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Low Frequency Brain Stimulation Improves Cognition in Parkinson’s Patients

Summary: Researchers report low frequency deep brain stimulation can help to improve cognitive function in people with Parkinson’s disease.

Source: University of Iowa Health Care.

A multidisciplinary neuroscience study using rare, intraoperative brain recordings suggests that low frequency stimulation of a deep brain region may be able to improve cognitive function in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). The study findings, published Nov. 28 online in the journal Brain, also hint at the broader potential of brain stimulation for treating other cognitive diseases.

The new work by neurologists and neurosurgeons with the Iowa Neuroscience Institute at the University of Iowa provides the first direct evidence of a connection in the human brain between the thinking region of the brain (the frontal cortex) and a deeper structure called the subthalamic nucleus (STN) that is involved in controlling movement. The study also shows that stimulation of the STN at low frequencies improves the performance of PD patients on a simple cognitive task that is usually disrupted by PD.

“It’s not very often that you identify a new connection in the human brain,” says Nandakumar Narayanan, MD, PhD, UI assistant professor of neurology in the UI Carver College of Medicine and senior study author. “The existence of this hyperdirect pathway from the prefrontal cortex to the STN has been bandied about for around a decade, but this is the first time we’ve experimentally shown that it exists and functions in people.

“We were also able to show that if we stimulate the STN, we change the frontal cortical activity and we think it’s by this pathway,” he adds. “And if we stimulate the STN and change cortical activity, we can actually change behavior in a beneficial way, improving the patients’ cognitive performance.”

Parkinson’s disease is a progressive neurodegenerative condition that affects about one million people in the United States. Deep brain stimulation of the STN at high frequencies is already approved to treat movement problems in some patients with PD. In addition to causing movement problems, however, PD also affects thinking. The new findings raise the possibility that STN deep brain stimulation at a different (low) frequency might also improve cognitive symptoms in PD, and possibly even in other neurologic and psychiatric diseases.

Listening in on the brain

The team was able to map the STN-cortex connection by “listening in” on brain activity during surgeries to implant deep brain stimulation (DBS) electrodes in patients with PD.

UI neurosurgeon Jeremy Greenlee, MD, conducts more than 30 such surgeries every year and his expertise was vital to the mapping experiment. Using specialized recording electrodes placed inside the patients’ brains, Greenlee listens in on brain activity in order to accurately place the DBS device. Those electrodes also allow direct recording of brain activity for experimental purposes in patients who are awake during the procedure without adding any risk. This kind of intraoperative recordings is not very common, but Greenlee and his UI colleagues have a long history of expertise in the technique.

During the surgery, the patients did a simple cognitive task as a way of stimulating one part of the brain while recording electrical activity from other parts that are connected. Listening to the neural activity during the task allowed the team to map the connection.

“We were able to evoke a response to show the functional connection,” Greenlee explains. “The very fast response suggests a single, direct synaptic connection – that is what hyperdirect means.”

Stimulation improves cognitive performance

Having established the existence of the hyperdirect connection, the researchers next investigated the effect of low frequency STN stimulation on cognitive abilities. Narayanan’s team uses a very simple thinking task–accurately estimating the passage of a short interval of time–to study cognitive impairment in PD patients and animal models of PD.

During post-surgery follow up visits, the researchers had the patients do the interval timing task with the DBS stimulator set to one of three settings: high frequency (normal for controlling movement), no stimulation, or a low frequency setting of 4 Hz. Only the 4 Hz stimulation improved the patients’ performance on the timing test.

Previous research from Narayanan’s labs has shown that people with PD and rodent models of the disease are missing a specific brain wave known as the delta wave in their frontal cortex while they are doing the timing task. The delta wave cycles at a frequency of about 4 Hz.

“When we stimulate the STN at 4 Hz, the delta wave is restored in the mid frontal cortex,” Narayanan says. “By stimulating the STN we can rescue cortical activity (which is disrupted in PD) and we can improve cognitive behavior.”

The researchers think that the frequencies are like communication channels between networks. If two networks are working together at the same frequency, that might be a unique way that the networks interact and information is transmitted.

“The fact that we are able to test a lot of our ideas (that come from the rodent studies) about how the neural networks work in awake behaving humans, is something I never dreamed I’d be able to do, but it enables us to ask questions that might actually help a lot of people,” Narayanan says.

