80 results on '"Brooker, H"'
Search Results
2. Lifetime traumatic brain injury and cognitive domain deficits in late life: the PROTECT-TBI cohort study
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Lennon, MJ, Brooker, H, Creese, B, Thayanandan, T, Rigney, G, Aarsland, D, Hampshire, A, Ballard, C, Corbett, A, and Raymont, V
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Neurology (clinical) - Abstract
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) causes cognitive impairment but it remains contested regarding which cognitive domains are most affected. Further, moderate-severe TBI is known to be deleterious, but studies of mild TBI (mTBI) show a greater mix of negative and positive findings. This study examines the longer-term cognitive effects of TBI severity and number of mTBIs in later life. We examined a subset (n = 15,764) of the PROTECT study, a cohort assessing risk factors for cognitive decline (ages between 50 and 90 years). Participants completed cognitive assessments annually for 4 years. Cognitive tests were grouped using a principal components analysis (PCA) into working memory, episodic memory, attention, processing speed, and executive function. Lifetime TBI severity and number were retrospectively recalled by participants using the Brain Injury Screening Questionnaire (BISQ). Linear mixed models (LMMs) examined the effect of severity of head injury (non-TBI head strike, mTBI, and moderate-severe TBI) and number of mTBI at baseline and over time. mTBI was considered as a continuous and categorical variable (groups: 0 mTBI, 1 mTBI, 2 mTBIs, 3 mTBIs, and 4+ mTBIs). Of the participants 5725 (36.3%) reported at least one mTBI and 510 (3.2%) at least one moderate-severe TBI, whereas 3711 (23.5%) had suffered at worst a non-TBI head strike and 5818 (32.9%) reported no head injuries. The participants had suffered their last reported head injury an average (standard deviation, SD) of 29.6 (20.0) years prior to the study. Regarding outcomes, there was no worsening in longitudinal cognitive trajectories over the study duration but at baseline there were significant cognitive deficits associated with TBI. At baseline, compared with those without head injury, individuals reporting at least one moderate-severe TBI had significantly poorer attention (B = −0.163, p< 0.001), executive scores (B = −0.151, p = 0.004), and processing speed (B = −0.075, p = 0.033). Those who had suffered at least a single mTBI also demonstrated significantly poorer attention scores at baseline compared with the no head injury group (B = −0.052, p = 0.001). Compared with those with no mTBI, those in the 3 mTBI group manifested poorer baseline executive function (B = −0.149, p = 0.025) and attention scores (B = −0.085, p = 0.015). At baseline, those who had suffered four or more mTBIs demonstrated poorer attention (B = −0.135, p
- Published
- 2023
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3. What does feeling younger or older than one's chronological age mean to men and women? Qualitative and quantitative findings from the PROTECT study
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Sabatini, S, Ukoumunne, OC, Ballard, C, Collins, R, Kim, S, Corbett, A, Aarsland, D, Hampshire, A, Brooker, H, Clare, L, Sabatini, S, Ukoumunne, OC, Ballard, C, Collins, R, Kim, S, Corbett, A, Aarsland, D, Hampshire, A, Brooker, H, and Clare, L
- Abstract
OBJECTIVE: We explored which factors are associated with subjective age (SA), i.e. feeling younger, the same as, or older than one's chronological age, and whether these factors differ between men and women and between two age sub-groups. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study using qualitative and quantitative data for 1457 individuals (mean age= 67.2 years). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Participants reported how old they feel they are and provided comments in relation to their SA judgments. RESULTS: By using content analysis participants' comments were assigned to 13 categories, grouped into three higher-order categories (antecedents of age-related thoughts, mental processes, and issues when measuring subjective age). SA may result from the interaction between factors that increase or decrease age-related thoughts and mental processes that individuals use to interpret age-related changes. Chi-squared tests show that individuals reporting an older SA are more likely to experience significant negative changes and to engage in negative age-related thoughts than individuals reporting an age-congruent SA or a younger SA. Women experience a more negative SA and more age-salient events than men. CONCLUSION: Individuals reporting an older SA may benefit from interventions promoting adaptation to negative age-related changes. There is the need to eradicate negative societal views of older women.
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- 2023
4. Rumination moderates the longitudinal associations of awareness of age-related change with depressive and anxiety symptoms.
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Sabatini, S., Dritschel, B., Rupprecht, F. S., Ukoumunne, O. C., Ballard, C., Brooker, H., Corbett, A., and Clare, L.
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COMPETENCY assessment (Law) ,MENTAL depression risk factors ,EVALUATION of medical care ,CONFIDENCE intervals ,AFFECT (Psychology) ,AGE distribution ,AGE ,ATTITUDES toward aging ,MEDICAL care ,RESEARCH funding ,DESCRIPTIVE statistics ,RUMINATION (Cognition) ,ANXIETY ,SOCIODEMOGRAPHIC factors ,OLD age - Abstract
Lower awareness of age-related gains (AARC-gains) and higher awareness of age-related losses (AARC-losses) may be risk factors for depressive and anxiety symptoms. We explored whether: (1) Baseline AARC-gains and AARC-losses predict depressive and anxiety symptoms at one-year follow-up; (2) age and rumination moderate these associations; (3) levels of AARC-gains and AARC-losses differ among individuals with different combinations of current and past depression and/or with different combinations of current and past anxiety. In this one-year longitudinal cohort study participants (N = 3386; mean age = 66.0; SD = 6.93) completed measures of AARC-gains, AARC-losses, rumination, depression, anxiety, and lifetime diagnosis of depression and anxiety in 2019 and 2020. Regression models with tests of interaction were used. Higher AARC-losses, but not lower AARC-gains, predicted more depressive and anxiety symptoms. Age did not moderate these associations. Associations of lower AARC-gains and higher AARC-losses with more depressive symptoms and of higher AARC-losses with more anxiety symptoms were stronger in those with higher rumination. Individuals with both current and past depression reported highest AARC-losses and lowest AARC-gains. Those with current, but not past anxiety, reported highest AARC-losses. Perceiving many age-related losses may place individuals at risk of depressive and anxiety symptoms, especially those who frequently ruminate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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- 2023
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5. Differences in awareness of positive and negative age-related changes accounting for variability in health outcomes
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Sabatini, S, Ukoumunne, OC, Brothers, A, Diehl, M, Wahl, H-W, Ballard, C, Collins, R, Corbett, A, Brooker, H, Clare, L, Sabatini, S, Ukoumunne, OC, Brothers, A, Diehl, M, Wahl, H-W, Ballard, C, Collins, R, Corbett, A, Brooker, H, and Clare, L
- Abstract
UNLABELLED: Higher awareness of positive age-related changes (AARC gains) is related to better mental health, whereas higher awareness of negative age-related changes (AARC losses) is related to poorer mental and physical health. So far perceived gains and losses have been explored separately, but people report gains and losses concurrently in varying degrees, and different profiles of gains and losses may be differentially associated with health. We identified profiles of gains and losses and explored whether different profiles differed in physical, mental, and cognitive health. We used cross-sectional data from the PROTECT study (N = 6192; mean (SD) age = 66.1 (7.0)). Using latent profile analysis, a four-class solution showed the best model fit. We found that 45% of people perceived many gains and few losses (Class 1); 24% perceived moderate gains and few losses (Class 2); 24% perceived many gains and moderate losses (Class 3); 7% perceived many gains and many losses (Class 4). Analysis of variance and Chi-squared tests showed that Class 1 had relatively better physical, mental, and cognitive health, followed by Classes 2, 3, and 4. Experiencing one's ageing to a high degree as gain may be related to better health only when individuals interpret ageing as involving low levels of loss across several life domains. Risk in terms of poorer health emerged in those who perceived high losses. Considering gains and losses in parallel, rather than separately, may lead to a more fine-tuned understanding of relations with health. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10433-021-00673-z.
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- 2022
6. Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Associations between Subjective Sleep Difficulties and Self-Perceptions of Aging
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Sabatini, S, Ukoumunne, OC, Ballard, C, Collins, R, Corbett, A, Brooker, H, Clare, L, Sabatini, S, Ukoumunne, OC, Ballard, C, Collins, R, Corbett, A, Brooker, H, and Clare, L
- Abstract
BACKGROUND: Only one study has explored the associations of subjective sleep difficulties with self-perceptions of aging. It focused on a global indicator of self-perceptions of aging (subjective age) despite individuals reporting different experiences of aging in relation to different life domains. The concept of awareness of negative age-related change, capturing perceived losses across five domains (e.g., physical health, cognition), may be more appropriate when relating subjective sleep difficulties to self-perceptions of aging. We examined whether nine different indicators of subjective sleep difficulties predict levels of awareness of negative age-related change and subjective age, measured concurrently and one year later, while controlling for covariates (mood and daily function). PARTICIPANTS/METHODS: We used data from the PROTECT cohort study; 4,482 UK residents (mean age = 66.1; SD = 6.9) completed measures of awareness of age-related change, subjective age, mood, daily function, and subjective sleep difficulties. RESULTS: Based on linear regression analyses, poorer quality of sleep, lower alertness after awakening, satisfaction with sleep, depth of sleep, more frequent early awakening, difficulty falling asleep, more times awake during a night, fewer hours of sleep during the night and more hours of sleep during the day predicted higher awareness of negative age-related change at baseline and follow-up (p< .001). Associations were small in size. Associations between subjective sleep difficulties and subjective age were either negligible or statistically non-significant. CONCLUSIONS: Although subjective sleep difficulties are one of the many factors associated with awareness of negative age-related change, addressing sleep difficulties, alongside negative mood, and poor daily functioning, may promote a small additional increase in positive self-perceptions of aging.
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- 2022
7. Attitudes toward own aging and cognition among individuals living with and without dementia: findings from the IDEAL programme and the PROTECT study.
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Sabatini, S, Martyr, A, Ukoumunne, OC, Ballard, C, Collins, R, Pentecost, C, Rusted, JM, Quinn, C, Anstey, KJ, Kim, S, Corbett, A, Brooker, H, Clare, L, Sabatini, S, Martyr, A, Ukoumunne, OC, Ballard, C, Collins, R, Pentecost, C, Rusted, JM, Quinn, C, Anstey, KJ, Kim, S, Corbett, A, Brooker, H, and Clare, L
- Abstract
BACKGROUND: It is unclear whether people with dementia (PwD) have more negative attitudes toward own aging (ATOA) than people without dementia and what factors influence ATOA among PwD. We investigated whether PwD have more negative ATOA than individuals without dementia and whether cognition and dementia subtype are associated with ATOA in PwD. METHODS: Data from the IDEAL and PROTECT studies were used to compare ATOA between 1502 PwD (mean (SD) age = 76.3 (8.5)) and 6377 individuals without dementia (mean (SD) age = 66.1 (7.1)). Linear regressions and ANOVA were used. RESULTS: PwD reported slightly more negative ATOA than people without dementia; this relationship disappeared after controlling for depression and self-rated health. In PwD more positive ATOA showed negligible associations with better general cognition, memory performance, verbal fluency, and visuospatial ability. However, after adjusting for covariates only better visuospatial ability predicted more positive ATOA. Additional analyses showed that before and after controlling for covariates, individuals with poorer self-reported visual acuity have more negative ATOA. Amongst dementia subtypes, people with Parkinson's disease dementia and dementia with Lewy bodies reported most negative ATOA. CONCLUSIONS: ATOA between PwD and people without dementia do not differ. ATOA in PwD appear to be affected not by cognitive impairment but by other characteristics that vary across dementia subtypes. Among PwD, those with Parkinson's disease dementia and dementia with Lewy bodies may have higher risk of experiencing negative ATOA due to the motor and visual impairments that they experience.
