| 1. |
- Bergman, Olle, 1978, et al.
(författare)
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Do polymorphisms in transcription factors LMX1A and LMX1B influence the risk for Parkinson's disease?
- 2009
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Ingår i: Journal of neural transmission (Vienna, Austria : 1996). - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1435-1463 .- 0300-9564. ; 116:3, s. 333-8
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The key symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD) are caused by degeneration of dopamine neurons originating in substantia nigra. Whereas, transcription factor LMX1A is crucial for the differentiation of mesencephalic dopamine neurons, LMX1B appears to be important for both the development and the survival of these cells. The aim of this study was to investigate if genetic variation in LMX1A and LMX1B differs between patients with PD (n = 357) and control subjects (n = 1428) by genotyping 33 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in LMX1A and 11 SNPs in LMX1B. Three SNPs in LMX1A and one in LMX1B were associated with PD. After splitting for gender, six SNPs were associated with PD in women and four in men. The significances obtained did not survive correction for multiple testing, and our results should hence be interpreted with caution, but are partly in line with a previous report, and should thus be of sufficient interest to encourage further studies of these genes in PD.
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| 2. |
- Ferreira, Daniel, et al.
(författare)
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The interactive effect of demographic and clinical factors on hippocampal volume : A multicohort study on 1958 cognitively normal individuals
- 2017
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Ingår i: Hippocampus. - : Wiley. - 1050-9631 .- 1098-1063. ; 27:6, s. 653-667
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Alzheimer's disease is characterized by hippocampal atrophy. Other factors also influence the hippocampal volume, but their interactive effect has not been investigated before in cognitively healthy individuals. The aim of this study is to evaluate the interactive effect of key demographic and clinical factors on hippocampal volume, in contrast to previous studies frequently investigating these factors in a separate manner. Also, to investigate how comparable the control groups from ADNI, AIBL, and AddNeuroMed are with five population-based cohorts. In this study, 1958 participants were included (100 AddNeuroMed, 226 ADNI, 155 AIBL, 59 BRC, 295 GENIC, 279 BioFiNDER, 398 PIVUS, and 446 SNAC-K). ANOVA and random forest were used for testing between-cohort differences in demographic-clinical variables. Multiple regression was used to study the influence of demographic-clinical variables on hippocampal volume. ANCOVA was used to analyze whether between-cohort differences in demographic-clinical variables explained between-cohort differences in hippocampal volume. Age and global brain atrophy were the most important variables in explaining variability in hippocampal volume. These variables were not only important themselves but also in interaction with gender, education, MMSE, and total intracranial volume. AddNeuroMed, ADNI, and AIBL differed from the population-based cohorts in several demographic-clinical variables that had a significant effect on hippocampal volume. Variability in hippocampal volume in individuals with normal cognition is high. Differences that previously tended to be related to disease mechanisms could also be partly explained by demographic and clinical factors independent from the disease. Furthermore, cognitively normal individuals especially from ADNI and AIBL are not representative of the general population. These findings may have important implications for future research and clinical trials, translating imaging biomarkers to the general population, and validating current diagnostic criteria for Alzheimer's disease and predementia stages.
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| 3. |
- Khan, Wasim, et al.
(författare)
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A Multi-Cohort Study of ApoE epsilon 4 and Amyloid-beta Effects on the Hippocampus in Alzheimer's Disease
- 2017
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Ingår i: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease. - 1387-2877 .- 1875-8908. ; 56:3, s. 1159-1174
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene has been consistently shown to modulate the risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Here, using an AD and normal aging dataset primarily consisting of three AD multi-center studies (n = 1,781), we compared the effect of APOE and amyloid-beta (A beta) on baseline hippocampal volumes in AD patients, mild cognitive impairment (MCI) subjects, and healthy controls. A large sample of healthy adolescents (n = 1,387) was also used to compare hippocampal volumes between APOE groups. Subjects had undergone a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan and APOE genotyping. Hippocampal volumes were processed using FreeSurfer. In the AD and normal aging dataset, hippocampal comparisons were performed in each APOE group and in epsilon 4 carriers with positron emission tomography (PET) A beta who were dichotomized (A beta+/A beta-) using previous cut-offs. We found a linear reduction in hippocampal volumes with epsilon 4 carriers possessing the smallest volumes, epsilon 3 carriers possessing intermediate volumes, and epsilon 2 carriers possessing the largest volumes. Moreover, AD and MCI epsilon 4 carriers possessed the smallest hippocampal volumes and control epsilon 2 carriers possessed the largest hippocampal volumes. Subjects with both APOE epsilon 4 and A beta positivity had the lowest hippocampal volumes when compared to A beta-epsilon 4 carriers, suggesting a synergistic relationship between APOE epsilon 4 and A beta. However, we found no hippocampal volume differences between APOE groups in healthy 14-year-old adolescents. Our findings suggest that the strongest neuroanatomic effect of APOE epsilon 4 on the hippocampus is observed in AD and groups most at risk of developing the disease, whereas hippocampi of old and young healthy individuals remain unaffected.
