Use your team’s emotions to boost creativity

August 17, 2021

Science Daily/Rice University

If you're putting together a team for a project, you might be inclined to pick people with cheerful, optimistic dispositions and flexible thinking. But a new management study indicates your team might also benefit from people who are exactly the opposite, according to experts at Rice University, the University of Western Australia, Bond University and the University of Queensland.

The study, co-authored by Jing Zhou, the Mary Gibbs Jones Professor of Management and Psychology at Rice's Jones Graduate School of Business, investigates the effects of "team affective diversity" on team creativity. The paper published in the Journal of Organizational Behavior is among the first research to reveal how, why and under what condition teams' "affective diversity" promotes team creativity.

Team members with what researchers call "negative affect" exhibit critical and persistent thinking that allows them to identify problems needing solutions, as well as to search out and critically evaluate relevant information. On the other hand, team members with "positive affect" engage in broad and flexible thinking that expands their range of information and helps them see unusual and creative connections, the researchers say.

"At any given point in time, some team members may experience positive affect such as joy and inspiration, whereas others may experience negative affect such as frustration and worry," Zhou said. "Instead of trying to homogenize team members' affect, teams should embrace affective heterogeneity."

When a team experiences a high level of this "affective heterogeneity," what Zhou describes as "dual-tuning" leads to greater creativity.

The researchers tested their hypotheses among 59 teams working on a semesterlong project in an undergraduate management course at a university in Hong Kong. Each team developed a business plan, which involved designing a new product and differentiating it from potential competitors in the market.

Zhou stresses that a team's "affective heterogeneity" can serve as a resource for team creativity. This unique type of diversity facilitates team creativity, provided the teams have a strong so-called "transactive memory system." "Our study suggests that teams may be aided in using their affect heterogeneity via interventions that focus on building the team's transactive memory system, which can be accelerated when team members spend time together, share goals, receive information about member specializations and train on the task together," Zhou said.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/08/210817193007.htm

Night shift work is linked to increased risk of heart problems

August 16, 2021

Science Daily/European Society of Cardiology

People who work night shifts are at increased risk of developing an irregular and often abnormally fast heart rhythm called atrial fibrillation (AF), according to research published in the European Heart Journal.

The study is the first to investigate the links between night shift work and AF. Using information from 283,657 people in the UK Biobank database, researchers found that the longer and more frequently that people worked night shifts over their lifetimes, the greater their risk of AF. Night shift work was also linked to an increased risk of heart disease, but not to stroke or heart failure.

In addition, the researchers, led by Professor Yingli Lu, of Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital and Shanghai JiaoTong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China, and Professor Lu Qi, of Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, USA, investigated whether genetic predisposition to AF could play a role in the increased risk. They evaluated the overall genetic risk on the basis of 166 genetic variations known to be associated with the condition but found that the genetic risk levels did not affect the link between working night shifts and AF risk, regardless of whether participants had a low, medium or high genetic risk.

Prof. Lu said: "Although a study like this cannot show a causal link between night shifts and atrial fibrillation and heart disease, our results suggest that current and lifetime night shift work may increase the risk of these conditions.

"Our findings have public health implications for preventing atrial fibrillation. They suggest that reducing both the frequency and the duration of night shift work may be beneficial for the health of the heart and blood vessels."

The study included 286,353 people who were in paid employment or self-employed. A total of 283,657 of these participants did not have AF when they enrolled in UK Biobank, and 276,009 did not have heart failure or stroke. Information on genetic variants was available for 193,819 participants without AF, and 75,391 of them answered in-depth questions about their lifetime employment in a questionnaire sent out in 2015. Among the participants free of heart disease and stroke when they joined the study, 73,986 provided information on their employment history. During an average follow-up time of over ten years, there were 5,777 AF cases.

The researchers adjusted their analyses for factors that could affect the results, such as age, sex, ethnicity, education, socioeconomic status, smoking, physical exercise, diet, body mass index, blood pressure, sleep duration and chronotype (whether someone was a 'morning' or an 'evening' person).

They found that people who currently worked night shifts on a usual or permanent basis had a 12% increased risk of AF compared to people who only worked during the day. The risk increased to 18% after ten or more years for those who had a lifetime duration of night shifts. Among people who worked an average of three to eight night shifts a month for ten years or more, the risk of AF increased to 22% compared to daytime workers.

Among participants currently working night shifts, or working night shifts for ten or more years, or working a lifetime of three to eight night shifts a month, the risk of coronary heart disease increased by 22%, 37% and 35% respectively compared to daytime workers.

Prof. Qi said: "There were two more interesting findings. We found that women were more susceptible to atrial fibrillation than men when working night shifts for more than ten years. Their risk increased significantly by 64% compared to day workers. People reporting an ideal amount of physical activity of 150 minutes a week or more of moderate intensity, 75 minutes a week or more of vigorous intensity, or an equivalent combination, had a lower risk of atrial fibrillation than those with non-ideal physical activity when exposed to a lifetime of night shift work. Thus, women and less physically active people may benefit particularly from a reduction in night shift work."

A strength of the study is its size, with detailed information on over 283,000 people. In addition, it is the first study to link these data with genetic information in a population that also has detailed histories available on current shift work and lifetime employment.

Limitations of the study include the fact that it cannot show shift work causes heart problems, only that it is associated with them; some cases of atrial fibrillation may have been missed; lifetime employment was assessed only when people joined UK Biobank, was self-reported and, therefore, may have changed or be prone to some errors; there may be unknown factors that might affect the results; and the people in UK Biobank were mainly white British and so it may not be possible to generalise the findings to other ethnic groups.

Prof. Lu said: "We plan to analyse the association between night shift work and atrial fibrillation in different groups of people. This may strengthen the reliability of these results and serve as a warning to groups working in certain types of occupations to get their hearts checked early if they feel any pain or discomfort in their chests."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/08/210816111941.htm

'Why you gotta be so rude?' Study highlights 'vicious cycle' of workplace incivility

August 10, 2021

Science Daily/Portland State University

Workplace incivility is on the rise, and a new Portland State University study found that employees who experience or witness incivilities are more likely to be uncivil to others -- a worrying trend that could intensify as people return to in-person work.

"People have gotten used to not having to engage in interpersonal communication as much and that can take an already distressing or tense situation and exacerbate it because people are out of practice of not having to have difficult conversations," said Larry Martinez, associate professor of industrial-organizational psychology and co-author of the study. "These spirals that we're seeing might be stronger in a post-pandemic world."

Uncivil behavior at work can range from criticizing someone in public, rude or obnoxious behavior or withholding important information to more subtle acts such as arriving late to a meeting, checking email or texting during a meeting, or ignoring or interrupting a colleague.

Incivility can mean different things to different people, so it can be easily overlooked or missed.

"Incivility is typically ambiguous and not very intense, but it has harmful effects all the same," said Lauren Park, a recent Ph.D. graduate in industrial-organizational psychology who now works as an HR research scientist.

Park and Martinez's study is the first comprehensive review of its kind to analyze the factors that predict uncivil behavior in workplaces. They focused on the instigator's perspective to better understand incivility and how to stop it at its source.

Among the findings:

• Employees who have more control over their jobs are less likely to reciprocate incivility. Researchers suggest that employees with greater job control have more freedom in deciding when and how their work tasks are completed, offering them the time and energy to seek social or organizational support, mentally and/or physically detach from work, reflect on the situation, or confront their uncivil colleague.

• Employees whose immediate team or workgroup engages in more civil behavior are less likely to reciprocate incivility.

• Employees who are older are less likely to reciprocate incivility.