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- 2022
8. Cross-sectional association between objective cognitive performance and perceived age-related gains and losses in cognition
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Sabatini, S, Ukoumunne, OC, Ballard, C, Collins, R, Anstey, KJ, Diehl, M, Brothers, A, Wahl, HW, Corbett, A, Hampshire, A, Brooker, H, Clare, L, Sabatini, S, Ukoumunne, OC, Ballard, C, Collins, R, Anstey, KJ, Diehl, M, Brothers, A, Wahl, HW, Corbett, A, Hampshire, A, Brooker, H, and Clare, L
- Abstract
Objectives: Evidence linking subjective concerns about cognition with poorer objective cognitive performance is limited by reliance on unidimensional measures of self-perceptions of aging (SPA). We used the awareness of age-related change (AARC) construct to assess self-perception of both positive and negative age-related changes (AARC gains and losses). We tested whether AARC has greater utility in linking self-perceptions to objective cognition compared to well-established measures of self-perceptions of cognition and aging. We examined the associations of AARC with objective cognition, several psychological variables, and engagement in cognitive training. Design: Cross-sectional observational study. Participants: The sample comprised 6056 cognitively healthy participants (mean [SD] age = 66.0 [7.0] years); divided into subgroups representing middle, early old, and advanced old age. Measurements: We used an online cognitive battery and measures of global AARC, AARC specific to the cognitive domain, subjective cognitive change, attitudes toward own aging (ATOA), subjective age (SA), depression, anxiety, self-rated health (SRH). Results: Scores on the AARC measures showed stronger associations with objective cognition compared to other measures of self-perceptions of cognition and aging. Higher AARC gains were associated with poorer cognition in middle and early old age. Higher AARC losses and poorer cognition were associated across all subgroups. Higher AARC losses were associated with greater depression and anxiety, more negative SPA, poorer SRH, but not with engagement in cognitive training. Conclusions: Assessing both positive and negative self-perceptions of cognition and aging is important when linking self-perceptions to cognitive functioning. Objective cognition is one of the many variables - alongside psychological variables - related to perceived cognitive losses.
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- 2021
9. The cross-sectional relationship between pain and awareness of age-related changes
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Sabatini, S, Ukoumunne, OC, Ballard, C, Collins, R, Corbett, A, Brooker, H, Clare, L, Sabatini, S, Ukoumunne, OC, Ballard, C, Collins, R, Corbett, A, Brooker, H, and Clare, L
- Abstract
BACKGROUND: Awareness of positive and negative age-related changes (AARC gains and losses) captures the perceived changes that older individuals experience in several domains of their lives including physical, cognitive and social functioning; interpersonal relationships; and lifestyle. Exploring antecedents of AARC is important to identify those individuals that could benefit the most from interventions promoting positive experiences of ageing and/or adaptation to age-related changes. This study investigates the experience of pain as a predictor of lower AARC gains and higher AARC losses. METHODS: Analyses are based on cross-sectional data from the PROTECT cohort (2019); 1013 UK residents (mean (SD; range) age: 65.3 (7.1; 51.4-92) years, 84.4% women) completed measures of AARC and pain and provided demographic information. Linear regression models were fitted to examine pain as a predictor of AARC gains and AARC losses. RESULTS: Higher levels of pain predicted more AARC losses both before (regression coefficient, B = 0.36; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.29 to 0.42, p-value < 0.001; R 2 = 0.11) and after adjusting for demographic covariates (B = 0.34; 95% CI: 0.27 to 0.40; p-value < 0.001; Partial R 2 = 0.11). Pain was not significantly associated with AARC gains (unadjusted B = 0.05; 95% CI: -0.03 to 0.12, p-value = 0.21; Partial R 2 = 0.01). CONCLUSION: Individuals experiencing pain may perceive more AARC losses. Interventions aiming to decrease levels of pain could include a component targeting self-perceptions of ageing and/or promoting acceptance of the negative changes that can happen with ageing. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: The predictive role of greater levels of pain for more negative perceptions of age-related changes extends the literature on the negative psychological outcomes of pain and on predictors of perceived awareness of age-related changes (AARC). As individuals experiencing pain may be more at risk of perceiving their own ageing in a more negati
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- 2021
10. Sleep Restriction in Elite Soccer Players: Effects on Explosive Power, Wellbeing, and Cognitive Function.
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Abbott, W., Brett, A., Watson, A. W., Brooker, H., and Clifford, T.
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ELITE athletes ,COGNITIVE ability ,SLEEP ,SLEEP quality ,SOCCER tournaments ,LIKERT scale - Abstract
Purpose: To investigate the cognitive, physical, and perceptual effects of sleep restriction (SR) in soccer players following a night match. Methods: In a crossover design, nine male soccer players from the English Premier League 2 (age, 21 ± 5 years; height, 1.80 ± 0.75 m; body mass, 74.2 ± 6.8 kg) recorded their sleep quality and quantity with sleep logs and a subjective survey after two night matches (19:00); one where sleep duration was not altered (CON) and one where sleep was restricted by a later bed-time (SR). Countermovement jump height (CMJ), subjective wellbeing (1–5 likert scale for mood, stress, fatigue, sleep, and soreness), and cognitive function were measured at baseline and the morning following the match (+12 h; M + 1). Results: Bed-time was later in SR than CON (02:36 ± 0.17 vs. 22:43 ± 29; P =.0001; ηp
2 = 0.999) and sleep duration was shorter in SR than CON (5.37 ± 0.16 vs. 8.59 h ± 0.36; P =.0001; ηp2 = 0.926). CMJ decreased by ~8% after the match in both SR and CON (P =.0001; ηp2 = 0.915) but there were no differences between the conditions (P >.05; ηp2 = 0.041–0.139). Wellbeing was rated worse after both matches (P =.0001; ηp2 = 0.949) but there were no differences between the trials (P >.05; ηp2 = 0.172–257). SR did not influence cognitive function (P >.05; interaction effects, ηp2 = 0.172–257). Conclusion: SR following a nighttime soccer match does not impair CMJ performance, subjective wellbeing, or cognitive function the following morning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]- Published
- 2022
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11. Sleep Restriction in Elite Soccer Players: Effects on Explosive Power, Wellbeing, and Cognitive Function
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Abbott, W., primary, Brett, A., additional, Watson, A. W., additional, Brooker, H., additional, and Clifford, T., additional
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- 2020
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12. International relevance of two measures of awareness of age-related change (AARC)
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Sabatini, S, Ukoumunne, OC, Ballard, C, Brothers, A, Kaspar, R, Collins, R, Kim, S, Corbett, A, Aarsland, D, Hampshire, A, Brooker, H, Clare, L, Sabatini, S, Ukoumunne, OC, Ballard, C, Brothers, A, Kaspar, R, Collins, R, Kim, S, Corbett, A, Aarsland, D, Hampshire, A, Brooker, H, and Clare, L
- Abstract
BACKGROUND: A questionnaire assessing awareness of positive and negative age-related changes (AARC gains and losses) was developed in the US and Germany. We validated the short form of the measure (AARC-10 SF) and the cognitive functioning subscale from the 50-item version of the AARC (AARC-50) questionnaire in the UK population aged 50 and over. METHODS: Data from 9410 participants (Mean (SD) age = 65.9 (7.1)) in the PROTECT cohort were used to explore and confirm the psychometric properties of the AARC measures including: validity of the factor structure; reliability; measurement invariance across men and women, individuals with and without a university degree, and in middle age, early old age, and advanced old age; and convergent validity with measures of self-perception of aging and mental, physical, and cognitive health. We explored the relationship between demographic variables (age, sex, marital status, employment, and university education) and AARC. RESULTS: We confirmed the two-factor structure (gains and losses) of the AARC-10 SF and the AARC-50 cognitive functioning subscale. Both scales showed good reliability and good convergent validity for AARC losses, but weak convergent validity for AARC gains. For both scales metric invariance was held for the two subgroups defined by education level and age. For the AARC-50 subscale, but not for the AARC-10 SF, strong invariance was also held for the two subgroups defined by sex. Age, sex, marital status, employment, and university education predicted AARC gains and losses. CONCLUSIONS: The AARC-10 SF and AARC-50 cognitive functioning subscale identify UK individuals who perceive age-related changes in their mental, physical, and cognitive health.
- Published
- 2020
13. An audit to identify the provision of enteral nutrition to patients admitted to the Royal Surrey County Hospital (RSCH) Intensive Care Unit (ICU)
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Zekavica, J., primary, Brooker, H., additional, Fowlie, C., additional, and Bossy, M., additional
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- 2020
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14. Profile of Mild Behavioral Impairment and Factor Structure of the Mild Behavioral Impairment Checklist in Cognitively Normal Older Adults
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Creese, B, Griffiths, AW, Brooker, H, Corbett, A, Aarsland, D, Ballard, C, Ismail, Z, Creese, B, Griffiths, AW, Brooker, H, Corbett, A, Aarsland, D, Ballard, C, and Ismail, Z
- Abstract
Objectives: In this large population study we set out to examine the profile of Mild Behavioral Impairment using the Mild Behavioral Impairment Checklist (MBI-C), and explore its factor structure when employed as a self-report and informant rated tool. Design: Population based cohort study. Setting: Online testing via the PROTECT study (http://www.protectstudy.org.uk) Participants: 5,742 participant-informant dyads. Measurements: Both participants and informants completed the MBI-C. The factor structure of the MBI-C was evaluated by exploratory factor analysis (EFA). Results: The most common MBI-C items as rated by self-report and informants related to affective dysregulation (mood/anxiety symptoms), being present in 34% and 38% of the sample respectively. The least common were items relating to abnormal thoughts and perception (psychotic symptoms) (present in 3 and 6% of the sample respectively). There were only weak correlations between self-report and informant-report MBI-C responses. EFA for both sets of respondent answers indicated a five-factor solution for the MBI-C was appropriate, reflecting the hypothesized structure of the MBI-C. Conclusion: This is the largest and most detailed report on the frequency of MBI symptoms in a non-dementia sample. The full spectrum of MBI symptoms was present in our sample, whether rated by self-report or informant report. However, we show that the MBI-C performs differently in self-report versus informant-report situations, which may have important implications for the use of the questionnaire in clinic and research.
