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OBJECTIVES: Vision and hearing impairments affect 55% of people aged 60+ years and are associated with lower cognitive test performance; however, tests rely on vision, hearing, or both. We hypothesized that scores on tests that depend on vision or hearing are different among those with vision or hearing impairments, respectively, controlling for underlying cognition. METHODS: Leveraging cross-sectional data from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA) and the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Neurocognitive Study (ARIC-NCS), we used item response theory to test for differential item functioning (DIF) by vision impairment (better eye presenting visual acuity worse than 20/40) and hearing impairment (better ear .5-4 kHz pure-tone average > 25 decibels). RESULTS: We identified DIF by vision impairment for tests whose administrations do not rely on vision [e.g., Delayed Word Recall both in ARIC-NCS: .50 logit difference between impaired and unimpaired (p = .04) and in BLSA: .62 logits (p = .02)] and DIF by hearing impairment for tests whose administrations do not rely on hearing [Digit Symbol Substitution test in BLSA: 1.25 logits (p = .001) and Incidental Learning test in ARIC-NCS: .35 logits (p = .001)]. However, no individuals had differences between unadjusted and DIF-adjusted measures of greater than the standard error of measurement. CONCLUSIONS: DIF by sensory impairment in cognitive tests was independent of administration characteristics, which could indicate that elevated cognitive load among persons with sensory impairment plays a larger role in test performance than previously acknowledged. While these results were unexpected, neither of these samples are nationally representative and each has unique selection factors; thus, replication is critical.
Assuntos
Aterosclerose , Disfunção Cognitiva , Perda Auditiva , Idoso , Envelhecimento , Aterosclerose/complicações , Baltimore , Disfunção Cognitiva/complicações , Disfunção Cognitiva/etiologia , Estudos Transversais , Perda Auditiva/complicações , Perda Auditiva/diagnóstico , Perda Auditiva/psicologia , Humanos , Estudos Longitudinais , Testes NeuropsicológicosRESUMO
Over the past three decades, considerable effort has been dedicated to quantifying the pace of ageing yet identifying the most essential metrics of ageing remains challenging due to lack of comprehensive measurements and heterogeneity of the ageing processes. Most of the previously proposed metrics of ageing have been emerged from cross-sectional associations with chronological age and predictive accuracy of mortality, thus lacking a conceptual model of functional or phenotypic domains. Further, such models may be biased by selective attrition and are unable to address underlying biological constructs contributing to functional markers of age-related decline. Using longitudinal data from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA), we propose a conceptual framework to identify metrics of ageing that may capture the hierarchical and temporal relationships between functional ageing, phenotypic ageing and biological ageing based on four hypothesized domains: body composition, energy regulation, homeostatic mechanisms and neurodegeneration/neuroplasticity. We explored the longitudinal trajectories of key variables within these phenotypes using linear mixed-effects models and more than 10 years of data. Understanding the longitudinal trajectories across these domains in the BLSA provides a reference for researchers, informs future refinement of the phenotypic ageing framework and establishes a solid foundation for future models of biological ageing.
Assuntos
Envelhecimento/patologia , Idoso , Idoso de 80 Anos ou mais , Baltimore , Composição Corporal , Metabolismo Energético , Feminino , Homeostase , Humanos , Estudos Longitudinais , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Sistema Nervoso/patologia , Plasticidade Neuronal , Fenótipo , Valores de ReferênciaRESUMO
BACKGROUND: The parallel decline of mobility and cognition with ageing is explained in part by shared brain structural changes that are related to fitness. However, the temporal sequence between fitness, brain structural changes and mobility loss has not been fully evaluated. METHODS: Participants were from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging, aged 60 or older, initially free of cognitive and mobility impairments, with repeated measures of fitness (400-m time), mobility (6-m gait speed) and neuroimaging markers over 4 years (n = 332). Neuroimaging markers included volumes of total brain, ventricles, frontal, parietal, temporal and subcortical motor areas, and corpus callosum. Autoregressive models were used to examine the temporal sequence of each brain volume with mobility and fitness, adjusted for age, sex, race, body mass index, height, education, intracranial volume and APOE É4 status. RESULTS: After adjustment, greater volumes of total brain and selected frontal, parietal and temporal areas, and corpus callosum were unidirectionally associated with future faster gait speed over and beyond cross-sectional and autoregressive associations. There were trends towards faster gait speed being associated with future greater hippocampus and precuneus. Higher fitness was unidirectionally associated with future greater parahippocampal gyrus and not with volumes in other areas. Smaller ventricle predicted future higher fitness. CONCLUSION: Specific regional brain volumes predict future mobility impairment. Impaired mobility is a risk factor for future atrophy of hippocampus and precuneus. Maintaining fitness preserves parahippocampal gyrus volume. Findings provide new insight into the complex and bidirectional relationship between the parallel decline of mobility and cognition often observed in older persons.
