Neural Protein Synthesis during Aging: Effects on Plasticity and Memory

During aging, many experience a decline in cognitive function that includes memory loss. The encoding of long-term memories depends on new protein synthesis, and this is also reduced during aging. Thus, it is possible that changes in the regulation of protein synthesis contribute to the memory impairments observed in older animals. Several lines of evidence support this hypothesis. For instance, protein synthesis is required for a longer period following learning to establish long-term memory in aged rodents. Also, under some conditions, synaptic activity or pharmacological activation can induce de novo protein synthesis and lasting changes in synaptic transmission in aged, but not young, rodents; the opposite results can be observed in other conditions. These changes in plasticity likely play a role in manifesting the altered place field properties observed in awake and behaving aged rats. The collective evidence suggests a link between memory loss and the regulation of protein synthesis in senescence. In fact, pharmaceuticals that target the signaling pathways required for induction of protein synthesis have improved memory, synaptic plasticity, and place cell properties in aged animals. We suggest that a better understanding of the mechanisms that lead to different protein expression patterns in the neural circuits that change as a function of age will enable the development of more effective therapeutic treatments for memory loss

The Physical Educator\u27s Perception of the Adequate Implementation and Overall Impact of the Healthy Students Act of Mississippi

Obesity is an epidemic among Americans that is threatening the health status of citizens and having a major impact on overall physical and psychological well being. Physical education can play a vital role in containing obesity by contributing to the development of physical fitness and assisting students in planning a healthy lifestyle. The Healthy Students Act of Mississippi was passed in 2007 and implemented in the public schools in the fall of 2008. This new legislation requires participation of physical activity-based instruction in the public schools. The subjects for this study consisted of 111 individuals charged with the responsibility of teaching physical education in the public schools of Mississippi. A survey was disseminated by mail in the fall of 2008. The survey consisted of 39 questions related to demographic data and perceptions of the adequate implementation and overall impact of the Healthy Students Act of Mississippi. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze each of the 39 questions. An independent-samples t-test was calculated to compare the perceptions of the elementary and middle school teachers to the high school teachers on the positive impact on prevention of obesity among Mississippi students, t (98) = .305, p= .761, and revealed no significant difference. A t-test was performed to determine the difference in the perceived impact on academic performance between elementary and middle, and high school teachers. There was no significant difference between the two groups (t (98) = 1.46, p = .147). A one-way ANOVA was used to analyze the perceptions of elementary and middle school physical educators in comparison to high school physical on adequate implementation F(2,108) = .764, p = .468 and overall impact (F(2,107) = .628, p= 535) of the Healthy Students Act . No statistically significant differences were found among each group, therefore we failed to reject the null hypothesis, A one-way ANOVA was use to analyze the perception among physical educators, when controlling for class size and amount of time spent in physical education class, and no statistically significant difference was found. This research also investigated the perceptions of the physical educators on the factors that must be in place in order to provide a quality physical education program. The results showed that certified PE teachers was the most important factor, (M = 2.93) followed by adequate facilities, (M = 3.27), and support of the administration, (M= 3.81,). The overall impression of the potential impact of the Healthy Students Act of Mississippi was somewhat positive, although several methods of implementation of the mandates of the The Healthy Students Act must be addressed in order to see dramatic improvements in the overall health status of the students in the schools of Mississippi

An Epigenetic Hypothesis of Aging-Related Cognitive Dysfunction

This brief review will focus on a new hypothesis for the role of epigenetic mechanisms in aging-related disruptions of synaptic plasticity and memory. Epigenetics refers to a set of potentially self-perpetuating, covalent modifications of DNA and post-translational modifications of nuclear proteins that produce lasting alterations in chromatin structure. These mechanisms, in turn, result in alterations in specific patterns of gene expression. Aging-related memory decline is manifest prominently in declarative/episodic memory and working memory, memory modalities anatomically based largely in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex, respectively. The neurobiological underpinnings of age-related memory deficits include aberrant changes in gene transcription that ultimately affect the ability of the aged brain to be “plastic”. The molecular mechanisms underlying these changes in gene transcription are not currently known, but recent work points toward a potential novel mechanism, dysregulation of epigenetic mechanisms. This has led us to hypothesize that dysregulation of epigenetic control mechanisms and aberrant epigenetic “marks” drive aging-related cognitive dysfunction. Here we focus on this theme, reviewing current knowledge concerning epigenetic molecular mechanisms, as well as recent results suggesting disruption of plasticity and memory formation during aging. Finally, several open questions will be discussed that we believe will fuel experimental discovery

Secrets of aging: What does a normally aging brain look like?

