Resilience predicts remission in antidepressant treatment of geriatric depression.

Objectives: With the world population rapidly aging, it is increasingly important to identify sociodemographic, cognitive, and clinical features that predict poor outcome in geriatric depression. Self-report measures of resilience-ie, the ability to adapt and thrive in the face of adversity-may identify those depressed older adults with more favorable prognoses.

Methods: We investigated the utility of baseline variables including 4 factors of resilience (grit, active coping self-efficacy, accommodative coping self-efficacy, and spirituality) for predicting treatment response and remission in a 16-week randomized controlled trial of methylphenidate, citalopram, or their combination in 143 adults over the age of 60 with MDD.

Resilience and White Matter Integrity in Geriatric Depression.

Objective: Greater psychological resilience may protect against developing depression in a growing geriatric population. Identifying the neural correlates of resilience in geriatric depression could provide neurobiologic targets to inform clinical interventions. However, most prior neuroimaging studies have only considered the presence or absence of resilience and have not addressed the multifactorial nature of resilience.

Resilience and amygdala function in older healthy and depressed adults.

Background: Previous studies suggest that low emotional resilience may correspond with increased or over-active amygdala function. Complementary studies suggest that emotional resilience increases with age; older adults tend to have decreased attentional bias to negative stimuli compared to younger adults. Amygdala nuclei and related brain circuits have been linked to negative affect, and depressed patients have been demonstrated to have abnormal amygdala function.

Clinical correlates of resilience factors in geriatric depression.

Unlabelled: ABSTRACTBackground:Traditional perspectives conceptualize resilience as a trait and depression as resulting from resilience deficiency. However, research indicates that resilience varies substantially even among adults who are clinically depressed, as well as across the lifespan of an individual. Few studies have investigated resilience in depression, and even fewer have examined resilience in depressed older adults.

Apathy Mediates Cognitive Difficulties in Geriatric Depression.

Objective: Cognitive impairment associated with late-life depression can persist after remission of mood symptoms. Apathy, a common symptom of late-life depression, often leads to worse clinical outcomes. We examined if severity of apathy mediates cognitive difficulties in a cohort of older adults with major depression.

Neural correlates of apathy in late-life depression: a pilot [ F]FDDNP positron emission tomography study.

Background: Neurotoxicity associated with amyloid and tau protein aggregation could represent a pathophysiological cascade that, along with vascular compromise, may predispose individuals to late-life depression (LLD). In LLD, apathy is common, leads to worsening of functioning, and responds poorly to antidepressant treatment. Better understanding of the pathophysiological mechanisms of apathy in LLD would facilitate development of more effective diagnostic and treatment approaches.

A randomized controlled trial of Kundalini yoga in mild cognitive impairment.

Background: Global population aging will result in increasing rates of cognitive decline and dementia. Thus, effective, low-cost, and low side-effect interventions for the treatment and prevention of cognitive decline are urgently needed. Our study is the first to investigate the effects of Kundalini yoga (KY) training on mild cognitive impairment (MCI).

Neurochemical and Neuroanatomical Plasticity Following Memory Training and Yoga Interventions in Older Adults with Mild Cognitive Impairment.

Behavioral interventions are becoming increasingly popular approaches to ameliorate age-related cognitive decline, but their underlying neurobiological mechanisms and clinical efficiency have not been fully elucidated. The present study explored brain plasticity associated with two behavioral interventions, memory enhancement training (MET) and a mind-body practice (yogic meditation), in healthy seniors with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) using structural magnetic resonance imaging (s-MRI) and proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (H-MRS). Senior participants (age ≥55 years) with MCI were randomized to the MET or yogic meditation interventions.

Changes in Neural Connectivity and Memory Following a Yoga Intervention for Older Adults: A Pilot Study.

Background: No study has explored the effect of yoga on cognitive decline and resting-state functional connectivity.

Objectives: This study explored the relationship between performance on memory tests and resting-state functional connectivity before and after a yoga intervention versus active control for subjects with mild cognitive impairment (MCI).

Methods: Participants ( ≥ 55 y) with MCI were randomized to receive a yoga intervention or active "gold-standard" control (i.

Genomic predictors of remission to antidepressant treatment in geriatric depression using genome-wide expression analyses: a pilot study.

Objective: This first pilot study of genome-wide expression as predictor of antidepressant response in late-life depression examined genome-wide transcriptional profiles in a randomized placebo-controlled trial of combined methylphenidate and citalopram.

Methods: Genome-wide transcriptional profiles were examined in peripheral blood leukocytes sampled at baseline and 16 weeks from 35 older adults with major depression, who were randomized to methylphenidate + citalopram, citalopram + placebo, or methylphenidate + placebo. Methylphenidate doses ranged between 10 and 40 mg/day, and citalopram doses ranged between 20 and 60 mg/day.

Altered resting-state functional connectivity in late-life depression: A cross-sectional study.

Background: Disrupted brain connectivity is implicated in the pathophysiology of late-life depression (LLD). There are few studies in this area using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI). In this pilot case-control study, we compare rs-fMRI data between age-matched depressed and non-depressed older adults.

Citalopram, methylphenidate, or their combination in geriatric depression: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.

Objective: The authors evaluated the potential of methylphenidate to improve antidepressant response to citalopram, as assessed by clinical and cognitive outcomes, in elderly depressed patients.

Method: The authors conducted a 16-week randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial for geriatric depression in 143 older outpatients diagnosed with major depression comparing treatment response in three treatment groups: methylphenidate plus placebo (N=48), citalopram plus placebo (N=48), and citalopram plus methylphenidate (N=47). The primary outcome measure was change in depression severity.

The patterns of cognitive and functional impairment in amnestic and non-amnestic mild cognitive impairment in geriatric depression.

Objectives: Depressed older adults are at risk for the development of mild cognitive impairment (MCI), but few studies have characterized MCI subtypes in geriatric depression. The objective of this study was to identify the clinical patterns of MCI in late-life depression.

Design: Baseline demographic, clinical, and neuropsychological test data collected as part of a randomized antidepressant trial for geriatric depression.

A pilot study of the effects of meditation on regional brain metabolism in distressed dementia caregivers.

AIMS: Caregiver distress can affect mood and cognition. Meditation can be used to reduce stress. This pilot study explored whether yogic meditation could change regional cerebral metabolism in distressed caregivers.

Yogic meditation reverses NF-κB and IRF-related transcriptome dynamics in leukocytes of family dementia caregivers in a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Although yoga and meditation have been used for stress reduction with reported improvement in inflammation, little is known about the biological mechanisms mediating such effects. The present study examined if a yogic meditation might alter the activity of inflammatory and antiviral transcription control pathways that shape immune cell gene expression.

Methods: Forty-five family dementia caregivers were randomized to either Kirtan Kriya Meditation (KKM) or Relaxing Music (RM) listening for 12 min daily for 8 weeks and 39 caregivers completed the study.

Complementary use of tai chi chih augments escitalopram treatment of geriatric depression: a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Nearly two-thirds of elderly patients treated for depression fail to achieve symptomatic remission and functional recovery with first-line pharmacotherapy. In this study, we ask whether a mind-body exercise, Tai Chi Chih (TCC), added to escitalopram will augment the treatment of geriatric depression designed to achieve symptomatic remission and improvements in health functioning and cognitive performance.

Methods: : One hundred twelve older adults with major depression age 60 years and older were recruited and treated with escitalopram for approximately 4 weeks.