(Press-News.org) Jason Yang has been awarded nearly $400,000 from the National Institute on Aging to explore the role of lifestyle physical activity (light movements, walking) in cognition among insufficiently active older adults with higher risks for Alzheimer’s or related dementias. The exercise science assistant professor will use the two-year R21 grant to help determine if frequent and regular engagement in lifestyle physical activity over time may benefit cognitive function for this population.
A nationwide problem
“The escalating incidence of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias places a tremendous economic burden on society and families, making up the largest health care cost expenditure in the U.S.,” Yang says. “We still don’t have an effective cure for treating these conditions but non-pharmacological strategies, such as physical activity, hold promise for sustaining cognition and reducing the risk of developing brain diseases.”
These prior studies have focused on the total amount of light-intensity physical activity (e.g., steps in a day) and have not looked at the day-to-day variability (or stability) of light physical activity and its association with brain health. This variation in lifestyle physical activity presents an opportunity for more achievable behavioral change that becomes part of a daily lifestyle. If favorable findings are observed, public health researchers and professionals can promote and amplify the benefits for cognitive health through enhancing consistency but not intensity of physical activity in daily life.
Seeking solutions
With this study, Yang and his team will recruit ethnically diverse older adults (ages 60+) who are insufficiently active and have higher risks for developing Alzheimer’s or related dementias. While wearing an activity tracker for 30 days, each participant will complete daily surveys to assess stress, sleep and social engagements – all factors that influence older adults’ physical activity and cognition on a given day. After the one-month monitoring period, the participants will complete cognitive measures at three follow-up occasions.
“This is the first study of its kind to look at the intersection of both volume and variation of light physical activity on cognition for at-risk older adults,” Yang says. “We’ll also be investigating whether sex, age, and race/ethnicity differences play a role in these patterns and relationships. Our goal is to identify achievable lifestyle health behaviors that can be used in boarder older adult populations to reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s and related dementias.”
END
New study will examine impact of lifestyle physical activity on cognition for older adults
2023-08-29
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
More sleep could reduce impulsive behavior in children
2023-08-29
Sleep is a critical part of a child’s overall health, but it can also be an important factor in the way they behave.
According to a new study from the Youth Development Institute at University of Georgia, getting enough sleep can help children combat the effects of stressful environments.
“Stressful environments are shown to make adolescents seek immediate rewards rather than delayed rewards, but there are also adolescents who are in stressful environments who are not impulsive,” said lead author Linhao Zhang, a fourth-year doctoral student in UGA’s College of Family and Consumer Sciences. “We looked at what explains that link and what makes some people ...
New study sheds light on the role of Wnt/β-catenin signaling in abdominal aortic aneurysm
2023-08-29
Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA), a common degenerative vascular disease, particularly afflicts men over the age of 60, with up to 8% affected. Characterized by the abnormal dilation of the abdominal aorta, AAA risks a potentially fatal rupture. Despite increasing research efforts, effective pharmaceutical strategies to curb aneurysm growth remain elusive.
In a study published in the journal of Genes & Diseases, researchers from Sant Pau Hospital Research Institute and Biomedical Research Institute Sant Pau scrutinized the Wnt signaling pathway's deregulation in human abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA). This ...
Combining AI models improves breast cancer risk assessment
2023-08-29
OAK BROOK, Ill. – Combining artificial intelligence (AI) systems for short- and long-term breast cancer risk results in an improved cancer risk assessment, according to a study published in Radiology, a journal of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).
Most breast cancer screening programs take a one-size-fits-all approach and follow the same protocols when it comes to determining a woman’s lifetime risk of developing breast cancer. Using mammography-based deep learning models may improve the accuracy of breast cancer risk assessment and can also lead to earlier ...
Anionic nanogel delivers effective anti-obesity drug to mouse livers
2023-08-29
An anti-obesity drug can be delivered selectively to the liver using a nanogel-based carrier, according to a study. Synthetic thyroid hormone mimics are promising treatments for metabolic diseases including metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes, and inflammatory liver disease; however, the molecules are not highly bioavailable or potent, which are necessary to see significant weight loss. S. Thayumanavan and colleagues designed a nanogel-based carrier with anionic moieties on the surface ...
Australia’s Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) selects Symplectic Elements to enable comprehensive research management
2023-08-29
Digital Science, a technology company serving stakeholders across the research ecosystem, is pleased to announce that Australia’s Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) has chosen Symplectic Elements from Digital Science’s flagship products to advance awareness of its world-class research.
ANSTO is the home to some of Australia’s most significant national infrastructure for research. Thousands of scientists from industry and academia benefit from gaining access to ANSTO’s ...
Molecule reduces inflammation in Alzheimer’s models
2023-08-29
Though drug developers have achieved some progress in treating Alzheimer’s disease with medicines that reduce amyloid-beta protein, other problems of the disease including inflammation, continue unchecked. In a new study, scientists at The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT describe a candidate drug that in human cell cultures and Alzheimer’s mouse models reduced inflammation and improved memory.
The target of the new “A11” molecule is a genetic transcription factor called PU.1. Prior research has shown that amid Alzheimer’s disease, PU.1 ...
Disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on American Indians
2023-08-29
A study of COVID-19 patients at a New Mexico hospital finds that the virus hit American Indian patients particularly hard—even though Native American patients had fewer other illnesses or conditions than non-native patients. Douglas Perkins and colleagues analyzed data on 475 patients with COVID-19 infections from the University of New Mexico Hospital. The sample was 30.7% Native American, 47% Hispanic, and 18.5% non-Hispanic White. At admission, Native American patients were younger, more likely to need ...
Novel SwRI-developed antenna array wins 2023 R&D 100 Award
2023-08-29
SAN ANTONIO — August 29, 2023 —Novel Southwest Research Institute-developed direction-finding technology has won a prestigious R&D 100 Award. R&D World Magazine has recognized SwRI’s Wideband Conformal Continuous-Slot Antenna Array as one of the 100 most significant innovations for 2023.
“Southwest Research Institute strives to uncover innovative solutions to complex problems,” said SwRI President and CEO Adam L. Hamilton, P.E. “I am very proud of the work SwRI does and pleased to know this technology, which will provide significant support to naval operations, has been recognized as one of the most important innovations ...
Texas Biomed partners with Scancell to test novel COVID vaccine
2023-08-29
SAN ANTONIO (Aug. 29, 2023) – A DNA-based vaccine is very effective at protecting against COVID-19, according to a joint preclinical study by Scancell Ltd and Texas Biomedical Research Institute (Texas Biomed) recently published in the Journal of Biotechnology and Biomedicine.
Unlike the Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines that use messenger RNA (mRNA) to cue the immune system to produce antibodies, this vaccine platform uses sections of viral DNA to achieve a similar result.
“There is always a need to develop new, or improve on existing vaccines to ensure we have effective tools to counter emerging variants,” says Texas Biomed Innovation ...
Chytrid fungi revealed to be parasitic species that infects snow algae
2023-08-29
The microbial communities found in glacier and snowpack ecosystems are an essential part of cold weather environments. Chytrids, a group of fungi that include well-known frog pathogens, are often found in abundance in these ecosystems, but culturing these organisms and learning more about their lifecycle, including their relationship to the snow algae found in these environments, has proven challenging.
In a recently published paper, researchers revealed that they were able to analyze chytrid DNA from two alpine snowpack sites in Japan using single-spore PCR.
The paper was published in Frontiers in Microbiology on June 20.
“We have captured the chytrids ...