“It is exciting to potentially have a way to improve cognition that could be life changing for patients,” Greenlee adds.

ABOUT THIS NEUROSCIENCE RESEARCH ARTICLE

In addition to Narayanan and Greenlee, the UI study team included Ryan Kelley, Oliver Flouty, Eric Emmons, Youngcho Kim, Johnathan Kingyon, Jan Wessel, and Hiroyuki Oya.

Funding: The study was funded in part by a grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) to Narayanan (R01 NS100849).

Source: Jennifer Brown – University of Iowa Health Care
Publisher: Organized by NeuroscienceNews.com.
Image Source: NeuroscienceNews.com image is credited to Narayanan Lab, University of Iowa.
Original Research: Abstract for “A human prefrontal-subthalamic circuit for cognitive control” by Ryan Kelley, Oliver Flouty, Eric B Emmons, Youngcho Kim, Johnathan Kingyon, Jan R Wessel, Hiroyuki Oya, Jeremy D Greenlee, and Nandakumar S Narayanan in Brain. Published online November 28 2017 doi:10.1093/brain/awx300

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University of Iowa Health Care “Low Frequency Brain Stimulation Improves Cognition in Parkinson’s Patients.” NeuroscienceNews. NeuroscienceNews, 28 November 2017.
<http://neurosciencenews.com/cognition-brain-stimulation-parkinsons-8044/>.

Abstract

A human prefrontal-subthalamic circuit for cognitive control

The subthalamic nucleus is a key site controlling motor function in humans. Deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus can improve movements in patients with Parkinson’s disease; however, for unclear reasons, it can also have cognitive effects. Here, we show that the human subthalamic nucleus is monosynaptically connected with cognitive brain areas such as the prefrontal cortex. Single neurons and field potentials in the subthalamic nucleus are modulated during cognitive processing and are coherent with 4-Hz oscillations in medial prefrontal cortex. These data predict that low-frequency deep brain stimulation may alleviate cognitive deficits in Parkinson’s disease patients. In line with this idea, we found that novel 4-Hz deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus improved cognitive performance. These data support a role for the human hyperdirect pathway in cognitive control, which could have relevance for brain-stimulation therapies aimed at cognitive symptoms of human brain disease.

“A human prefrontal-subthalamic circuit for cognitive control” by Ryan Kelley, Oliver Flouty, Eric B Emmons, Youngcho Kim, Johnathan Kingyon, Jan R Wessel, Hiroyuki Oya, Jeremy D Greenlee, and Nandakumar S Narayanan in Brain. Published online November 28 2017 doi:10.1093/brain/awx300

Combinations of Certain Personality Traits May Guard Against Anxiety and Depression

Summary: According to researchers, having high levels of neuroticism may put people at higher risk of mood disorders. However, if the person is also extroverted or conscientious, the combined personality traits may act as a buffer against depression and anxiety.

Source: University at Buffalo.

Though high levels of neuroticism put people at risk for depression and anxiety, if those same individuals are also highly extraverted and conscientious they could have a measure of protection against those disorders, according to the results of a new study by a team of University at Buffalo psychologists.

The findings, published in the Journal of Research in Personality, point to the importance of stepping away from focusing on single personality traits in clinical settings in favor of looking at how combinations of traits might work together to help either prevent or predict specific symptoms.

“We know individually how these traits relate to symptoms, but now we are beginning to understand how the traits might impact one another,” says Kristin Naragon-Gainey, an assistant professor in UB’s Department of Psychology and the paper’s lead author with Leonard Simms, associate professor of psychology.

“We have to consider the whole person in order to understand the likelihood of developing negative symptoms down the road.”

Neuroticism is the tendency to experience different negative emotions and to react strongly to stress. Along with extraversion and conscientiousness, it is among the “Big Five” personality traits, a group that also includes agreeableness and openness to experience.

People express each of the traits somewhere on a continuum. Someone high in extraversion would be very social, while another person low in extraversion would be much less outgoing. Conscientiousness, meantime, is the tendency to be organized, goal-oriented and non-impulsive.

