Depression & cognition in the elderly : neuroimaging perspective

This thesis examines the relationship between depression and brain structure in the elderly with (Study I, III) and without (Study II, IV) cognitive impairment (Alzheimer’s disease and mild cognitive impairment). Individuals from four independent cohorts were included. Participants had either a depressive episode (Study II, III) or depressive symptoms, as measured with different depression scales (Study I, IV). Studies I and II have cross-sectional design, and studies III and IV are longitudinal. Main outcomes were cortical thickness of the brain and volumes of different structures (hippocampus, ventral diencephalon, including hypothalamus and corpus callosum), or atrophy rate of the thickness and volumes (Study IV). We found in all the cohorts that depressive symptoms were associated with cortical thinning in the same region – the left temporoparietal junction. Depression-related thinning was observed in three cohorts (Studies I, IV) in superior temporal cortex and temporal pole. In two non-demented cohorts (Studies II, IV) angular cortex was also involved in depression. Longitudinal analysis revealed that thinning in these regions is secondary to depressive symptoms (study IV). In two cohorts (Study I, II) fusiform cortex was involved in depression. In study IV, we also were able to assess thinning which developed in parallel with depressive symptoms. It covered medial superior frontal cortex and lingual cortex. The number of depressive episodes was associated with cortical thinning in the left temporal pole in women (Study II) and reduced volume of the right ventral diencephalon in both – men and women (Study III). We have found moderating effect of gender on the relationship between cortical thickness and depression onset. Women with late-onset depression (>65 years) but not men had the widespread thinning in the prefrontal cortex compared to early-onset depressed. The volume of the right hippocampus and thickness of the superior frontal cortex were positively associated with a level of global cognition measured with the mini-mental state examination (MMSE) This effect was more pronounced in the subgroup of late-onset depressed (Study II). The volume of the right ventral diencephalon was associated with cognitive decline (MCI or dementia diagnosis) one year later in the elderly with a depressive episode (study III). Adding baseline MMSE to the classifier increased its accuracy. Total and phosphorylated tau were associated with cortical thinning in the cluster covering right posterior cingulate cortex and precuneus and cluster covering right parahippocampal and fusiform gyri in the AD patients with depressive symptoms from the KI cohort (Study I). No association has been found in non-depressed AD patients. Higher baseline saliva cortisol levels in non-demented individuals (Study IV) were associated with widespread cortical atrophy in temporal, prefrontal and parietal cortex bilaterally and the right hippocampus, independently of age and MMSE. To sum-up, depression was associated with thinning (Studies I, II) and subsequent atrophy (Study IV) in the superior temporal, supramarginal, temporal pole, lingual, fusiform and parahippocampal cortex. Cortical thinning in the superior frontal and lingual regions developed in parallel or prior to the depressive symptoms. The afore-mentioned regions are involved in social perception (processing of the information about others, experience positive emotions related to other people and building an integrative picture of another person), and are among the first to be impaired in Alzheimer’s disease. Elevated cortisol explained atrophy in these and a number of other regions, including the hippocampus, suggesting that depression and Alzheimer’s disease may be connected via cortisol-related brain damage. Depression-related atrophy in the ventral diencephalon leads to impaired cognitive performance. Assessment of cognitive function during the depressive episode, combined with brain structural measurements may have a prognostic value. Future studies should evaluate if a detailed neurocognitive assessment of elderly patients during the depressive episode would help to identify those at high risk of dementia. It is also important to test if stress-reduction interventions in individuals at-risk of Alzheimer’s disease would be effective in its prevention

Alterations in Intellectual Property Right after Russia’s Accession to the World Trade Organization

Russia has been the member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) since 2012. Russia has taken a long and complicated way to achieve this goal. After the result has been obtained, the question: “Is the state able to secure intellectual property right of Russian and foreign right holders, as well?” is topical. How to gain positive experience from cooperation? This article considers the list of major obligations, introduced by WTO to the Russian Federation, concerned with its accession to WTO

