal discounting. In this study, we, for the first time, assessed temporal discounting in three populations: participants with manifest Huntington disease (HD), participants with premanifest HD, and control participants.

Network Modeling Sex Differences in Brain Integrity and Metabolic Health.

Hypothesis-driven studies have demonstrated that sex moderates many of the relationships between brain health and cardiometabolic disease, which impacts risk for later-life cognitive decline. In the present study, we sought to further our understanding of the associations between multiple markers of brain integrity and cardiovascular risk in a midlife sample of 266 individuals by using network analysis, a technique specifically designed to examine complex associations among multiple systems at once. Separate network models were constructed for male and female participants to investigate sex differences in the biomarkers of interest, selected based on evidence linking them with risk for late-life cognitive decline: all components of metabolic syndrome (obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and hyperglycemia); neuroimaging-derived brain-predicted age minus chronological age; ratio of white matter hyperintensities to whole brain volume; seed-based resting state functional connectivity in the Default Mode Network, and ratios of N-acetyl aspartate, glutamate and myo-inositol to creatine, measured through proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

Squalenoyl siRNA PMP22 nanoparticles are effective in treating mouse models of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 1 A.

Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 1 A (CMT1A) lacks an effective treatment. We provide a therapy for CMT1A, based on siRNA conjugated to squalene nanoparticles (siRNA PMP22-SQ NPs). Their administration resulted in normalization of Pmp22 protein levels, restored locomotor activity and electrophysiological parameters in two transgenic CMT1A mouse models with different severity of the disease.

When affect overlaps with concept: emotion recognition in semantic variant of primary progressive aphasia.

The most recent theories of emotions have postulated that their expression and recognition depend on acquired conceptual knowledge. In other words, the conceptual knowledge derived from prior experiences guide our ability to make sense of such emotions. However, clear evidence is still lacking to contradict more traditional theories, considering emotions as innate, distinct and universal physiological states.

Small interfering RNA from the lab discovery to patients' recovery.

In 1998, the RNA interference discovery by Fire and Mello revolutionized the scientific and therapeutic world. They showed that small double-stranded RNAs, the siRNAs, were capable of selectively silencing the expression of a targeted gene by degrading its mRNA. Very quickly, it appeared that the use of this natural mechanism was an excellent way to develop new therapeutics, due to its specificity at low doses.

Specific cognitive theory of mind and behavioral dysfunctions in early manifest Huntington disease: a case report.

Huntington's disease (HD) is a devastating illness, associated with progressive motor, behavioral and cognitive dysfunctions. However, some studies emphasized that social cognition impairment could occur prior to the onset of these other symptoms. Here, we report the case of a 47 years old patient with early manifest HD, whose complaint was mainly related to the behavioral sphere.

Neurocognitive determinants of theory of mind across the adult lifespan.

Although theory of mind (ToM) has been extensively explored in aging, few studies have used the same tool to simultaneously assess and compare its cognitive and affective components. When we administered the Movie for Assessment of Social Cognition, a dynamic sequence of social scenes, to 60 healthy participants (20-75 years), we observed no different age-related decreases in both cognitive and affective ToM. While each component was associated with cognitive measures (i.

Destination and source memory in Huntington's disease.

Destination memory refers to the recall of the destination of previously relayed information, and source memory refers to the recollection of the origin of received information. We compared both memory systems in Huntington's disease (HD) participants. For this, HD participants and healthy adults had to put 12 items in a black or a white box (destination task), and to extract another 12 items from a blue or a red box (source task).

Episodic memory decline in Huntington's disease, a binding deficit?

Background: Huntington's disease (HD) is characterized by episodic memory deterioration.

Objective: Our paper investigates the cognitive mechanisms that might underlie this decline. To this aim, we tested two executive hypotheses, the binding and the inhibition hypotheses.

Cytoskeleton reorganization, a key process in root-knot nematode-induced giant cell ontogenesis.

Root-knot nematodes are plant parasitic worms that establish and maintain an intimate relationship with their host plants. RKN induce the redifferentiation of root cells into multinucleate and hypertrophied giant cells essential for nematode growth and reproduction. Major rearrangements of the cytoskeleton occur during giant cell formation.