The researchers interviewed 463 adult participants who reported receiving psychiatric treatment within the past two years. Each participant also completed numerous questionnaires. The study examined the traits of neuroticism, extraversion and conscientiousness because those three have the strongest associations with mood and anxiety disorders.

Naragon-Gainey says all things being equal, there are risks for disorders associated with certain traits, but a better image of what’s at stake emerges when there’s an understanding of how a group of behavioral tendencies might work together.

The results could provide an improved understanding of the mechanisms through which people develop mood disorders and explain the factors that might put someone at risk for symptoms like depression and anxiety.

Additionally, the findings might assist clinicians in how to capitalize on people’s strengths with treatments that utilize what the study’s results suggest are protective traits.

“I think there’s a tendency in treatment and clinical psychology to concentrate on the problems and the negatives,” says Naragon-Gainey. “If you utilize the pre-existing strengths that clients bring with them, it can positively affect treatment and the level of symptoms going forward, as well as reinforcing what the person is already doing well.”

Conceptually, the strengths linked to high levels of extraversion and conscientiousness relate to the fact that social interactions and effective engagement in meaningful activities are rewarding for people, according to Naragon-Gainey.

“If someone has high levels of extraversion they might be very good at gathering social support or increasing their positive affectivity through social means,” says Naragon-Gainey. “Similarly, conscientiousness has a lot to do with striving toward goals and putting plans in action, which can combat the withdrawal and avoidance that can go along with neuroticism.”

ABOUT THIS NEUROSCIENCE RESEARCH ARTICLE

Source: Bert Gambini – University at Buffalo
Publisher: Organized by NeuroscienceNews.com.
Image Source: NeuroscienceNews.com image is credited to Eganos – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Original Research: Abstract for “Three-way interaction of neuroticism, extraversion, and conscientiousness in the internalizing disorders: Evidence of disorder specificity in a psychiatric sample” by Kristin Naragon-Gainey and Leonard J. Simms in Journal of Research in Personality. Published online October 2017 doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2017.05.003

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University at Buffalo “Combinations of Certain Personality Traits May Guard Against Anxiety and Depression.” NeuroscienceNews. NeuroscienceNews, 29 November 2017.
<http://neurosciencenews.com/personality-traits-depression-anxiety-8056/>.

Abstract

Three-way interaction of neuroticism, extraversion, and conscientiousness in the internalizing disorders: Evidence of disorder specificity in a psychiatric sample

It is well-established that neuroticism, extraversion, and conscientiousness are individually associated with internalizing disorders, but research suggests that these main effects may be qualified by a three-way interaction when predicting depression. The current study was the first to examine this three-way interaction in a psychiatric sample (N = 463) with a range of internalizing symptoms as the outcomes. Using two omnibus personality inventories and a diagnostic interview, the expected three-way interaction emerged most consistently for symptoms of major depression, and there was also evidence of synergistic effects for post-traumatic stress disorder and generalized anxiety disorder. Findings indicate that, even in a clinically-distressed and currently-disordered sample, high levels of extraversion and conscientiousness protect against distress disorders for those with high levels of neuroticism.

“Three-way interaction of neuroticism, extraversion, and conscientiousness in the internalizing disorders: Evidence of disorder specificity in a psychiatric sample” by Kristin Naragon-Gainey and Leonard J. Simms in Journal of Research in Personality. Published online October 2017 doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2017.05.003

Eye Contact With Your Baby Helps Synchronize Brainwaves

Summary: University of Cambridge researchers report making eye contact with a baby causes brainwave synchronization in both the child and person they are looking at. Researchers believe this synchronization can help boost communication and learning skills.

Source: University of Cambridge.

Making eye contact with an infant makes adults’ and babies’ brainwaves ‘get in sync’ with each other – which is likely to support communication and learning – according to researchers at the University of Cambridge.

When a parent and infant interact, various aspects of their behaviour can synchronise, including their gaze, emotions and heartrate, but little is known about whether their brain activity also synchronises – and what the consequences of this might be.

Brainwaves reflect the group-level activity of millions of neurons and are involved in information transfer between brain regions. Previous studies have shown that when two adults are talking to each other, communication is more successful if their brainwaves are in synchrony.

