1,720,997 research outputs found
Hormonal and emotional regulation of memory processes
No full textTHESIS 7337This thesis comprises two areas of study. The first study examined the effect of the menstrual cycle on Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) and verbal memory, as measured by paragraph recall and paired associates, and mood, as assessed by the Profile of Mood States (POMS) Inventory. The Cambridge Automated Neuropsychological Test Battery (CANTAB) was also deployed to investigate the effect of the menstrual cycle on visual memory and attention. The second study concerned the effect of emotional content of words on recognition memory in terms of age and gender. This was examined using ERPs and behavioural tests (percentage correct and free recall)
The impact of folate and vitamin B12 intake and biomarker status on cognitive performance in older adults on the island of Ireland
No full textBackground: Some studies have reported that suboptimal B vitamin status has been negatively associated with cognition in older adults, though, not all studies have observed this. This is hampered by the lack of new and recent population data on B vitamin and cognitive status within the population. Objective: To determine the folate and vitamin B12 dietary intake and biomarker status of older adults in Ireland and the association of these micronutrients with cognitive performance. Design: Participants were recruited for the Trinity, Ulster, Department of Agriculture (TUDA) ageing cohort and an additional follow up study of the cohort. Participants were asked to report their medication use, medical history, lifestyle and dietary intake including use of folic acid (FA) fortified foods and dietary supplements. They also completed three cognitive test batteries and gave a blood sample from which biomarker status of red blood cell folate (RCF), methylmalonic acid (MMA), serum total B12 and homocysteine concentration was measured. Results: Biomarker status of RCF decreased since baseline (p 206.1 µg but 0.26µmol/L. Conclusion: This study supports the need to implement mandatory fortification policy as a method to improve dietary intake of FA and B12 to biomarker status in older Irish people to promote better health in ageing particularly a reduction in the rate of cognitive decline
Vascular correlates of cognitive performance in a community based elderly population
No full textTHESIS 9236Population studies suggest that cardiovascular risk factors may be associated with cognitive impairment. Epidemiological studies evaluating individual markers of vascular disease as a risk factor for cognitive dysfunction have yielded inconsistent results. Existing studies have largely examined individual vascular risks in isolation and have tended to ignore patient psychological status when adjusting for potential confounds and concentrated on patient biophysical factors
Vitamin D deficiency: cognition, mortality and resource utilisation - prospective associations
No full textIntroduction: The association between Vitamin D and bone health has long been known. In recent times there has been increasing research into the effects of Vitamin D beyond this well-established link. Although there has been extensive work completed, the results have been variable to date. Aims: The aim of this body of work was to prospectively assess the extra-osseous associations of Vitamin D in an older Irish population who are at significant risk of Vitamin D deficiency. The areas of interest include all-case mortality, resource utilisation, including hospital admission, Emergency Department (ED) attendance and cognition. Methods: These studies come from prospectively determining outcomes for participants of the TUDA study some five years later. The TUDA study was a large cross sectional study from Northern and Southern Ireland that compared cognition and diet in a community population from three disease-defined cohorts (mild cognitive impairment (MCI), hypertension and osteoporosis). Four individual studies were conducted to evaluate the relationship between Vitamin D and mortality, hospital admission and Emergency Department (ED) attendances and cognition. The 3,093 participants included were the TUDA cohorts recruited between 2008 and 2012 through Saint James\u27s Hospital (from the MCI and osteoporosis cohort) and outcomes were assessed between 2013 and 2015. Results: During the follow-up period of four years, 40% of participants were admitted, 51% attended the Emergency Department and 15% died. In the three studies looking at mortality or hospital attendance, Vitamin D was inversely related to all the outcomes of interest. Vitamin D deficiency was not associated with cognitive change over time in four of the five RBANS Indices. Performance on Index IV improved significantly in cases. All statistical models were adjusted for multiple covariates including potential confounders of Vitamin D, frailty and chronic medical conditions. Conclusion: These studies add to a growing literature that shows prospective associations between Vitamin D deficiency and poor outcome measures in relation to mortality and resource utilisation. The improvement in RBANS Index IV in patients who were initially Vitamin D deficient may have been a chance effect or may reflect a benefit in cognitive function with repletion of deficient Vitamin D levels over time. All associations were independent of markers of cognitive and physical frailty. These results support an effect of Vitamin D beyond falls and bone health. The need for further evaluation of Vitamin D deficiency and supplementation, as a modifiable factor in processes beyond the current recommendations for bone health, is warranted and should focus on randomised controlled trials