In a remote working world, Park and Martinez said incivility could more easily go unchecked as people hide behind Zoom boxes or chat messages and it can be difficult to discern intent from text without body language or tone of voice. Even as people return to work, organizations may choose to adopt a hybrid model where employees may only come in for team-based work.

"There will inevitably be some conflict as people might be meeting coworkers in person for the first time or they'll be working together again in the same physical space," Martinez said. "Relationships will need to be renegotiated in different kinds of ways and the likelihood that people are going to be able to address these situations in a conducive manner as compared to before the pandemic will decrease."

Park said it's key that organizations provide support to employees who've experienced incivility.

"They're at a high risk of starting these vicious cycles," she said. "Providing support is not only the right thing to do but it stops that behavior from spiraling through the organization."

Martinez added that complaints about uncivil behavior shouldn't be discounted and organizations should have policies and practices in place that take incidents seriously and address them in a way that curtails them from continuing.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/08/210810121051.htm

People with stroke who walk 30 minutes per day may have 54% lower risk of early death

August 11, 2021

Science Daily/American Academy of Neurology

A new study shows that people who walk or garden at least three to four hours per week, or bike at least two to three hours per week, or the equivalent after having a stroke may have a 54% lower risk of death from any cause. The research is published in the August 11, 2021, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The study found the most benefit for younger stroke survivors. When people under the age of 75 exercised at least that amount, their risk of death was reduced by 80%.

"A better understanding of the role of physical activity in the health of people who survive stroke is needed to design better exercise therapies and public health campaigns so we can help these individuals live longer," said study author Raed A. Joundi, MD, DPhil, of the University of Calgary in Canada and a member of the American Academy of Neurology. "Our results are exciting, because just three to four hours a week of walking was associated with big reductions in mortality, and that may be attainable for many community members with prior stroke. In addition, we found people achieved even greater benefit with walking six to seven hours per week. These results might have implications for guidelines for stroke survivors in the future."

The study looked at 895 people with an average age of 72 who had a prior stroke and 97,805 people with an average age of 63 who had never had a stroke.

Average weekly physical activity was evaluated from questions about activities such as walking, running, gardening, weight training, bicycling and swimming. For example, people were asked, "In the past three months, how many times did you walk for exercise? About how much time did you spend on each occasion?" Researchers used the frequency and duration of each type of physical activity to calculate the amount of exercise.

Researchers followed participants for an average of about four and a half years. After accounting for other factors that could affect risk of death, like age and smoking, researchers found that 25% of the people who had previous strokes died from any cause, compared to 6% of the people who had never had a stroke.

In the stroke group, 15% of the people who exercised at least the equivalent of three to four hours of walking each week died during follow up, compared to 33%, who did not exercise that minimum amount. In the group of people who had never had strokes, 4% of the people who exercised that amount died, compared to 8% who did not.

Researchers found the largest reduction in death rate among people who had a previous stroke but were under 75 years of age. In that group, 11% of those who exercised at least the minimum amount died, compared to 29% who did not. People with previous stroke who were under 75 years of age and met the minimum level of physical activity were about 80% less likely to die during study follow-up than those who did not. People over 75 years of age who exercised the minimum experienced less of a benefit, but were still 32% less likely to die.

"Our results suggest that getting a minimum amount of physical activity may reduce long-term mortality from any cause in stroke survivors," Joundi said. "We should particularly emphasize this to stroke survivors who are younger in age, as they may gain the greatest health benefits from walking just thirty minutes each day."

A limitation of the study is that people may not have accurately reported their amount of exercise.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/08/210811175147.htm

Teens who use cannabis frequently more likely to have premature baby

August 19, 2021

Science Daily/University of Bristol

Teenagers who use cannabis frequently may be more likely to have children born preterm, when they become parents up to twenty years later, finds a new University of Bristol-led study. The research, published in Scientific Reports, repeatedly assessed 665 participants in a general population cohort on their tobacco and cannabis use between ages 14 to 29 years, before pregnancy.

The study, led by academics at the University of Bristol in collaboration with the Murdoch Children's Research Institute in Australia, is the first to identify that frequent adolescent cannabis use may also carry intergenerational risks

Maternal tobacco or cannabis use in pregnancy is linked to babies being born preterm and having low birth weight, raising the risks for health problems in these babies. Substance use in pregnancy tends to be a continuation of use that started before pregnancy, raising a question of whether use in pregnancy or before could be associated with a baby's early growth. The collaborative research team used the prospective cohort from the Australian Victorian Adolescent Health Cohort Study (VAHCS) and Victorian Intergenerational Health Cohort Study (VIHCS), with parents recruited to the study when they were in secondary school and followed up until they started having children in their late 20s and 30s; their children were then recruited into a new study.

The researchers found babies born to parents (aged 29 and over) who had used cannabis every day for a period of time between the ages of 15-17 were estimated to be considerably more likely to be born preterm or to have a low birth weight, when compared to babies born to parents who hadn't used cannabis as teenagers. This effect was limited to people using cannabis at the highest levels of frequency.

The findings are the results of a 20-year prospective study, following parents from their teenage years into their 30s, which found that 20 per cent of all preterm births to study participants occurred in parents who had used cannabis daily during their teenage years.

Dr Lindsey Hines, Research Fellow in Bristol Medical School: Population Health Sciences (PHS) at the University of Bristol, said: "Cannabis is the most commonly used illicit drug amongst teenagers. There is already evidence that frequent adolescent cannabis use increases the risks for poor mental health, but our results indicate there may be further effects that individuals may not anticipate.

"As regulations around legal use liberalise, there is a possibility that adolescent use may increase in some countries. These findings provide additional motivation for ensuring that policy changes do not lead to greater adolescent use."

George Patton, Professorial Fellow in Adolescent Health Research with the University of Melbourne and Murdoch Children's Research Institute, added: "The more we study heavy cannabis use in the teens, the more problematic it looks. Given growing political and industry drivers for legalisation of use, there is a pressing need for bigger and better research into understanding harms arising from heavy adolescent use."

This is the first study to use a prospective cohort to explore associations between pre-conception substance use and birth outcomes, and the findings need to be tested in other samples. Given the study's participants were both mothers or fathers of the babies and that heavy teenage use is most common in boys, these findings are particularly important for males.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/08/210819102752.htm

Just 10% of kids with ADHD outgrow it

Researchers said that attention deficit hyperactive disorder waxes and wanes over a lifetime

August 13, 2021

Science Daily/University of Washington School of Medicine/UW Medicine

Most children diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) don't outgrow the disorder, as widely thought. It manifests itself in adulthood in different ways and waxes and wanes over a lifetime, according to a study published Aug.13 in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

"It's important for people diagnosed with ADHD to understand that it's normal to have times in your life where things maybe more unmanageable and other times when things feel more under control," said lead researcher Margaret Sibley, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Washington School of Medicine and a researcher at Seattle Children's Research Institute.

Study authors from 16 institutions in the United States, Canada, and Brazil said decades of research characterize ADHD as a neurobiological disorder typically first detected in childhood that persists into adulthood in approximately 50% of cases. But this study found just 10% of children completely outgrow it.

"Although intermittent periods of remission can be expected in most cases, 90% of children with ADHD in the Multimodal Treatment Study of ADHD continued to experience residual symptoms into young adulthood," they wrote.

ADHD is characterized by two main cluster of symptoms, according to researchers. The inattentive symptoms look like disorganization, forgetfulness, and having trouble staying on task. Then there are also the hyperactive, impulsive symptoms. In children, those symptoms look like having a lot of energy, such as running around and climbing on things. In adults, it manifests more as verbal impulsivity, difficulty with decision-making, and not thinking before acting. The disorder affects people differently and looks different depending on what phase of life someone's in.

