Dietary inflammatory index scores and cognitive aging: results from the Framingham heart Study offspring cohort.

Background: Nutritional factors can abet or protect against systemic chronic inflammation, which plays an important role in the development and progression of dementia. We evaluated whether higher (i.e.

Association between dietary inflammatory index score and incident dementia.

Introduction: We evaluated whether higher Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII) scores were associated with increased incidence of all-cause dementia and Alzheimer's disease (AD) dementia over 22.3 years of follow-up in the community-based Framingham Heart Study Offspring cohort.

Methods: One thousand four hundred eighty-seven participants (mean ± standard deviation, age in years 69 ± 6) completed food frequency questionnaires (FFQs) and had incident all-cause dementia and AD surveillance data available.

Association between dietary inflammatory index score and incident dementia: results from the Framingham heart Study offspring cohort.

Background: The Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII), has been specifically designed to capture the inflammatory content of diet and has shown association with neurodegenerative disease related outcomes. But literature is limited on the role of diet-driven inflammation measured by the DII on incident all-cause dementia and Alzheimer's disease dementia (AD).

Objective: We evaluated whether higher DII scores were associated with increased incidence of all-cause dementia and AD over 22.

Associations of Modifiable Behavioral Risk Factor Combinations at 65 to 74 Years Old With Cognitive Health Span for 20 Years.

Objective: Behavioral risk factors for dementia tend to co-occur and interrelate, especially poor diet, physical inactivity, sleep disturbances, and depression. Having multiple of these modifiable behavioral risk factors (MBRFs) may predict a particularly shortened cognitive health span and therefore may signal high-risk status/high intervention need.

Methods: These secondary analyses of data from the Cardiovascular Health Study included 3149 participants aged 65 to 74 years (mean [standard deviation {SD}] age = 69.

Higher Dietary Inflammatory Index scores are associated with brain MRI markers of brain aging: Results from the Framingham Heart Study Offspring cohort.

Introduction: We investigated cross-sectional associations between the Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII) and measures of brain volume and cerebral small vessel disease among participants of the Framingham Heart Study Offspring cohort.

Methods: A total of 1897 participants (mean ± standard deviation, age 62±9) completed Food Frequency Questionnaires and brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Results: Higher (pro-inflammatory) DII scores, averaged across a maximum of three time points, were associated with smaller total brain volume (beta ± standard error: -0.

Tutorials in population neuroimaging: Using epidemiology in neuroimaging research.

Epidemiology is the foundation of all public health research and practice. Epidemiology confers many important uses for the advancement of neuroimaging research. Epidemiology serves as a framework to organize pieces of data and guide critical thinking in the research process from the early stages of study design to the end goal of reaching appropriate inferences.

Association of Midlife Depressive Symptoms with Regional Amyloid-β and Tau in the Framingham Heart Study.

Background: Depressive symptoms predict increased risk for dementia decades before the emergence of cognitive symptoms. Studies in older adults provide preliminary evidence for an association between depressive symptoms and amyloid-β (Aβ) and tau accumulation. It is unknown if similar alterations are observed in midlife when preventive strategies may be most effective.

Burden and Patterns of Multimorbidity: Impact on Disablement in Older Adults.

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the impact of the burden and patterns of multimorbidity on disability domains.

Design: In a cross-sectional study of 425 older adults from the Boston Rehabilitative Impairment Study of the Elderly, participants self-reported 13 chronic conditions and underwent assessment of body function (leg strength, velocity, and power, trunk extensor endurance, leg range of motion, foot sensation), activities (400-m walk test, Short Physical Performance Battery, Late Life Function and Disability Instrument function scores) and participation (Late Life Function and Disability Instrument participation scores). The association between multimorbidity patterns (identified by latent class analysis) and disablement measures, as well as multimorbidity burden (captured by a multimorbidity score) and disablement measures, was tested.

Neuromuscular Attributes Associated With Lower Extremity Mobility Among Community-Dwelling Older Adults.

Background: The Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB) is advocated as a screening tool in geriatric care for predicting future disability. We aimed to identify the leg neuromuscular attributes to be targeted in rehabilitative care among older adults with poor SPPB scores.

Methods: Boston Rehabilitative Impairment Study of the Elderly (Boston RISE) participants (n = 430) underwent assessment of neuromuscular attributes (leg strength, leg velocity, trunk extensor endurance, knee flexion range of motion [ROM], ankle ROM, and foot sensation).

Association of Biomarker and Physiologic Indices With Mortality in Older Adults: Cardiovascular Health Study.

Background: A goal of gerontology is discovering aging phenotypes that reflect biological aging distinct from disease pathogenesis. Biomarkers that strongly and independently associated with mortality and that statistically attenuated chronologic age could be used to define such a phenotype. We determined the association of a Biomarker Index (BI) with mortality and compared it with a validated Physiologic Index (PI) in older adults.

Age, Race, and Gender Factors in Incident Disability.