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Encéfalo/patologia , Encéfalo/fisiopatologia , Aptidão Física , Velocidade de Caminhada , Fatores Etários , Idoso , Idoso de 80 Anos ou mais , Envelhecimento , Atrofia/fisiopatologia , Feminino , Humanos , Estudos Longitudinais , Masculino , Estudos ProspectivosRESUMO
Understanding how midlife risk factors influence age at onset (AAO) of Alzheimer's disease (AD) may provide clues to delay disease expression. Although midlife adiposity predicts increased incidence of AD, it is unclear whether it affects AAO and severity of Alzheimer's neuropathology. Using a prospective population-based cohort, Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA), this study aims to examine the relationships between midlife body mass index (BMI) and (1) AAO of AD (2) severity of Alzheimer's neuropathology and (3) fibrillar brain amyloid deposition during aging. We analyzed data on 1394 cognitively normal individuals at baseline (8643 visits; average follow-up interval 13.9 years), among whom 142 participants developed incident AD. In two subsamples of BLSA, 191 participants underwent autopsy and neuropathological assessment, and 75 non-demented individuals underwent brain amyloid imaging. Midlife adiposity was derived from BMI data at 50 years of age. We find that each unit increase in midlife BMI predicts earlier onset of AD by 6.7 months (P=0.013). Higher midlife BMI was associated with greater Braak neurofibrillary but not CERAD (Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease) neuritic plaque scores at autopsy overall. Associations between midlife BMI and brain amyloid burden approached statistical significance. Thus, higher midlife BMI was also associated with greater fibrillar amyloid measured by global mean cortical distribution volume ratio (P=0.075) and within the precuneus (left, P=0.061; right, P=0.079). In conclusion, midlife overweight predicts earlier onset of AD and greater burden of Alzheimer's neuropathology. A healthy BMI at midlife may delay the onset of AD.
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Adiposidade/fisiologia , Doença de Alzheimer/patologia , Idoso , Idoso de 80 Anos ou mais , Envelhecimento/metabolismo , Peptídeos beta-Amiloides/metabolismo , Índice de Massa Corporal , Encéfalo/metabolismo , Demência/patologia , Feminino , Previsões/métodos , Humanos , Estudos Longitudinais , Masculino , Emaranhados Neurofibrilares/patologia , Neuropatologia/métodos , Obesidade/patologia , Placa Amiloide/patologia , Tomografia por Emissão de Pósitrons/métodos , Estudos ProspectivosRESUMO
To identify common variants contributing to normal variation in two specific domains of cognitive functioning, we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of executive functioning and information processing speed in non-demented older adults from the CHARGE (Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology) consortium. Neuropsychological testing was available for 5429-32,070 subjects of European ancestry aged 45 years or older, free of dementia and clinical stroke at the time of cognitive testing from 20 cohorts in the discovery phase. We analyzed performance on the Trail Making Test parts A and B, the Letter Digit Substitution Test (LDST), the Digit Symbol Substitution Task (DSST), semantic and phonemic fluency tests, and the Stroop Color and Word Test. Replication was sought in 1311-21860 subjects from 20 independent cohorts. A significant association was observed in the discovery cohorts for the single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs17518584 (discovery P-value=3.12 × 10(-8)) and in the joint discovery and replication meta-analysis (P-value=3.28 × 10(-9) after adjustment for age, gender and education) in an intron of the gene cell adhesion molecule 2 (CADM2) for performance on the LDST/DSST. Rs17518584 is located about 170 kb upstream of the transcription start site of the major transcript for the CADM2 gene, but is within an intron of a variant transcript that includes an alternative first exon. The variant is associated with expression of CADM2 in the cingulate cortex (P-value=4 × 10(-4)). The protein encoded by CADM2 is involved in glutamate signaling (P-value=7.22 × 10(-15)), gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) transport (P-value=1.36 × 10(-11)) and neuron cell-cell adhesion (P-value=1.48 × 10(-13)). Our findings suggest that genetic variation in the CADM2 gene is associated with individual differences in information processing speed.
