Objective: Cross-sectional and long-term longitudinal studies have shown that engagement in diverse activities benefits cognitive performance in older age, but it is unknown whether the beneficial effect holds within persons on a daily basis. This study examines the within-person association between activity diversity and working memory on the same day and its time-lagged directionality between days. It also examines the effects of potential moderators on the within-person association, including age, education, processing speed, and crystallized intelligence, to understand who may benefit more from daily activity diversity.
Method: We examined smartphone-based ambulatory assessment data from 150 community-dwelling older adults (aged 65-91 years) from Switzerland. Participants reported their present activity and completed a working memory task (i.e., numerical updating) seven times per day over 15 days. Activity diversity was calculated on a daily level and scores of working memory were averaged within a day. Age, education, processing speed, and crystallized intelligence were assessed in the laboratory at baseline.
Results: Multilevel models showed that, within persons, higher daily activity diversity was positively associated with higher daily working memory. Moreover, the prior day's greater activity diversity led to that day's higher working memory, but not vice versa. There were no moderating effects of age, education, and crystallized intelligence, but partial evidence of a moderating effect of processing speed.
Conclusions: Our results on within-person concurrent and time-lagged associations between daily activity diversity and daily working memory strengthen the existing evidence on the beneficial effect of activity diversity on older adults' cognitive performance. Results are discussed in the context of cognitive reserve theory. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/neu0000878 | DOI Listing |
Ann Bot
January 2025
Laboratório de Ecologia e Biogeografia de Plantas, Departamento de Biodiversidade, Setor Palotina, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Rua Pioneiro, 2153, Jardim Dallas, CEP 85950 000, Palotina, Paraná, Brazil.
Background: Epiphyllous bryophytes are a group of plants with complex adaptations to colonize the leaves of vascular plants and are considered one of the most specialized and sensitive groups to environmental changes. Despite their specificity and ecological importance, these plants represent a largely neglected group in relation to scientific research and ecological data. This lack of information directly affects our understanding of biodiversity patterns and compromises the conservation of this group in threatened ecosystems.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGeroscience
January 2025
National Institute On Aging, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Photobiomodulation (PBM) therapy, a non-thermal light therapy using nonionizing light sources, has shown therapeutic potential across diverse biological processes, including aging and age-associated diseases. In 2023, scientists from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) Intramural and Extramural programs convened a workshop on the topic of PBM to discuss various proposed mechanisms of PBM action, including the stimulation of mitochondrial cytochrome C oxidase, modulation of cell membrane transporters and receptors, and the activation of transforming growth factor-β1. They also reviewed potential therapeutic applications of PBM across a range of conditions, including cardiovascular disease, retinal disease, Parkinson's disease, and cognitive impairment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMol Biol Rep
January 2025
Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata, 700053, India.
Background: The endangered Kashmir musk deer (Moschus cupreus), native to high-altitude Himalayas, is an ecological significant and endangered ungulate, threatened by habitat loss and poaching for musk pod distributed in western Himalayan ranges of India, Nepal and Afghanistan. Despite its critical conservation status and ecological importance in regulating vegetation dynamics, knowledge gaps persist regarding its population structure and genetic diversity, hindering effective management strategies.
Methods And Results: We aimed to understand the population genetics of Kashmir musk deer in north-western Himalayas using two mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) regions and 11 microsatellite loci.
Curr Microbiol
January 2025
Molecular Biology Laboratory, Department of Microbiology, Science Campus, Alagappa University, Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu, 630003, India.
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is an escalating global health concern that results in approximately 700,000 deaths annually owing to drug-resistant infections. It compromises the effectiveness of conventional antibiotics, as well as fundamental medical procedures, such as surgery and cancer treatment. Phytochemicals, natural plant constituents, and biogenic nanoparticles synthesized through biological processes are pharmacological alternatives for supplementing or replacing traditional antibiotics.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDiabetologia
January 2025
Department of Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
The incidence of type 2 diabetes has risen globally, in parallel with the obesity epidemic and environments promoting a sedentary lifestyle and low-quality diet. There has been scrutiny of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) as a driver of type 2 diabetes, underscored by their increasing availability and intake worldwide, across countries of all incomes. This narrative review addresses the accumulated evidence from investigations of the trends in UPF consumption and the relationship with type 2 diabetes incidence.
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