- Published
- 2019
15. Temperature sensitive point mutations in fission yeast tropomyosin have long range effects on the stability and function of the actin- tropomyosin copolymer
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Johnson, C. A., Brooker, H. R., Gyamfi, I., O’Brien, J. A., Ashley, B., Brazier, J. E., Dean, A., Embling, J., Grimsey, E., Tomlinson, A. C., Wilson, E. G., Geeves, Michael A., Mulvihill, Daniel P., Johnson, C. A., Brooker, H. R., Gyamfi, I., O’Brien, J. A., Ashley, B., Brazier, J. E., Dean, A., Embling, J., Grimsey, E., Tomlinson, A. C., Wilson, E. G., Geeves, Michael A., and Mulvihill, Daniel P.
- Abstract
The actin cytoskeleton is modulated by regulatory actin-binding proteins which fine- tune the dynamic properties of the actin polymer to regulate function. One such actin-binding protein is tropomyosin (Tpm), a highly-conserved alpha-helical dimer which stabilises actin and regulates interactions with other proteins. Temperature sensitive mutants of Tpm are invaluable tools in the study of actin filament dependent processes, critical to the viability of a cell. Here we investigated the molecular basis of the temperature sensitivity of fission yeast Tpm mutants which fail to undergo cytokinesis at the restrictive temperatures. Comparison of Contractile Actomyosin Ring (CAR) constriction as well as cell shape and size revealed the cdc8.110 or cdc8.27 mutant alleles displayed significant differences in their temperature sensitivity and impact upon actin dependent functions during the cell cycle. In vitro analysis revealed the mutant proteins displayed a different reduction in thermostability, and unexpectedly yield two discrete unfolding domains when acetylated on their amino-termini. Our findings demonstrate how subtle changes in structure (point mutations or acetylation) alter the stability not simply of discrete regions of this conserved cytoskeletal protein but of the whole molecule. This differentially impacts the stability and cellular organisation of this essential cytoskeletal protein.
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- 2018
16. A novel live cell imaging system reveals a reversible hydrostatic pressure impact on cell cycle progression
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Brooker, H. R., Gyamfi, I., Wieckowska, Agnieszka, Brooks, Nicholas J., Mulvihill, Daniel P., Geeves, Michael A., Brooker, H. R., Gyamfi, I., Wieckowska, Agnieszka, Brooks, Nicholas J., Mulvihill, Daniel P., and Geeves, Michael A.
- Abstract
Life is dependent upon the ability of a cell to rapidly respond to changes in environment. Small perturbations in local environments change the ability of molecules to interact and hence communicate. Hydrostatic pressure provides a rapid non-invasive, fully-reversible method for modulating affinities between molecules both in vivo and in vitro. We have developed a simple fluorescence imaging chamber that allows intracellular protein dynamics and molecular events to be followed at pressures up to 200 bar in living cells. Using yeast we investigate the impact of hydrostatic pressure upon cell growth and cell cycle progression. While 100 bar has no affect upon viability, it induces a delay in chromosome segregation, resulting in the accumulation of long-undividedbent cells, consistent with disruption of the cytoskeletons. This delay is independent of stress signalling and induces synchronisation of cell-cycle progression. Equivalent affects were observed in Candida albicans, with pressure inducing a reversible cell-cycle delay and hyphal growth. We present a simple novel non-invasive fluorescence microscopy based approach to transiently impact molecular dynamics to visualise, dissect and study signalling pathways and cellular processes in living cells.
- Published
- 2018
17. The impact of blackcurrant juice on attention, mood and brain wave spectral activity in young healthy volunteers
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Watson, A. W., primary, Okello, E. J., additional, Brooker, H. J., additional, Lester, S., additional, McDougall, G. J., additional, and Wesnes, K. A., additional
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- 2018
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18. Teaching "Less" Better in Higher Education: A Case Study for Exploring Targeted Skills and Learning Outcomes
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Harris, Victor, primary, Speegle, Kyra, additional, Moen, Dan, additional, Brooker, H., additional, and Jones Harris, Heidi, additional
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- 2018
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19. Online assessment of risk factors for dementia and cognitive function in healthy adults
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Huntley, J., primary, Corbett, A., additional, Wesnes, K., additional, Brooker, H., additional, Stenton, R., additional, Hampshire, A., additional, and Ballard, C., additional
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- 2017
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20. The impact of blackcurrant juice on attention, mood and brain wave spectral activity in young healthy volunteers.
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Watson, A. W., Okello, E. J., Brooker, H. J., Lester, S., McDougall, G. J., and Wesnes, K. A.
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BRAIN waves ,COGNITIVE ability ,RANDOMIZED controlled trials ,PREFRONTAL cortex ,YOUNG adults ,ATTENTION - Abstract
There is a growing body of evidence from randomized controlled trials which indicates that consumption of berries has a positive effect upon the cognitive function of healthy adults. It has been recommended that studies combining cognitive and physiological measures be undertaken in order to strengthen the evidence base for the putative effects of flavonoid consumption on cognitive outcomes. This pilot study utilized a randomized, double-blind and placebo controlled crossover design to assess the influence of the acute administration of anthocyanin-rich blackcurrant juice, standardized at 500 mg of polyphenols, on mood and attention. Additionally, this trial used electroencephalography (EEG) to assess if any changes in cognitive performance are associated with changes in localized prefrontal cortex neuronal activity in nine healthy young adults. Outcomes from the pilot EEG data highlight an anxiolytic effect of the consumption of a single serve blackcurrant juice, as indexed by a suppression of α spectral power, and an increase in the slow wave δ and θ spectral powers. There was also an indication of greater alertness and lower fatigue, as indexed by an increase in β power and suppression of α spectral power. Outcomes from the CogTrack™ system indicated a small acute increase in reaction times during the digit vigilance task. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2019
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21. Online assessment of risk factors for dementia and cognitive function in healthy adults.
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Huntley, J., Corbett, A., Wesnes, K., Brooker, H., Stenton, R., Hampshire, A., and Ballard, C.
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DEMENTIA risk factors ,COGNITION disorders in old age ,COGNITION disorder risk factors ,DEMENTIA patients ,DIABETES complications ,SMOKING ,DISEASE risk factors - Abstract
Objective: Several potentially modifiable risk factors for cognitive decline and dementia have been identified, including low educational attainment, smoking, diabetes, physical inactivity, hypertension, midlife obesity, depression, and perceived social isolation. Managing these risk factors in late midlife and older age may help reduce the risk of dementia; however, it is unclear whether these factors also relate to cognitive performance in older individuals without dementia.Method: Data from 14 201 non-demented individuals aged >50 years who enrolled in the online PROTECT study were used to examine the relationship between cognitive function and known modifiable risk factors for dementia. Multivariate regression analyses were conducted on 4 cognitive outcomes assessing verbal and spatial working memory, visual episodic memory, and verbal reasoning.Results: Increasing age was associated with reduced performance across all tasks. Higher educational achievement, the presence of a close confiding relationship, and moderate alcohol intake were associated with benefits across all 4 cognitive tasks, and exercise was associated with better performance on verbal reasoning and verbal working memory tasks. A diagnosis of depression was negatively associated with performance on visual episodic memory and working memory tasks, whereas being underweight negatively affected performance on all tasks apart from verbal working memory. A history of stroke was negatively associated with verbal reasoning and working memory performance.Conclusion: Known modifiable risk factors for dementia are associated with cognitive performance in non-demented individuals in late midlife and older age. This provides further support for public health interventions that seek to manage these risk factors across the lifespan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]- Published
- 2018
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22. Cape Campbell lighthouse
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Brooker, Harry and Hirst-Whitten, Jasmine
- Published
- 2020
23. Telomere length and cognitive changes in 7,877 older UK adults of European ancestry.
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Packer A, Habiballa L, Tato-Barcia E, Breen G, Brooker H, Corbett A, Arathimos R, Ballard C, Hampshire A, Palmer A, Dima D, Aarsland D, Creese B, Malanchini M, and Powell TR
- Abstract
Background: Telomere length (TL) has been linked to cognitive function, decline and dementia. This study aimed to explore whether both measured TL and genetic disposition for TL predict dimensions of cognitive performance in a longitudinal sample of older UK adults., Methods: We analysed data from PROTECT study participants aged ≥50 years without a dementia diagnosis, who had completed longitudinal cognitive testing. We calculated polygenic scores for telomere length (PGS-TL) for 7,877 participants and measured relative telomere length (RTL) in a subgroup of 846 participants using DNA extracted from saliva samples collected within 6 months either side of their baseline cognitive testing. Latent growth models were used to examine whether RTL and PGS-TL predict both baseline and longitudinal changes in cognitive performance (4 time-points, annually)., Results: In the whole sample, we did not observe significant associations between either measure of telomere length and initial or longitudinal changes in cognitive performance. Stratifying by median age, in older adults (≥ ∼62 years), longer baseline RTL showed a nominal association with poorer baseline verbal reasoning performance ( n = 423, M
intercept = 47.58, B = -1.05, p = .011) and PGS-TL was associated with performance over time ( n = 3,939; slope factor, Mslope = 3.23, B = -0.45, p = .001; slope2 factor, Mslope 2 = 0.21, B = 0.13, p = .002)., Conclusion: Our findings suggest either the absence of a significant relationship between telomere length (RTL and PGS-TL) and cognitive performance (baseline and change over time), or possibly a weak age-dependent and domain-specific relationship, in older adults of European ancestry. More research is needed in representative and ancestrally diverse samples over a longer assessment period. Alternative biological ageing indicators may still provide utility in the early detection of individuals at risk for cognitive decline (e.g., pace-of ageing epigenetic clocks)., Competing Interests: CB has received contract grant funding from ACADIA, Lundbeck, Takeda, and Axovant pharmaceutical companies, as well as honoraria from Lundbeck, Lilly, Otsuka, and Orion pharmaceutical companies. DA has received research support and/or honoraria from Astra-Zeneca, HL, Novartis Pharmaceuticals, and GE Health and serves as a paid consultant for HL and Axovant. AH is owner and director of Future Cognition Ltd., a software company that produces bespoke cognitive assessment technology and was paid to produce cognitive tasks for PROTECT. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The author(s) declared that they were an editorial board member of Frontiers, at the time of submission. This had no impact on the peer review process and the final decision., (Copyright © 2024 Packer, Habiballa, Tato-Barcia, Breen, Brooker, Corbett, Arathimos, Ballard, Hampshire, Palmer, Dima, Aarsland, Creese, Malanchini and Powell.)- Published
- 2024
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24. The Role of Awareness of Age-Related Change in the Longitudinal Association between Pain and Physical Activity.