Researchers at the Baby-LINC Lab at the University of Cambridge carried out a study to explore whether infants can synchronise their brainwaves to adults too – and whether eye contact might influence this. Their results are published today in the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

The team examined the brainwave patterns of 36 infants (17 in the first experiment and 19 in the second) using electroencephalography (EEG), which measures patterns of brain electrical activity via electrodes in a skull cap worn by the participants. They compared the infants’ brain activity to that of the adult who was singing nursery rhymes to the infant.

In the first of two experiments, the infant watched a video of an adult as she sang nursery rhymes. First, the adult – whose brainwave patterns had already been recorded – was looking directly at the infant. Then, she turned her head to avert her gaze, while still singing nursery rhymes. Finally, she turned her head away, but her eyes looked directly back at the infant.

As anticipated, the researchers found that infants’ brainwaves were more synchronised to the adults’ when the adult’s gaze met the infant’s, as compared to when her gaze was averted Interestingly, the greatest synchronising effect occurred when the adults’ head was turned away but her eyes still looked directly at the infant. The researchers say this may be because such a gaze appears highly deliberate, and so provides a stronger signal to the infant that the adult intends to communicate with her.

In the second experiment, a real adult replaced the video. She only looked either directly at the infant or averted her gaze while singing nursery rhymes. This time, however, her brainwaves could be monitored live to see whether her brainwave patterns were being influenced by the infant’s as well as the other way round.

This time, both infants and adults became more synchronised to each other’s brain activity when mutual eye contact was established. This occurred even though the adult could see the infant at all times, and infants were equally interested in looking at the adult even when she looked away. The researchers say that this shows that brainwave synchronisation isn’t just due to seeing a face or finding something interesting, but about sharing an intention to communicate.

To measure infants’ intention to communicate, the researcher measured how many ‘vocalisations’ infants made to the experimenter. As predicted, infants made a greater effort to communicate, making more ‘vocalisations’, when the adult made direct eye contact – and individual infants who made longer vocalisations also had higher brainwave synchrony with the adult.

Dr Victoria Leong, lead author on the study said: “When the adult and infant are looking at each other, they are signalling their availability and intention to communicate with each other. We found that both adult and infant brains respond to a gaze signal by becoming more in sync with their partner. This mechanism could prepare parents and babies to communicate, by synchronising when to speak and when to listen, which would also make learning more effective.”

Dr Sam Wass, last author on the study, said: “We don’t know what it is, yet, that causes this synchronous brain activity. We’re certainly not claiming to have discovered telepathy! In this study, we were looking at whether infants can synchronise their brains to someone else, just as adults can. And we were also trying to figure out what gives rise to the synchrony.

“Our findings suggested eye gaze and vocalisations may both, somehow, play a role. But the brain synchrony we were observing was at such high time-scales – of three to nine oscillations per second – that we still need to figure out how exactly eye gaze and vocalisations create it.”

ABOUT THIS NEUROSCIENCE RESEARCH ARTICLE

Funding: This research was supported by an ESRC Transformative Research Grant to Dr Leong and Dr Wass.

Source: Craig Brierley – University of Cambridge
Publisher: Organized by NeuroscienceNews.com.
Image Source: NeuroscienceNews.com image is credited to the researchers.
Original Research: Full open access research for “Speaker gaze increases information coupling between infant and adult brains” by Victoria Leong, Elizabeth Byrne, Kaili Clackson, Stanimira Georgieva, Sarah Lam, and Sam Wass in PNAS. Published online November 28 2017 doi:10.1073/pnas.1702493114

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University of Cambridge “Eye Contact With Your Baby Helps Synchronize Brainwaves.” NeuroscienceNews. NeuroscienceNews, 29 November 2017.
<http://neurosciencenews.com/babies-brainwaves-eyecontact-8050/>.