Дискурс коммунизма и социалистическая языковая личность: риторический аспект

Within the conception of the Sochi Linguistic & Rhetorical School the paper argues for the idea of discourse of Communism as a cover term for the «officialese» in the Soviet Union and former Socialist countries singling out four periods of its development: origin, formation, official existence, dismantling. The article pays special attention to the heterogeneity of the longest period of the discourse's official existence, which consists of the alternating stages: rise in the revolutionary and post-revolutionary years, during war and past-war time with the expansion of the discourse of Communism to other countries; and fall with the massive reprisals of 1930s and the “stagnation” epoch. During the period of its official existence three of its facets – official, public and real – reflect contradictions between the Communist ideas imposed by the authorities and the state of the Socialist linguistic personality confronting the meanness of daily life. The paper reveals those contrasts drawing on the diaries of Olga Berggolts and Alexander Dovzhenko as well as the destinies of Mikhail Prishvin, Alexey Tolstoy and Alexander Fadeyev.Dentro de la concepción de la Escuela Lingüística y Retórica de Sochi, el artículo argumenta a favor de la idea del discurso del comunismo como un término de cobertura para los «officialese» en la Unión Soviética y los ex países socialistas que señalan cuatro períodos de su desarrollo: origen, formación, oficial existencia, desmantelamiento. El artículo presta especial atención a la heterogeneidad del período más largo de la existencia oficial del discurso, que consiste en las etapas alternas: ascenso en los años revolucionario y posrevolucionario, durante la guerra y el tiempo de la guerra pasada con la expansión del discurso del comunismo. a otros países; y caer con las represalias masivas de 1930 y la época de "estancamiento". Durante el período de su existencia oficial, tres de sus facetas, oficial, pública y real, reflejan contradicciones entre las ideas comunistas impuestas por las autoridades y el estado de la personalidad lingüística socialista que confronta la mezquindad de la vida cotidiana. El documento revela esos contrastes basados ​​en los diarios de Olga Berggolts y Alexander Dovzhenko, así como los destinos de Mikhail Prishvin, Alexey Tolstoy y Alexander Fadeyev.В русле концепции Сочинской лингвориторической школы статья обосновывает идею дискурса коммунизма, обобщающую интерпретации «официолекта» в Советском Союзе и в бывших странах социализма, и выделяет четыре периода его развития: зарождение, формирование, расцвет и угасание. Отмечена неоднородность наиболее длительного и значимого периода расцвета, который состоит из чередующихся этапов: вознесения в революционные и послереволюционные годы, в военное и послевоенное время, сопровождавшееся расширением границ дискурса коммунизма на другие страны; и упадка, с которым соотносятся массовые репрессии конца 30-х годов и эпоха «застоя». На всех этапах расцвета дискурса коммунизма его три ипостаси – официальная, публичная и реальная – отражали противоречие между коммунистическими идеями, навязываемыми властями, и состоянием социалистической языковой личности, сталкивающейся с превратностями повседневной реальности. Указанные контрасты раскрываются в статье на материале дневников Ольги Берггольц и Александра Довженко, а также на примере литературных судеб Михаила Пришвина, Алексея Толстого и Александра Фадеева

Protective Role of Mytilus edulis Hydrolysate in Lipopolysaccharide-Galactosamine Acute Liver Injury

Acute liver injury in its terminal phase trigger systemic inflammatory response syndrome with multiple organ failure. An uncontrolled inflammatory reaction is difficult to treat and contributes to high mortality. Therefore, to solve this problem a search for new therapeutic approaches remains urgent. This study aimed to explore the protective effects of M. edulis hydrolysate (N2-01) against Lipopolysaccharide-D-Galactosamine (LPS/D-GalN)-induced murine acute liver injure and the underlying mechanisms. N2-01 analysis, using Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (LCMS) metabolomic and proteomic platforms, confirmed composition, molecular-weight distribution, and high reproducibility between M. edulis hydrolysate manufactured batches. N2-01 efficiently protected mice against LPS/D-GalN-induced acute liver injury. The most prominent result (100% survival rate) was obtained by the constant subcutaneous administration of small doses of the drug. N2-01 decreased Vascular Cell Adhesion Molecule-1 (VCAM-1) expression from 4.648 ± 0.445 to 1.503 ± 0.091 Mean Fluorescence Intensity (MFI) and Interleukin-6 (IL-6) production in activated Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells (HUVECs) from 7.473 ± 0.666 to 2.980 ± 0.130 ng/ml in vitro. The drug increased Nitric Oxide (NO) production by HUVECs from 27.203 ± 2.890 to 69.200 ± 4.716 MFI but significantly decreased inducible Nitric Oxide Synthase (iNOS) expression from 24.030 ± 2.776 to 15.300 ± 1.290 MFI and NO production by murine peritoneal lavage cells from 6.777 ± 0.373 µm to 2.175 ± 0.279 µm. The capability of the preparation to enhance the endothelium barrier function and to reduce vascular permeability was confirmed in Electrical Cell-substrate Impedance Sensor (ECIS) test in vitro and Miles assay in vivo. These results suggest N2-01 as a promising agent for treating a wide range of conditions associated with uncontrolled inflammation and endothelial dysfunction

