This study investigated the presence of neuropsychological deficits associated with hitting the ball with one's head (heading) during soccer play. A neuro-cognitive test battery was administered to 60 male soccer players, high school, amateur and professional level, and 12 nonplaying control participants. The effects of currently reported heading behavior as well as that of estimated lifetime heading experience on neuropsychological test performance were examined. Players with the highest lifetime estimates of heading had poorer scores on scales measuring attention, concentration, cognitive flexibility and general intellectual functioning. Players' current level of heading was less predictive of neuro-cognitive level. Comparison of individual scores to age-appropriate norms revealed higher probabilities of clinical levels of impairment in players who reported greater lifetime frequencies of heading. Because of the worldwide popularity of the game, continued research is needed to assess the interaction between heading and soccer experience in the development of neuropsychological deficits associated with soccer play.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
---|
Neurology
January 2025
Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles.
Background And Objectives: Cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR) represents the ability of cerebral blood vessels to regulate blood flow in response to vasoactive stimuli and is related to cognition in cerebrovascular and neurodegenerative conditions. However, few studies have examined CVR in the medial temporal lobe, known to be affected early in Alzheimer disease and to influence memory function. We aimed to examine whether medial temporal CVR is associated with memory function in older adults with and without mild cognitive impairment (MCI).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlzheimers Dement
December 2024
German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Rostock, Germany.
Background: Speech abnormalities are increasingly recognized as a manifestation of cognitive deficits in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and its preclinical and prodromal stages. Here, we investigated whether MRI measures of brain atrophy, specifically in the basal forebrain and cortical language areas, can predict cognitive decline and speech difficulties in older adults within the AD spectrum.
Method: The ongoing Prospect-AD study aims to develop an algorithm to automatically identify speech biomarkers in individuals with early signs of AD.
Background: The Defense Automated Neurobehavioral Assessment (DANA) encompasses a suite of standardized neurocognitive screening tools designed for detecting various neurodegenerative diseases and subtle cognitive deficits. This study presents a pilot investigation into digital cognitive screening, utilizing an Android version of the DANA tests, conducted among a diverse South Asian population residing in India.
Methods: The study involved individuals aged over 50 years, nested within the ongoing population-based longitudinal Precision-CARRS study, representative of socio-demographically and linguistically diverse adults from Delhi and Chennai in India.
Background: Semantic cognition refers to our ability to manipulate and generalize knowledge and plays a critical role in communication and daily activities. Therefore, impairments in semantic cognition can have a severe impact on quality of life (e.g.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlzheimers Dement
December 2024
Universidad de La Laguna, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain.
Background: The brain undergoes structural changes during aging, such as gray matter loss, enlarged ventricles, and sulcal widening. However, previous studies have primarily investigated these changes in isolation, without describing the complex spatial relationships between overall brain shape and regions. Here, we tested how gradients of expansion and compression of the global shape of the brain as well as between homologous brain regions across hemispheres are affected by age, and whether these changes further contribute to clinical impairment and cognitive deficits in older adults.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!