Some people with ADHD also report a unique ability to hyper-focus. Olympic athletes Michael Phelps and Simone Biles have been open about their ADHD diagnosis.

While many people may experience symptoms similar to ADHD, it is estimated the disorder roughly affects 5% to 10% of the population, said Sibley.

16 years of research

This study followed a group of 558 children with ADHD for 16 years -- from 8-years old to 25 years-old. The cohort had eight assessments, every two years, to determine whether they had symptoms of ADHD. The researchers also asked their family members and teachers about their symptoms.

Sibley said the belief that 50% of children outgrow ADHD was first put forward in the mid-1990s. Most studies, she said, only re-connected with the kids one time in adulthood. So, researchers didn't get to see that the ADHD that they thought had gone away actually does come back.

Coping with ADHD

Researchers have yet to find what causes ADHD to flare. Sibley said it could be stress, the wrong environment, and not having a healthy lifestyle of proper sleep, healthy eating, and regular exercise. Also, if a person is not taking the time to manage symptoms and really understand what works best for them, then the symptoms are probably going to get more out of control, she said.

Medication and therapy are the two main treatment for ADHD. But, Sibley said, people can pursue their own healthy coping skills as well.

Researchers found that most people who technically no longer meet criteria for ADHD in adulthood still have some traces of ADHD, but they were managing well on their own.

"The key is finding a job or a life passion that ADHD does not interfere with," Sibley said. "You are going to see a lot of creative people have ADHD because they're able to be successful in their creative endeavors despite having ADHD, whereas people who might be required to do very detail-oriented work at a computer all day -- that could be a really hard combination for a person with ADHD."

Sibley said the time to seek professional help is when the symptoms are causing a problem in your life. This includes not performing your best, problems with other people, having a hard time getting along, difficulty maintaining healthy, long-term relationships with loved ones and friends, and inability to complete basic daily tasks -- whether that's parenting, staying on top of your finances, or just keeping an organized household.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/08/210813100258.htm

Fight-or-flight response is altered in healthy young people who had COVID-19

August 9, 2021

Science Daily/The Physiological Society

New research published in The Journal of Physiology found that otherwise healthy young people diagnosed with COVID-19, regardless of their symptom severity, have problems with their nervous system when compared with healthy control subjects.

Specifically, the system which oversees the fight-or-flight response, the sympathetic nervous system, seems to be abnormal (overactive in some instances and underactive in others) in those recently diagnosed with COVID-19.

These results are especially important given the emerging evidence of symptoms like racing hearts being reported in conjunction with "long-COVID."

The impact of this alteration in fight-or-flight response, especially if prolonged, means that many processes within the body could be disrupted or affected. This research team has specifically been looking at the impact on the cardiovascular system -- including blood pressure and blood flow -- but the sympathetic nervous system is also important in exercise responses, the digestive system, the immune function, and more.

Understanding what happens in the body shortly following diagnosis of COVID-19 is an important first step towards understanding the potential long-term consequences of contracting the disease.

Importantly, if similar disruption of the flight-or-fight response, like that found here in young individuals, is present in older adults following COVID-19 infection, there may be substantial adverse implications for cardiovascular health.

The researchers studied lung function, exercise capacity, vascular function, and neural cardiovascular control (the control of heartbeat by the brain).

They used a technique called microneurography, wherein the researchers inserted a tiny needle with an electrode into a nerve behind the knee, which records the electrical impulses of that nerve and measures how many bursts of electrical activity are happening and how big the bursts are.

From this nerve activity, they can assess the function of the sympathetic nervous system through a series of tests. For all the tests, the subject was lying on their back on a bed. First, the researchers looked at the baseline resting activity of the nerves, heart rate, and blood pressure. Resting sympathetic nerve activity was higher in the COVID-19 participants than healthy people used as controls in the experiment.

Then, the subject did a "cold pressor test," where they stick their hand in an ice-water mixture (~0° C) for two minutes. In healthy individuals, this causes a profound increase in that sympathetic nerve (fight-or-flight) activity and blood pressure. The COVID-19 subjects rated their pain substantially lower than healthy subjects typically do.

Finally, the participant was moved to an upright position (the bed they're lying on can tilt up and down) to see how well their body can respond to a change in position. The COVID-19 subjects had a pretty large increase in heart rate during this test; they also had higher sympathetic nerve activity throughout the tilt test compared with other healthy young adults.

As with all research on humans, there are limitations to this study. However, the biggest limitation in the present study is its cross-sectional nature -- in other words, we do not know what the COVID-19 subjects' nervous system activity "looked like" before they were diagnosed with COVID-19.

These findings are consistent with the increasing reports of long-COVID symptoms pertaining to problems with the fight-or-flight response.

Abigail Stickford, senior author on this study said, "Through our collaborative project, we have been following this cohort of COVID-19 subjects for 6 months following their positive test results. This work was representative of short-term data, so the next steps for us are to wrap up data collection and interpret how the subjects have changed over this time."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/08/210809144104.htm

Benefits of time-restricted eating depend on age and sex

Not everyone benefits equally from TRE, but TRE has important health benefits for all

August 17, 2021

Science Daily/Salk Institute

Time-restricted eating (TRE), a dietary regimen that restricts eating to specific hours, has garnered increased attention in weight-loss circles. A new study by Salk scientists further shows that TRE confers multiple health benefits besides weight loss. The study also shows that these benefits may depend on sex and age.

Most TRE studies focus on weight loss in young male mice, but Salk scientists wanted to determine whether TRE confers additional benefits on other populations. Their findings, published in Cell Reports on August 17, 2021, show that while age and sex do affect the outcomes of TRE, the eating strategy delivers multiple health benefits for young and old of both sexes, and indicates that TRE may be a valuable intervention for type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease and liver cancer, and even infectious diseases such as COVID-19, in humans.

"For many TRE clinical interventions, the primary outcome is weight loss, but we've found that TRE is good not only for metabolic disease but also for increased resilience against infectious diseases and insulin resistance," says Satchidananda Panda, a professor in Salk's Regulatory Biology Laboratory and holder of the Rita and Richard Atkinson Chair.

Glucose intolerance is the first step on a slippery slope to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and liver cancer -- one of the few cancers whose incidence and death rates have increased, rather than declined, in the past 25 to 30 years. Further, over 40 percent of Americans are already diabetic or prediabetic, with the American Diabetes Association predicting 1.5 million new cases each year. These trends make finding a simple treatment for glucose intolerance a major priority.

Breaking the conventional young-male-mice mold, the researchers fed a high-fat, high-sugar diet to male and female mice of two age groups (equivalent to 20- and 42-year-old humans), restricting eating to nine hours per day. The team ran tests to ascertain how age and sex affect the outcomes of TRE on a variety of health parameters: fatty liver disease; glucose regulation; muscle mass, performance and endurance; and survival of sepsis, a life-threatening response to infection. They also took the rare step of matching their lab conditions to the animals' circadian clocks (mice sleep during the day and rise at night), often working via night-vision goggles and specialized lighting.

Analyzing the tissues of mice on TRE to ascertain their chemical makeup and processes, the researchers found that regardless of age, sex or weight loss profile, TRE strongly protected against fatty liver disease, a condition that affects up to 100 million Americans and for which no medicine has been approved.

