| 1. |
- Seblova, Dominika, et al.
(author)
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Does Prolonged Education Causally Affect Dementia Risk When Adult Socioeconomic Status Is Not Altered? A Swedish Natural Experiment in 1.3 Million Individuals
- 2021
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In: American Journal of Epidemiology. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0002-9262 .- 1476-6256. ; 190:5, s. 817-826
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Intervening on modifiable risk factors to prevent dementia is of key importance, since progress-modifying treatments are not currently available. Education is inversely associated with dementia risk, but causality and mechanistic pathways remain unclear. We aimed to examine the causality of this relationship in Sweden using, as a natural experiment, data on a compulsory schooling reform that extended primary education by 1 year for 70% of the population between 1936 and 1949. The reform introduced substantial exogenous variation in education that was unrelated to pupils' characteristics. We followed 18 birth cohorts (n = 1,341,842) from 1985 to 2016 (up to ages 79-96 years) for a dementia diagnosis in the National Inpatient and Cause of Death registers and fitted Cox survival models with stratified baseline hazards at the school-district level, chronological age as the time scale, and cohort indicators. Analyses indicated very small or negligible causal effects of education on dementia risk (main hazard ratio = 1.01, 95% confidence interval: 0.98, 1.04). Multiple sensitivity checks considering only compliers, the pre-/post- design, differences in health-care-seeking behavior, and the impact of exposure misclassification left the results essentially unaltered. The reform had limited effects on further adult socioeconomic outcomes, such as income. Our findings suggest that without mediation through adult socioeconomic position, education cannot be uncritically considered a modifiable risk factor for dementia.
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| 2. |
- Brose, Annette, et al.
(author)
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Daily Fluctuations in Positive Affect Positively Co-Vary With Working Memory Performance
- 2014
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In: Emotion. - : American Psychological Association (APA). - 1528-3542 .- 1931-1516. ; 14:1, s. 1-6
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Positive affect is related to cognitive performance in multiple ways. It is associated with motivational aspects of performance, affective states capture attention, and information processing modes are a function of affect. In this study, we examined whether these links are relevant within individuals across time when they experience minor ups and downs of positive affect and work on cognitive tasks in the laboratory on a day-to-day basis. Using a microlongitudinal design, 101 younger adults (20-31 years of age) worked on 3 working memory tasks on about 100 occasions. Every day, they also reported on their momentary affect and their motivation to work on the tasks. In 2 of the 3 tasks, performance was enhanced on days when positive affect was above average. This performance enhancement was also associated with more motivation. Importantly, increases in task performance on days with above-average positive affect were mainly unrelated to variations in negative affect. This study's results are in line with between-person findings suggesting that high levels of well-being are associated with successful outcomes. They imply that success on cognitively demanding tasks is more likely on days when feeling happier.
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| 3. |
- Papenberg, Goran, et al.
(author)
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Mapping the landscape of human dopamine D2/3 receptors with [11C]raclopride
- 2019
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In: Brain Structure and Function. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1863-2653 .- 1863-2661. ; 224:8, s. 2871-2882
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The dopamine D2/3 system is fundamental for sensory, motor, emotional, and cognitive aspects of behavior. Small-scale human histopathological and animal studies show high density of D2/3 dopamine receptors (D2/3DR) in striatum, but also demonstrate the existence of such receptors across cortical and limbic regions. Assessment of D2/3DR BPND in the extrastriatal regions with [C-11]raclopride has long been considered unreliable due to the relatively low density of D2/3DR outside the striatum. We describe the distribution and interregional links of D2/3DR availability measured with PET and [C-11]raclopride across the human brain in a large sample (N = 176; age range 64-68 years). Structural equation modeling revealed that D2/3DR availability can be organized according to anatomical (nigrostriatal, mesolimbic, mesocortical) and functional (limbic, associative, sensorimotor) dopamine pathways. D2/3DR availability in corticolimbic functional subdivisions showed differential associations to corresponding striatal subdivisions, extending animal and pharmacological work. Our findings provide evidence on the dimensionality and organization of [C-11]raclopride D2/3DR availability in the living human brain that conforms to known dopaminergic pathways.
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| 4. |
- Wang, Rui, et al.
(author)
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Effects of vascular risk factors and APOE epsilon 4 on white matter integrity and cognitive decline
- 2015
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In: Neurology. - 0028-3878 .- 1526-632X. ; 84:11, s. 1128-1135
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Objective:To investigate the effects of vascular risk factors and APOE status on white matter microstructure, and subsequent cognitive decline among older people.Methods:This study included 241 participants (age 60 years and older) from the population-based Swedish National Study on Aging and Care in Kungsholmen in central Stockholm, Sweden, who were free of dementia and stroke at baseline (2001-2004). We collected data through interviews, clinical examinations, and laboratory tests. We measured fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) on diffusion tensor imaging, and estimated volume of white matter hyperintensities using automatic segmentation. We assessed global cognitive function with the Mini-Mental State Examination at baseline and at 3- and/or 6-year follow-up. We analyzed the data using multivariate linear regression and linear mixed models.Results:Heavy alcohol consumption, hypertension, and diabetes were significantly associated with lower FA or higher MD (p < 0.05). When aggregating heavy alcohol consumption, hypertension, and diabetes together with current smoking, having an increasing number of these 4 factors concurrently was associated with decreasing FA and increasing MD (p(trend) < 0.01), independent of white matter hyperintensities. Vascular risk factors and APOE epsilon 4 allele interacted to negatively affect white matter microstructure; having multiple (2) vascular factors was particularly detrimental to white matter integrity among APOE epsilon 4 carriers. Lower tertile of FA and upper tertile of MD were significantly associated with faster Mini-Mental State Examination decline.Conclusions:Vascular risk factors are associated with reduced white matter integrity among older adults, which subsequently predicted faster cognitive decline. The detrimental effects of vascular risk factors on white matter microstructure were exacerbated among APOE epsilon 4 carriers.
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