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Background: Non-communicable diseases are a leading cause of health loss worldwide, in part due to unhealthy lifestyles. Metabolic-based diseases are rising with an unhealthy body-mass index (BMI) in rural areas as the main risk factor in adults, which may be amplified by wider determinants of health. Changes in rural environments reflect the need of better understanding the factors affecting the self-ability for making balanced decisions. We assessed whether unhealthy lifestyles and environment in rural neighbourhoods are reflected into metabolic risks and health capability.Methods: We conducted a community-based cross-sectional study in 15 Portuguese rural neighbourhoods to describe individuals' health functioning condition and to characterize the community environment. We followed a qualitatively driven mixed-method design to gather information about evidence-based data, lifestyles and neighbourhood satisfaction (incorporated in eVida technology), within a random sample of 270 individuals, and in-depth interviews to 107 individuals, to uncover whether environment influence the ability for improving or pursuing heath and well-being.Results: Men showed to have a 75% higher probability of being overweight than women (p-value = 0.0954); and the reporting of health loss risks was higher in women (RR: 1.48; p-value = 0.122), individuals with larger waist circumference (RR: 2.21; IC: 1.19; 4.27), overweight and obesity (RR: 1.38; p-value = 0.293) and aged over 75 years (RR: 1.78; p-value = 0.235; when compared with participants under 40 years old). Metabolic risks were more associated to BMI and physical activity than diet (or sleeping habits). Overall, metabolic risk linked to BMI was higher in small villages than in municipalities. Seven dimensions, economic development, built (and natural) environment, social network, health care, demography, active lifestyles, and mobility, reflected the self-perceptions in place affecting the individual ability to make healthy choices. Qualitative data exposed asymmetries in surrounding environments among neighbourhoods and uncovered the natural environment and natural resources specifies as the main value of rural well-being.Conclusions: Metabolic risk factors reflect unhealthy lifestyles and can be associated with environment contextual-dependent circumstances. People-centred approaches highlight wider socioeconomic and (natural) environmental determinants reflecting health needs, health expectations and health capability. Our community-based program and cross-disciplinary research provides insights that may improve health-promoting changes in rural neighbourhoods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Worldwide environmental tragedies of anthropogenic origin causing massive release of metals and other pollutants have been increasing considerably. These pollution outbreaks affect the ecosystems and impact human health. Among those tragedies, recent large-scale environmental disasters in Brazil strongly affected riverside populations, leading to high-risk exposure to methylmercury (MeHg). MeHg is highly neurotoxic to the developing brain. This toxicant causes neural stem cell dysfunction and neurodevelopmental abnormalities. However, less is known about the effects of MeHg in the postnatal neurogenic niche, which harbors neural stem cells and their progeny, in the adult brain. Therefore, taking in consideration the impact of MeHg in human health it is urgent to clarify possible associations between exposure to mercury, accelerated cognitive decline, and neurodegenerative diseases. In this perspectives paper, we discuss the neurotoxic mechanisms of MeHg on postnatal neurogenesis and the putative implications associated with accelerated brain aging and early-onset cognitive decline in populations highly exposed to this environmental neurotoxicant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cognitive reserve is associated with the capacity of the brain to maintain cognitive performance in spite of being challenged by stressful degenerative insults related to aging. Hippocampal neurogenesis is a life-long process of continuous addition of functional new neurons in the memory processing circuits. Accordingly, adult hippocampal neurogenesis is increasingly seen as a key determinant of cognitive reserve robustness. On the other side, neuroinflammation, by releasing a plethora of proinflammatory cytokines and other inflammatory molecules, is increasingly shown to be one of the key determinant pathophysiological factors that negatively impact on neurogenesis and on the cognitive reserve, playing a detrimental role in hippocampal neurogenic niche dynamics and in the progression of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease. In the present manuscript, we highlight the functional interplay between neuroinflammation, dynamics of the neurogenic niche, and spatial memory performance in healthy and age-related pathological processes, including progression of Alzheimer's disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The subventricular zone (SVZ) contains neural stem cells (NSCs) that generate new neurons throughout life. Many brain diseases stimulate NSCs proliferation, neuronal differentiation and homing of these newborns cells into damaged regions. However, complete cell replacement has never been fully achieved. Hence, the identification of proneurogenic factors crucial for stem cell-based therapies will have an impact in brain repair. Histamine, a neurotransmitter and immune mediator, has been recently described to modulate proliferation and commitment of NSCs. Histamine levels are increased in the brain parenchyma and at the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) upon inflammation and brain injury, thus being able to modulate neurogenesis. Herein, we add new data showing that in vivo administration of histamine in the lateral ventricles has a potent proneurogenic effect, increasing the production of new neuroblasts in the SVZ that ultimately reach the olfactory bulb (OB). This report emphasizes the multidimensional effects of histamine in the modulation of NSCs dynamics and sheds light into the promising therapeutic role of histamine for brain regenerative medicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]