Abstract

Speaker gaze increases information coupling between infant and adult brains

When infants and adults communicate, they exchange social signals of availability and communicative intention such as eye gaze. Previous research indicates that when communication is successful, close temporal dependencies arise between adult speakers’ and listeners’ neural activity. However, it is not known whether similar neural contingencies exist within adult–infant dyads. Here, we used dual-electroencephalography to assess whether direct gaze increases neural coupling between adults and infants during screen-based and live interactions. In experiment 1 (n = 17), infants viewed videos of an adult who was singing nursery rhymes with (i) direct gaze (looking forward), (ii) indirect gaze (head and eyes averted by 20°), or (iii) direct-oblique gaze (head averted but eyes orientated forward). In experiment 2 (n = 19), infants viewed the same adult in a live context, singing with direct or indirect gaze. Gaze-related changes in adult–infant neural network connectivity were measured using partial directed coherence. Across both experiments, the adult had a significant (Granger) causal influence on infants’ neural activity, which was stronger during direct and direct-oblique gaze relative to indirect gaze. During live interactions, infants also influenced the adult more during direct than indirect gaze. Further, infants vocalized more frequently during live direct gaze, and individual infants who vocalized longer also elicited stronger synchronization from the adult. These results demonstrate that direct gaze strengthens bidirectional adult–infant neural connectivity during communication. Thus, ostensive social signals could act to bring brains into mutual temporal alignment, creating a joint-networked state that is structured to facilitate information transfer during early communication and learning.

“Speaker gaze increases information coupling between infant and adult brains” by Victoria Leong, Elizabeth Byrne, Kaili Clackson, Stanimira Georgieva, Sarah Lam, and Sam Wass in PNAS. Published online November 28 2017 doi:10.1073/pnas.1702493114

Low Vitamin D Levels at Birth Linked to Higher Autism Risk

Summary: Researchers have identified a link between low levels of vitamin D at birth and an increased risk of a child being diagnosed on the autism spectrum by the age of three.

Source: Wiley.

Low vitamin D levels at birth were associated with an increased risk of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) at the age of 3 years, researchers report in a recent Journal of Bone and Mineral Research study.

In the study of 27,940 newborns in China, 310 were diagnosed with ASDs at 3 years of age, with a prevalence of 1.11 percent. When the 310 children with ASDs were compared with 1,240 control subjects, the risk of ASDs was significantly increased in each of the three lower quartiles of vitamin D level at birth, when compared with the highest quartile: an increased risk of ASDs by 260 percent in the lowest quartile, 150 percent in the second quartile, and 90 percent in the third quartile.

“Neonatal vitamin D status was significantly associated with the risk of ASDs and intellectual disability,” said senior author Dr. Yuan-Lin Zheng.

ABOUT THIS NEUROSCIENCE RESEARCH ARTICLE

Source: Wiley
Publisher: Organized by NeuroscienceNews.com.
Image Source: NeuroscienceNews.com image is in the public domain.
Original Research: Abstract for “Relationship Between Neonatal Vitamin D at Birth and Risk of Autism Spectrum Disorders: the NBSIB Study” by Dong-Mei Wu, Xin Wen, Xin-Rui Han, Shan Wang, Yong-Jian Wang, Min Shen, Shao-Hua Fan, Juan Zhuang, Meng-Qiu Li, Bin Hu, Chun-Hui Sun, Ya-Xing Bao, Jing Yan, Jun Lu, and Yuan-Lin Zheng in Journal of Bone and Mineral Research. Published online November 27 2017 doi:10.1002/jbmr.3326

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Wiley “Low Vitamin D Levels at Birth Linked to Higher Autism Risk.” NeuroscienceNews. NeuroscienceNews, 29 November 2017.
<http://neurosciencenews.com/autism-vitamin-d-8055/>.

Abstract

Relationship Between Neonatal Vitamin D at Birth and Risk of Autism Spectrum Disorders: the NBSIB Study