"This was our first time studying female mice, and we weren't sure what to expect," says first author Amandine Chaix, a former staff scientist in the Panda lab and now an assistant professor at the University of Utah. "We were surprised to find that, although the females on TRE were not protected from weight gain, they still showed metabolic benefits, including less-fatty livers and better-controlled blood sugar."

Oral glucose tolerance tests given to mice after 16 hours of fasting indicated that TRE was associated with a lower increase in blood glucose and a faster return to normal blood sugar levels in both young and middle-aged males, with a significant improvement in glucose tolerance in young and middle-aged females. Similarly, middle-aged females and males on TRE were able to restore normal blood sugar levels more efficiently than control mice, who had food available at all times. This finding indicates that TRE may be a low- or no-cost, user-friendly way to prevent or treat diabetes, and supports the results of the lab's 2019 study on TRE for metabolic syndrome in humans.

The researchers also found that TRE may protect both males and females from sepsis-induced death -- a particular danger in ICUs, especially during the pandemic. After administering a toxin that induced a sepsis-like condition in the mice, the researchers monitored survival rates for 13 days and found that TRE protected both male and female mice from dying of sepsis.

TRE didn't just protect against fatty liver disease, diabetes, and death from sepsis; it even enabled male mice to preserve and add muscle mass and improve muscle performance (the effect did not hold for females). This finding is particularly significant for the elderly, for whom improved muscle performance can help guard against falls.

This surprising discovery points to next steps and new questions for Panda's lab: Does muscle mass increase because TRE helps muscles repair and regenerate better? What is the impact of TRE on muscle metabolism and regeneration?

"These are very exciting questions for us, and we look forward to studying them in more detail," says Panda.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/08/210817111456.htm

Cannabis terpenes provide pain relief, contribute to 'entourage effect'

July 14, 2021

Science Daily/University of Arizona Health Sciences

When it comes to the medicinal and therapeutic properties of Cannabis sativa, an unsolved mystery is whether there exists an "entourage effect," whereby the pain-relieving effects of the plant as a whole are greater than any of its individual parts. New research from the University of Arizona Health Sciences has found evidence that favors the entourage effect theory and positions Cannabis terpenes, the part of the plant that provides flavor and aroma, as a promising new target for pain therapies that would require lower doses and produce fewer side effects.

"A lot of people are taking cannabis and cannabinoids for pain," said lead researcher John Streicher, PhD, a member of the UArizona Health Sciences Comprehensive Pain and Addiction Center and associate professor of pharmacology at the College of Medicine -- Tucson. "We're interested in the concept of the entourage effect, with the idea being that maybe we can boost the modest pain-relieving efficacy of THC and not boost the psychoactive side effects, so you could have a better therapeutic."

Terpenes are aromatic compounds found in many plants and are the basic component in essential oils. The terpene linalool, for example, gives lavender its distinctive floral scent. In addition to terpenes, Cannabis sativa contains naturally occurring compounds known as cannabinoids, the most well-known of which are cannabidiol, or CBD, and tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the psychoactive component of cannabis.

Researchers found that Cannabis terpenes, when used by themselves, mimic the effects of cannabinoids, including a reduction in pain sensation. When combined with cannabinoids, the pain-relieving effects were amplified without an increase in negative side effects. The paper, "Cannabis sativa terpenes are cannabimimetic and selectively enhance cannabinoid activity," was published in Scientific Reports.

"It was unexpected, in a way," said Dr. Streicher. "It was our initial hypothesis, but we didn't necessarily expect terpenes, these simple compounds that are found in multiple plants, to produce cannabinoid-like effects."

Dr. Streicher and the research team, including former graduate student and first author Justin LaVigne, PhD, former undergraduate researcher Ryan Hecksel and former postdoctoral fellow Attila Kerestztes, PhD, focused on four Cannabis terpenes: alpha-humulene, geraniol, linalool and beta-pinene. They evaluated each terpene alone and in combination with WIN55,212-2, a synthetic cannabinoid agonist that stimulates the body's natural cannabinoid receptors.

When a cannabinoid such as THC enters the body, it binds to one of two cannabinoid receptors -- CB1R, which is the most abundant, or CB2R. The receptor then activates neurons that affect physiological processes and behavior. In laboratory experiments, researchers found that all four terpenes activated the CB1R, just like THC.

Behavioral studies in mouse models revealed that when administered individually, all four terpenes lowered pain sensitivity, and at least three of the four classic cannabinoid side effects: reduced pain sensation, lowered body temperature, reduced movement and catalepsy, a freezing behavior related to the psychoactive effects of cannabinoids. When terpenes were combined with WIN55,212-2, researchers saw a greater reduction in pain sensation compared with either the terpene or WIN55,212-2 alone, demonstrating a terpene/cannabinoid interaction in controlling pain.

Dr. Streicher's ongoing research is focusing on the use of terpenes in combination with opioids and for specific types of cancer-related pain. His long-term goal is to develop a dose-reduction strategy that uses terpenes -- generally recognized as safe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration -- in combination with cannabinoids or opioids to achieve the same levels of pain relief with lower doses of drugs and fewer side effects.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/07/210714110455.htm

Novel study of high-potency cannabis shows some memory effects

July 8, 2021

Science Daily/Washington State University

Researchers observed participants over Zoom as they used high-potency cannabis they purchased themselves from dispensaries in Washington state, where recreational cannabis is legal. After administering cognitive tests, researchers found no impact on users' performance on decision-making tests in comparison to a sober group but did find memory impairments related to free recall, source memory and false memories. This study is one of the few to investigate cannabis flower and concentrates containing more than 10% THC

Even before the pandemic made Zoom ubiquitous, Washington State University researchers were using the video conferencing app to research a type of cannabis that is understudied: the kind people actually use.

For the study, published in Scientific Reports, researchers observed cannabis users over Zoom as they smoked high-potency cannabis flower or vaped concentrates they purchased themselves from cannabis dispensaries in Washington state, where recreational cannabis use is legal. They then gave the subjects a series of cognitive tests.

The researchers found no impact on the users' performance on decision-making tests in comparison to a sober control group but did find some memory impairments related to free recall, source memory and false memories.

While the findings are in line with previous research on low-potency cannabis, this study is one of the few to investigate cannabis that contains much more than 10% tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the plant's main psychoactive ingredient. This is only the second known study to examine the effect of cannabis concentrates.

"Because of federal restrictions to researchers, it was just not possible to study the acute effects of these high-potency products," said Carrie Cuttler, WSU psychologist and lead researcher on the study. "The general population in states where cannabis is legal has very easy access to a wide array of high- potency cannabis products, including extremely high-potency cannabis concentrates which can exceed 90% THC, and we've been limited to studying the whole plant with under 10% THC."

While 19 states and Washington D.C. have legalized cannabis for recreational use, the U.S. federal government still classifies it as a Schedule 1 drug, implying it has a high potential for abuse and no medicinal benefits. Until recently, researchers interested in studying cannabis were limited to using low-potency plants of around 6% THC supplied by the National Institute of Drug Abuse. In June, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration indicated it may allow some companies to start growing cannabis for research purposes.

For this study, which began in 2018, Cuttler and her colleagues found a way to study the effects of high-potency cannabis while still complying with federal guidelines. The study participants bought their own products and used them in their own homes. They were never in a laboratory on federal property, and the researchers never handled the cannabis themselves. Participants were not reimbursed for their purchase. Instead they were compensated for their time with Amazon gift cards. All participants were over 21 and experienced cannabis users who reported no past negative reactions to cannabis like panic attacks. The study's method was cleared by WSU Division of the Office of the Attorney General and the university's research ethics board.

