Prefrontal tDCS fails to modulate memory retrieval in younger and older adults.

Previous research shows that a single session of anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) can improve the accuracy of episodic memory retrieval, but stimulation effects are not always found and may be moderated by time of day. Here, we report the results from a rigorous clinical trial (NCT03723850) designed to replicate these tDCS findings in younger adults and extend them to cognitively normal older adults. We conducted the largest double-blind, between-subjects tDCS study on memory retrieval in younger and older adults to date.

Reduced brain oxygen response to spreading depolarization predicts worse outcome in ischaemic stroke.

Spreading depolarization (SD) describes a propagating neuronal mass depolarization within the cerebral cortex that represents a mediator of infarct development and strongly stimulates the metabolic rate of O2 consumption. Here, we investigated the influence of Spreading Depolarization (SD) on brain tissue partial pressure of O2 (ptiO2) within the peri-infarct tissue of patients suffering malignant hemispheric stroke (MHS). This prospective observational trial included 25 patients with MHS that underwent decompressive hemicraniectomy followed by subdural placement of electrodes for electrocorticography (ECoG) and neighboring implantation of a ptiO2 probe within the peri-infarcted cortex.

Measuring Cognitive Function In-Person and Remotely in Round 4 of the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP).

Objectives: This paper describes the changes made to the collection of cognitive measures when the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP) introduced remote modes of data collection.

Methods: In Round 4 (2021-23), the longitudinal study transitioned from being conducted in-person to collecting data via multiple modes including in-person and remote modes: web, phone, and paper-and-pencil. The team began with the measures used in Rounds 2 and 3 of NSHAP-the survey-adapted Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA-SA)-and evaluated which measures could be administered remotely, introducing new measures for each cognitive subdomain, as needed, to compensate for items that could not be administered remotely.

Disentangling Selection into Mode from Mode Effects.

Objectives: We investigate the impact of data collection mode on responses to variables in NSHAP Round 4 and discuss how potential mode differences should (and should not) be addressed in substantive analyses.

Methods: Among the set of respondents who were eligible to be contacted remotely in Round 4, we randomly selected 398 to be contacted instead for an in-person interview. We compare response rates and the distributions of selected key outcomes among those 398 respondents to those among the control group who were initially approached remotely.

After Surgically Induced Remission, Ileal and Colonic Mucosa-Associated Microbiota Predicts Crohn's Disease Recurrence.

Background & Aims: Investigating the tissue-associated microbiota after surgically induced remission may help to understand the mechanisms initiating intestinal inflammation in Crohn's disease.

Methods: Patients with Crohn's disease undergoing ileocolic resection were prospectively recruited in 6 academic centers. Biopsy samples from the neoterminal ileum, colon, and rectosigmoid were obtained from colonoscopies performed after surgery.

Duration of spreading depression is the electrophysiological correlate of infarct growth in malignant hemispheric stroke.

Spreading depolarizations (SD) contribute to lesion progression after experimental focal cerebral ischemia while such correlation has never been shown in stroke patients. In this prospective, diagnostic study, we investigate the association of SDs and secondary infarct progression after malignant hemispheric stroke. SDs were continuously monitored for 3-9 days with electrocorticography after decompressive hemicraniectomy for malignant hemispheric stroke.

Prediabetes Progression and Reversion: Social Factors and Racial/Ethnic Differences.

Objective: Racial and ethnic minorities are disproportionately affected by diabetes. Social characteristics, such as family structure, social support, and loneliness, may contribute to these health disparities. In a nationally representative sample of diverse older adults, we evaluated longitudinal rates of both progression from prediabetes to diabetes and reversion from prediabetes to normoglycemia.

Ketamine-induced prevention of SD-associated late infarct progression in experimental ischemia.

Spreading depolarizations (SDs) occur frequently in patients with malignant hemispheric stroke. In animal-based experiments, SDs have been shown to cause secondary neuronal damage and infarct expansion during the initial period of infarct progression. In contrast, the influence of SDs during the delayed period is not well characterized yet.

Measuring Cognitive Function and Cognitive Decline with Response Time Data in NSHAP.

Objectives: Scholarly, clinical, and policy interest in cognitive function has grown over the last several decades in part due to large increases in Alzheimer's Disease and related dementias as populations age. However, adequate measures of cognitive function have not been available in many research data sets. We argue that a wealth of previously unexploited survey data exists to model cognition and cognitive decline.

Preconception care utilization: Self-report versus claims-based measures among women with Medicaid.

The objective of this study is to compare self-reported preconception care utilization (PCU) among Medicaid-covered births to Medicaid claims. We identified all Medicaid-covered births to women ages 15-45 in 26 states in the year 2012 among the Pregnancy Risk Assessment and Monitoring System (PRAMS) survey and Medicaid Analytic eXtract (MAX) claims data, and identified preconception services in the latter using diagnosis codes published by Health and Human Services' Office of Population Affairs. We fit mixed-effects logistic regression models for the probability of PCU on sociodemographic factors (age, race, and ethnicity) and clinical diagnoses (depression, diabetes, or hypertension), separately for each dataset.

