Cognition and chronic pain: an analysis on community-dwelling elderly caregivers and non-caregivers

[eng] Background: In recent years there has been an increasing number of elderly people who care for another elderly person in the same household. These elderly people are more susceptible to overload and the presence of chronic pain, while pain can negatively influence cognitive variables. Objective: To compare the performance and cognitive processing of elderly caregivers and non-caregivers with and without chronic pain. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study carried out among 149 elderly people divided into four groups that were matched according to sex, age and schooling. The tests used were a numerical pain assessment scale, the Brief Cognitive Screening Battery (BCSB), Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination (ACER-R) and cognitive processing through event-related potentials (P300). Results: Statistically significant differences between participants with and without chronic pain were found with regard to attention/orientation (p=0.045) and visual-spatial skills (p=0.017), and in the total score (p=0.033). In the pain-free group, the caregivers showed better results than the non-caregivers. There were no effects between subjects or interactions (caregiving and pain factors) either on P300 amplitude or on P300 latency. Conclusion: In general, it was observed that pain-free individuals presented better performance. No relationship was observed between the factors care and pain regarding cognitive performance

MicroRNA 221 Targets ADAM10 mRNA and is Downregulated in Alzheimer's Disease

ADAM10 is the \uce\ub1-secretase that cleaves amyloid-\uce\ub2 protein precursor in the non-amyloidogenic pathway in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and is known to be regulated by different microRNAs (miRNAs), which are post-transcriptional regulators related to several biological and pathological processes, including AD. Here we proposed to explore and validate miRNAs that have direct or indirect relations to the AD pathophysiology and ADAM10 gene. Approximately 700 miRNAs were analyzed and 21 differentially expressed miRNAs were validated in a sample of 21 AD subjects and 17 cognitively healthy matched controls. SH-SY5Y cells were transfected with miR-144-5p, miR-221, and miR-374 mimics and inhibitors, and ADAM10 protein levels were evaluated. miR-144-5p, miR-221, and miR-374 were downregulated in AD. The overexpression of miR-221 in SH-SY5Y cells resulted in ADAM10 reduction and its inhibition in ADAM10 increased. These findings show that miR-221 can be a new potential therapeutic target for increasing ADAM10 levels in AD. In addition, these results can contribute to the better understanding of ADAM10 post-transcriptional regulation