Exercise and cognitive function: a hypothesis for the association of type II diabetes mellitus and Alzheimer's disease from an evolutionary perspective

The association of type II diabetes mellitus (DM2) with Alzheimer's disease (AD) has received considerable attention in recent years. In the present paper, a hypothesis for this association from an evolutionary perspective, with emphasis on the close interplay between exercise and cognitive function, will be advanced in order to provide a biological rationale for the notion that the fundamental metabolic features of DM2 act in the brain over a protracted time span to induce the neuropathological characteristics of Alzheimer's disease thereby producing cognitive impairment. It is hoped that this hypothesis puts the association of DM2 and AD on firm conceptual grounds from a biological perspective and offers directions for further research

Tools and techniques for solvent selection: green solvent selection guides

Driven by legislation and evolving attitudes towards environmental issues, establishing green solvents for extractions, separations, formulations and reaction chemistry has become an increasingly important area of research. Several general purpose solvent selection guides have now been published with the aim to reduce use of the most hazardous solvents. This review serves the purpose of explaining the role of these guides, highlighting their similarities and differences. How they can be used most effectively to enhance the greenness of chemical processes, particularly in laboratory organic synthesis and the pharmaceutical industry, is addressed in detail

The utility of screening for perinatal depression in the second trimester among Chinese: a three-wave prospective longitudinal study

This paper aims to study the pattern of perinatal depressive symptomatology and determine the predictive power of second trimester perinatal depressive symptoms for future perinatal periods. A population-based sample of 2,178 women completed the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) in the second and third trimesters and at 6 weeks postpartum. Repeated measures ANOVAs were used to determine the EPDS scores across three stages. The predictive power of the second trimester EPDS score in identifying women with an elevated EPDS score in the third trimester and at 6 weeks postpartum were determined. The predictive power of the second trimester EPDS score was further assessed using stepwise logistic regression and receiver operator characteristic curves. EPDS scores differed significantly across three stages. The rates were 9.9%, 7.8%, and 8.7% for an EPDS score of >14 in the second and third trimesters and at 6 weeks postpartum, respectively. Using a cut-off of 14/15, the second trimester EPDS score accurately classified 89.6% of women in the third trimester and 87.2% of those at 6 weeks postpartum with or without perinatal depressive symptomatology. Women with a second trimester EPDS score >14 were 11.78 times more likely in the third trimester and 7.15 times more likely at 6 weeks postpartum to exhibit perinatal depressive symptomatology after adjustment of sociodemographic variables. The area under the curve for perinatal depressive symptomatology was 0.85 in the third trimester and 0.77 at 6 weeks postpartum. To identify women at high risk for postpartum depression, healthcare professionals could consider screening all pregnant women in the second trimester so that secondary preventive intervention may be implemented

Loss of serotonin 5-HT2A receptors in the postmortem temporal cortex correlates with rate of cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease

10.1007/s00213-004-2077-2PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY1793673-677GERMAN

Loss of serotonin 5-HT2A receptors in the postmortem temporal cortex correlates with rate of cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease.

RATIONALE: Previous studies have demonstrated reductions of serotonin 5-HT 2A receptors in the neocortex of Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients. However, it is unclear whether such losses play a role in the cognitive decline of AD. OBJECTIVES: To correlate neocortical 5-HT 2A receptor alterations with cognitive decline in AD. METHODS: Postmortem frontal and temporal cortical 5-HT 2A receptors were measured by [3H]ketanserin binding in aged controls as well as in a cohort of AD patients who had been longitudinally assessed for cognitive decline and behavioral symptoms. RESULTS: 5-HT 2A receptor densities in both regions were reduced in severely demented AD patients compared to age-matched controls. In the temporal cortex, this reduction also correlated with the rate of decline of Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores. The association between 5-HT 2A receptor loss and cognitive decline was independent of the effects of choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) activity and presence of behavioral symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that loss of neocortical 5-HT 2A receptors may predict for faster cognitive decline in AD, and point to serotomimetics as potentially useful adjuvants to cholinergic replacement therapies

Exposing a dynamical signature of the freezing transition through the sound propagation gap

The conventional view of freezing holds that nuclei of the crystal phase form in the metastable fluid through purely stochastic thermal density fluctuations. The possibility of a change in the character of the fluctuations as the freezing point is traversed is beyond the scope of this perspective. Here we show that this perspective may be incomplete by examination of the time autocorrelation function of the longitudinal current, computed by molecular dynamics for the hard-sphere fluid around its freezing point. In the spatial window where sound is overdamped, we identify a change in the long-time decay of the correlation function at the known freezing points of monodisperse and moderately polydisperse systems. The fact that these findings agree with previous experimental studies of colloidal systems in which particle are subject to diffusive dynamics, suggests that the dynamical signature we identify with the freezing transition is a consequence of packing effects alone