Moderation of associations between weight discrimination and diabetes status by psychosocial factors.

Weight discrimination has adverse effects on health that include increasing the risk factors for developing type 2 diabetes. Preliminary evidence suggests a positive association between weight discrimination and diagnosed diabetes; however, it is unknown whether psychosocial resources may buffer this association. In logistic regressions stratified by gender, we examined links between weight discrimination and diabetes among a nationally representative sample of U.

Racial and ethnic disparities in short interval pregnancy following delivery in Catholic vs non-Catholic hospitals among California Medicaid enrollees.

Objectives: We examined the impact of Catholic hospital delivery on short interval pregnancy in the California 2010-2014 Medicaid population.

Study Design: We used Cox regression to estimate the association between hospital affiliation and short interval pregnancy, adjusting for patient factors.

Results: Catholic hospital delivery had increased the risk of pregnancy within 6 months for Black (hazard ratio [HR] 1.

Relating depression, anxiety, stress and loneliness to 5-year decline in physical function and frailty.

Objectives: While depression has been associated with physical function decline and worsening frailty in older adults, the impact of other mental health symptoms on physical function and frailty is unknown. The study objective was to determine whether depression, perceived stress, loneliness, and anxiety symptoms affect 5-year physical function and frailty trajectories of older adults.

Methods: The National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP) is a nationally-representative study of adults born between 1920 and 1947.

Preserved perception-action integration in adolescents after a COVID-19 infection.

Evidence is accumulating that the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) can bring forth deficits in executive functioning via alterations in the dopaminergic system. Importantly, dopaminergic pathways have been shown to modulate how actions and perceptions are integrated within the brain. Such alterations in event file binding could thus underlie the cognitive deficits developing after a COVID-19 infection.

Association of Status With Long-term Declines in Odor Sensitivity, Odor Identification, and Cognition in Older US Adults.

Background And Objectives: The ε4 allele confers susceptibility to faster decline in odor identification and subsequently to Alzheimer disease (AD). Odor identification requires recognizing and naming odors and detecting them (odor sensitivity). Whether ε4 is associated with decline of odor sensitivity and whether such decline serves as a harbinger of cognitive decline and AD remains unclear.

Air pollution exposure is associated with rhinitis in older US adults via specific immune mechanisms.

Background: Pathophysiology of rhinitis in older adults is largely unknown. We tested whether air pollution is associated with this condition and how immune mechanisms may play a role in this relationship.

Methods: We analyzed cross-sectional data from the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project, a nationally representative study of older adults born between 1920 and 1947.

Genetic coding variant in complement factor B (CFB) is associated with increased risk for perianal Crohn's disease and leads to impaired CFB cleavage and phagocytosis.

Objective: Perianal Crohn's disease (pCD) occurs in up to 40% of patients with CD and is associated with poor quality of life, limited treatment responses and poorly understood aetiology. We performed a genetic association study comparing CD subjects with and without perianal disease and subsequently performed functional follow-up studies for a pCD associated SNP in ().

Design: Immunochip-based meta-analysis on 4056 pCD and 11 088 patients with CD from three independent cohorts was performed.

Data-driven classification of health status of older adults with diabetes: The diabetes and aging study.

Background: We set out to identify empirically-derived health status classes of older adults with diabetes based on clusters of comorbid conditions which are associated with future complications.

Methods: We conducted a cohort study among 105,786 older (≥65 years of age) adults with type 2 diabetes enrolled in an integrated healthcare delivery system. We used latent class analysis of 19 baseline comorbidities to derive health status classes and then compared incident complication rates (events per 100 person-years) by health status class during 5 years of follow-up.

Androstadienone sensitivity is associated with attention to emotions, social interactions, and sexual behavior in older U.S. adults.

Δ 4,16-androstadien-3-one (androstadienone) is a putative human pheromone often linked to sexual attraction in young adults, although specific associations with sexual behavior are not yet established. Androstadienone also serves a broader social-emotional function beyond the sexual domain, specifically tuning the brain to efficiently process emotional information. Whether these effects persist throughout the lifespan into post-reproductive life is unknown.

Lower SARS-CoV-2 household transmission in children and adolescents compared to adults.

In the COVID-19 pandemic, children were considered to play a major role in SARS-CoV-2 transmission similar to influenza. Thus, mitigation measures have been focused on children, impacting their everyday life severely. Despite this, infectivity in this age group regarding SARS-CoV-2 is not yet clarified.

Large-scale sequencing identifies multiple genes and rare variants associated with Crohn's disease susceptibility.

Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified hundreds of loci associated with Crohn's disease (CD). However, as with all complex diseases, robust identification of the genes dysregulated by noncoding variants typically driving GWAS discoveries has been challenging. Here, to complement GWASs and better define actionable biological targets, we analyzed sequence data from more than 30,000 patients with CD and 80,000 population controls.