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Turner SG, Brooker H, Ballard C, Corbett A, Hampshire A, and Sabatini S
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- Humans, Aged, Male, Female, Longitudinal Studies, Middle Aged, United Kingdom epidemiology, Exercise psychology, Aging psychology, Aging physiology, Pain psychology, Awareness physiology
- Abstract
We examined how physical pain impacts the developmental construct of Awareness of Age-Related Change (AARC-gains and AARC-losses) and, in turn, how AARC mediates and moderates the association between pain and subsequent physical activity. We used longitudinal data from 434 participants of the UK PROTECT Study (mean age = 65.5 years; SD = 6.94 years). We found that pain in 2019 predicted higher AARC-losses ( β = .07; p = .036) and less physical activity ( β = -.13; p -value = .001) in 2020. Additionally, we found that AARC-losses partially mediated, but did not moderate, the association of pain in 2019 and physical activity in 2020. AARC-losses may explain physical inactivity in middle-aged and older adults experiencing pain. Incorporating developmental constructs such as AARC into theories and empirical studies on pain and pain management may be necessary to more fully capture people's responses to pain., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
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- 2024
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25. Impact of Short-Term Computerized Cognitive Training on Cognition in Older Adults With and Without Genetic Risk of Alzheimer's Disease: Outcomes From the START Randomized Controlled Trial.
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Corbett A, Williams G, Creese B, Hampshire A, Palmer A, Brooker H, and Ballard C
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- Humans, Male, Female, Aged, Middle Aged, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy methods, Executive Function, Cognition, Apolipoprotein E4 genetics, Cognitive Training, Alzheimer Disease genetics
- Abstract
Objectives: To establish the impact of a 3-minute computerized cognitive training program (START) on cognition in older adults with and without genetic risk of Alzheimer's disease., Design: Two-arm randomized controlled trial of the START program., Setting and Participants: Remote online trial in adults older than 50 taking part from home., Methods: The trial compared the START program with placebo in 6544 people older than 50. Primary outcome was executive function measured through Trailmaking B, with other secondary cognitive measures. Genetic risk profile and ApoE4 status were determined by Illumina Array., Results: START conferred benefit to executive function, attention, memory, and a composite measure, including in people with the ApoE4 genotype., Conclusions and Implications: The 3-minute START task offers a means of supporting cognitive health in older adults and could be used at scale and within a precision medicine approach to reduce risk of cognitive decline in a targeted way., Competing Interests: Disclosure C.B. has received consulting fees from Acadia pharmaceutical company, AARP, Addex pharmaceutical company, Eli Lily, Enterin pharmaceutical company, GWPharm, H.Lundbeck pharmaceutical company, Novartis pharmaceutical company, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Johnson and Johnson pharmaceuticals, Novo Nordisk pharmaceutical company, Orion Corp pharmaceutical company, Otsuka America Pharm Inc, Sunovion Pharm. Inc, Suven pharmaceutical company, Roche pharmaceutical company, Biogen pharmaceutical company, Synexus clinical research organization, and tauX pharmaceutical company; and research funding from Synexus clinical research organization, Roche pharmaceutical company, Novo Nordisk pharmaceutical company and Novartis pharmaceutical company. A.C. discloses financial relationships with Suven and Janssen pharmaceutical companies for consultancy work. H.B. discloses employment by CogTrack. G.W., A.P., B.C., and A.H. report no financial relationships with commercial interests., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)
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- 2024
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26. The relationship between playing musical instruments and cognitive trajectories: Analysis from a UK ageing cohort.
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Vetere G, Williams G, Ballard C, Creese B, Hampshire A, Palmer A, Pickering E, Richards M, Brooker H, and Corbett A
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- Humans, Aged, Aging psychology, Cognition, United Kingdom, Quality of Life psychology, Cognitive Dysfunction
- Abstract
Background: The accumulation of age-associated cognitive deficits can lead to Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and dementia. This is a major public health issue for the modern ageing population, as it impairs health, independence and overall quality of life. Keeping the brain active during life has been associated with an increased cognitive reserve, therefore reducing the risk of cognitive impairment in older age. Previous research has identified a potential relationship between musicality and cognition., Objectives: Explore the relationship between musicality and cognitive function in a large cohort of older adults., Methods: This was a nested study within the PROTECT-UK cohort, which collects longitudinal computerised assessments of cognitive function in adults over 40. Participants were invited to complete the validated Edinburgh Lifetime Musical Experience Questionnaire (ELMEQ) to assess their musical experience and lifetime exposure to music. Linear regression analysis was performed using cognitive data from PROTECT-UK., Results: Analysis identified an association between musicality and cognition in this cohort. Playing a musical instrument was associated with significantly better performance in working memory and executive function. Significant associations were also found between singing and executive function, and between overall musical ability and working memory., Conclusions: Our findings confirm previous literature, highlighting the potential value of education and engagement in musical activities throughout life as a means of harnessing cognitive reserve as part of a protective lifestyle for brain health., (© 2024 The Authors. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)
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- 2024
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27. Is lifetime traumatic brain injury a risk factor for mild cognitive impairment in veterans compared to non-veterans?
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Akhanemhe R, Stevelink SAM, Corbett A, Ballard C, Brooker H, Creese B, Aarsland D, Hampshire A, and Greenberg N
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- Humans, Cohort Studies, Cross-Sectional Studies, Risk Factors, Veterans psychology, Brain Injuries, Traumatic epidemiology, Brain Injuries, Traumatic psychology, Cognitive Dysfunction epidemiology
- Abstract
Background: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is prevalent in veterans and may occur at any stages of their life (before, during, or after military service). This is of particular concern, as previous evidence in the general population has identified TBI as a strong risk factor for mild cognitive impairment (MCI), a known precursor of dementia. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate whether exposure to at least one TBI across the lifetime was a risk factor for MCI in ageing UK veterans compared to non-veterans. Method: This cross-sectional study comprised of data from PROTECT, a cohort study comprising UK veterans and non-veterans aged ≥ 50 years at baseline. Veteran and TBI status were self-reported using the Military Service History Questionnaire (MSHQ) and the Brain Injury Screening Questionnaire (BISQ), respectively. MCI was the outcome of interest, and was defined as subjective cognitive impairment and objective cognitive impairment. Results: The sample population comprised of veterans ( n = 701) and non-veterans ( n = 12,389). TBI was a significant risk factor for MCI in the overall sample (OR = 1.21, 95% CI 1.11-1.31) compared to individuals without TBI. The prevalence of TBI was significantly higher in veterans compared to non-veterans (69.9% vs 59.5%, p < .001). There was no significant difference in the risk of MCI between veterans with TBI and non-veterans with TBI (OR = 1.19, 95% CI 0.98-1.45). Conclusion: TBI remains an important risk factor for MCI, irrespective of veteran status. The clinical implications indicate the need for early intervention for MCI prevention after TBI.
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- 2024
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28. Testing Bidirectionality in Associations of Awareness of Age-Related Gains and Losses With Physical, Mental, and Cognitive Functioning Across 1 Year: The Role of Age.
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Sabatini S, Wahl HW, Diehl M, Clare L, Ballard C, Brooker H, Corbett A, Hampshire A, and Stephan BCM
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- Humans, Aged, Aging psychology, Self Concept, Mental Health, Awareness, Cognition
- Abstract
Objectives: The bidirectionality between self-perceptions of aging and health-related outcomes may depend on age group. Therefore, we tested such bidirectionality among individuals in late midlife (50-64 years), young-old age (65-74 years), and old-old age (75+ years), taking advantage of the construct of Awareness of Age-Related Change (AARC) and its 2-dimensionality in terms of AARC-gains and AARC-losses. Various conceptualizations of physical, mental, and cognitive functioning were used as outcomes., Methods: Data from 2 measurement occasions (2019 and 2020) from the UK PROTECT study for individuals in late midlife (N = 2,385), young-old age (N = 2,430), and old-old age (N = 539) were used. Data on self-reported functional difficulties, depression, anxiety, and performance on four computerized cognitive tasks (i.e., verbal reasoning, paired associate learning, self-ordered search, and digit span) providing a score for verbal reasoning and a score for working memory were analyzed using cross-lagged panel models., Results: Across all 3 age groups, the bidirectional associations of AARC-gains with indicators of functioning were not significant, whereas higher AARC-losses significantly predicted slightly greater functional difficulties and higher depression and anxiety levels. Higher AARC-losses predicted slightly poorer Verbal Reasoning only in old-old age and poorer Working Memory predicted slightly higher AARC-losses only in young-old age. The remaining associations of AARC-losses with cognitive tasks were not statistically significant., Discussion: In accordance with previous research targeting other indicators of self-perceptions of aging, this study supported a stronger impact of AARC-losses on indicators of physical functioning and mental health than vice versa from midlife to old-old age., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America.)
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- 2023
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29. Self-reported sleep fragmentation and sleep duration and their association with cognitive function in PROTECT, a large digital community-based cohort of people over 50.
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Aakre JA, Schulz J, Ballard C, Corbett A, Bjorvatn B, Aarsland D, Creese B, Hampshire A, Brooker H, and Testad I
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- Humans, Aged, Self Report, Sleep Duration, Cross-Sectional Studies, Cognition, Sleep, Memory, Short-Term, Sleep Deprivation complications, Cognitive Dysfunction epidemiology, Cognitive Dysfunction etiology
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Objective: Sleep is vital for normal cognitive function in daily life, but is commonly disrupted in older adults. Poor sleep can be detrimental to mental and physical health, including cognitive function. This study assessed the association between self-reported short (<6 h) and long (>9 h) sleep duration and sleep fragmentation (3≥ nightly awakenings) in cognitive function., Methods: Cross-sectional data from 8508 individuals enroled in the PROTECT study aged 50 and above formed the basis of the univariate linear regression analysis conducted on four cognitive outcomes assessing visuospatial episodic memory (VSEM), spatial working memory, verbal working memory (VWM), and verbal reasoning (VR)., Results: Short (ß = -0.153, 95% CI [-0.258, -0.048], p = 0.004) and long sleep duration (ß = -0.459, 95% CI [-0.826, -0.091], p = 0.014) were significantly associated with poorer cognitive performance in VWM. Long sleep duration (ß = -2.986, 95% CI [-5.453, -0.518], p = 0.018) was associated with impaired VR. Short sleep (ß = -0.133, 95% CI [-0.196, -0.069], p = <0.001) and sleep fragmentation (ß = -0.043, 95% CI [-0.085, -0.001], p = 0.043) were associated with reduced VSEM. These associations remained significant when including other established risk factors for dementia and cognitive decline (e.g., depression, hypertension)., Conclusions: Our findings suggest that short and long sleep durations and fragmented sleep, may be risk factors for a decline in cognitive processes such as working memory, VR and episodic memory thus might be potential targets for interventions to maintain cognitive health in ageing., (© 2023 The Authors. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)
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- 2023
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30. Cognitive trajectories: exploring the predictive role of subjective cognitive decline and awareness of age-related changes for cognitive functioning.
