OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS: To identify treatable risk factors for aspiration in older adults, particularly those associated with sarcopenia, we examined tongue composition. We hypothesized that isometric and swallowing posterior tongue strength would positively correlate with posterior tongue adiposity, and healthy older adults who aspirate would have greater tongue adiposity than healthy older ...

Art through the ages has been a marker of societal trends and fashion. Obesity is proscribed by physicians and almost reviled by today's society. While Venus (Aphrodite) continues to be the role model for those to aspire to free themselves from the clutches of obesity, Paleolithic humans had a different ...

Psychological stress has extreme adverse consequences on health. However, the molecular mechanisms that mediate and accelerate the process of aging due to stress hormone are not well defined. This review has focused on diverse molecular paths that come out in response to chronic psychological stress via releasing of excessive glucocorticoids ...

Epidemiologic studies indicate that the risks for major age-related debilities including CHD, diabetes, and age-related macular degeneration (AMD) are diminished in people who consume lower glycemic index (GI) diets but lack of a unifying physiobiochemical mechanism that explains the salutary effect is a barrier to implementing dietary practices that capture ...

Intracellular proteins are degraded by a number of proteases, including the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway (UPP). Impairments in the UPP occur during the aging of a variety of tissues, although little is known in regards to age-related alterations to the UPP during the aging of adipose tissue. The UPP is known to ...

Cytoplasmic Ags derived from viruses, cytosolic bacteria, tumors, and allografts are presented to T cells by MHC class I or class II molecules. In the case of class II-restricted Ags, professional APCs acquire them during uptake of dead class II-negative cells and present them via a process called indirect presentation. ...

Nicotine, the primary addictive component of tobacco, affects the mammalian brain. Smokers' brains have smaller cortical grey matter volumes and/or lower densities compared with non-smokers'. Differences in subcortical structures like the striatum are however, less clear. A high concentration of nicotinic receptors makes the striatum a potential target for nicotine. ...

Objective: Adolescents are particularly vulnerable to addiction, and in the case of smoking, this often leads to long-lasting nicotine dependence. The authors investigated a possible neural mechanism underlying this vulnerability. Method: Functional MRI was performed during reward anticipation in 43 adolescent smokers and 43 subjects matched on age, gender, and ...

Though popular, there is little agreement on what whole-body vibration (WBV) parameters will optimize performance. This study aimed to clarify the effects of age, sex, hertz and time on four physical function indicators in community-dwelling older adults (N = 32). Participants were exposed to 2 min WBV per session at either ...

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of in utero and lactational exposure to nicotine on the male reproductive tract. Dams were randomly assigned to receive saline or nicotine bitartrate (1mg/kg-d s.c.) daily for two weeks prior to mating until weaning (postnatal day 21). Male offspring were ...

This study aims to estimate general and racial-ethnic specific cumulative probability of developing dependence among nicotine, alcohol, cannabis or cocaine users, and to identify predictors of transition to substance dependence. Analyses were done for the subsample of lifetime nicotine (n=15,918), alcohol (n=28,907), cannabis (n=7389) or cocaine (n=2259) users who participated ...

The relative contributions of Alzheimer disease (AD) and vascular lesion burden to the occurrence of cognitive decline are more difficult to define in the oldest-old than they are in younger cohorts. To address this issue, we examined 93 prospectively documented autopsy cases from 90 to 103 years with various degrees ...

Spiritual reminiscence is a way of telling a life story with emphasis on meaning. Spiritual reminiscence can identify meaning associated with joy, sadness, anger, guilt, or regret. Exploring these issues in older age can help people to reframe some of these events and come to new understanding of the meaning ...

To examine the association between changes in body mass index (BMI), dementia, and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Prospective observational study. Urban community in Indianapolis, Indiana. Participants were African Americans aged 65 and older enrolled in the Indianapolis Dementia Project and followed through 2007. This analysis included 1,331 participants who did ...

A translated version of the Mattis Dementia Rating Scale (DRS) into Greek ((DRS-GR) was applied to a sample of Greek population (N = 356) comprising normal middle-aged and elderly subjects (controls), as well as patients suffering from Parkinson's (PD) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) to test its reliability and validity. A ...

To better understand conceptualizations of dementia, this study explored causal attributions of dementia among 209 Korean Americans, using a self-administered questionnaire in Korean. Findings show that Korean Americans endorsed various causal attributions. Factor analysis yielded 3 dimensions of their attributions including psychological, physical/environmental, and cognitive/social. Bivariate analyses showed that younger ...