Background: Incident disability rates enable the comparison of risk across populations. Understanding these by age, sex, and race is important for planning for the care of older adults and targeting prevention.

Methods: We calculated incident disability rates among older adults in the Cardiovascular Health Study, a study of 5,888 older adults aged ≥ 65 years over 6 years of follow-up.

Prevalence and determinants of end-of-life chemotherapy use in patients with metastatic breast cancer.

Cessation of chemotherapy in the last few weeks of life could be an important quality-of-care benchmark. Proportion of metastatic breast cancer patients who receive end-of-life chemotherapy is not well described. We aimed to determine the prevalence and determinants of end-of-life chemotherapy use in patients with metastatic breast cancer.

Community-Based Healthy Aging Interventions for Older Adults with Arthritis and Multimorbidity.

Examine the impact of programs led by community health workers on health and function in older adults with arthritis and other health conditions. We conducted a cluster-randomized trial of the Arthritis Foundation Exercise Program (AFEP) enhanced with the "10 Keys"™ to Healthy Aging compared with the AFEP program at 54 sites in 462 participants (mean age 73 years, 88 % women, 80 % white). Trained Community health workers delivered the 10-week programs.

Can a Healthy Lifestyle Compress the Disabled Period in Older Adults?

Objectives: To determine whether lifestyle factors, measured late in life, could compress the disabled period toward the end of life.

Design: Community-based cohort study of older adults followed from 1989 to 2015.

Setting: Four U.

Partnership Building and Implementation of an Integrated Healthy-Aging Program.

Background: Evidence-based interventions exist for prevention of chronic disease in older adults. Partnering with community organizations may provide a mechanism for disseminating these interventions.

Objective: To describe the partnership and program implementation by the Arthritis Foundation (AF) and the University of Pittsburgh.

The preventive services use self-efficacy (PRESS) scale in older women: development and psychometric properties.

Background: Preventive services offered to older Americans are currently under-utilized despite considerable evidence regarding their health and economic benefits. Individuals with low self-efficacy in accessing these services need to be identified and provided self-efficacy enhancing interventions. Scales measuring self-efficacy in the management of chronic diseases exist, but do not cover the broad spectrum of preventive services and behaviors that can improve the health of older adults, particularly older women who are vulnerable to poorer health and lesser utilization of preventive services.

Sex, Race, and Age Differences in Observed Years of Life, Healthy Life, and Able Life among Older Adults in The Cardiovascular Health Study.

Objective: Longevity fails to account for health and functional status during aging. We sought to quantify differences in years of total life, years of healthy life, and years of able life among groups defined by age, sex, and race.

Design: Primary analysis of a cohort study.

Pilot Enhancement of the Arthritis Foundation Exercise Program with a Healthy Aging Program.

Older adults with arthritis or joint pain were targeted for a pilot program enhancing the Arthritis Foundation Exercise Program with the 10 Keys™ to Healthy Aging Program. Using a one-group, pre-post design, feasibility was examined and improvements in preventive behaviors, arthritis outcomes, and cardiometabolic outcomes were explored. A 10-week program was developed, instructors were recruited and trained, and four sites and 51 participants were recruited.

Odontogenic maxillofacial space infections at a tertiary care center in North India: a five-year retrospective study.

Objective: Odontogenic infections contribute to a significant proportion of maxillofacial space infections (MSI) across the world. MSI can cause several life-threatening complications despite skillful management. The objective of this study was to review the clinical characteristics, management, and outcome of odontogenic MSI treated at a tertiary care center, and to identify the factors predisposing to life-threatening complications.

The effect of community based daycare on mental health and quality of life of elderly in rural south India: a community intervention study.

Background: Sustainable cost-effective interventions to improve psychiatric morbidity and quality of life among the elderly have not been systematically evaluated in developing countries.

Method: The most vulnerable elderly living in Pennathur, Vellore district, India, in terms of socioeconomic status and social supports, were invited to participate in a day-care program. Baseline assessments were done using the Mini Mental Status Examination, the Revised Clinical Interview Schedule and the World Health Organisation Quality of Life- Bref.

An outbreak of cadaver-acquired chickenpox in a health care setting.

The varicella-zoster virus (the chickenpox virus) is highly infectious and may affect nonimmune health care professionals. We report an outbreak of chickenpox in our hospital in which the source of infection was a cadaver. The spread of infection occurred in the course of an autopsy.

A community health programme in rural Tamil Nadu, India: the need for gender justice for women.

This article highlights the efforts of the Community Health and Development (CHAD) Programme of Christian Medical College to address the issues of gender discrimination and improve the status of women in the Kaniyambadi Block, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India. The many schemes that are specifically for women and general projects for the community from which women can also benefit represent a multi-pronged approach whose aim is the improvement of women's health, education and employment in the context of community development. However, despite five decades of work with a clear bias in favour of women, the improvement in health and the empowerment of women has lagged behind that achieved by men.