Vitamin D in the elderly and its relationship to inflammation and cognitive health
No full textBackground: There is a major shift in ageing demographics as individuals are experiencing increased longevity. This shift may be beneficial for the individual who will live into more advanced year than their ancestors. However, this demographic shift also has an economic health burden in the form of age-related chronic diseases healthcare costs. The healthcare costs are estimated to increase significantly from the ?3 billion currently being spent annually for the treatment of dementia and experts estimate the global cost will soon reach over one trillion dollars (Prince et al. 2016). In 2017 PHE reported that dementia was the leading cause of mortality in older adults, exceeding CVD, stroke and lung cancer for the first time. The most common form of dementia is Alzheimer disease accounting for approximately 62% of cases, while other forms include vascular dementia, mixed Lewy body dementia, and frontotemporal dementia. There is currently no cure for dementia and few treatments. Although there is relatively little known of the aetiology of dementia, it is thought to be largely multifactorial with a long preclinical phase prior to symptoms presenting themselves. Some research has shown inflammation to contribute to cognitive decline, and certain dietary nutrients have also being identified as possible modifiable risk factors. One such nutrient identified is vitamin D. Many previous studies have suggested that vitamin D exerts its beneficial effects on cognitive health through anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory pathways. However, no studies have examined vitamin D for effects exclusive to these pathways. Objective: The aim of this study was to explore the association between vitamin D status and cognition in community dwelling older Irish adults. A secondary aim was to investigate if vitamin D mediates cognitive integrity through inflammatory pathways or if it exerts an association independent of inflammation. This will be addressed through statistical adjustment for the presence of inflammation. This study also aims to assess whether vitamin D can predict incidence cognitive decline over 5+ years follow-up period. Design, setting, and participants: This observational cross ? sectional and longitudinal cohort study enrolled 1000 older Irish adults (>60 yrs at baseline) 5 years following baseline (n=5186). Recruitment took place in Northern Ireland and Dublin as part of the Trinity, Ulster, Department of Agriculture (TUDA) ageing cohort follow-up study. Outcomes measured: Participants were examined for anthropometric measures, lifestyle factors, medical history, current medication, cognition (MMSE, FAB, RBANS), dietary, inflammatory markers and cytokine concentrations (CRP, IL-6, TNF-alpha, IL-10), and vitamin D status by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Results: Partial correlation shows that 25(OH)D is positively associated with cognition when assessed by MMSE and RBANS Index II score (P<0.05 for both). Furthermore, IL-6 significantly negatively correlates with RBANS index III (P<0.05 ) index V (P<0.05), and total scale (P<0.05 ). No other correlations were observed between inflammatory cytokines and cognition. Conclusion: This study highlights that vitamin D is positively correlated with domain specific cognition, even after adjustment for well-established covariates. The results of this study do not rule out the possibility of a protective role of vitamin D in cognition decline. Although this study was lacking sufficient power to further the analysis, there is still much agreement with the existing literature
Vitamin D in older adults and its relationship to cognition, blood pressure, mood and falls
No full textTX-2-127An increasing body of evidence supports a role for vitamin D in cognition, blood pressure, mood and falls. Vitamin D deficiency is prevalent in older adults and might provide an alternative novel treatment strategy for some non-skeletal diseases. However, studies to date have given conflicting results and the role of vitamin D beyond bone health remains unclear
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
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