Previous studies suggested that lower vitamin D might be a risk factor for autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of ASDs in 3-year-old Chinese children and to examine the association between neonatal vitamin D status and risk of ASDs. We conducted a study of live births who had taken part in expanded newborn screening (NBS), with outpatient follow-up when the children 3-year old. The children were confirmed for ASDs in outpatient by the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised and Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)-5 criteria. Intellectual disability (ID) status was defined by the intelligence quotient (IQ < 80) for all the participants. The study design included a 1:4 case to control design. The concentration of 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 [25(OH)D3] in children with ASD and controls were assessed from neonatal dried blood samples. A total of 310 children were diagnosed as having ASDs; thus, the prevalence was 1.11% (95% CI, 0.99% to 1.23%). The concentration of 25(OH)D3 in 310 ASD and 1240 controls were assessed. The median 25(OH)D3 level was significantly lower in children with ASD as compared to controls (p < 0.0001). Compared with the fourth quartiles, the relative risk (RR) of ASDs was significantly increased for neonates in each of the three lower quartiles of the distribution of 25(OH)D3, and increased risk of ASDs by 260% (RR for lowest quartile: 3.6; 95% CI, 1.8 to 7.2; p < 0.001), 150% (RR for second quartile: 2.5; 95% CI, 1.4 to 3.5; p = 0.024), and 90% (RR for third quartile: 1.9; 95% CI, 1.1 to 3.3; p = 0.08), respectively. Furthermore, the nonlinear nature of the ID-risk relationship was more prominent when the data were assessed in deciles. This model predicted the lowest relative risk of ID in the 72rd percentile (corresponding to 48.1 nmol/L of 25(OH)D3). Neonatal vitamin D status was significantly associated with the risk of ASDs and intellectual disability. The nature of those relationships was nonlinear. © 2017 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.

“Relationship Between Neonatal Vitamin D at Birth and Risk of Autism Spectrum Disorders: the NBSIB Study” by Dong-Mei Wu, Xin Wen, Xin-Rui Han, Shan Wang, Yong-Jian Wang, Min Shen, Shao-Hua Fan, Juan Zhuang, Meng-Qiu Li, Bin Hu, Chun-Hui Sun, Ya-Xing Bao, Jing Yan, Jun Lu, and Yuan-Lin Zheng in Journal of Bone and Mineral Research. Published online November 27 2017 doi:10.1002/jbmr.3326

Marriage May Help Stave Off Dementia

Summary: Widowers and life-long single people are at higher risk of developing dementia, a new study reports.

Source: BMJ.

Marriage may lower the risk of developing dementia, concludes a synthesis of the available evidence published online in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry.

Lifelong singletons and widowers are at heightened risk of developing the disease, the findings indicate, although single status may no longer be quite the health hazard it once seemed to be, the researchers acknowledge.

They base their findings on data from 15 relevant studies published up to the end of 2016. These looked at the potential role of marital status on dementia risk, and involved more than 800,000 participants from Europe, North and South America, and Asia.

Married people accounted for between 28 and 80 per cent of people in the included studies; the widowed made up between around 8 and 48 per cent; the divorced between 0 and 16 per cent; and lifelong singletons between 0 and 32.5 per cent.

Pooled analysis of the data showed that compared with those who were married, lifelong singletons were 42 per cent more likely to develop dementia, after taking account of age and sex.

Part of this risk might be explained by poorer physical health among lifelong single people, suggest the researchers.

However, the most recent studies, which included people born after 1927, indicated a risk of 24 per cent, which suggests that this may have lessened over time, although it is not clear why, say the researchers.

The widowed were 20 per cent more likely to develop dementia than married people, although the strength of this association was somewhat weakened when educational attainment was factored in.

But bereavement is likely to boost stress levels, which have been associated with impaired nerve signalling and cognitive abilities, the researchers note.

No such associations were found for those who had divorced their partners, although this may partly be down to the smaller numbers of people of this status included in the studies, the researchers point out.

But the lower risk among married people persisted even after further more detailed analysis, which, the researchers suggest, reflects “the robustness of the findings.”

These findings are based on observational studies so no firm conclusions about cause and effect can be drawn, and the researchers point to several caveats, including the design of some of the included studies, and the lack of information on the duration of widowhood or divorce.

Nevertheless, they proffer several explanations for the associations they found. Marriage may help both partners to have healthier lifestyles, including exercising more, eating a healthy diet, and smoking and drinking less, all of which have been associated with lower risk of dementia.

Couples may also have more opportunities for social engagement than single people–a factor that has been linked to better health and lower dementia risk, they suggest.

In a linked editorial, Christopher Chen and Vincent Mok, of, respectively, the National University of Singapore and the Chinese University of Hong Kong, suggest that should marital status be added to the list of modifiable risk factors for dementia, “the challenge remains as to how these observations can be translated into effective means of dementia prevention.”

The discovery of potentially modifiable risk factors doesn’t mean that dementia can easily be prevented, they emphasise.

“Therefore, ways of destigmatising dementia and producing dementia-friendly communities more accepting and embracing of the kinds of disruptions that dementia can produce should progress alongside biomedical and public health programmes,” they conclude.