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Moléculas de Adesão Celular/genética , Função Executiva/fisiologia , Idoso , Idoso de 80 Anos ou mais , Moléculas de Adesão Celular/fisiologia , Cognição/fisiologia , Estudos de Coortes , Feminino , Estudos de Associação Genética , Variação Genética/genética , Estudo de Associação Genômica Ampla , Genômica , Humanos , Íntrons , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Testes Neuropsicológicos , Polimorfismo de Nucleotídeo Único , População Branca/genética , Ácido gama-AminobutíricoRESUMO
Although overweight and obesity are associated with poor health outcomes in the elderly, the biological bases of obesity-related behaviors during aging are poorly understood. Common variants in the FTO gene are associated with adiposity in children and younger adults as well as with adverse mental health in older individuals. However, it is unclear whether FTO influences longitudinal trajectories of adiposity and other intermediate phenotypes relevant to mental health during aging. We examined whether a commonly carried obesity-risk variant in the FTO gene (rs1421085 single-nucleotide polymorphism) influences adiposity and is associated with changes in brain function in participants within the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging, one of the longest-running longitudinal aging studies in the United States. Our results show that obesity-related risk allele carriers of FTO gene show dose-dependent increments in body mass index during aging. Moreover, the obesity-related risk allele is associated with reduced medial prefrontal cortical function during aging. Consistent with reduced brain function in regions intrinsic to impulse control and taste responsiveness, risk allele carriers of FTO exhibit dose-dependent increments in both impulsivity and intake of fatty foods. We propose that a common neural mechanism may underlie obesity-associated impulsivity and increased consumption of high-calorie foods during aging.
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Adiposidade/genética , Envelhecimento/genética , Comportamento Alimentar/fisiologia , Comportamento Impulsivo/fisiologia , Polimorfismo de Nucleotídeo Único/genética , Proteínas/genética , Adolescente , Adulto , Idoso , Idoso de 80 Anos ou mais , Dioxigenase FTO Dependente de alfa-Cetoglutarato , Índice de Massa Corporal , Encéfalo/diagnóstico por imagem , Dieta , Ingestão de Alimentos/genética , Feminino , Genótipo , Humanos , Estudos Longitudinais , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Obesidade/genética , Cintilografia , Estados Unidos , Adulto JovemRESUMO
Hearing impairment in older adults is independently associated in longitudinal studies with accelerated cognitive decline and incident dementia, and in cross-sectional studies, with reduced volumes in the auditory cortex. Whether peripheral hearing impairment is associated with accelerated rates of brain atrophy is unclear. We analyzed brain volume measurements from magnetic resonance brain scans of individuals with normal hearing versus hearing impairment (speech-frequency pure tone average>25 dB) followed in the neuroimaging substudy of the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging for a mean of 6.4 years after the baseline scan (n=126, age 56-86 years). Brain volume measurements were performed with semi-automated region-of-interest (ROI) algorithms, and brain volume trajectories were analyzed with mixed-effect regression models adjusted for demographic and cardiovascular factors. We found that individuals with hearing impairment (n=51) compared to those with normal hearing (n=75) had accelerated volume declines in whole brain and regional volumes in the right temporal lobe (superior, middle, and inferior temporal gyri, parahippocampus, p<.05). These results were robust to adjustment for multiple confounders and were consistent with voxel-based analyses, which also implicated right greater than left temporal regions. These findings demonstrate that peripheral hearing impairment is independently associated with accelerated brain atrophy in whole brain and regional volumes concentrated in the right temporal lobe. Further studies investigating the mechanistic basis of the observed associations are needed.