Accurate assessment of the effect of dementia on healthcare utilization and costs requires separation of the effects of comorbid conditions, often poorly accounted for in existing claims-based studies. To determine whether two different types of comorbidity and risk adjustment scales, the Chronic Disease Score (CDS) and the Cumulative Illness Rating ...

OBJECTIVE: To identify independent risk factors of mortality in a community-based Parkinson disease (PD) cohort during prospective long-term follow-up. METHODS: A community-based prevalent sample of 230 patients with PD from southwestern Norway was followed prospectively with repetitive assessments of motor and nonmotor symptoms from 1993 to 2005. Information on vital ...

Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB) is a common neurodegenerative disorder of the aging population characterized by α-synuclein accumulation in cortical and subcortical regions. Although neuropathology in advanced age has been investigated in dementias such as Alzheimer Disease (AD), severity of the neuropathology in the oldest old with DLB remains uncharacterized. ...

We investigated the prevalence of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in Olmsted County, MN, using in-person evaluations and published criteria. We evaluated an age- and sex-stratified random sample of Olmsted County residents who were 70-89 years old on October 1, 2004, using the Clinical Dementia Rating Scale, a neurologic evaluation, and ...

To model impact of modifiable risk behaviour on dementia prevalence among the Australian population aged 45 years and over. A group-based computer model was constructed to estimate the impact of modifying risk behaviour on dementia prevalence. Based on population ageing, the number of people aged 45 years and over living ...

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the incidence of early-onset dementia (EOD) and to compare the clinical characteristics of EOD vs late-onset dementia (LOD) in a geographically defined area. METHODS: We used data from the Registry of Dementia of Girona (ReDeGi), an epidemiologic surveillance system of dementia. The ReDeGi is a standardized clinical ...

The relationship between weight and dementia risk has not been investigated in populations with relatively low body mass index (BMI) such as the Yoruba. This study set out to achieve this objective using a prospective observational design. The setting was Idikan Ward in Ibadan City, Nigeria. The participants were all ...

ABSTRACTBackground: Dementia has important public health implications. The magnitude of the problem remains largely unknown in the developing countries.Methods: Three hundred and twenty-two community dwelling elderly persons and their caregivers in Zaria, Northern-Nigeria were enrolled in this study. They were interviewed using Community Screening Interview for Dementia (CSI-D), Consortium to ...

ABSTRACTBackground: Adult leg length is influenced by nutrition in the first few years of life. Adult head circumference is an indicator of brain growth. There is a limited literature linking short legs and small skulls to an increased risk for cognitive impairment and dementia in late life.Methods: One phase cross-sectional ...

Antiparkinson drugs (APDs) are the mainstay in the management of Parkinson's disease (PD). However, the use of APDs has not been investigated in a nationally representative sample. This study aimed to describe the prevalence and patterns of APD use and to identify determinants of APD use among elderly Medicare beneficiaries ...

Early diagnosis of dementia requires knowledge about associated predictors. The aim of this study was to determine the impact of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and impairment in instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) on the time to an incident dementia diagnosis.MethodData were derived from the Leipzig Longitudinal Study of the ...

Recent studies suggest that dementia in the most elderly (90 years of age and above) is only modestly related to Alzheimer's disease pathology. This raises the possibility that other, as yet unknown, disease processes may underlie dementia in this rapidly growing demographic group, and that efforts designed to combat Alzheimer's ...

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to study if age-related white matter changes (WMC) and vascular risk factors were predictors of cognitive decline in elderly subjects with WMC living independently. METHODS: The Leukoaraiosis and Disability prospective multinational European study (LADIS) evaluates the impact of WMC on the transition of independent elderly subjects into ...

To examine secular trends in the prevalence of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and vascular dementia (VD) in a general Japanese population. Four cross-sectional examinations were conducted among residents of a Japanese community aged >or=65 in 1985, 1992, 1998 and 2005. The age- and sex-adjusted prevalence of all-cause dementia significantly increased with ...

The number of people with dementia has increased dramatically with global ageing. Nevertheless, the pathogeneses of these diseases are not sufficiently understood. The present study aims to analyse the relationship between psychological stress in midlife and the development of dementia in late-life. A representative sample of females (n = 1462) ...

To determine whether offspring of parents with exceptional longevity (OPEL) have a lower rate of dementia than offspring of parents with usual survival (OPUS). Community-based prospective cohort study. Bronx, New York. A volunteer sample of 424 community-residing older adults without dementia aged 75 to 85 recruited from Bronx County starting ...