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Sabatini S, Cosentino S, Chapman S, Ballard C, Brooker H, Corbett A, and Stephan BCM
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Background: We investigated whether aspects of subjective cognitive aging, including awareness of age-related gains and losses in cognition (AARC-gains, AARC-losses) and subjective cognitive decline (SCD), predict change in objective cognitive function as measured by verbal reasoning (VR) and working memory (WM)., Methods: We used longitudinal data for 3,299 cognitively healthy UK residents aged 65+. We used data on AARC and SCD assessed in 2019, and cognitive tasks assessed in 2019, 2020, and 2021. We used latent growth curve modeling, latent class growth analysis, and growth mixture modeling., Results: For VR, multiple growth trajectories were not evident. Mean VR at baseline was 37.45; this remained stable over time. Higher AARC-gains in cognition (mean intercept = -0.23; 95%CI: -0.31; -0.16), higher AARC-losses in cognition (mean intercept = -0.37; 95%CI: -0.46; -0.28), and lower SCD (mean intercept = 2.92; 95%CI: 2.58; 3.58) were associated with poorer VR at baseline. A three-class growth mixture model-class varying best represented trajectories of WM. In Class 1 ( N = 182) mean WM at baseline was 31.20; this decreased by 2.48 points each year. In Class 2 ( N = 119) mean WM at baseline was 23.12; this increased by 3.28 points each year. In Class 3 ( N = 2,998) mean WM at baseline was 30.11; and it remained stable. Higher AARC-gains (Odds Ratio = 1.08; 95%CI: 1.03; 1.14) and AARC-losses (Odds Ratio = 1.10; 95%CI: 1.04; 1.16) in cognition predicted greater likelihood of being in Class 2 than Class 3., Conclusion: Although both higher AARC-gains and AARC-losses indicate poorer concurrent cognition, higher AARC-gains may be a resource that facilitates future cognitive improvement., Competing Interests: HB was employed by the Ecog Pro Ltd. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The author(s) declared that they were an editorial board member of Frontiers, at the time of submission. This had no impact on the peer review process and the final decision., (Copyright © 2023 Sabatini, Cosentino, Chapman, Ballard, Brooker, Corbett and Stephan.)
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- 2023
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31. Bidirectional Associations of Awareness of Age-Related Change and Attitudes Toward Own Aging With Social Media Use.
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Sabatini S, Wilton-Harding B, Ballard C, Brooker H, Corbett A, Hampshire A, and Windsor TD
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- Humans, Middle Aged, Aged, Cross-Sectional Studies, Awareness, Aging, Attitude, Social Media
- Abstract
Objectives: We test whether higher awareness of age-related gains (AARC-gains), lower awareness of age-related losses (AARC-losses), and more positive attitudes toward own aging (ATOA) are cross-sectionally related to more frequent social media use. We also investigate the strength and direction of the associations of AARC-gains, AARC-losses, and ATOA with social media use over 1 year, from before to after the onset of the coronavirus 2019 pandemic., Methods: We used cross-sectional data from 8,320 individuals (mean age = 65.95 years; standard deviation = 7.01) and longitudinal data from a subsample of 4,454 individuals participating in the UK PROTECT study in 2019 and 2020. We used ordered regression models, linear regression models, and tests of interaction. Models were adjusted for age, sex, education, and employment., Results: Higher AARC-gains and more positive ATOA, but not AARC-losses, were cross-sectionally associated with more frequent social media use. Social media use became more frequent at follow-up. In the longitudinal models controlling for baseline levels of the outcome variable, more frequent baseline social media use predicted increases in AARC-gains, whereas baseline AARC-gains did not significantly predict the frequency of social media use at follow-up. Baseline frequency of social media use did not significantly predict AARC-losses, nor ATOA at follow-up, whereas lower levels of AARC-losses and more positive ATOA predicted more frequent social media use at follow-up., Discussion: Although effect sizes were small, decreasing negative views on aging may help increase the engagement of middle-aged and older people with social media. At the same time, fostering social media use could promote positive self-perceptions of aging., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America.)
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- 2023
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32. Physical and mental health conditions account for variability in awareness of age-related changes.
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Sabatini S, Turner S, Brooker H, Ballard C, Corbett A, and Hampshire A
- Abstract
Background: The concept of Awareness of Age-Related Changes captures people's perceptions of the positive (AARC-gains) and negative (AARC-losses) age-related changes they experience in several life domains, including their health. We investigated the cross-sectional associations of number and type of physical and mental health conditions with AARC-gains and AARC-losses., Methods: The sample comprised 3,786 middle-aged and older adults (mean age = 67.04 years; SD = 6.88) participating to the UK PROTECT study. We used hierarchical regression models to analyze whether after having included sociodemographic variables (model 1), number of physical (model 2) and of mental (model 3) health conditions explained a significant additional amount of variance in AARC-gains and AARC-losses, and whether the association between number of conditions and AARC depended on participants' age. We used multiple regression models to analyze the associations of types of physical and mental health conditions with AARC-gains and AARC-losses., Results: A higher number of physical health conditions was associated with higher AARC-gains and higher AARC-losses, but the association did not depend on participant age. After controlling for the number of physical health conditions, a higher number of mental health conditions was associated with higher AARC-losses but not with AARC-gains, and the association was stronger among older participants. Small effects were found between greater AARC-gains and current cancer and between greater AARC-losses and diagnoses of mild cognitive impairment, Parkinson's disease, arthritic condition, cancer in full remission, osteoporosis, depression, anxiety disorders, and personality disorder. The remaining health conditions were either negligibly or non-statistically related to AARC-losses., Conclusion: Middle-aged and older adults having more physical health conditions and more mental health conditions may be at higher risk of negative views on their own aging. However, specific physical health conditions, such as arthritis, and certain mental health conditions, such as depression, may make adults particularly vulnerable to negative age-related perceptions., Competing Interests: HB is the funder/head of Ecog Pro Ltd. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Sabatini, Turner, Brooker, Ballard, Corbett and Hampshire.)
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- 2023
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33. Late-life onset psychotic symptoms and incident cognitive impairment in people without dementia: Modification by genetic risk for Alzheimer's disease.
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Creese B, Arathimos R, Aarsland D, Ballard C, Brooker H, Hampshire A, Corbett A, and Ismail Z
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Introduction: Late-life onset psychosis is associated with faster progression to dementia in cognitively normal people, but little is known about its relationship with cognitive impairment in advance of dementia., Methods: Clinical and genetic data from 2750 people ≥50 years of age without dementia were analyzed. Incident cognitive impairment was operationalized using the Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly (IQCODE) and psychosis was rated using the Mild Behavioral Impairment Checklist (henceforth MBI-psychosis). The whole sample was analyzed before stratification on apolipoprotein E ( APOE ) ε4 status., Results: In Cox proportional hazards models, MBI-psychosis had a higher hazard for cognitive impairment relative to the No Psychosis group (hazard ratio [HR]: 3.6, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.2-6, p < 0.0001). The hazard for MBI-psychosis was higher in APOE ε4 carriers and there was an interaction between the two (HR for interaction: 3.4, 95% CI: 1.2-9.8, p = 0.02)., Discussion: Psychosis assessment in the MBI framework is associated with incident cognitive impairment in advance of dementia. These symptoms may be particularly important in the context of APOE genotype., Competing Interests: Clive Ballard has received contract grant funding from ACADIA, Lundbeck, Takeda, and Axovant pharmaceutical companies; and honoraria from Lundbeck, Lilly, Otsuka, and Orion pharmaceutical companies. Dag Aarsland has received research support and/or honoraria from Astra‐Zeneca, H. Lundbeck, Novartis Pharmaceuticals, and GE Health; and serves as a paid consultant for H. Lundbeck and Axovant. Zahinoor Ismail has received honoraria/consulting fees from Lundbeck and Otsuka, although not related to this work. Adam Hampshire is owner and director of Future Cognition Ltd., a software company that produces bespoke cognitive assessment technology and that was paid to produce cognitive tasks for PROTECT. Helen Brooker was employed by Wesnes Cognition 2011 to 2018, who provided some of the cognitive tests for PROTECT and is the director of Ecog Pro Ltd. who provide cognitive tests to PROTECT. All other authors have nothing to declare. Author disclosures are available in the Supporting Information., (© 2023 The Authors. Alzheimer's & Dementia: Translational Research & Clinical Interventions published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Alzheimer's Association.)
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- 2023
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34. What does feeling younger or older than one's chronological age mean to men and women? Qualitative and quantitative findings from the PROTECT study.
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Sabatini S, Ukoumunne OC, Ballard C, Collins R, Kim S, Corbett A, Aarsland D, Hampshire A, Brooker H, and Clare L
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- Male, Humans, Female, Aged, Cross-Sectional Studies, Aging, Emotions
- Abstract
Objective: We explored which factors are associated with subjective age (SA), i.e. feeling younger, the same as, or older than one's chronological age, and whether these factors differ between men and women and between two age sub-groups., Design: Cross-sectional study using qualitative and quantitative data for 1457 individuals (mean age= 67.2 years)., Main Outcome Measures: Participants reported how old they feel they are and provided comments in relation to their SA judgments., Results: By using content analysis participants' comments were assigned to 13 categories, grouped into three higher-order categories ( antecedents of age-related thoughts, mental processes, and issues when measuring subjective age ). SA may result from the interaction between factors that increase or decrease age-related thoughts and mental processes that individuals use to interpret age-related changes. Chi-squared tests show that individuals reporting an older SA are more likely to experience significant negative changes and to engage in negative age-related thoughts than individuals reporting an age-congruent SA or a younger SA. Women experience a more negative SA and more age-salient events than men., Conclusion: Individuals reporting an older SA may benefit from interventions promoting adaptation to negative age-related changes. There is the need to eradicate negative societal views of older women.
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- 2023
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35. A Randomised Placebo-Controlled Study of Purified Anthocyanins on Cognition in Individuals at Increased Risk for Dementia.