The 80 participants were divided into four groups: two groups used cannabis flower with more than 20% THC but one containing cannabidiol (CBD), a non-psychoactive component of cannabis, and the other without CBD. Another group vaped cannabis concentrates with more than 60% THC that included CBD. A fourth group remained sober.

For all cannabis using groups, the researchers found no effect on a range of decision-making tests including risk perception and confidence in knowledge. On a few memory tests there were also no significant differences between the cannabis-using and sober groups, including prospective memory, the ability to remember to do things at a later time, such as attend an appointment. The cannabis-using participants also did well on temporal order memory, the ability to remember the sequence of previous events.

However, the groups that smoked cannabis flower with CBD did worse on verbal free recall trials- they were unable to recall as many words or pictures that were shown to them compared to the sober group. This finding was contrary to a small number of previous studies indicating CBD might have a protective effect on memory. The groups that used cannabis without CBD and the group that used concentrates, performed worse on a measure of source memory which means being able to distinguish the way previously learned information was presented.

Finally, all three cannabis-using groups did poorly on a false memory test -- when given a new word and asked if it had been presented before, they were more likely to say it had when it had not.

There was also an unexpected finding: people who vaped the high-potency concentrates with more than 60% THC performed comparably to those who smoked cannabis flower. This may have been because they tended to self-titrate -- using less of the drug to achieve a similar level of intoxication and impairment as the people who smoked the less-potent cannabis flower.

Cuttler said this was cause for cautious optimism on the little-studied but widely available concentrates.

"There's been a lot of speculation that these really high-potency cannabis concentrates might magnify detrimental consequences, but there's been almost zero research on cannabis concentrates which are freely available for people to use," said Cuttler. "I want to see way more research before we come to any general conclusion, but it is encouraging to see that the concentrates didn't increase harms."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/07/210708083849.htm

‘Hey, do you have a second?’— The upside of workplace interruptions

Research shows these disturbances can create a sense of belonging

August 3, 2021

Science Daily/University of Cincinnati

If you work in an office environment, it's a common occurrence: You're right in the middle of a project and a co-worker stops by to ask for help with a task or to share a photo of their new puppy.

When this happens, don't sigh at being distracted. A new study finds that these interruptions are beneficial to a sense of belonging and can counterbalance negatives such as lost productivity.

According to the study, which predominantly took place at the University of Cincinnati and soon will appear in the print edition of the Journal of Applied Psychology, while there were downsides to interruptions at work, like raising levels of stress and lowering people's energy, there was also an upside: Employees felt more like they "belonged" and that eventually led to higher job satisfaction.

"If the past year of social distancing and isolation has shown us anything, it is that humans are social beings who have an inherent need for interacting with others," says the study's lead author Harshad Puranik, PhD, an assistant professor in the Department of Managerial Studies at University of Illinois at Chicago.

In the study, the team surveyed 111 full-time employees twice a day for three weeks. They asked participants about their experience at work (since the beginning of the day for lunchtime surveys and since lunch for the end of workday surveys), including work interruptions, how mentally drained they felt, their sense of belonging and overall job satisfaction. The researchers found that while work interruptions can take a toll on interrupted employees' mental resources, thereby reducing job satisfaction, social interaction with an interrupter can also help boost employees' level of belonging, which was associated with increased job satisfaction.

What previous research has not considered, Puranik says, is that apart from their task-based aspect, work interruptions by others also involve a social component -- the social interaction with the interrupter. "Our study revealed that by providing this avenue for social interaction with one's colleagues, work interruptions led to a greater sense of belonging. This sense of belonging, in turn, led to higher job satisfaction."

The bulk of the study was conducted as part of Puranik's UC doctoral thesis, with two former UC faculty members at UC's Carl H. Lindner College of Business: Joel Koopman, now at Texas A&M University, and Heather C. Vough, now with George Mason University.

"We find that interruptions can actually benefit individuals from an interpersonal perspective -- people feel like they belong when others come and talk to them or ask them questions, even while being distracted from their tasks," says Vough.

What was surprising, Vough says, is that "the sense of belongingness mitigated the negative effect of interruptions on job satisfaction. Thus, interruptions at work may have gotten a bad rap due to a failure to consider their human element."

Since management historically has focused on ways to eliminate work interruptions, the study suggests alternatives to address interruptions, such as allowing employees more leeway in choosing when and where they work from and how they schedule their work.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/08/210803175253.htm

Sports: Men and women react differently to a missing audience

June 22, 2021

Science Daily/Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg

Without an audience, men run slower and women faster: The lack of spectators during the coronavirus pandemic appears to have had a noticeable effect on the performance of athletes at the 2020 Biathlon World Cup, a new study by Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) in Psychology of Sport and Exercise shows. According to the new analysis, women also performed better in complex tasks, such as shooting, when an audience was present while men did not.

Social facilitation theory states that a person's performance is impacted if other people watch them. The mere presence of an audience improves the performance of simple tasks, especially those that require stamina. "The studies have been relatively clear so far, but the results are more heterogeneous when it comes to more complex coordinative tasks," explains Amelie Heinrich from the Institute of Sports Science at MLU. In general, it is assumed that performance tends to deteriorate when there is an audience.

Heinrich is a sports psychology expert who coaches Germany's junior biathlon squad. In her new study she took advantage of the special situation in sport caused by the coronavirus. "The pandemic offers a unique opportunity to study an audience's influence outside of experimental conditions in the real world," says Heinrich. She compared the running times and shooting successes of male and female biathletes from the 2018/2019 season with their performances in the 2020 season in the sprint and mass start events. "The men's results were as expected: they ran faster with an audience present, but performed more poorly in shooting," says Heinrich. While cross-country skiing mainly requires stamina, shooting is a coordinative task. "Interestingly, it was the other way around for women." They ran slower in the presence of spectators, but on average, it took them an entire second less to make their shot and, at least in the sprint, their scoring performance was five per cent higher. The researchers believe the results are not only due to a fluctuation in the athletes' performance. The study had a good basis of evidence, with 83 (sprint) and 34 (mass start) World Cup biathletes, and the same tendency was shown for both disciplines.

"To our knowledge, this is the first time that a study was able to show a different effect of the audience on men and women," says Professor Oliver Stoll, head of the sports psychology section at MLU. Most of the previous studies on the topic have been conducted with men mostly. "Our study raises questions about the generalisability of the social facilitation theory and indicates there might be a previously unknown difference between men and women," says Heinrich. She says, this should be investigated more thoroughly in further studies for other sports that also contain both stamina-related and coordination-related elements.

So far, the researchers can only speculate about the reasons for the possible gender-specific performance differences in response to audiences or the lack of. "It is possible that gender-specific stereotypes play a role," says Heinrich. For example, men are considered to be physically stronger -- a stereotype that could be reinforced by the presence of spectators. Some studies also show that women react more sensitively to feedback. In any case, according to Heinrich, the findings show once again that gender should be taken into account in psychological studies as a possible influencing factor.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/06/210622123303.htm

Running to music combats mental fatigue

June 22, 2021

Science Daily/University of Edinburgh

Listening to music while running might be the key to improving people's performance when they feel mentally fatigued a study suggests.

The performance of runners who listened to a self-selected playlist after completing a demanding thinking task was at the same level as when they were not mentally fatigued, the research found.

The study is the first to investigate the effect of listening to music playlists on endurance running capacity and performance when mentally fatigued.

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh used two tests to study how listening to music affected the running performance of eighteen fitness enthusiasts.

One test looked at the effects on interval running capacity -- alternating between high intensity running and lower intensity jogging -- with a group of nine physically active exercisers, and the other on a 5km time-trial with a group of nine trained runners.