Assuntos
Envelhecimento/patologia , Encéfalo/patologia , Perda Auditiva/patologia , Idoso , Idoso de 80 Anos ou mais , Atrofia/patologia , Audiometria , Feminino , Humanos , Processamento de Imagem Assistida por Computador , Imageamento por Ressonância Magnética , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Tamanho do ÓrgãoRESUMO
Defining the progression of blood biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is essential for targeting treatments in patients most likely to benefit from early intervention. We delineated the temporal ordering of blood biomarkers a decade prior to the onset of AD symptoms in participants in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging. We show that increased astrocyte reactivity, assessed by elevated glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) levels is an early event in the progression of blood biomarker changes in preclinical AD. In AD-converters who are initially cognitively unimpaired (N=158, 377 serial plasma samples), higher plasma GFAP levels are observed as early as 10-years prior to the onset of cognitive impairment due to incident AD compared to individuals who remain cognitively unimpaired (CU, N=160, 379 serial plasma samples). Plasma GFAP levels in AD-converters remain elevated 5-years prior to and coincident with the onset of cognitive impairment due to AD. In participants with neuropathologically confirmed AD, plasma GFAP levels are elevated relative to cognitively normal individuals and intermediate in those who remain cognitively unimpaired despite significant AD pathology (asymptomatic AD). Higher plasma GFAP levels at death are associated with greater severity of both neuritic plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. In the 5XFAD transgenic model of AD, we observed greater GFAP levels in the cortex and hippocampus of transgenic mice relative to wild-type prior to the development of cognitive impairment. Reactive astrocytosis, an established biological response to neuronal injury, may be an early initiator of AD pathogenesis and a promising therapeutic target.
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Positron emission tomography was used to evaluate the regional distribution of cerebral glucose metabolism in 61 healthy adults at rest. Although the profile of metabolic activity was similar for men and women, some sex differences and hemispheric asymmetries were detectable. Men had relatively higher metabolism than women in temporal-limbic regions and cerebellum and relatively lower metabolism in cingulate regions. In both sexes, metabolism was relatively higher in left association cortices and the cingulate region and in right ventro-temporal limbic regions and their projections. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that differences in cognitive and emotional processing have biological substrates.
Assuntos
Encéfalo/metabolismo , Glucose/metabolismo , Adulto , Gânglios da Base/metabolismo , Encéfalo/diagnóstico por imagem , Tronco Encefálico/metabolismo , Cerebelo/metabolismo , Feminino , Lateralidade Funcional , Giro do Cíngulo/metabolismo , Humanos , Sistema Límbico/metabolismo , Masculino , Lobo Occipital/metabolismo , Caracteres Sexuais , Lobo Temporal/metabolismo , Tomografia Computadorizada de EmissãoRESUMO
Exposure to particulate matter (PM) in the ambient air and its interactions with APOE alleles may contribute to the acceleration of brain aging and the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Neurodegenerative effects of particulate air pollutants were examined in a US-wide cohort of older women from the Women's Health Initiative Memory Study (WHIMS) and in experimental mouse models. Residing in places with fine PM exceeding EPA standards increased the risks for global cognitive decline and all-cause dementia respectively by 81 and 92%, with stronger adverse effects in APOE É4/4 carriers. Female EFAD transgenic mice (5xFAD+/-/human APOE É3 or É4+/+) with 225 h exposure to urban nanosized PM (nPM) over 15 weeks showed increased cerebral ß-amyloid by thioflavin S for fibrillary amyloid and by immunocytochemistry for Aß deposits, both exacerbated by APOE É4. Moreover, nPM exposure increased Aß oligomers, caused selective atrophy of hippocampal CA1 neurites, and decreased the glutamate GluR1 subunit. Wildtype C57BL/6 female mice also showed nPM-induced CA1 atrophy and GluR1 decrease. In vitro nPM exposure of neuroblastoma cells (N2a-APP/swe) increased the pro-amyloidogenic processing of the amyloid precursor protein (APP). We suggest that airborne PM exposure promotes pathological brain aging in older women, with potentially a greater impact in É4 carriers. The underlying mechanisms may involve increased cerebral Aß production and selective changes in hippocampal CA1 neurons and glutamate receptor subunits.