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Aarsland D, Khalifa K, Bergland AK, Soennesyn H, Oppedal K, Holteng LBA, Oesterhus R, Nakling A, Jarholm JA, de Lucia C, Fladby T, Brooker H, Dalen I, and Ballard C
- Subjects
- Humans, Aged, Anthocyanins adverse effects, Cognition, Cognitive Dysfunction drug therapy, Dementia prevention & control, Cardiovascular Diseases
- Abstract
Importance: Identifying nutritional compounds which can reduce cognitive decline in older people is a hugely important topic., Objective: To study the safety and effect of anthocyanins in maintaining cognitive functioning in people at increased risk for dementia., Design, Setting, and Participants: Participants (206 individuals, aged 60-80 years) diagnosed with either mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or two or more cardiometabolic disorders (i.e., diabetes, hypertension, obesity) were enrolled at three different centres in Norway., Intervention: Participants were randomly assigned to four capsules with a total of 320 mg/d of naturally purified anthocyanins or placebo 1:1 for 24 weeks., Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary outcome was the Quality of Episodic Memory composite measure (0-100) from an online cognitive test battery CogTrack, which was administered at baseline and monthly for the next 24 weeks. Secondary outcomes included other cognitive scores from the CogTrack battery. We applied mixed effects models with a baseline test score, group, time and their interaction as fixed effects, as well as other predefined baseline covariates. The primary comparison was the group difference at week 24 based on a modified intention-to-treat principle., Results: The primary analysis did not show a significant group difference at 24 weeks (78.2 versus 76.8; adjusted mean difference 1.4 (95% confidence interval -0.9-3.7); effect size 0.15; p = 0.23). However, there was a significant difference in slopes during weeks 8-24 (p = 0.007); the anthocyanin group improved while the placebo group worsened. No differences were found for the secondary cognitive outcomes. Anthocyanin capsules were well-tolerated and safe to use., Conclusion: Anthocyanin supplementation for 24 weeks was safe and well tolerated in people with MCI or cardiometabolic disorders. We found no significant group difference in episodic memory at the end of the study but statistically significant differences in slopes. Further studies are warranted to explore whether anthocyanins supplementation can reduce cognitive decline in people at increased risk of dementia., Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, (Identifier NCT03419039). http://www., Clinicaltrials: gov/, NCT03419039., (Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)
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- 2023
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36. The cognitive profile of middle-aged and older adults with high vs. low autistic traits.
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Stewart GR, Corbett A, Ballard C, Creese B, Aarsland D, Hampshire A, Brooker H, Charlton RA, and Happé F
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- Middle Aged, Humans, Aged, Cross-Sectional Studies, Cognition, Executive Function, Autistic Disorder, Autism Spectrum Disorder
- Abstract
Cognitive differences in memory, information processing speed (IPS), and executive functions (EF), are common in autistic and high autistic trait populations. Despite memory, IPS and EF being sensitive to age-related change, little is known about the cognitive profile of older adults with high autistic traits. This study explores cross-sectional memory, IPS and EF task performance in a large sample of older adults in the online PROTECT cohort (n = 22,285, aged 50-80 years), grouped by high vs. low autistic traits. Approximately 1% of PROTECT participants (n = 325) endorsed high autistic traits [henceforth Autism Spectrum Trait (AST) group]. Differences between AST and age-, gender-, and education-matched comparison older adults (COA; n = 11,744) were explored on memory, IPS and EF tasks and questionnaires administered online. AST had lower performance than COA on tasks measuring memory, working memory, sustained attention, and information processing. No group differences were observed in simple attention or verbal reasoning. A similar pattern of results was observed when controlling for age, and current depression and anxiety symptoms. In addition, AST self-reported more cognitive decline than COA, but this difference was not significant when controlling for current depression symptoms, or when using informant-report. These findings suggest that autistic traits are associated with cognitive function in middle-aged and later life. Older adults with high autistic traits experienced more performance difficulties in a range of memory, IPS and EF tasks compared with the low autistic traits comparison group. Further longitudinal work is needed to examine age-related change in both older autistic and autistic trait populations., (© 2022 The Authors. Autism Research published by International Society for Autism Research and Wiley Periodicals LLC.)
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- 2023
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37. Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Associations between Subjective Sleep Difficulties and Self-Perceptions of Aging.
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Sabatini S, Ukoumunne OC, Ballard C, Collins R, Corbett A, Brooker H, and Clare L
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- Aged, Aging, Cohort Studies, Cross-Sectional Studies, Humans, Self Concept, Sleep, Surveys and Questionnaires, Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders, Sleep Wake Disorders
- Abstract
Background: Only one study has explored the associations of subjective sleep difficulties with self-perceptions of aging. It focused on a global indicator of self-perceptions of aging (subjective age) despite individuals reporting different experiences of aging in relation to different life domains. The concept of awareness of negative age-related change, capturing perceived losses across five domains (e.g., physical health, cognition), may be more appropriate when relating subjective sleep difficulties to self-perceptions of aging. We examined whether nine different indicators of subjective sleep difficulties predict levels of awareness of negative age-related change and subjective age, measured concurrently and one year later, while controlling for covariates (mood and daily function)., Participants/methods: We used data from the PROTECT cohort study; 4,482 UK residents (mean age = 66.1; SD = 6.9) completed measures of awareness of age-related change, subjective age, mood, daily function, and subjective sleep difficulties., Results: Based on linear regression analyses, poorer quality of sleep, lower alertness after awakening, satisfaction with sleep, depth of sleep, more frequent early awakening, difficulty falling asleep, more times awake during a night, fewer hours of sleep during the night and more hours of sleep during the day predicted higher awareness of negative age-related change at baseline and follow-up ( p < .001). Associations were small in size. Associations between subjective sleep difficulties and subjective age were either negligible or statistically non-significant., Conclusions: Although subjective sleep difficulties are one of the many factors associated with awareness of negative age-related change, addressing sleep difficulties, alongside negative mood, and poor daily functioning, may promote a small additional increase in positive self-perceptions of aging.
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- 2022
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38. Parallel randomized controlled feasibility trials of the "Active Brains" digital intervention to protect cognitive health in adults aged 60-85.
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Essery R, Pollet S, Bradbury K, Western MJ, Grey E, Denison-Day J, Smith KA, Hayter V, Kelly J, Somerville J, Stuart B, Becque T, Zhang J, Slodkowska-Barabasz J, Mowbray F, Ferrey A, Yao G, Zhu S, Kendrick T, Griffin S, Mutrie N, Robinson S, Brooker H, Griffiths G, Robinson L, Rossor M, Ballard C, Gallacher J, Rathod S, Gudgin B, Phillips R, Stokes T, Niven J, Little P, and Yardley L
- Subjects
- Brain, Cognition, Exercise, Feasibility Studies, Humans, Cognitive Dysfunction prevention & control, Cognitive Dysfunction psychology
- Abstract
Introduction: Multidomain interventions to address modifiable risk factors for dementia are promising, but require more cost-effective, scalable delivery. This study investigated the feasibility of the "Active Brains" digital behavior change intervention and its trial procedures., Materials and Methods: Active Brains aims to reduce cognitive decline by promoting physical activity, healthy eating, and online cognitive training. We conducted 12-month parallel-design randomized controlled feasibility trials of "Active Brains" amongst "lower cognitive scoring" ( n = 180) and "higher cognitive scoring" ( n = 180) adults aged 60-85., Results: We collected 67.2 and 76.1% of our 12-month primary outcome (Baddeley verbal reasoning task) data for the "lower cognitive score" and "higher cognitive score" groups, respectively. Usage of "Active Brains" indicated overall feasibility and satisfactory engagement with the physical activity intervention content (which did not require sustained online engagement), but engagement with online cognitive training was limited. Uptake of the additional brief telephone support appeared to be higher in the "lower cognitive score" trial. Preliminary descriptive trends in the primary outcome data might indicate a protective effect of Active Brains against cognitive decline, but further investigation in fully-powered trials is required to answer this definitively., Discussion: Whilst initial uptake and engagement with the online intervention was modest, it was in line with typical usage of other digital behavior change interventions, and early indications from the descriptive analysis of the primary outcome and behavioral data suggest that further exploration of the potential protective benefits of Active Brains are warranted. The study also identified minor modifications to procedures, particularly to improve online primary-outcome completion. Further investigation of Active Brains will now seek to determine its efficacy in protecting cognitive performance amongst adults aged 60-85 with varied levels of existing cognitive performance., Competing Interests: LY is a member of the NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Behavioral Science and Evaluation at University of Bristol, and the NIHR ARC West. KB's research portfolio is part funded by NIHR ARC Wessex. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Essery, Pollet, Bradbury, Western, Grey, Denison-Day, Smith, Hayter, Kelly, Somerville, Stuart, Becque, Zhang, Slodkowska-Barabasz, Mowbray, Ferrey, Yao, Zhu, Kendrick, Griffin, Mutrie, Robinson, Brooker, Griffiths, Robinson, Rossor, Ballard, Gallacher, Rathod, Gudgin, Phillips, Stokes, Niven, Little and Yardley.)
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- 2022
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39. Exploring awareness of age-related changes among over 50s in the UK: findings from the PROTECT study.
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Sabatini S, Ukoumunne OC, Ballard C, Collins R, Corbett A, Brooker H, and Clare L
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- Aged, Cognition, Cross-Sectional Studies, Humans, United Kingdom, Aging psychology, Awareness physiology
- Abstract
Objectives: Older people describe positive and negative age-related changes, but we do not know much about what contributes to make them aware of these changes. We used content analysis to categorize participants' written comments and explored the extent to which the identified categories mapped onto theoretical conceptualizations of influences on awareness of age-related change (AARC)., Design: Cross-sectional observational study., Participants: The study sample comprised 609 UK individuals aged 50 years or over (mean (SD) age = 67.9 (7.6) years), enrolled in the PROTECT study., Measurements: Between January and March 2019, participants provided demographic information, completed a questionnaire assessing awareness of age-related change (AARC-10 SF), and responded to an open-ended question asking them to comment on their responses., Results: While some of the emerging categories were in line with the existing conceptual framework of AARC (e.g. experiencing negative changes and attitudes toward aging), others were novel (e.g. engagement in purposeful activities or in activities that distract from age-related thoughts). Analysis revealed some of the thought processes involved in selecting responses to the questionnaire items, demonstrating different ways in which people make sense of specific items., Conclusions: Results support the ability of the AARC questionnaire to capture perceived age-related changes in cognitive functioning, physical and mental health, and engagement in social activities and in healthy and adaptive behaviors. However, findings also suggest ways of enriching the theoretical conceptualization of how AARC develops and offer insights into interpretation of responses to measures of AARC.
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- 2022
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40. Attitudes toward own aging and cognition among individuals living with and without dementia: findings from the IDEAL programme and the PROTECT study.
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Sabatini S, Martyr A, Ukoumunne OC, Ballard C, Collins R, Pentecost C, Rusted JM, Quinn C, Anstey KJ, Kim S, Corbett A, Brooker H, and Clare L
- Subjects
- Aged, Aging psychology, Cognition, Humans, Dementia complications, Dementia diagnosis, Dementia epidemiology, Lewy Body Disease, Parkinson Disease complications
- Abstract
Background: It is unclear whether people with dementia (PwD) have more negative attitudes toward own aging (ATOA) than people without dementia and what factors influence ATOA among PwD. We investigated whether PwD have more negative ATOA than individuals without dementia and whether cognition and dementia subtype are associated with ATOA in PwD., Methods: Data from the IDEAL and PROTECT studies were used to compare ATOA between 1502 PwD (mean (SD) age = 76.3 (8.5)) and 6377 individuals without dementia (mean (SD) age = 66.1 (7.1)). Linear regressions and ANOVA were used., Results: PwD reported slightly more negative ATOA than people without dementia; this relationship disappeared after controlling for depression and self-rated health. In PwD more positive ATOA showed negligible associations with better general cognition, memory performance, verbal fluency, and visuospatial ability. However, after adjusting for covariates only better visuospatial ability predicted more positive ATOA. Additional analyses showed that before and after controlling for covariates, individuals with poorer self-reported visual acuity have more negative ATOA. Amongst dementia subtypes, people with Parkinson's disease dementia and dementia with Lewy bodies reported most negative ATOA., Conclusions: ATOA between PwD and people without dementia do not differ. ATOA in PwD appear to be affected not by cognitive impairment but by other characteristics that vary across dementia subtypes. Among PwD, those with Parkinson's disease dementia and dementia with Lewy bodies may have higher risk of experiencing negative ATOA due to the motor and visual impairments that they experience., (© 2022. The Author(s).)