The groups completed a 30 minute computer based cognitive test which put them in a mentally fatigued state before completing high intensity exercise. The runners were tested with and without self-selected motivational music.

Researchers assisted participants in choosing motivational songs with a pre-test questionnaire asking them to rate the rhythm, style, melody, tempo, sound and beat of the music.

Examples of songs participants listened to were: Everyday by A$ap Rocky; Addicted To You by Avicii; Run This Town by Jay-Z; Power by Kanye West; No One Knows by Queens of the Stone Age; and Eye of the Tiger by Survivor.

During the exercise, heart rate and rating of perceived exertion were measured at multiple points.

The team took into account the results of a baseline test taken by participants which was without a mentally demanding test beforehand -- and without the use of music.

The researchers found the interval running capacity among the mentally fatigued fitness enthusiasts was moderately greater with music compared to without music, and was the same as when the participants were not mentally fatigued.

The 5km time-trial performances also showed small improvements with self-selected music versus no music.

Researchers say the positive effects of music could potentially be due to altered perception of effort when listening to tunes.

Dr Shaun Phillips, of the University of Edinburgh's Moray House School of Education and Sport, said: "Mental fatigue is a common occurrence for many of us, and can negatively impact many of our day-to-day activities, including exercise. Finding safe and effective ways to reduce this negative impact is therefore useful.

"The findings indicate that listening to self-selected motivational music may be a useful strategy to help active people improve their endurance running capacity and performance when mentally fatigued. This positive impact of self-selected music could help people to better maintain the quality and beneficial impact of their exercise sessions."

Researchers say there are opportunities for further study into how listening to music while running affects larger and different groups of people, in different settings, and using different exercise challenges. Work in these areas is ongoing at the University of Edinburgh.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/06/210622123235.htm

Microbes turn back the clock as research discovers their potential to reverse aging in the brain

August 9, 2021

Science Daily/University College Cork

Research from APC Microbiome Ireland (APC) at University College Cork (UCC) published today in the leading international scientific journal Nature Agingintroduces a novel approach to reverse aspects of aging-related deterioration in the brain and cognitive function via the microbes in the gut.

As our population ages one of the key global challenges is to develop strategies to maintain healthy brain function. This ground-breaking research opens up a potentially new therapeutic avenues in the form of microbial-based interventions to slow down brain aging and associated cognitive problems.

The work was carried out by researchers in the Brain-Gut-Microbiota lab in APC led by Prof John F. Cryan, Vice President for Research & Innovation, University College Cork as well as a Principal Investigator at APC Microbiome Ireland an SFI Research Centre, based in in University College Cork and Teagasc Moorepark.

There is a growing appreciation of the importance of the microbes in the gut on all aspects of physiology and medicine. In this latest mouse study the authors show that by transplanting microbes from young into old animals they could rejuvenate aspects of brain and immune function. Prof John F. Cryan, says "Previous research published by the APC and other groups internationally has shown that the gut microbiome plays a key role in aging and the aging process. This new research is a potential game changer , as we have established that the microbiome can be harnessed to reverse age-related brain deterioration. We also see evidence of improved learning ability and cognitive function." Although very exciting Cryan cautions that "it is still early days and much more work is needed to see how these findings could be translated in humans."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/08/210809122202.htm

Fine particulate air pollution associated with higher risk of dementia

August 4, 2021

Science Daily/University of Washington

Using data from two large, long-running study projects in the Puget Sound region -- one that began in the late 1970s measuring air pollution and another on risk factors for dementia that began in 1994 -- University of Washington researchers identified a link between air pollution and dementia.

In the UW-led study, a small increase in the levels of fine particle pollution (PM2.5 or particulate matter 2.5 micrometers or smaller) averaged over a decade at specific addresses in the Seattle area was associated with a greater risk of dementia for people living at those addresses.

"We found that an increase of 1 microgram per cubic meter of exposure corresponded to a 16% greater hazard of all-cause dementia. There was a similar association for Alzheimer's-type dementia," said lead author Rachel Shaffer, who conducted the research as a doctoral student in the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences.

"The ACT Study is committed to advancing dementia research by sharing its data and resources, and we're grateful to the ACT volunteers who have devoted years of their lives to supporting our efforts, including their enthusiastic participation in this important research on air pollution," said Dr. Eric Larson, ACT's founding principal investigator and a senior investigator at KPWHRI.

The study, published Aug. 4 in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, looked at more than 4,000 Seattle-area residents enrolled in the Adult Changes in Thought (ACT) Study run by Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in collaboration with UW. Of those residents, the researchers identified more than 1,000 people who had been diagnosed with dementia at some point since the ACT Study began in 1994.

Once a patient with dementia was identified, researchers compared the average pollution exposure of each participant leading up to the age at which the dementia patient was diagnosed. For instance, if a person was diagnosed with dementia at 72 years old, the researchers compared the pollution exposure of other participants over the decade prior to when each one reached 72. In these analyses, the researchers also had to account for the different years in which these individuals were enrolled in the study, since air pollution has dropped dramatically in the decades since the ACT study began.

In their final analysis, the researchers found that just a 1 microgram per cubic meter difference between residences was associated with 16% higher incidence of dementia. To put that difference into perspective, Shaffer said, in 2019 there was approximately 1 microgram per cubic meter difference in PM2.5 pollution between Pike Street Market in downtown Seattle and the residential areas around Discovery Park.

"We know dementia develops over a long period of time. It takes years -- evendecades -- for these pathologies to develop in the brain, and so we needed to look at exposures that covered that extended period," Shaffer said. And, because of long-running efforts by many UW faculty and others to build detailed databases of air pollution in our region, "we had the ability to estimate exposures for 40 years in this region. That is unprecedented in this research area and a unique aspect of our study."

In addition to extensive air pollution and dementia data for the region, other study strengths included lengthy address histories and high-quality procedures for dementia diagnoses for the ACT Study participants.

"Having reliable address histories let us obtain more precise air pollution estimates for study participants," said senior author Lianne Sheppard, a UW professor of environmental and occupational health sciences and of biostatistics. "These high-quality exposures combined with ACT's regular participant follow-up and standardized diagnostic procedures contribute to this study's potential policy impact."

While there are many factors such as diet, exercise and genetics associated with the increased risk of developing dementia, air pollution is now recognized to be among the key potentially modifiable risk factors. The new UW-led results add to this body of evidence suggesting air pollution has neurodegenerative effects and that reducing people's exposure to air pollution could help reduce the burden of dementia.

"How we've understood the role of air pollution exposure on health has evolved from first thinking it was pretty much limited to respiratory problems, then that it also has cardiovascular effects, and now there's evidence of its effects on the brain," said Sheppard, who this year was awarded the Rohm & Haas Endowed Professorship of Public Health Sciences.

"Over an entire population, a large number of people are exposed. So, even a small change in relative risk ends up being important on a population scale," Shaffer said. "There are some things that individuals can do, such as mask-wearing, which is becoming more normalized now because of COVID. But it is not fair to put the burden on individuals alone. These data can support further policy action on the local and national level to control sources of particulate air pollution."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/08/210804123113.htm

Remember more by taking breaks

Longer breaks during learning lead to more stable activation patterns in the brain.

July 29, 2021

Science Daily/Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

Many of us have experienced the following: the day before an exam, we try to cram a huge amount of information into our brain. But just as quickly as we acquired it, the knowledge we have painstakingly gained is gone again. The good news is that we can counteract this forgetting. With expanded time intervals between individual learning events, we retain the knowledge for a longer time.