Assuntos
Disfunção Cognitiva/epidemiologia , Demência/epidemiologia , Exposição Ambiental/estatística & dados numéricos , Interação Gene-Ambiente , Material Particulado , Idoso , Doença de Alzheimer/epidemiologia , Doença de Alzheimer/genética , Peptídeos beta-Amiloides/efeitos dos fármacos , Peptídeos beta-Amiloides/metabolismo , Animais , Apolipoproteína E4/genética , Atrofia , Região CA1 Hipocampal/efeitos dos fármacos , Região CA1 Hipocampal/patologia , Linhagem Celular Tumoral , Cérebro/efeitos dos fármacos , Cérebro/metabolismo , Disfunção Cognitiva/genética , Demência/genética , Feminino , Humanos , Técnicas In Vitro , Camundongos , Camundongos Transgênicos , Neuritos/efeitos dos fármacos , Neuritos/patologia , Receptores de AMPA/efeitos dos fármacos , Receptores de AMPA/metabolismoRESUMO
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The presence of the apolipoprotein E ε4 allele is the strongest sporadic Alzheimer disease genetic risk factor. We hypothesized that apolipoprotein E ε4 carriers and noncarriers may already differ in imaging patterns in midlife. We therefore sought to identify the effect of apolipoprotein E genotype on brain atrophy across almost the entire adult age span by using advanced MR imaging-based pattern analysis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We analyzed MR imaging scans of 1472 participants from the Study of Health in Pomerania (22-90 years of age). We studied the association among age, apolipoprotein E ε4 carrier status, and brain atrophy, which was quantified by using 2 MR imaging-based indices: Spatial Pattern of Atrophy for Recognition of Brain Aging (summarizing age-related brain atrophy) and Spatial Pattern of Abnormality for Recognition of Early Alzheimer Disease (summarizing Alzheimer disease-like brain atrophy patterns), as well as the gray matter volumes in several Alzheimer disease- and apolipoprotein E-related ROIs (lateral frontal, lateral temporal, medial frontal, and hippocampus). RESULTS: No significant association was found between apolipoprotein E ε4 carrier status and the studied ROIs or the MR imaging-based indices in linear regression models adjusted for age, sex, and education, including an interaction term between apolipoprotein E and age. CONCLUSIONS: Our study indicates that measurable apolipoprotein E-related brain atrophy does not occur in early adulthood and midlife and suggests that such atrophy may only occur more proximal to the onset of clinical symptoms of dementia.