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- 2022
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41. Are subtypes of affective symptoms differentially associated with change in cognition over time: A latent class analysis.
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Singham T, Saunders R, Brooker H, Creese B, Aarsland D, Hampshire A, Ballard C, Corbett A, Desai R, and Stott J
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- Anxiety diagnosis, Depression epidemiology, Depression etiology, Humans, Latent Class Analysis, Sleep, Affective Symptoms, Cognition
- Abstract
Background: In the absence of disease-modifying treatments, identifying potential psychosocial risk factors for dementia is paramount. Depression and anxiety have been identified as potential risk factors. Studies however have yielded mixed findings, lending possibility to the fact that potential constellations of co-occurring depression and anxiety symptoms may better explain the link between affective symptoms and cognitive decline., Methods: Data from participants (aged 50 and above) of the PROTECT study was used. Latent Class Analysis (LCA) was conducted on 21,684 participants with baseline anxiety and depression measures. Multiple linear regressions models, using a subset of these participants (N = 6136) who had complete cognition data at baseline and at 2-year follow-up, were conducted to assess for associations between class membership and longitudinal changes in cognition., Results: The LCA identified a 5-class solution: "No Symptoms", "Sleep", "Sleep and Worry", "Sleep and Anhedonia", and "Co-morbid Depression and Anxiety". Class membership was significantly associated with longitudinal change in cognition. Furthermore, this association differed across different cognitive measures., Limitations: Limitations included significant attrition and a generally healthy sample which may impact generalisability., Conclusions: Substantial heterogeneity in affective symptoms could explain previous inconsistent findings concerning the association between affective symptoms and cognition. Clinicians should not focus solely on total symptom scores on a single affective domain, but instead on the presence and patterns of symptoms (even if sub-clinical) on measures across multiple affective domains. Identifying particular subgroups that are at greater risk of poor cognitive outcomes may support targeted prevention work., (Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier B.V.)
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- 2022
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42. Differences in awareness of positive and negative age-related changes accounting for variability in health outcomes.
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Sabatini S, Ukoumunne OC, Brothers A, Diehl M, Wahl HW, Ballard C, Collins R, Corbett A, Brooker H, and Clare L
- Abstract
Higher awareness of positive age-related changes (AARC gains) is related to better mental health, whereas higher awareness of negative age-related changes (AARC losses) is related to poorer mental and physical health. So far perceived gains and losses have been explored separately, but people report gains and losses concurrently in varying degrees, and different profiles of gains and losses may be differentially associated with health. We identified profiles of gains and losses and explored whether different profiles differed in physical, mental, and cognitive health. We used cross-sectional data from the PROTECT study ( N = 6192; mean (SD) age = 66.1 (7.0)). Using latent profile analysis, a four-class solution showed the best model fit. We found that 45% of people perceived many gains and few losses (Class 1); 24% perceived moderate gains and few losses (Class 2); 24% perceived many gains and moderate losses (Class 3); 7% perceived many gains and many losses (Class 4). Analysis of variance and Chi-squared tests showed that Class 1 had relatively better physical, mental, and cognitive health, followed by Classes 2, 3, and 4. Experiencing one's ageing to a high degree as gain may be related to better health only when individuals interpret ageing as involving low levels of loss across several life domains. Risk in terms of poorer health emerged in those who perceived high losses. Considering gains and losses in parallel, rather than separately, may lead to a more fine-tuned understanding of relations with health., Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10433-021-00673-z., Competing Interests: Conflict of interestThe authors declare thate they have no conflict of interest., (© The Author(s) 2022.)
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- 2022
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43. Predictors of activities of daily living in heathy older adults: Who benefits most from online cognitive training?
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Roheger M, Kalbe E, Corbett A, Brooker H, and Ballard C
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- Aged, Cognition, Female, Health Status, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Problem Solving, Activities of Daily Living, Cognition Disorders
- Abstract
Objectives: To investigate the course of activities of daily living (IADL) functioning and possible predictors of performance changes in healthy older adults conducting either a General Cognitive Training (GCT) or a Reasoning Cognitive Training (ReaCT) or no training (control group, CG) over a period of 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months., Setting and Participants: An online, home-based GCT and ReaCT including n = 2913 healthy participants (GCT: n = 1096; ReaCT: n = 1022; CG: n = 794) aged 60 years and older., Methods: Multilevel analysis were calculated to explore the nature of our outcome variables of IADL part A (independence) and part B (difficulty of tasks), and to detect possible predictors for participants' performance on IADL after CT., Results: The random slopes models fitted better for the outcomes IADL Part B in the GCT group (χ
2 (2) = 18.78, p < .01), and both IADL Part A and Part B in the ReaCT group (χ2 (2) = 28.57, p < .01; χ2 (2) = 63.38, p < .01, respectively), indicating different changes over time for individual participants. Female sex was a significant predictor of IADL change in the ReaCT group, showing that females benefited most in both IADL scores (IADL A: 0.01, p < .01; IADL B: 0.004, p < .01). No other significant predictors for IADL changes were identified., Conclusion and Implication: The particular effectiveness in women is of clinical relevance, as IADL is typically more impaired in women than in men in advanced age. Following a personalized medicine approach, identifying predictors of non-pharmacological intervention success is of utmost importance., (© 2021 The Authors. Brain and Behavior published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.)- Published
- 2021
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44. Planning and optimising a digital intervention to protect older adults' cognitive health.
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Essery R, Pollet S, Smith KA, Mowbray F, Slodkowska-Barabasz J, Denison-Day J, Hayter V, Bradbury K, Grey E, Western MJ, Milton A, Hunter C, Ferrey AE, Müller AM, Stuart B, Mutrie N, Griffin S, Kendrick T, Brooker H, Gudgin B, Phillips R, Stokes T, Niven J, Little P, and Yardley L
- Abstract
Background: By 2050, worldwide dementia prevalence is expected to triple. Affordable, scalable interventions are required to support protective behaviours such as physical activity, cognitive training and healthy eating. This paper outlines the theory-, evidence- and person-based development of 'Active Brains': a multi-domain digital behaviour change intervention to reduce cognitive decline amongst older adults., Methods: During the initial planning phase, scoping reviews, consultation with PPI contributors and expert co-investigators and behavioural analysis collated and recorded evidence that was triangulated to inform provisional 'guiding principles' and an intervention logic model. The following optimisation phase involved qualitative think aloud and semi-structured interviews with 52 older adults with higher and lower cognitive performance scores. Data were analysed thematically and informed changes and additions to guiding principles, the behavioural analysis and the logic model which, in turn, informed changes to intervention content., Results: Scoping reviews and qualitative interviews suggested that the same intervention content may be suitable for individuals with higher and lower cognitive performance. Qualitative findings revealed that maintaining independence and enjoyment motivated engagement in intervention-targeted behaviours, whereas managing ill health was a potential barrier. Social support for engaging in such activities could provide motivation, but was not desirable for all. These findings informed development of intervention content and functionality that appeared highly acceptable amongst a sample of target users., Conclusions: A digitally delivered intervention with minimal support appears acceptable and potentially engaging to older adults with higher and lower levels of cognitive performance. As well as informing our own intervention development, insights obtained through this process may be useful for others working with, and developing interventions for, older adults and/or those with cognitive impairment., (© 2021. The Author(s).)
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- 2021
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45. The cross-sectional relationship between pain and awareness of age-related changes.
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Sabatini S, Ukoumunne OC, Ballard C, Collins R, Corbett A, Brooker H, and Clare L
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Background: Awareness of positive and negative age-related changes (AARC gains and losses) captures the perceived changes that older individuals experience in several domains of their lives including physical, cognitive and social functioning; interpersonal relationships; and lifestyle. Exploring antecedents of AARC is important to identify those individuals that could benefit the most from interventions promoting positive experiences of ageing and/or adaptation to age-related changes. This study investigates the experience of pain as a predictor of lower AARC gains and higher AARC losses., Methods: Analyses are based on cross-sectional data from the PROTECT cohort (2019); 1013 UK residents (mean (SD; range) age: 65.3 (7.1; 51.4-92) years, 84.4% women) completed measures of AARC and pain and provided demographic information. Linear regression models were fitted to examine pain as a predictor of AARC gains and AARC losses., Results: Higher levels of pain predicted more AARC losses both before (regression coefficient, B = 0.36; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.29 to 0.42, p -value < 0.001; R
2 = 0.11) and after adjusting for demographic covariates ( B = 0.34; 95% CI: 0.27 to 0.40; p -value < 0.001; Partial R2 = 0.11). Pain was not significantly associated with AARC gains (unadjusted B = 0.05; 95% CI: -0.03 to 0.12, p -value = 0.21; Partial R2 = 0.01)., Conclusion: Individuals experiencing pain may perceive more AARC losses. Interventions aiming to decrease levels of pain could include a component targeting self-perceptions of ageing and/or promoting acceptance of the negative changes that can happen with ageing., Statement of Significance: The predictive role of greater levels of pain for more negative perceptions of age-related changes extends the literature on the negative psychological outcomes of pain and on predictors of perceived awareness of age-related changes (AARC). As individuals experiencing pain may be more at risk of perceiving their own ageing in a more negative way, they may benefit from interventions that combine strategies to reduce levels of pain and the interference that pain exerts on their daily activities with an educational component enhancing positive self-perceptions of ageing and promoting acceptance of negative age-related changes., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article., (© The British Pain Society 2020.)- Published
- 2021
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46. Cross-sectional association between objective cognitive performance and perceived age-related gains and losses in cognition.
