Auditory brainstem responses as a biomarker for cognition.

A non-invasive, accessible and effective biomarker is critical to the diagnosis, monitoring and treatment of age-related cognitive decline. Recent work has suggested a strong association between auditory brainstem responses (ABR) and cognitive function in aging macaques. Here we show in 118 human participants (66 females; age range=18-92 years; hearing loss = -5 to 70 dB HL) that cognition is associated with both age and hearing level, but this triad relationship is mainly driven by the age factor.

Effect of transcranial direct current stimulation with cognitive training on executive functions in healthy older adults: a secondary analysis from the ACT trial.

Cognitive aging has become a public health concern as the mean age of the population is ever-increasing. It is a naturalistic and common process of degenerative and compensatory changes that may result in neurocognitive disorders. While heterogeneous, cognitive aging mostly affects executive functions that may be associated with functional losses during activities of daily living.

Cerebral amyloid angiopathy impacts neurofibrillary tangle burden and cognition.

Cerebral amyloid angiopathy commonly co-occurs with amyloid β plaques and neurofibrillary degeneration and is proposed to contribute to cognitive impairment. However, the interplay among these pathologic changes of Alzheimer disease is not well understood. Here we replicate and extend findings of a recent study that suggested the association of cerebral amyloid angiopathy and cognitive impairment is mediated by neurofibrillary degeneration.

Neurocognitive correlates of cerebral mitochondrial function and energy metabolism using phosphorus magnetic resonance spectroscopy in older adults.

The goal of the current study was to learn about the role of cerebral mitochondrial function on cognition. Based on established cognitive neuroscience, clinical neuropsychology, and cognitive aging literature, we hypothesized mitochondrial function within a focal brain region would map onto cognitive behaviors linked to that brain region. To test this hypothesis, we used phosphorous (P) magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) to derive indirect markers of mitochondrial function and energy metabolism across two regions of the brain (bifrontal, left temporal).

Age differences in the change in cognition after stroke.

Objective: To compare changes in cognitive trajectories after stroke between younger (18-64) and older (65+) adults, accounting for pre-stroke cognitive trajectories.

Materials And Methods: Pooled cohort study using individual participant data from 3 US cohorts (1971-2019), the Atherosclerosis Risk In Communities Study (ARIC), Framingham Offspring Study (FOS), and REasons for Geographic And Racial Differences in Stroke Study (REGARDS). Linear mixed effect models evaluated the association between age and the initial change (intercept) and rate of change (slope) in cognition after compared to before stroke.

Facilitation of working memory capacity by transcranial direct current stimulation: a secondary analysis from the augmenting cognitive training in older adults (ACT) study.

Aging is a public health concern with an ever-increasing magnitude worldwide. An array of neuroscience-based approaches like transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and cognitive training have garnered attention in the last decades to ameliorate the effects of cognitive aging in older adults. This study evaluated the effects of 3 months of bilateral tDCS over the frontal cortices with multimodal cognitive training on working memory capacity.

Glycemic Control, Cognitive Aging, and Impairment Among Diverse Hispanic/Latino Individuals: Study of Latinos- Investigation of Neurocognitive Aging (Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos).

Objective: Hispanic/Latino individuals in the U.S. have the highest prevalence of undiagnosed and untreated diabetes and are at increased risk for cognitive impairment.

tDCS reduces depression and state anxiety symptoms in older adults from the augmenting cognitive training in older adults study (ACT).

Background: Pharmacological interventions for depression and anxiety in older adults often have significant side effects, presenting the need for more tolerable alternatives. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a promising non-pharmacological intervention for depression in clinical populations. However, its effects on depression and anxiety symptoms, particularly in older adults from the general public, are understudied.

Association of region-specific hippocampal reduction of neurogranin with inflammasome proteins in brains of Alzheimer's disease.

Introduction: Neurogranin (Ng) is considered a biomarker for synaptic dysfunction in Alzheimer's disease (AD). In contrast, the inflammasome complex has been shown to exacerbate AD pathology.

Methods: We investigated the protein expression, morphological differences of Ng, and correlated Ng to hyperphosphorylated tau in the brains of 17 AD cases and 17 age- and sex-matched controls.

Frontal-temporal regional differences in brain energy metabolism and mitochondrial function using P MRS in older adults.

Aging is a major risk for cognitive decline and transition to dementia. One well-known age-related change involves decreased brain efficiency and energy production, mediated in part by changes in mitochondrial function. Damaged or dysfunctional mitochondria have been implicated in the pathogenesis of age-related neurodegenerative conditions like Alzheimer's disease (AD).

