Exergame and cognitive training for preventing falls in community-dwelling older people: a randomized controlled trial.

Exergame training, in which video games are used to promote exercise, can be tailored to address cognitive and physical risk factors for falls and is a promising method for fall prevention in older people. Here, we performed a randomized clinical trial using the smart±step gaming system to examine the effectiveness of two home-based computer game interventions, seated cognitive training and step exergame training, for fall prevention in community-dwelling older people, as compared with a minimal-intervention control group. Participants aged 65 years or older (n = 769, 71% female) living independently in the community were randomized to one of three arms: (1) cognitive training using a computerized touchpad while seated, (2) exergame step training on a computerized mat or (3) control (provided with an education booklet on healthy ageing and fall prevention).

The effects of computerised cognitive training on post-CABG delirium and cognitive change: A prospective randomised controlled trial.

Background: Cognitive impairments, including delirium, are common after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). Improving cognition pre- and post-operatively using computerised cognitive training (CCT) may be an effective approach to improve cognitive outcomes in CABG patients.

Objectives: Investigate the effect of remotely supervised CCT on cognitive outcomes, including delirium, in older adults undergoing CABG surgery.

Harmonisation and Between-Country Differences of the Lifetime of Experiences Questionnaire in Older Adults.

The Lifetime of Experiences Questionnaire (LEQ) assesses complex mental activity across the life-course and has been associated with brain and cognitive health. The different education systems and occupation classifications across countries represent a challenge for international comparisons. The objectives of this study were four-fold: to adapt and harmonise the LEQ across four European countries, assess its validity across countries, explore its association with brain and cognition and begin to investigate between-country differences in life-course mental activities.

Computerised cognitive training to improve cognition including delirium following coronary artery bypass grafting surgery: protocol for a blinded randomised controlled trial.

Introduction: Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) surgery is known to improve vascular function and cardiac-related mortality rates; however, it is associated with high rates of postoperative cognitive decline and delirium. Previous attempts to prevent post-CABG cognitive decline using pharmacological and surgical approaches have been largely unsuccessful. Cognitive prehabilitation and rehabilitation are a viable yet untested option for CABG patients.

Hippocampal plasticity underpins long-term cognitive gains from resistance exercise in MCI.

Dementia affects 47 million individuals worldwide, and assuming the status quo is projected to rise to 150 million by 2050. Prevention of age-related cognitive impairment in older persons with lifestyle interventions continues to garner evidence but whether this can combat underlying neurodegeneration is unknown. The Study of Mental Activity and Resistance Training (SMART) trial has previously reported within-training findings; the aim of this study was to investigate the long-term neurostructural and cognitive impact of resistance exercise in Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI).

Memory Performance Correlates of Hippocampal Subfield Volume in Mild Cognitive Impairment Subtype.

The increased understanding that neuropathology begins decades before symptom onset, has led to the conceptualization and widespread utilization of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) as an important transitional state between healthy aging and dementia. Further subcategorization to MCI subtype has led to more distinct prognoses and it is widely considered that amnestic and non-amnestic MCI (aMCI, naMCI) likely have distinct pathophysiologies. Yet, accurately classification remains contentious.

Cognitive dysfunction in naturally occurring canine idiopathic epilepsy.

Globally, epilepsy is a common serious brain disorder. In addition to seizure activity, epilepsy is associated with cognitive impairments including static cognitive impairments present at onset, progressive seizure-induced impairments and co-morbid dementia. Epilepsy occurs naturally in domestic dogs but its impact on canine cognition has yet to be studied, despite canine cognitive dysfunction (CCD) recognised as a spontaneous model of dementia.

Age is no barrier: predictors of academic success in older learners.

Although predictors of academic success have been identified in young adults, such predictors are unlikely to translate directly to an older student population, where such information is scarce. The current study aimed to examine cognitive, psychosocial, lifetime, and genetic predictors of university-level academic performance in older adults (50-79 years old). Participants were mostly female (71%) and had a greater than high school education level ( = 14.

Midlife managerial experience is linked to late life hippocampal morphology and function.

An active cognitive lifestyle has been suggested to have a protective role in the long-term maintenance of cognition. Amongst healthy older adults, more managerial or supervisory experiences in midlife are linked to a slower hippocampal atrophy rate in late life. Yet whether similar links exist in individuals with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) is not known, nor whether these differences have any functional implications.

Social cognition is not associated with cognitive reserve in older adults.

Social and general cognitive abilities decline in late life. Those with high cognitive reserve display better general cognitive performance in old age; however, it is unknown whether this is also the case for social cognition. A total of 115 healthy older adults, aged 60-85 years (m = 44, f = 71) were assessed using The Awareness of Social Inference Test (TASIT-R; social cognition), the Lifetime of Experiences Questionnaire (LEQ; cognitive reserve), and the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI-II; general cognitive ability).

Posterior compensatory network in cognitively intact elders with hippocampal atrophy.

Functional compensation in late life is poorly understood but may be vital to understanding long-term cognitive trajectories. To study this we first established an empirically derived threshold to distinguish hippocampal atrophy in those with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI n = 34) from those with proficient cognition (PRO n = 22), using data from a population-based cohort. Next, to identify compensatory networks we compared cortical activity patterns during a graded spatial working memory (SWM) task in only cognitively proficient individuals, either with (PROATR ) or without hippocampal atrophy (PRONIL ).

BDNF and COMT polymorphisms have a limited association with episodic memory performance or engagement in complex cognitive activity in healthy older adults.

Cognitive decline is a major factor in lowering the quality of life in older populations, and contributes substantially to social, economic, and health costs. As humans age, cognitive function decreases differentially, and individual differences in cognitive ageing are likely attributed to a range of causes, including environmental and genetic influences. The current study included 360 participants (240 females and 120 males) aged between 50 and 79years from the Tasmanian Healthy Brain Project.