Assuntos
Doença de Alzheimer/genética , Doença de Alzheimer/patologia , Apolipoproteína E4/genética , Adulto , Idoso , Idoso de 80 Anos ou mais , Envelhecimento/genética , Envelhecimento/patologia , Atrofia/genética , Atrofia/patologia , Feminino , Genótipo , Humanos , Imageamento por Ressonância Magnética , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Adulto JovemRESUMO
We systematically compared structural imaging patterns of advanced brain aging (ABA) in the general-population, herein defined as significant deviation from typical BA to those found in Alzheimer disease (AD). The hypothesis that ABA would show different patterns of structural change compared with those found in AD was tested via advanced pattern analysis methods. In particular, magnetic resonance images of 2705 participants from the Study of Health in Pomerania (aged 20-90 years) were analyzed using an index that captures aging atrophy patterns (Spatial Pattern of Atrophy for Recognition of BA (SPARE-BA)), and an index previously shown to capture atrophy patterns found in clinical AD (Spatial Patterns of Abnormality for Recognition of Early Alzheimer's Disease (SPARE-AD)). We studied the association between these indices and risk factors, including an AD polygenic risk score. Finally, we compared the ABA-associated atrophy with typical AD-like patterns. We observed that SPARE-BA had significant association with: smoking (P<0.05), anti-hypertensive (P<0.05), anti-diabetic drug use (men P<0.05, women P=0.06) and waist circumference for the male cohort (P<0.05), after adjusting for age. Subjects with ABA had spatially extensive gray matter loss in the frontal, parietal and temporal lobes (false-discovery-rate-corrected q<0.001). ABA patterns of atrophy were partially overlapping with, but notably deviating from those typically found in AD. Subjects with ABA had higher SPARE-AD values; largely due to the partial spatial overlap of associated patterns in temporal regions. The AD polygenic risk score was significantly associated with SPARE-AD but not with SPARE-BA. Our findings suggest that ABA is likely characterized by pathophysiologic mechanisms that are distinct from, or only partially overlapping with those of AD.
Assuntos
Envelhecimento/genética , Envelhecimento/patologia , Doença de Alzheimer/genética , Doença de Alzheimer/patologia , Encéfalo/patologia , Adulto , Idoso , Idoso de 80 Anos ou mais , Doença de Alzheimer/epidemiologia , Atrofia , Encéfalo/diagnóstico por imagem , Mapeamento Encefálico/métodos , Estudos de Coortes , Feminino , Seguimentos , Humanos , Imageamento por Ressonância Magnética/métodos , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Prevalência , Fatores de Risco , Distribuição por Sexo , Adulto JovemRESUMO
Positron emission tomography (PET) patterns of cerebral blood flow associated with verbal and figural memory are described in relation to their value as functional probes for studying longitudinal changes that occur in the aging brain. Relative to a matching control task, verbal and figural encoding increase blood flow in prefrontal cortex (PFC), anterior cingulate, insular, lateral and medial temporal, occipital cortex and the cerebellum. Additionally, medial temporal regions exhibited greater activity during figural encoding relative to verbal encoding. During recognition, blood flow increases in prefrontal, cingulate, insular, and lateral temporal and Broca's areas. Analysis of hemispheric asymmetry reveals that the prefrontal cortex exhibits regionally dependent results. Prefrontal region BA 10 demonstrates more bilateral activation during encoding and retrieval, whereas BA 46 shows right greater than left activation during both encoding and retrieval. Overall, the two tasks activate diverse regions within the frontal, temporal and occipital lobes of the brain, including areas that show age-related structural changes, proving their usefulness in the longitudinal assessment of brain function in the elderly.
Assuntos
Envelhecimento/fisiologia , Encéfalo/fisiologia , Memória/fisiologia , Reconhecimento Psicológico/fisiologia , Comportamento Verbal/fisiologia , Idoso , Idoso de 80 Anos ou mais , Encéfalo/diagnóstico por imagem , Mapeamento Encefálico , Estudos de Casos e Controles , Circulação Cerebrovascular/fisiologia , Discriminação Psicológica , Feminino , Lateralidade Funcional , Humanos , Processamento de Imagem Assistida por Computador , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Tomografia por Emissão de Pósitrons/métodosRESUMO
Cerebral glucose metabolism was measured twice in a sample of 15 schizophrenics and eight controls, using positron emission tomography (PET) with 18-F-fluorodeoxyglucose. Studies were separated by three to 33 weeks. Patients were unmedicated during the first study, and the majority were receiving neuroleptics during the second study. There were no changes from study 1 to study 2 in average whole-brain metabolic rates, regional cortical activity, or the gradient of subcortical to cortical activity. The steeper subcortical to cortical gradient in schizophrenics, present in the first study, persisted in the second. Changes in this gradient were uncorrelated with changes in clinical status. Laterality (right-left) was stable across studies, and changes toward higher right relative to left hemispheric metabolism were correlated with clinical improvement. The results support the hypothesis of abnormal hemispheric activity in schizophrenia and implicate the subcortical-cortical gradient as another dimension that merits further exploration.