Connecting memory and functional brain networks in older adults: a resting-state fMRI study.

Limited research exists on the association between resting-state functional network connectivity in the brain and learning and memory processes in advanced age. This study examined within-network connectivity of cingulo-opercular (CON), frontoparietal control (FPCN), and default mode (DMN) networks, and verbal and visuospatial learning and memory in older adults. Across domains, we hypothesized that greater CON and FPCN connectivity would associate with better learning, and greater DMN connectivity would associate with better memory.

Osteopontin Is Associated with Dementia in the Presence of Cerebral Small Vessel Disease.

Background: Osteopontin (OPN) is a proinflammatory cytokine that has been recently implicated in neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration. We hypothesized that an increase in plasma OPN is a deleterious neuroinflammatory marker in people with dementia and cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD).

Methods: A pilot study was conducted on participants in the Northern Manhattan Study (NOMAS).

The association between head motion during functional magnetic resonance imaging and executive functioning in older adults.

Minimizing head motion during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is important for maintaining the integrity of neuroimaging data. While there are a variety of techniques to control for head motion, oftentimes, individuals with excessive in-scanner motion are removed from analyses. Movement in the scanner tends to increase with age; however, the cognitive profile of these "high-movers" in older adults has yet to be explored.

Latozinemab, a novel progranulin-elevating therapy for frontotemporal dementia.

Background: Heterozygous loss-of-function mutations in the progranulin (PGRN) gene (GRN) cause a reduction in PGRN and lead to the development of frontotemporal dementia (FTD-GRN). PGRN is a secreted lysosomal chaperone, immune regulator, and neuronal survival factor that is shuttled to the lysosome through multiple receptors, including sortilin. Here, we report the characterization of latozinemab, a human monoclonal antibody that decreases the levels of sortilin, which is expressed on myeloid and neuronal cells and shuttles PGRN to the lysosome for degradation, and blocks its interaction with PGRN.

Primary outcome from the augmenting cognitive training in older adults study (ACT): A tDCS and cognitive training randomized clinical trial.

Background: There is a need for effective interventions to stave off cognitive decline in older adults. Cognitive training has variably produced gains in untrained tasks and daily functioning. Combining cognitive training with transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) may augment cognitive training effects; however, this approach has yet to be tested on a large-scale.

Associations Between Vascular Risk Factor Levels and Cognitive Decline Among Stroke Survivors.

Importance: Incident stroke is associated with accelerated cognitive decline. Whether poststroke vascular risk factor levels are associated with faster cognitive decline is uncertain.

Objective: To evaluate associations of poststroke systolic blood pressure (SBP), glucose, and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels with cognitive decline.

A framework for concepts of reserve and resilience in aging.

The study of factors, across species, that allow some individuals to age more successfully than others has important implications for individual wellbeing as well as health education, policy and intervention. Design of studies and communication across investigators in this area has been hampered by a diversity of terminology. The Collaboratory on Research Definitions for Reserve and Resilience in Cognitive Aging and Dementia was funded by the National Institute on Aging and established in 2019 as a 3-year process of developing consensus definitions and research guidelines.

The longitudinal impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on health behaviors, psychosocial factors, and cognitive functioning in older adults.

Older adults are at a greater risk for contracting and experiencing severe illness from COVID-19 and may be further affected by pandemic-related precautions (e.g., social distancing and isolation in quarantine).

Radiomics-Derived Brain Age Predicts Functional Outcome After Acute Ischemic Stroke.

Background And Objectives: While chronological age is one of the most influential determinants of poststroke outcomes, little is known of the impact of neuroimaging-derived biological "brain age." We hypothesized that radiomics analyses of T2-FLAIR images texture would provide brain age estimates and that advanced brain age of patients with stroke will be associated with cardiovascular risk factors and worse functional outcomes.

Methods: We extracted radiomics from T2-FLAIR images acquired during acute stroke clinical evaluation.

The relevance of rich club regions for functional outcome post-stroke is enhanced in women.

This study aimed to investigate the influence of stroke lesions in predefined highly interconnected (rich-club) brain regions on functional outcome post-stroke, determine their spatial specificity and explore the effects of biological sex on their relevance. We analyzed MRI data recorded at index stroke and ~3-months modified Rankin Scale (mRS) data from patients with acute ischemic stroke enrolled in the multisite MRI-GENIE study. Spatially normalized structural stroke lesions were parcellated into 108 atlas-defined bilateral (sub)cortical brain regions.