Longitudinal association between hippocampus atrophy and episodic-memory decline in non-demented APOE ε4 carriers.

Introduction: The apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε4 allele is the main genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease (AD), accelerated cognitive aging, and hippocampal atrophy, but its influence on the association between hippocampus atrophy and episodic-memory decline in non-demented individuals remains unclear. Methods: We analyzed longitudinal (two to six observations) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-derived hippocampal volumes and episodic memory from 748 individuals (55 to 90 years at baseline, 50% female) from the European Lifebrain consortium. Results: The change-change association for hippocampal volume and memory was significant only in ε4 carriers (N = 173, r = 0.21, P = .007; non-carriers: N = 467, r = 0.073, P = .117). The linear relationship was significantly steeper for the carriers [t(629) = 2.4, P = .013]. A similar trend toward a stronger change-change relation for carriers was seen in a subsample with more than two assessments. Discussion: These findings provide evidence for a difference in hippocampus-memory association between ε4 carriers and non-carriers, thus highlighting how genetic factors modulate the translation of the AD-related pathophysiological cascade into cognitive deficits

Educational attainment does not influence brain aging.

Education has been related to various advantageous lifetime outcomes. Here, using longitudinal structural MRI data (4,422 observations), we tested the influential hypothesis that higher education translates into slower rates of brain aging. Cross-sectionally, education was modestly associated with regional cortical volume. However, despite marked mean atrophy in the cortex and hippocampus, education did not influence rates of change. The results were replicated across two independent samples. Our findings challenge the view that higher education slows brain aging

Education and Income Show Heterogeneous Relationships to Lifespan Brain and Cognitive Differences Across European and US Cohorts.

Higher socio-economic status (SES) has been proposed to have facilitating and protective effects on brain and cognition. We ask whether relationships between SES, brain volumes and cognitive ability differ across cohorts, by age and national origin. European and US cohorts covering the lifespan were studied (4-97 years, N = 500 000; 54 000 w/brain imaging). There was substantial heterogeneity across cohorts for all associations. Education was positively related to intracranial (ICV) and total gray matter (GM) volume. Income was related to ICV, but not GM. We did not observe reliable differences in associations as a function of age. SES was more strongly related to brain and cognition in US than European cohorts. Sample representativity varies, and this study cannot identify mechanisms underlying differences in associations across cohorts. Differences in neuroanatomical volumes partially explained SES-cognition relationships. SES was more strongly related to ICV than to GM, implying that SES-cognition relations in adulthood are less likely grounded in neuroprotective effects on GM volume in aging. The relatively stronger SES-ICV associations rather are compatible with SES-brain volume relationships being established early in life, as ICV stabilizes in childhood. The findings underscore that SES has no uniform association with, or impact on, brain and cognition

Association of alcohol use with years lived without major chronic diseases: A multicohort study from the IPD-Work consortium and UK Biobank

BACKGROUND: Heavy alcohol consumption increases the risk of several chronic diseases. In this multicohort study, we estimated the number of life-years without major chronic diseases according to different characteristics of alcohol use. METHODS: In primary analysis, we pooled individual-level data from up to 129,942 adults across 12 cohort studies with baseline data collection on alcohol consumption, drinking patterns, and history between 1986 and 2005 (the IPD-Work Consortium). Self-reported alcohol consumption was categorised according to UK guidelines – non-drinking (never or former drinkers); moderate consumption (1–14 units); heavy consumption (>14 units per week). We further subdivided moderate and heavy drinkers by binge drinking pattern (alcohol-induced loss of consciousness). In addition, we assessed problem drinking using linked data on hospitalisations due to alcohol abuse or poisoning. Follow-up for chronic diseases for all participants included incident type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, cancer, and respiratory disease (asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) as ascertained via linkage to national morbidity and mortality registries, repeated medical examinations, and/or self-report. We estimated years lived without any of these diseases between 40 and 75 years of age according to sex and characteristics of alcohol use. We repeated the main analyses using data from 427,621 participants in the UK Biobank cohort study. FINDINGS: During 1·73 million person-years at risk, 22,676 participants in IPD-Work cohorts developed at least one chronic condition. From age 40 to 75 years, never-drinkers [men: 29·3 (95%CI 27·9–30·8) years, women 29·8 (29·2–30·4) years)] and moderate drinkers with no binge drinking habit [men 28·7 (28·4–29·0) years, women 29·6 (29·4–29·7) years] had the longest disease-free life span. A much shorter disease-free life span was apparent in participants who experienced alcohol poisoning [men 23·4 (20·9–26·0) years, women 24·0 (21·4–26·5) years] and those with self-reported heavy overall consumption and binge drinking [men: 26·0 (25·3–26·8), women 27·5 (26·4–28·5) years]. The pattern of results for alcohol poisoning and self-reported alcohol consumption was similar in UK Biobank. In IPD-Work and UK Biobank, differences in disease-free years between self-reported moderate drinkers and heavy drinkers were 1·5 years or less. INTERPRETATION: Individuals with alcohol poisonings or heavy self-reported overall consumption combined with a binge drinking habit have a marked 3- to 6-year loss in healthy longevity. Differences in disease-free life between categories of self-reported weekly alcohol consumption were smaller. FUNDING: Medical Research Council, National Institute on Aging, NordForsk, Academy of Finland, Finnish Work Environment Fund

Calculating the migration industries: knowing the successful expatriate in the Global Mobility Industry

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.This paper argues that we need to pay more theoretical attention to the ways in which migration industries come into being, how they produce a need for themselves within the management of migration processes. Using the example of the Global Mobility Industry, an industry that supports expatriate migration, the paper suggests that we can theorise migration industries as being part of the knowledge economy. It shows how the Global Mobility Industry is produced around the practices of knowing the successful expatriate which work to ‘calculate’ what expatriate migration should look like. In doing so, the paper shows the way in which the calculative practice of compartmentalisation, in producing knowledge about expatriate migration, produce a need for the Global Mobility Industry. This illustrates the importance of widening our understanding of the economy when researching the migration industries