Over the past half century, remarkable progress has been made in understanding the biological basis of memory and how it changes over the lifespan. An important conceptual advance during this period was the realization that normative cognitive trajectories can exist independently of dementing illness. In fact, mammals as different as rats and monkeys, who do not spontaneously develop Alzheimer’s disease, show memory impairments at advanced ages in similar domains as those observed in older humans. Thus, animal models have been particularly helpful in revealing brain mechanisms responsible for the cognitive changes that occur in aging. During these past decades, a number of empirical and technical advances enabled the discoveries that began to link age-related changes in brain function to behavior. The pace of innovation continues to accelerate today, resulting in an expanded window through which the secrets of the aging brain are being deciphered

Teaching Important Relational Skills for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Intellectual Disability Using Freely Available (GO-IRAP) Software

The current article is a brief summary of recent research in relational responding with an emphasis on the Ghent Odysseus Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (GO-IRAP) for teaching this important skill to children with diagnosed autism. Relational responding, especially derived (emergent, untaught) relational responding is thought to be related to complex human cognition such as language and other symbolic understanding (e.g., algebra, maths). Research has indicated that fluent and flexible relational responding is correlated with higher scores on standardized ability/ IQ tests, and that even quite complex relational skills may be taught to children with autism using Multiple Exemplar Training (MET) with other behavioural principles such as positive reinforcement. The GO-IRAP is an interactive computerised teaching programme conceptualized by Professor Dermot Barnes-Holmes and colleagues, which has been made freely available to practitioners and parents. This is a teaching tool designed to assess and teach relational responding from basic nonarbitrary/ physically-based relations such as coordination (same-different), comparison (greater-lesser), opposition, temporal (before-after, hierarchy, deictic relations (I-YOU), and arbitrary relations (.50=50%; X=Y) including Derived Relational Responding (DRR; teach A is greater-than B and B is greater-than, test if child derives (untaught) B is smaller than A, C is smaller than A, A is bigger than C). The current article provides some examples of the diverse relations that can be taught, and stimuli and feedback that can be presented; notably, ongoing research with the GO-IRAP may bring further refinements

Establishing Complex Derived Manding With Children With and Without a Diagnosis of Autism

Participants were four 14-year-old adolescent boys with diagnosed autism spectrum disorder and 3 children without diagnosed learning disorders aged 5 to 11. Training trials to establish more/less relational functions for 2 stimuli (X and Y, respectively) were interspersed with training trials to establish comparative relations among 5 other arbitrary stimuli (i.e., A is more than B, B is more than C, C is more than D, and D is more than E). Subsequent tests showed a derived transformation of functions for 7 participants (i.e., derived more/less mands). Exemplar training was required with 2 children. An ABA design with 3 participants showed manding was controlled by trained relations

A more informative way to name plutonic rocks — comment by Frost et al.

Published versio

Community environment, cognitive impairment and dementia in later life: results from the Cognitive Function and Ageing Study

Background: Few studies have investigated the impact of the community environment, as distinct from area deprivation, on cognition in later life. This study explores cross-sectional associations between cognitive impairment and dementia and environmental features at the community level in older people. Method: The postcodes of the 2424 participants in the year-10 interview of the Cognitive Function and Ageing Study in England were mapped into small area level geographical units (Lower-layer Super Output Areas) and linked to environmental data in government statistics. Multilevel logistic regression was conducted to investigate associations between cognitive impairment (defined as MMSE3 in GMS-AGECAT) and community level measurements including area deprivation, natural environment, land use mix and crime. Sensitivity analyses tested the impact of people moving residence within the last two years. Results: Higher levels of area deprivation and crime were not significantly associated with cognitive impairment and dementia after accounting for individual level factors. Living in areas with high land use mix was significantly associated with a nearly 60% reduced odds of dementia (OR: 0.4; 95% CI: 0.2, 0.8) after adjusting for individual level factors and area deprivation, but there was no linear trend for cognitive impairment. Increased odds of dementia (OR: 2.2, 95% CI: 1.2, 4.2) and cognitive impairment (OR: 1.4, 95% CI: 1.0, 2.0) were found in the highest quartile of natural environment availability. Findings were robust to exclusion of the recently relocated. Conclusion: Features of land use have complex associations with cognitive impairment and dementia. Further investigations should focus on environmental influences on cognition to inform health and social policies

Using the T-IRAP interactive computer program and applied behavior analysis to teach relational responding in children with autism

The IRAP computer software program was adapted as an interactive teaching tool (T-IRAP) targeting relational frames with four children with diagnosed autism aged 8-10 years. An adaptation of a multiple-baseline design was used to compare participants' relational learning in terms of speed and accuracy during Table-Top (TT) and T-IRAP teaching. The TT procedure was commenced with all participants simultaneously, and the T-IRAP was introduced at stepwise time intervals (after 5, 10, 15, 20 trial blocks) across the four participants. Nonarbitrary then arbitrary coordination, comparative, opposition and derived relations were targeted. Results showed that the T-IRAP was successfully adapted to teach all targeted relations, and in general greater speed and accuracy in relational responding were shown for all four participants during T-IRAP teaching compared with TT teaching. Thus the T-IRAP may be a useful supplementary teaching tool in applied settings