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Source: Caroline White – BMJ
Publisher: Organized by NeuroscienceNews.com.
Image Source: NeuroscienceNews.com image is in the public domain.
Original Research: Full open access research for “Marriage and risk of dementia: systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies” by Andrew Sommerlad, Joshua Ruegger, Archana Singh-Manoux, Glyn Lewis, and Gill Livingston in Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry. Published online November 27 2017 doi:10/30/jnnp-2017-316274

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BMJ “Marriage May Help Stave Off Dementia.” NeuroscienceNews. NeuroscienceNews, 29 November 2017.
<http://neurosciencenews.com/marriage-dementia-8057/>.

Abstract

Marriage and risk of dementia: systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies

Background Being married is associated with healthier lifestyle behaviours and lower mortality and may reduce risk for dementia due to life-course factors. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies of the association between marital status and the risk of developing dementia.

Methods We searched medical databases and contacted experts in the field for relevant studies reporting the relationship, adjusted for age and sex, between marital status and dementia. We rated methodological quality and conducted random-effects meta-analyses to summarise relative risks of being widowed, divorced or lifelong single, compared with being married. Secondary stratified analyses with meta-regression examined the impact of clinical and social context and study methodology on findings.

Results We included 15 studies with 812 047 participants. Compared with those who are married, lifelong single (relative risk=1.42 (95% CI 1.07 to 1.90)) and widowed (1.20 (1.02 to 1.41)) people have elevated risk of dementia. We did not find an association in divorced people.

Further analyses showed that less education partially confounds the risk in widowhood and worse physical health the elevated risk in lifelong single people. Compared with studies that used clinical registers for ascertaining dementia diagnoses, those which clinically examined all participants found higher risk for being unmarried.

Conclusions Being married is associated with reduced risk of dementia than widowed and lifelong single people, who are also underdiagnosed in routine clinical practice. Dementia prevention in unmarried people should focus on education and physical health and should consider the possible effect of social engagement as a modifiable risk factor.

“Marriage and risk of dementia: systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies” by Andrew Sommerlad, Joshua Ruegger, Archana Singh-Manoux, Glyn Lewis, and Gill Livingston in Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry. Published online November 27 2017 doi:10/30/jnnp-2017-316274

Washington Post 11-29-2017

Trump ‘wrong’ to share anti-Muslim videos, British prime minister’s office says

President Trump drew widespread criticism after he retweeted inflammatory videos posted by an organization that has been widely condemned as an extremist group. White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders defended Trump’s post as evidence he wants to “promote strong borders and strong national security.”

By Ashley Parker and John Wagner
2 hours ago

Trump promises new ‘major sanctions’ on North Korea after latest missile launch

President Trump made the pledge after speaking with his counterpart in China, Xi Jinping, whose country is an economic lifeline for North Korea.

By Simon Denyer
3 hours ago

Could missile test lead to nuclear talks? Some see a slight opening.

The Daily 202

Analysis

Senate GOP leaders cut a deal to win Corker’s support on tax bill. Now outside groups are furious.

The retiring senator has pushed to include a “trigger” that would increase taxes down the road if the bill fails to generate the level of economic growth that Republican leaders predict.

By James Hohmann

Corker promised not to let the GOP tax bill drive up the debt. He’s running out of time.

(Video: The Post; photo: Getty Images)

‘Today’ show host Matt Lauer fired over ‘inappropriate sexual behavior’

NBC News Chairman Andrew Lack said the network received a detailed complaint Monday about Lauer’s behavior and was “also presented with reason to believe this may not have been an isolated incident.” Lauer, who joined “Today” in 1994, becomes the latest high-profile man to be embroiled in workplace harassment allegations.

By Paul Farhi
1 hour ago

Lauer’s co-hosts visibly shaken as they announced firing on-air

Megyn Kelly compares Lauer to Fox News scandals: ‘This one does hit close to home’

BREAKING NEWS

Garrison Keillor, ex-host of ‘A Prairie Home Companion,’ fired after allegations of improper behavior

The public radio network said it was notified last month of allegations related to Keillor’s conduct with an individual whom he worked with while Keillor was responsible for the production of the popular show.