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Encéfalo/metabolismo , Esquizofrenia/metabolismo , Tomografia Computadorizada de Emissão , Adulto , Encéfalo/diagnóstico por imagem , Encéfalo/fisiopatologia , Córtex Cerebral/diagnóstico por imagem , Córtex Cerebral/metabolismo , Córtex Cerebral/fisiopatologia , Desoxiglucose/análogos & derivados , Desoxiglucose/metabolismo , Feminino , Fluordesoxiglucose F18 , Lateralidade Funcional/fisiologia , Humanos , Masculino , Esquizofrenia/fisiopatologiaRESUMO
Unmedicated schizophrenic patients (according to DSM-III-R criteria) (n = 36) and age-matched normal controls (n = 36), balanced for parental socioeconomic status, were administered a battery of standardized neuropsychological tests. Patients showed generalized impairment relative to controls and a selective deficit in memory and learning compared with other functions. Selective impairment was not found on tests related to frontal system function (abstraction, verbal fluency, and motor). The observed pattern is consistent with greater involvement of the temporal-hippocampal system, against the background of diffuse dysfunction. Although impairment in memory and learning has been reported, the selectivity and relative severity compared with other behavioral functions have not been recognized. The specificity of this profile merits further examination. These findings lend support to the hypothesized importance of the temporal-hippocampal region in understanding the pathophysiology of schizophrenia.
Assuntos
Aprendizagem , Testes Neuropsicológicos , Esquizofrenia/diagnóstico , Psicologia do Esquizofrênico , Adulto , Atenção/fisiologia , Encéfalo/fisiopatologia , Feminino , Lateralidade Funcional/fisiologia , Hipocampo/fisiopatologia , Humanos , Aprendizagem/fisiologia , Masculino , Memória/fisiologia , Psicometria , Desempenho Psicomotor/fisiologia , Esquizofrenia/fisiopatologia , Lobo Temporal/fisiopatologiaRESUMO
Local cerebral glucose metabolism was determined with 18-F-fluorodeoxyglucose using positron emission tomography in a sample of 12 unmedicated schizophrenics and 12 matched normal controls. The data were analyzed for absolute metabolic rates and region/whole-brain ratios using the cortical-subcortical, antero-posterior, and laterality dimensions. Lobar areas within cortical regions were also compared. Across groups, subcortical metabolism was higher than cortical metabolism. Patients had lower metabolism, cortically and subcortically, and a steeper subcortical to cortical gradient. Patients with higher scores on the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale had higher absolute metabolism and higher left relative to right hemispheric metabolism than did patients with lesser severity. The results did not show "hypofrontality" in schizophrenia. These findings provide some support for cerebral dysfunction in schizophrenia and indicate the need for further examination of the cortical-subcortical dimension.
Assuntos
Encéfalo/metabolismo , Glucose/metabolismo , Esquizofrenia/metabolismo , Tomografia Computadorizada de Emissão , Encéfalo/diagnóstico por imagem , Encéfalo/fisiopatologia , Córtex Cerebral/diagnóstico por imagem , Córtex Cerebral/metabolismo , Córtex Cerebral/fisiopatologia , Desoxiglucose/análogos & derivados , Desoxiglucose/metabolismo , Fluordesoxiglucose F18 , Humanos , Esquizofrenia/fisiopatologiaRESUMO
The study reports magnetic resonance imaging data for 42 patients with schizophrenia and 43 normal controls. Volumetric measures were obtained with a validated computerized algorithm for segmentation of cranial volume into brain tissue and central and peripheral cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), with high inter-operator reliability. Patients did not differ significantly in whole-brain volume, but had higher whole-brain CSF volume and higher ratios of ventricular and sulcal CSF to cranial volume. Covarying age and education did not affect the differences. However, there was considerable overlap both in CSF volumes and in volume-cranium ratios, and most patients were within the normal range. This suggests that anatomic changes reflected in CSF can provide a limited substrate for schizophrenia and may apply only to subpopulations. Although there was no gender x diagnosis interaction, the results for sulcal CSF were significant only for men, whereas for women, the ventricular ratios were marginally higher in patients.