We developed a Korean version of Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE) optimized for screening dementia (MMSE-DS) and its' short form (SMMSE-DS). We constructed the MMSE-DS using the items of the two current Korean versions of MMSE and then construct the SMMSE-DS consisted of 13 items from the MMSE-DS based on the ...

There has been an exponential growth in the number of elderly population in India. This study aims to determine the prevalence of dementia in an urban center of Pune and to evaluate the corresponding socio-demographic correlates along with psychiatric morbidity in the study sample. The study population in Pune and ...

BACKGROUND: Despite rapid development of epidemiology in dementia, reported prevalence in Asia varies among studies and differs from that of Western countries. Few reported the mortality and predictive factors on survival of dementia in Asia, especially China. METHODS: To characterize the epidemiologic pattern of dementia in Shanghai, China, including prevalence ...

To construct a (18)F-FDG PET normative database of Japanese healthy elderly subjects and to apply it to demented and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) patients. Seventy-seven Japanese normal volunteers from 41 to 84 years of age (36 males and 41 females) who underwent clinical, neuropsychological, and MRI examinations were selected. In ...

In 1997 we examined the prevalence of dementia among the Japanese elderly immigrants living in the São Paulo metropolitan area (n=166). Herein, we followed up on these subjects for causes of death and dementia incidence. We were able to contact 108 subjects: 54 were already dead. The most common cause ...

Data on the prevalence of dementia in India with a large and aging population is scant. We studied prevalence of AD and dementia in Kerala, South India, and effects of age, education and gender on it. 2-phase survey on 2466 individuals aged > or = 55 years living in community. ...

In Western societies, the vast majority of people with dementia live at home and wish to remain doing so for as long as possible. Aging in place can be facilitated through a variety of environmental interventions, including home modifications. This article provides an overview of existing design principles and design ...

Optimal cognitive function is vital to independence, productivity, and quality of life, and the debilitation associated with dementias makes them the most feared of conditions related to aging. Effective preventive measures are key components of any response to the potentially overwhelming problem of dementias. Increasing evidence points to the potential ...

In contrast to expectations, demographic corrections to reduce biases against those of advanced age or few years of education does not universally improve diagnostic classification accuracy. Age corrections may be particularly problematic because age is also a risk factor for a dementia diagnosis. We found that simulating increased risk for ...

OBJECTIVE: The oldest old are the fastest growing segment of the US population, and accurate estimates of dementia incidence in this group are crucial for healthcare planning. Although dementia incidence doubles every 5 years from ages 65 to 90 years, it is unknown if this exponential increase continues past age ...

BACKGROUND: Our aim was to validate the use of historical events as tools for estimating the age of people > or = 65 years in Cotonou (Benin). METHODS: The survey was conducted in Cotonou, the economic capital of Benin. We included people aged > or = 65 years, with at ...

In a prospective longitudinal cohort study of dementia and mortality in persons with Down syndrome aged 45 years and older, 85 postmenopausal women were followed for a mean follow-up time of 4.3 years (range 0.0 to 7.4 years). The effect of age at menopause on age at diagnosis of dementia ...

The objective of this study was to evaluate the antipsychotic drug prescribing pattern in the Italian general population, elderly, and especially elderly with dementia, in relation to the safety warnings issued by international regulatory agencies about the risk of cerebrovascular adverse events and mortality in 2004 and 2005. A cohort ...

OBJECTIVE: Nutrition plays a role in the ageing process of the brain and suboptimal nutrient intake might precede clinical cognitive impairment. A diet high in fruits and vegetables has been recommended while little has been said about the influence of fluid intake in cognitive function. We examine the dietary pattern ...

BACKGROUND: In previous decades a substantial number of community-based studies mostly including dementia cases examined predictors of nursing home admission (NHA) among elderly people. However, no one study has analysed predictors of NHA for individuals without developing dementia before NHA. METHODS: Data were derived from the Leipzig Longitudinal Study of ...

The oldest old are the fastest growing segment of the US population but accurate estimates of the incidence of dementia in this age group have been elusive. Corrada and colleagues present data on the 5-year age-specific rates of dementia incidence in persons 90 years and older from The 90+ Study. ...

To estimate survival after a diagnosis of dementia in primary care, compared with people without dementia, and to determine incidence of dementia. Cohort study using data from The Health Improvement Network (THIN), a primary care database. 353 general practices in the United Kingdom providing data to THIN. All adults aged ...

The adipokine leptin facilitates long-term potentiation and synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus, promotes beta-amyloid clearance, and improves memory function in animal models of aging and Alzheimer disease (AD). To relate baseline circulating leptin concentrations in a community-based sample of individuals without dementia to incident dementia and AD during follow-up and ...