But what happens in the brain during the spacing effect, and why is taking breaks so beneficial for our memory? It is generally thought that during learning, neurons are activated and form new connections. In this way, the learned knowledge is stored and can be retrieved by reactivating the same set of neurons. However, we still know very little about how pauses positively influence this process – even though the spacing effect was described more than a century ago and occurs in almost all animals.

Annet Glas and Pieter Goltstein, neurobiologists in the team of Mark Hübener and Tobias Bonhoeffer, investigated this phenomenon in mice. To do this, the animals had to remember the position of a hidden chocolate piece in a maze. On three consecutive opportunities, they were allowed to explore the maze and find their reward – including pauses of varying lengths. "Mice that were trained with the longer intervals between learning phases were not able to remember the position of the chocolate as quickly," explains Annet Glas. "But on the next day, the longer the pauses, the better was the mice's memory."

During the maze test, the researchers additionally measured the activity of neurons in the prefrontal cortex. This brain region is of particular interest for learning processes, as it is known for its role in complex thinking tasks. Accordingly, the scientists showed that inactivation of the prefrontal cortex impaired the mice's performance in the maze.

"If three learning phases follow each other very quickly, we intuitively expected the same neurons to be activated," Pieter Goltstein says. "After all, it is the same experiment with the same information. However, after a long break, it would be conceivable that the brain interprets the following learning phase as a new event and processes it with different neurons."

However, the researchers found exactly the opposite when they compared the neuronal activity during different learning phases. After short pauses, the activation pattern in the brain fluctuated more than compared to long pauses: In fast successive learning phases, the mice activated mostly different neurons. When taking longer breaks, the same neurons active during the first learning phase were used again later.

Reactivating the same neurons could allow the brain to strengthen the connections between these cells in each learning phase – there is no need to start from scratch and establish the contacts first. "That's why we believe that memory benefits from longer breaks," says Pieter Goltstein.

Thus, after more than a century, the study provides the first insights into the neuronal processes that explain the positive effect of learning breaks. With spaced learning, we may reach our goal more slowly, but we benefit from our knowledge for much longer. Hopefully, we won't have forgotten this by the time we take our next exam!

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/07/210729122037.htm

Adding color to your plate may lower risk of cognitive decline

July 29, 2021

Science Daily/American Academy of Neurology

A new study shows that people who eat a diet that includes at least half a serving per day of foods high in flavonoids like strawberries, oranges, peppers and apples may have a 20% lower risk of cognitive decline. The research is published in the July 28, 2021, online issue of Neurology the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The study looked at several types of flavonoids, and found that flavones and anthocyanins may have the most protective effect.

Flavonoids are naturally occurring compounds found in plants and are considered powerful antioxidants. It is thought that having too few antioxidants may play a role in cognitive decline as you age.

"There is mounting evidence suggesting flavonoids are powerhouses when it comes to preventing your thinking skills from declining as you get older," said study author Walter Willett, MD, DrPH, of Harvard University in Boston, Mass. "Our results are exciting because they show that making simple changes to your diet could help prevent cognitive decline."

The study looked at 49,493 women with an average age of 48 and 27,842 men with an average age of 51 at the start of the study. Over 20 years of follow up, people completed several questionnaires about how often they ate various foods. Their intake of different types of flavonoids was calculated by multiplying the flavonoid content of each food by its frequency. Study participants evaluated their own cognitive abilities twice during the study, using questions like, "Do you have more trouble than usual remembering recent events?" and "Do you have more trouble than usual remembering a short list of items?" This assessment captures early memory problems when people's memory has worsened enough for them to notice, but not necessarily enough to be detected on a screening test.

The people in the group that represented the highest 20% of flavonoid consumers, on average, had about 600 milligrams (mg) in their diets each day, compared to the people in the lowest 20% of flavonoid consumers, who had about 150 mg in their diets each day. Strawberries, for example, have about 180 mg of flavonoids per 100 gram serving, while apples have about 113.

After adjusting for factors like age and total caloric intake, people who consumed more flavonoids in their diets reported lower risk of cognitive decline. The group of highest flavonoid consumers had 20% less risk of self-reported cognitive decline than the people in the lowest group.

Researchers also looked at individual flavonoids. Flavones, found in some spices and yellow or orange fruits and vegetables, had the strongest protective qualities, and were associated with a 38% reduction in risk of cognitive decline, which is the equivalent of being three to four years younger in age. Peppers have about 5 mg of flavones per 100 gram serving. Anthocyanins, found in blueberries, blackberries and cherries, were associated with a 24% reduced risk of cognitive decline. Blueberries have about 164 mg of anthocyanins per 100 gram serving.

"The people in our study who did the best over time ate an average of at least half a serving per day of foods like orange juice, oranges, peppers, celery, grapefruits, grapefruit juice, apples and pears," Willett said. "While it is possible other phytochemicals are at work here, a colorful diet rich in flavonoids -- and specifically flavones and anthocyanins -- seems to be a good bet for promoting long-term brain health. And it's never too late to start, because we saw those protective relationships whether people were consuming the flavonoids in their diet 20 years ago, or if they started incorporating them more recently."

A limitation of the study is that participants reported on their diets and may not recall perfectly what they ate or how much.

The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/07/210729122215.htm

Global dementia cases forecasted to triple by 2050

New analysis shows a decrease in prevalence due to education countered by increase due to heart health risk factors

July 27, 2021

Science Daily/Alzheimer's Association

Positive trends in global education access are expected to decrease dementia prevalence worldwide by 6.2 million cases by the year 2050. Meanwhile, anticipated trends in smoking, high body mass index and high blood sugar are predicted to increase prevalence by nearly the same number: 6.8 million cases. Both according to new global prevalence data reported at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference® (AAIC®) 2021 in Denver and virtually.

With these forecasts incorporated, researchers with the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington School of Medicine reported at AAIC 2021 that they estimate the number of people with dementia will nearly triple to more than 152 million by 2050. The highest increase in prevalence is projected to be in eastern sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa and the Middle East.

"Improvements in lifestyle in adults in developed countries and other places -- including increasing access to education and greater attention to heart health issues -- have reduced incidence in recent years, but total numbers with dementia are still going up because of the aging of the population," said Maria C. Carrillo, Ph.D., Alzheimer's Association chief science officer. "In addition, obesity, diabetes and sedentary lifestyles in younger people are rising quickly, and these are risk factors for dementia."

The U.S. National Institute on Aging estimates people over the age of 65 will make up 16% of the world's population by 2050 -- up from 8% in 2010.

Also reported at AAIC 2021 were two other prevalence/incidence studies. Key findings include:

• Each year, an estimated 10 in every 100,000 individuals develop dementia with early onset (prior to age 65). This corresponds to 350,000 new cases of early onset dementia per year, globally.

• From 1999 to 2019, the U.S. mortality rate from Alzheimer's in the overall population significantly increased from 16 to 30 deaths per 100,000, an 88% increase.

• Among all areas of the U.S., mortality rates for Alzheimer's were highest in rural areas in the East South Central region of the U.S., where the death rate from Alzheimer's is 274 per 100,000 in those over 65.

Global Prevalence of Dementia Expected to Grow Rapidly through 2050

To more accurately forecast global dementia prevalence and produce country-level estimates, Emma Nichols, MPH, a researcher with the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington School of Medicine, and colleagues leveraged data from 1999 to 2019 from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study, a comprehensive set of estimates of health trends worldwide. This study also aimed to improve on prior forecasts by incorporating information on trends in dementia risk factors.