Assuntos
Encéfalo/anatomia & histologia , Ventrículos Cerebrais/anatomia & histologia , Imageamento por Ressonância Magnética , Esquizofrenia/diagnóstico , Adolescente , Adulto , Fatores Etários , Líquido Cefalorraquidiano/fisiologia , Feminino , Humanos , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Fatores SexuaisRESUMO
BACKGROUND: Functional neuroimaging can elucidate brain dysfunction in schizophrenia. The frontal, temporolimbic, and diencephalic regions have been implicated. There is a lack of prospective samples of first-episode and previously treated patients followed up longitudinally. METHODS: Patients and controls (42 per group) were studied. Positron emission tomography with flurodeoxyglucose, cross-registered with magnetic resonance imaging, measured metabolism. Scales assessed clinical features, premorbid adjustment, and outcome. RESULTS: There were no differences between groups in whole-brain metabolism or regional ratios or in anterior-posterior gradients, but left midtemporal metabolism was relatively higher in patients. This was pronounced in the negative and Schneiderian and absent in the paranoid subtypes. Higher metabolism and lower relative left hemispheric values were associated with better premorbid adjustment and outcome. A higher subcortical-cortical gradient was noted in first-episode patients. CONCLUSIONS: There are no resting metabolic abnormalities in any brain region, but abnormal gradients are evident. These vary in subtypes, and laterality is associated with functioning. The results support the hypothesis of temporolimbic disturbance in schizophrenia that is all ready present at the onset of illness.
Assuntos
Glucose/metabolismo , Esquizofrenia/diagnóstico , Adulto , Encéfalo/diagnóstico por imagem , Encéfalo/metabolismo , Desoxiglucose/análogos & derivados , Desoxiglucose/metabolismo , Feminino , Radioisótopos de Flúor/metabolismo , Fluordesoxiglucose F18 , Seguimentos , Lateralidade Funcional , Humanos , Estudos Longitudinais , Imageamento por Ressonância Magnética , Masculino , Esquizofrenia/diagnóstico por imagem , Lobo Temporal/diagnóstico por imagem , Lobo Temporal/metabolismo , Tomografia Computadorizada de EmissãoRESUMO
BACKGROUND: The observation that dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) concentrations decrease markedly with age has led to the hypothesis that declining DHEA concentrations may contribute to age-related changes in cognition. In the United States, DHEA is widely available as an over-the-counter supplement that individuals are using in an effort to ameliorate age-related cognitive and physical changes. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between age-associated decreases in endogenous DHEA sulfate (DHEA-S) concentrations and declines in neuropsychological performance in a prospective, longitudinal study. METHODS: The subjects were 883 men from a community-dwelling volunteer sample in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging. The men were aged 22 to 91 years at the initial visit, and they were followed up for as long as 31 years (mean, 11. 55 years), with biennial reassessments of multiple cognitive domains and contemporaneous measurement of serum DHEA-S concentrations. Outcome measures were the results of cognitive tests of verbal and visual memory, 2 tests of mental status, phonemic and semantic word fluency tests, and measures of visuomotor scanning and attention. Serum DHEA-S concentrations were determined by standard radioimmunoassay. RESULTS: Neither the rates of decline in mean DHEA-S concentrations nor the mean DHEA-S concentrations within individuals were related to cognitive status or cognitive decline. A comparison between the highest and lowest DHEA-S quartiles revealed no cognitive differences, despite the fact that these groups differed in endogenous DHEA-S concentration by more than a factor of 4 for a mean duration of 12 years. CONCLUSION: Our longitudinal results augment those of previous prospective studies by suggesting that the decline in endogenous DHEA-S concentration is independent of cognitive status and cognitive decline in healthy aging men.