The Concept of the Regional Industrial Cluster Information Support

One of the priorities and internationally accepted approaches to the management of innovation processes in the global economy is the cluster approach, a product of the integration of economic processes, which is a powerful tool to promote regional development. It has been effectively studied in the article the regional cluster with data items to ensure the effective interaction of all participants in the process of achieving economic goals. The paper presents an algorithm of information modeling of regional industrial cluster, comprising the steps of determining the hierarchical structure of the processes, the organization of all kinds of flows, the description of the logical structure and the information needs of each process. This article is intended for economists, researchers, enterprises executives, professionals in the field of information technology, dealing with information support of manufacturing processes. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n2s3p2

Growth, Nutrition and Economy : Proceedings of the 27th Aschauer Soiree, held at Krobielowice, Poland, November 16th 2019

Twenty-three scientists met at Krobielowice, Poland to discuss the role of growth, nutrition and economy on body size. Contrasting prevailing concepts, re-analyses of studies in Indonesian and Guatemalan school children with high prevalence of stunting failed to provide evidence for an association between nutritional status and body height. Direct effects of parental education on growth that were not transmitted via nutrition were shown in Indian datasets using network analysis and novel statistical methods (St. Nicolas House Analysis) that translate correlation matrices into network graphs. Data on Polish children suggest significant impact of socioeconomic sensitivity on child growth, with no effect of maternal money satisfaction. Height and maturation tempo affect the position of a child among its peers. Correlations also exist between mood disorders and height. Secular changes in height and weight varied across decades independent of population size. Historic and recent Russian data showed that height of persons whose fathers performed manual work were on average four cm shorter than persons whose fathers were high-degree specialists. Body height, menarcheal age, and body proportions are sensitive to socioeconomic variables. Additional topics included delayed motherhood and its associations with newborn size; geographic and socioeconomic indicators related to low birth weight, prematurity and stillbirth rate; data on anthropometric history of Brazil, 1850-1950; the impact of central nervous system stimulants on the growth of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder; and pituitary development and growth hormone secretion. Final discussions debated on reverse causality interfering between social position, and adolescent growth and developmental tempo.Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Muse

Atrial fibrillation genetic risk differentiates cardioembolic stroke from other stroke subtypes

AbstractObjectiveWe sought to assess whether genetic risk factors for atrial fibrillation can explain cardioembolic stroke risk.MethodsWe evaluated genetic correlations between a prior genetic study of AF and AF in the presence of cardioembolic stroke using genome-wide genotypes from the Stroke Genetics Network (N = 3,190 AF cases, 3,000 cardioembolic stroke cases, and 28,026 referents). We tested whether a previously-validated AF polygenic risk score (PRS) associated with cardioembolic and other stroke subtypes after accounting for AF clinical risk factors.ResultsWe observed strong correlation between previously reported genetic risk for AF, AF in the presence of stroke, and cardioembolic stroke (Pearson’s r=0.77 and 0.76, respectively, across SNPs with p &lt; 4.4 × 10−4 in the prior AF meta-analysis). An AF PRS, adjusted for clinical AF risk factors, was associated with cardioembolic stroke (odds ratio (OR) per standard deviation (sd) = 1.40, p = 1.45×10−48), explaining ∼20% of the heritable component of cardioembolic stroke risk. The AF PRS was also associated with stroke of undetermined cause (OR per sd = 1.07, p = 0.004), but no other primary stroke subtypes (all p &gt; 0.1).ConclusionsGenetic risk for AF is associated with cardioembolic stroke, independent of clinical risk factors. Studies are warranted to determine whether AF genetic risk can serve as a biomarker for strokes caused by AF.</jats:sec

Sleep Mediates the Association Between Stress at Work and Incident Dementia : Study From the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe

Background Both psychosocial stress at work and sleep disturbance may predispose impaired cognitive function and dementia in later life. However, whether sleep plays a mediating role for the link between stress at work and subsequent dementia has yet to be investigated. Methods Data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe were used for the study. A cohort of 7 799 dementia-free individuals (aged 71.1 +/- 0.2 years) were followed up for a median of 4.1 years for incident dementia. Job demand and control were estimated using questions derived from the Karasek's Job Content Questionnaire. Sleep disturbance was ascertained by a question in the EURO-Depression scale. Cox proportional hazard models adjusted for age, sex, education, cognitive test score, and other potential covariates were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of dementia in relation to different job strain levels. Results An interaction between job demand and sleep disturbance regarding the risk of dementia was detected. Data suggested a protective role of high-level job demand for dementia in individuals with sleep disturbance (HR [95% CI]: 0.69 [0.47, 1.00]) compared with low job demand. A 4-category job strain model based on the combination of job demand and job control levels suggested that among individuals with sleep disturbance, passive job (low demand, low control) was associated with a higher risk of dementia (1.54 [1.01, 2.34]), compared to active job (high demand, high control). Conclusion The link between work-related stress and risk of dementia is limited to individuals suffering sleep disturbance