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| 4. |
- Laukka, Erika J., et al.
(författare)
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Associations between White Matter Microstructure and Cognitive Performance in Old and Very Old Age
- 2013
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Ingår i: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 8:11
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Increasing age is associated with deficits in a wide range of cognitive domains as well as with structural brain changes. Recent studies using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) have shown that microstructural integrity of white matter is associated with cognitive performance in elderly persons, especially on tests that rely on perceptual speed. We used structural equation modeling to investigate associations between white matter microstructure and cognitive functions in a population-based sample of elderly persons (age >= 60 years), free of dementia, stroke, and neurological disorders (n = 253). Participants underwent a magnetic resonance imaging scan, from which mean fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) of seven white matter tracts were quantified. Cognitive functioning was analyzed according to performance in five task domains (perceptual speed, episodic memory, semantic memory, letter fluency, and category fluency). After controlling for age, FA and MD were exclusively related to perceptual speed. When further stratifying the sample into two age groups, the associations were reliable in the old-old (>= 78 years) only. This relationship between white matter microstructure and perceptual speed remained significant after excluding persons in a preclinical dementia phase. The observed pattern of results suggests that microstructural white matter integrity may be especially important to perceptual speed among very old adults.
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| 5. |
- Lövdén, Martin, et al.
(författare)
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The dimensionality of between-person differences in white matter microstructure in old age
- 2013
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Ingår i: Human Brain Mapping. - : Wiley. - 1065-9471 .- 1097-0193. ; 34:6, s. 1386-1398
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Between-person differences in white matter microstructure may partly generalize across the brain and partly play out differently for distinct tracts. We used diffusion-tensor imaging and structural equation modeling to investigate this issue in a sample of 260 adults aged 60–87 years. Mean fractional anisotropy and mean diffusivity of seven white matter tracts in each hemisphere were quantified. Results showed good fit of a model positing that individual differences in white matter microstructure are structured according to tracts. A general factor, although accounting for variance in the measures, did not adequately represent the individual differences. This indicates the presence of a substantial amount of tract-specific individual differences in white matter microstructure. In addition, individual differences are to a varying degree shared between tracts, indicating that general factors also affect white matter microstructure. Age-related differences in white matter microstructure were present for all tracts. Correlations among tract factors did not generally increase as a function of age, suggesting that aging is not a process with homogenous effects on white matter microstructure across the brain. These findings highlight the need for future research to examine whether relations between white matter microstructure and diverse outcomes are specific or general. Hum Brain Mapp, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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| 6. |
- Wang, Rui, et al.
(författare)
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Mixed brain lesions mediate the association between cardiovascular risk burden and cognitive decline in old age : A population-based study
- 2017
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Ingår i: Alzheimer's & Dementia. - : Wiley. - 1552-5260 .- 1552-5279. ; 13:3, s. 247-256
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Introduction: The underlying pathological mechanisms linking cardiovascular burden to cognitive decline remain unclear. Methods: We investigated the associations of the Framingham general cardiovascular risk score (FGCRS), apolipoprotein E (APOE) 64, and brain structure with the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) decline using the 9-year follow-up data from Swedish National Study on Aging and Care in Kungsholmen (n = 2189, age >= 60) and the embedded magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) (n = 448) studies. Volumes of white matter hyperintensities (WMHs), total gray matter, ventricles, and hippo campus were assessed in the MRI sample. Results: A higher FGCRS was associated with faster MMSE decline in young-old people (60-72 years) but not in old-old (>= 78 years). Larger volumes of cerebral WMHs and ventricles and smaller volumes of total gray matter and hippocampus were all associated with accelerated MMSE decline (P <.01); these associations were stronger among APOE epsilon 4 carriers than noncarriers. Simultaneously entering multiple brain lesion markers as mediators in the model substantially attenuated the association between FGCRS and MMSE decline. Discussion: The effect of cardiovascular risk burden on cognitive deterioration in old age is largely mediated by mixed brain lesions.
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| 7. |
- Zhang, Yi, et al.