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Sabatini S, Ukoumunne OC, Ballard C, Collins R, Anstey KJ, Diehl M, Brothers A, Wahl HW, Corbett A, Hampshire A, Brooker H, and Clare L
- Subjects
- Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Awareness, Cross-Sectional Studies, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Aging psychology, Cognition, Cognitive Aging psychology, Self Concept
- Abstract
Objectives: Evidence linking subjective concerns about cognition with poorer objective cognitive performance is limited by reliance on unidimensional measures of self-perceptions of aging (SPA). We used the awareness of age-related change (AARC) construct to assess self-perception of both positive and negative age-related changes (AARC gains and losses). We tested whether AARC has greater utility in linking self-perceptions to objective cognition compared to well-established measures of self-perceptions of cognition and aging. We examined the associations of AARC with objective cognition, several psychological variables, and engagement in cognitive training., Design: Cross-sectional observational study., Participants: The sample comprised 6056 cognitively healthy participants (mean [SD] age = 66.0 [7.0] years); divided into subgroups representing middle, early old, and advanced old age., Measurements: We used an online cognitive battery and measures of global AARC, AARC specific to the cognitive domain, subjective cognitive change, attitudes toward own aging (ATOA), subjective age (SA), depression, anxiety, self-rated health (SRH)., Results: Scores on the AARC measures showed stronger associations with objective cognition compared to other measures of self-perceptions of cognition and aging. Higher AARC gains were associated with poorer cognition in middle and early old age. Higher AARC losses and poorer cognition were associated across all subgroups. Higher AARC losses were associated with greater depression and anxiety, more negative SPA, poorer SRH, but not with engagement in cognitive training., Conclusions: Assessing both positive and negative self-perceptions of cognition and aging is important when linking self-perceptions to cognitive functioning. Objective cognition is one of the many variables - alongside psychological variables - related to perceived cognitive losses.
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- 2021
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47. Genetic risk for Alzheimer's disease, cognition, and mild behavioral impairment in healthy older adults.
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Creese B, Arathimos R, Brooker H, Aarsland D, Corbett A, Lewis C, Ballard C, and Ismail Z
- Abstract
Background: The neuropsychiatric syndrome mild behavioral impairment (MBI) describes an at-risk state for dementia and may be a useful screening tool for sample enrichment. We hypothesized that stratifying a cognitively normal sample on MBI status would enhance the association between genetic risk for Alzheimer's disease (AD) and cognition., Methods: Data from 4458 participants over age 50 without dementia was analyzed. A cognitive composite score was constructed and the MBI Checklist was used to stratify those with MBI and those without. Polygenic scores for AD were generated using summary statistics from the IGAP study., Results: AD genetic risk was associated with worse cognition in the MBI group but not in the no MBI group (MBI: β = -0.09, 95% confidence interval: -0.13 to -0.03, P = 0.002, R
2 = 0.003). The strongest association was in those with more severe MBI aged ≥65., Conclusions: MBI is an important feature of aging; screening on MBI may be a useful sample enrichment strategy for clinical research., Competing Interests: Clive Ballard has received contract grant funding from ACADIA, Lundbeck, Takeda, and Axovant pharmaceutical companies and honoraria from Lundbeck, Lilly, Otsuka, and Orion pharmaceutical companies. Dag Aarsland has received research support and/or honoraria from Astra‐Zeneca, H. Lundbeck, Novartis Pharmaceuticals, and GE Health, and serves as a paid consultant for H. Lundbeck and Axovant. Zahinoor Ismail has received honoraria/consulting fees from Janssen, Lundbeck, and Otsuka, although not related to this work. Cathryn Lewis sits on the SAB for Myriad Neuroscience., (© 2021 The Authors. Alzheimer's & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring published by Wiley Periodicals, LLC on behalf of Alzheimer's Association.)- Published
- 2021
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48. Cognitive Function in Adults with Enduring Anorexia Nervosa.
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Seidel M, Brooker H, Lauenborg K, Wesnes K, and Sjögren M
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- Adult, Anorexia Nervosa physiopathology, Attention, Denmark, Female, Humans, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Neuropsychological Tests, Prospective Studies, Reaction Time, Weight Gain, Anorexia Nervosa psychology, Cognition
- Abstract
Anorexia Nervosa (AN) is a severe and often enduring disorder characterized by restriction of food intake, low body weight, fear of weight gain, and distorted body image. Investigations on cognition performance in AN patients have yielded conflicting results. Using an established and sensitive computerized cognitive test battery, we aimed to assess core aspects of cognitive function, including attention span, information processing, reasoning, working and episodic memory, in AN patients and controls. Patients were recruited from the Danish Prospective Longitudinal all-comer inclusion study in Eating Disorders (PROLED). Included were 26 individuals with AN and 36 healthy volunteers (HV). All were tested with CogTrack (an online cognitive assessment system) at baseline, and AN patients were tested again at a follow-up time point after weight increase ( n = 13). At baseline, AN patients showed faster reaction times in the attention tasks, as well as increased accuracy in grammatical reasoning compared to HV. There were no differences in cognitive function between AN patients and HV in the other cognitive domains measured (sustained attention, working and episodic memory, speed of retrieval, and speed of grammatical reasoning). No differences were visible in the AN sample between baseline and follow-up. Performance did not correlate with any clinical variables in the AN sample. These findings supplement results from other studies suggesting increased concentration and reasoning accuracy in patients suffering from AN, who showed increased performance in cognitive tasks despite their illness.
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- 2021
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49. Predictors of changes after reasoning training in healthy adults.
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Roheger M, Kalbe E, Corbett A, Brooker H, and Ballard C
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- Aged, Cognition, Female, Humans, Infant, Newborn, Memory, Short-Term, Middle Aged, Problem Solving, Cognition Disorders, Cognitive Dysfunction
- Abstract
Objectives: To investigate predictors of performance changes and their time course in healthy older adults., Design: A post hoc analysis of a RCT investigating the effect of reasoning cognitive training (ReaCT) compared to an active control group (CG) during a time course., Setting and Participants: An online, home-based RCT including n = 4,310 healthy participants (ReaCT: n = 2,557; CG: n = 1,753) aged 50 years and older., Methods: Multiple regression analyses were conducted to investigate predictors (age, sex, education, severity of depression, number of training sessions the participants attended, and neuropsychological baseline values) of the outcome measures grammatical reasoning, working memory, digit vigilance, verbal short-term memory, and verbal learning at 6 weeks, 3, and 6 months., Results: Being female and lower education predicted improvements in grammatical reasoning scores at 6 weeks and 3 months of training., Conclusion and Implication: Identifying predictors for nonpharmacological interventions may help to set up a personalized medicine approach in order to prevent cognitive decline in healthy older adults., (© 2020 The Authors. Brain and Behavior published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.)
- Published
- 2020
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50. FLAME: A computerized neuropsychological composite for trials in early dementia.
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Brooker H, Williams G, Hampshire A, Corbett A, Aarsland D, Cummings J, Molinuevo JL, Atri A, Ismail Z, Creese B, Fladby T, Thim-Hansen C, Wesnes K, and Ballard C
- Abstract
Introduction: Sensitive neuropsychological tests are needed to improve power for clinical trials in early Alzheimer's disease (AD)., Methods: To develop a neuropsychological composite (FLAME - Factors of Longitudinal Attention, Memory and Executive Function), we assessed, 10,714 participants over the age of 50 from PROTECT with validated computerized assessments for 2 years. A factorial analysis was completed to identify the key cognitive factors in all participants, and further analyses examined sensitivity to change in people with stage 2/3 early Alzheimer's disease (AD) according to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) framework., Results: The FLAME composite score (speed of attention, accuracy of attention, memory, and executive function) distinguished between normal cognition and stage 2/3 early AD at baseline, and was sensitive to cognitive and global/functional decline over 2 years, with the potential to improve power for clinical trials., Discussion: FLAME is sensitive to change, providing a straightforward approach to reduce sample size for RCTs in early AD., Conclusion: FLAME is a useful computerized neuropsychology composite with utility for clinical trials focusing on cognition., Competing Interests: Helen Brooker reports personal fees from Wesnes Cognition Ltd, owner of CogTrack, personal fees from University of Exeter, outside the submitted work. Professor Williams reports no conflict of interests. Professor Hampshire is owner and director of Future Cognition Ltd, which develops bespoke online cognitive tests for third parties. Dr. Corbett has nothing to disclose. Professor Aarsland reports grants and personal fees from Astra‐Zeneca, grants and personal fees from H. Lundbeck, grants and personal fees from Novartis Pharmaceuticals, grants and personal fees from GE Health, grants and personal fees from Eisai, and grants and personal fees from Axovant, outside the submitted work. This paper represents independent research [part] funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and King's College London. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR, or the Department of Health. Dr. Cummings has provided consultation to Acadia, Actinogen, AgeneBio, Alkahest, Alzheon, AnnovisBio, Avanir, Axsome, Biogen, BioXcel, Cassava, Cerecin, Cerevel, Cortexyme, EIP Pharma, Eisai, Foresight, GemVax, Genentech, Green Valley, Grifols, Karuna, Merck, Novo Nordisk, Otsuka, Resverlogix, Roche, Samumed, Samus, Signant Health, Suven, Third Rock, and United Neuroscience pharmaceutical and assessment companies. Dr. Cummings has stock options in ADAMAS, AnnovisBio, MedAvante, BiOasis. Dr. Cummings owns the copyright of the Neuropsychiatric Inventory. Dr Cummings is supported by Keep Memory Alive (KMA); National Institute of Health (NIH) grant P20GM109025; National Institute of Stroke and neurological Disease grant U01NS093334; and National Institute of Aging grant R01AG053798. Jose Luis Molinuevo has served/serves as a consultant or at advisory boards for the following for‐profit companies, or has given lectures in symposia sponsored by the following for‐profit companies: Roche Diagnostics, Genentech, Novartis, Lundbeck, Oryzon, Biogen, Lilly, Janssen, Green Valley, MSD, Eisai, Alector, BioCross, GE Healthcare, ProMIS Neurosciences, and NovoNordisk. Alireza Atri reported receiving honoraria for consulting; participating in independent data safety monitoring boards; providing educational lectures, programs, and materials; or serving on advisory boards for Allergan, the Alzheimer's Association, Axovant, Biogen, Grifols, Harvard Medical School Graduate Continuing Education, Lundbeck, Merck, Roche/Genentech, Sunovion, and Suven; receiving book royalties from Oxford University Press; and having institutional contracts or receiving investigational clinical trial–related funding from the American College of Radiology, AbbVie, Avid, Biogen, Lilly, Lundbeck, Merck, and vTV Therapeutics. Dr. Ismail reports grants and personal fees from Janssen, personal fees from Lundbeck, and personal fees from Otsuka, outside the submitted work. Dr. Creese has nothing to disclose. Professor Fladby reports no conflicts of interest. Dr Hansen is an employee of Novo Nordisk A/S and holds stock/shares in Novo Nordisk A/SÐ outside the submitted work. Keith Wesnes is CEO of Cogtrack. Professor Ballard reports grants and personal fees from Acadia pharmaceutical company, grants and personal fees from Lundbeck, personal fees from Roche, personal fees from Otsuka, personal fees from Biogen, personal fees from Eli Lilly, personal fees from Novo Nordisk, personal fees from AARP, grants and personal fees from Synexus, and personal fees from Exciva outside the submitted work., (© 2020 The Authors. Alzheimer's & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Alzheimer's Association.)
- Published
- 2020
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