Cognitive and social lifestyle: links with neuropathology and cognition in late life.

Many studies report an association of cognitive and social experiential factors and related traits with dementia risk. Further, many clinical-pathologic studies find a poor correspondence between levels of neuropathology and the presence of dementia and level of cognitive impairment. The poor correspondence suggests that other factors contribute to the maintenance or loss of cognitive function, with factors associated with the maintenance of function referred to as neural or cognitive reserve.

Cognitive lifestyle in older persons: the population-based Sydney Memory and Ageing Study.

Background: Cognitive lifestyle may be an important modifiable risk factor for dementia but has not yet been comprehensively studied in healthy elderly.

Objective: To examine gender- and lifespan-related differences in cognitive lifestyle in a population-based cohort.

Methods: 872 individuals from the second wave of the Sydney Memory and Ageing Study (MAS) cohort were invited to complete the Lifetime of Experiences Questionnaire (LEQ), a validated measure of cognitive lifestyle.

The Tasmanian Healthy Brain Project (THBP): a prospective longitudinal examination of the effect of university-level education in older adults in preventing age-related cognitive decline and reducing the risk of dementia.

Background: Differences in the level of cognitive compromise between individuals following brain injury are thought to arise from underlying differences in cognitive reserve. The level of cognitive reserve attained by an individual is influenced by both genetic and life experience factors such as educational attainment and occupational history. The Tasmanian Healthy Brain Project (THBP) is a world-first prospective study examining the capacity of university-level education to enhance cognitive reserve in older adults and subsequently reduce age-related cognitive decline and risk for neurodegenerative disease.

Active cognitive lifestyle is associated with positive cognitive health transitions and compression of morbidity from age sixty-five.

Background: Three factors commonly used as measures of cognitive lifestyle are education, occupation, and social engagement. This study determined the relative importance of each variable to long term cognitive health in those with and without severe cognitive impairment.

Methods: Data came from 12,470 participants from a multi-centre population-based cohort (Medical Research Council Cognitive Function and Ageing Study).

Supervisory experience at work is linked to low rate of hippocampal atrophy in late life.

Cultivation of an active cognitive lifestyle, including diverse and challenging educational, occupational and cognitively-loaded leisure activities may be protective against development of dementia but the mechanisms underlying this link are not clear. We used the Lifetime Experiences Questionnaire (LEQ) to assess the structural brain correlates of cognitive lifestyle in the Sydney Memory and Aging Study, a large population-based cohort of originally 1037 non-demented elderly aged over 70 years of age. After excluding those without structural Magnetic Resonance Image data or Mild Cognitive Impairment at their most recent assessment, 151 cognitively intact subjects were studied.

Age-specific effects of voluntary exercise on memory and the older brain.

Background: Physical exercise in early adulthood and mid-life improves cognitive function and enhances brain plasticity, but the effects of commencing exercise in late adulthood are not well-understood.

Method: We investigated the effects of voluntary exercise in the restoration of place recognition memory in aged rats and examined hippocampal changes of synaptic density and neurogenesis.

Results: We found a highly selective age-related deficit in place recognition memory that is stable across retest sessions and correlates strongly with loss of hippocampal synapses.

Multiple biological pathways link cognitive lifestyle to protection from dementia.

Background: An active cognitive lifestyle is linked to diminished dementia risk, but the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Potential mechanisms include disease modification, neuroprotection, and compensation. Prospective, population-based brain series provide the rare opportunity to test the plausibility of these mechanisms in humans.

Active cognitive lifestyle associates with cognitive recovery and a reduced risk of cognitive decline.

Education and lifestyle factors linked with complex mental activity are thought to affect the progression of cognitive decline. Collectively, these factors can be combined to create a cognitive reserve or cognitive lifestyle score. This study tested the association between cognitive lifestyle score and cognitive change in a population-based cohort of older persons from five sites across England and Wales.

The canine sand maze: an appetitive spatial memory paradigm sensitive to age-related change in dogs.

Aged dogs exhibit a spectrum of cognitive abilities including a syndrome similar to Alzheimer's disease. A major impediment to research so far has been the lack of a quick and accurate test of visuospatial memory appropriate for community-based animals. We therefore report on the development and validation of the Canine Sand Maze.

The canine cognitive dysfunction rating scale (CCDR): a data-driven and ecologically relevant assessment tool.

Canine cognitive dysfunction (CCD) is an age-related neurobehavioural syndrome which, although common, is severely under-diagnosed in community-based dogs. Using data from a large cross-sectional survey of older dogs (n=957), this study aimed to develop a clinical scale for assessing CCD. Data-driven analytical techniques were used to distil 27 significant behavioural items (previously identified as relevant to CCD) into an assessment tool with maximal cognito-behavioural breadth whilst maintaining clinical utility.

Under diagnosis of canine cognitive dysfunction: a cross-sectional survey of older companion dogs.

Canine cognitive dysfunction (CCD) is a neurobehavioural syndrome affecting aged dogs. Using a large cross-sectional epidemiological study of older dogs, this study aimed to estimate the prevalence of CCD amongst community based dogs (mean age 11.67years; range 8-19.

Simulation of neuronal death and network recovery in a computational model of distributed cortical activity.

Objectives: The authors utilize a model of activity-dependent neuronal plasticity to study the interplay between synaptogenesis, neuronal death, and neurogenesis on the resulting pattern of neuronal connectivity.

Design: A mathematical model of neuronal network activity was employed, with plasticity instantiated by an activity-dependent rewiring rule. In particular, the authors modeled a neural system as a collection of "nodes" (neural subsystems) connected by "links" (anatomical connectivity).