(författare)
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Acceleration of hippocampal atrophy in a non-demented elderly population : the SNAC-K study
- 2010
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Ingår i: International psychogeriatrics. - 1041-6102 .- 1741-203X. ; 22:1, s. 14-25
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND: Brain atrophy in Alzheimer's disease (AD) includes not only AD-specific brain atrophy but also the atrophy induced by normal aging. Atrophy of the hippocampus has been one diagnostic marker of AD, but it was also found to emerge in healthy adults, along with increasing age. It was reported that the important age when age-related shrinkage of the hippocampus starts was around the mid-40s. The aim is to study the aging atrophy speed and acceleration of brain atrophy in a cross-sectional database, to identify the age at which acceleration of hippocampal atrophy starts in non-demented elderly persons.METHODS: 544 subjects (aged 60-97 years; 318 female and 226 male) were recruited into the MRI study by using a subsample of an epidemiological sample of 3363 healthy non-demented elderly people (over 60 years of age). Hippocampus and ventricle sizes were measured.RESULTS: The normalized volumes (by intracranial volume, ICV) of the hippocampus in males were smaller than those in females. The right hippocampus was larger than the left. The expansion of the lateral ventricles (2.80% per year in males, 2.95% in females) and third ventricle (1.58% and 2.28%, respectively) was more marked than the hippocampal shrinkage (0.68% and 0.79%, respectively). The suggested age at which acceleration of hippocampal atrophy starts is 72 years.CONCLUSIONS: Males present smaller hippocampus volumes (normalized by ICV) than females; however, females are more vulnerable to hippocampal atrophy in a non-demented elderly population. An acceleration of hippocampal atrophy may emerge and start around 72 years of age in a non-demented elderly population.
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| 8. |
- Gallo, Federico, et al.
(författare)
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Cognitive Trajectories and Dementia Risk : A Comparison of Two Cognitive Reserve Measures.
- 2021
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Ingår i: Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience. - : Frontiers Media S.A.. - 1663-4365 .- 1663-4365. ; 13
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background and Objectives: Cognitive reserve (CR) is meant to account for the mismatch between brain damage and cognitive decline or dementia. Generally, CR has been operationalized using proxy variables indicating exposure to enriching activities (activity-based CR). An alternative approach defines CR as residual variance in cognition, not explained by the brain status (residual-based CR). The aim of this study is to compare activity-based and residual-based CR measures in their association with cognitive trajectories and dementia. Furthermore, we seek to examine if the two measures modify the impact of brain integrity on cognitive trajectories and if they predict dementia incidence independent of brain status.Methods: We used data on 430 older adults aged 60+ from the Swedish National Study on Aging and Care in Kungsholmen, followed for 12 years. Residual-based reserve was computed from a regression predicting episodic memory with a brain-integrity index incorporating six structural neuroimaging markers (white-matter hyperintensities volume, whole-brain gray matter volume, hippocampal volume, lateral ventricular volume, lacunes, and perivascular spaces), age, and sex. Activity-based reserve incorporated education, work complexity, social network, and leisure activities. Cognition was assessed with a composite of perceptual speed, semantic memory, letter-, and category fluency. Dementia was clinically diagnosed in accordance with DSM-IV criteria. Linear mixed models were used for cognitive change analyses. Interactions tested if reserve measures modified the association between brain-integrity and cognitive change. Cox proportional hazard models, adjusted for brain-integrity index, assessed dementia risk.Results: Both reserve measures were associated with cognitive trajectories [β × time (top tertile, ref.: bottom tertile) = 0.013; 95% CI: -0.126, -0.004 (residual-based) and 0.011; 95% CI: -0.001, 0.024, (activity-based)]. Residual-based, but not activity-based reserve mitigated the impact of brain integrity on cognitive decline [β (top tertile × time × brain integrity) = -0.021; 95% CI: -0.043, 0.001] and predicted 12-year dementia incidence, after accounting for the brain-integrity status [HR (top tertile) = 0.23; 95% CI: 0.09, 0.58].Interpretation: The operationalization of reserve based on residual cognitive performance may represent a more direct measure of CR than an activity-based approach. Ultimately, the two models of CR serve largely different aims. Accounting for brain integrity is essential in any model of reserve.
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| 9. |
- Gerritsen, L., et al.
(författare)
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The influence of negative life events on hippocampal and amygdala volumes in old age : a life-course perspective
- 2014
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Ingår i: Psychological Medicine. - 0033-2917 .- 1469-8978. ; 45:6, s. 1219-1228
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND: Psychosocial stress has been related to changes in the nervous system, with both adaptive and maladaptive consequences. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship of negative events experienced throughout the entire lifespan and hippocampal and amygdala volumes in older adults.METHOD: In 466 non-demented old adults (age range 60-96 years, 58% female), hippocampal and amygdala volumes were segmented using Freesurfer. Negative life events and the age at which these events occurred were assessed by means of a structured questionnaire. Using generalized linear models, hippocampal and amygdala volumes were estimated with life events as independent variables. The statistical analyses were adjusted for age, gender, intracranial volume, lifestyle factors, cardiovascular risk factors, depressive symptoms, and cognitive functioning.RESULTS: Total number of negative life events and of late-life events, but not of early-life, early-adulthood, or middle-adulthood events, was related to larger amygdala volume. There were interactions of early-life events with age and gender. Participants who reported two or more early-life events had significantly smaller amygdala and hippocampal volumes with increasing age. Furthermore, smaller hippocampal volume was found in men who reported two or more early-life events, but not in women.CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that the effect of negative life events on the brain depends on the time when the events occurred, with the strongest effects observed during the critical time periods of early and late life.
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| 10. |
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