Nichols and team found dementia would increase from an estimated 57.4 (50.4 to 65.1) million cases globally in 2019 to an estimated 152.8 (130.8 to 175.6) million cases in 2050. The highest increases were observed in eastern sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa and the Middle East. Their analysis suggested that projected increases in cases could largely be attributed to population growth and aging, although the relative importance of these two factors varied by world region.

What's more, Nichols and team forecasted dementia prevalence attributable to smoking, high body mass index (BMI) and high fasting plasma glucose using the expected relationship between these risk factors and dementia prevalence. They found an increase of 6.8 million dementia cases globally between 2019 and 2050 due specifically to expected changes in these risk factors. Separately and conversely, the researchers found that expected changes in education levels will lead to a decline in dementia prevalence of 6.2 million individuals globally between 2019 and 2050. Taken together, these opposing trends come close to balancing each other out.

"These estimates will allow policymakers and decision makers to better understand the expected increases in the number of individuals with dementia as well as the drivers of these increases in a given geographical setting," Nichols said. "The large anticipated increase in the number of individuals with dementia emphasizes the vital need for research focused on the discovery of disease-modifying treatments and effective low-cost interventions for the prevention or delay of dementia onset."

Recently published in Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association, Nichols and team used the same data set to estimate that Alzheimer's mortality rates increased by 38.0% between 1990 and 2019.

"Without effective treatments to stop, slow or prevent Alzheimer's and all dementia, this number will grow beyond 2050 and continue to impact individuals, caregivers, health systems and governments globally," Carrillo said. "In addition to therapeutics, it's critical to uncover culturally-tailored interventions that reduce dementia risk through lifestyle factors like education, diet and exercise."

The Alzheimer's Association U.S. Study to Protect Brain Health Through Lifestyle Intervention to Reduce Risk (U.S. POINTER) is a two-year clinical trial to evaluate whether lifestyle interventions that simultaneously target many risk factors protect cognitive function in older adults who are at increased risk for cognitive decline.

Incidence Estimates for Younger Onset Dementia Suggest 350,000 New Cases per Year

Data on younger-onset dementia (YOD), a form of dementia where the onset of symptoms happens before age 65, is extremely limited. To better understand the incidence of YOD, Stevie Hendriks, M.Sc., student at Maastricht University in the Netherlands, and colleagues conducted a systematic literature review of all studies published during the past 30 years that reported figures on how many people developed dementia before the age of 65.

Hendriks and team found that, overall, the global incidence rate was 10 new cases each year per 100,000 persons. They also found incidence increases with age. This suggests that around 350,000 people worldwide develop younger-onset dementia every year. Incidence rates for men and women were similar, and were highest for Alzheimer's disease, followed by vascular dementia and frontotemporal dementia.

"Our findings should raise awareness in healthcare professionals, researchers and policy makers because they show that a significant number of people are newly affected by young-onset dementia every year," Hendriks said. "This shows the need for investment in tailored healthcare for this special patient group and more research into how we can best support but also prevent and treat young-onset dementia."

"People living with younger-onset Alzheimer's face unique challenges when it comes to diagnosis, family, work, finances, future care and -- with the recent FDA action -- possible treatment options. But support and information is available," said Kristen Clifford, Alzheimer's Association chief program officer. "And you have the power to make a new plan and determine how you choose to live your best life with the disease."

Rural Areas of American South Experience Disproportionate Burden of Alzheimer's Mortality

Even though average lifespan has been steadily increasing over the past several decades in the U.S., there is an increasing divergence in mortality rates among urban and rural populations. This discrepancy is likely the result of many health disparities experienced by rural residents compared to their urban counterparts, including lower socio-economic status, higher levels of chronic disease, limited availability of internet services, and less access to health services including primary care.

To specifically understand geographic variations in Alzheimer's disease mortality, Ambar Kulshreshtha, M.D., Ph.D., from Emory University, and colleagues used data from the National Center for Health Statistics to examine trends in Alzheimer's death rates between 1999 and 2019 by urbanization levels.

Kulshreshtha and team found that, from 1999 to 2019, the mortality rate from Alzheimer's in the overall population significantly increased from 16 to 30 deaths per 100,000, an 88% increase. Rural areas across the United States were shown to have higher mortality rates from Alzheimer's compared to urban areas. Those rates were highest in rural areas in the East South Central region at 274 per 100,000 in those 65 years and older, more than three times that of urban areas in the mid-Atlantic region in which mortality rates were the lowest.

"Our work shows that there is an increasing discrepancy in Alzheimer's mortality between urban and rural areas. This discrepancy could be related to, or might be the result of, other urban-rural health disparities, including access to primary care and other health services, socio-economic level, time to diagnosis, and the rising proportion of older Americans living in these areas," Kulshreshtha said. "Identifying and understanding the reasons for these health disparities is critical for allocating key social and public health resources appropriately."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/07/210727171713.htm

Improving air quality reduces dementia risk, multiple studies suggest

July 26, 2021

Science Daily/Alzheimer's Association

Improving air quality may improve cognitive function and reduce dementia risk, according to several studies reported today at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference® (AAIC®) 2021 in Denver and virtually.

Previous reports have linked long-term air pollution exposure with accumulation of Alzheimer's disease-related brain plaques, but this is the first accumulated evidence that reducing pollution, especially fine particulates in the air and pollutants from the burning of fuel, is associated with lower risk of all-cause dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

Both increasing levels of air pollution and increasing cases of dementia are worldwide public health crises. While research has linked air quality and cognition previously, these new data at AAIC 2021 explore how air pollutants might impact dementia and what reducing them might mean for long-term brain health. Among the key findings are:

- Reduction of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and traffic-related pollutants (NO2) per 10% of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) current standard over 10 years was associated with 14% and 26% reductions in dementia risk, and slower cognitive decline, in older U.S. women. These benefits occurred in women regardless of their age, level of education, the geographic region where they lived and whether they had cardiovascular disease. 

- Reduction of PM2.5 concentration over 10 years was associated with a reduced risk of all-cause dementia in French individuals by 15% and of Alzheimer's disease by 17% for every microgram of gaseous pollutant per cubic meter of air (µg/m3) decrease in PM2.5.

- Long-term exposure to air pollutants was associated with higher beta amyloid levels in the blood in a large U.S. cohort, showing a possible biological connection between air quality and physical brain changes that define Alzheimer's disease.

"We've known for some time that air pollution is bad for our brains and overall health, including a connection to amyloid buildup in the brain," said Claire Sexton, DPhil, Alzheimer's Association director of scientific programs and outreach. "But what's exciting is we're now seeing data showing that improving air quality may actually reduce the risk of dementia. These data demonstrate the importance of policies and action by federal and local governments, and businesses, that address reducing air pollutants."

Air Quality Improvement May Slow Cognitive Decline and Reduce Dementia Risk in Older U.S. Women

Although studies have found that improved air quality is associated with better respiratory health and longer life expectancy, it's unknown if improved air quality can also improve brain health. To investigate this further, Xinhui Wang, Ph.D., assistant professor of research neurology at University of Southern California, and colleagues investigated whether older women living in locations with greater reduction in air pollution may have slower decline in their cognitive function and be less likely to develop dementia.

Wang and team looked at a group of older women (aged 74-92) in the U.S. from the National Institutes of Health-funded Women's Health Initiative Memory Study-Epidemiology of Cognitive Health Outcomes (WHIMS-ECHO) who did not have dementia at the beginning of the study. Participants were followed from 2008-2018 and detailed cognitive function tests were done every year to determine whether they developed dementia. Participants' home addresses were noted and mathematical models were used to estimate the air pollution levels at these locations over time.

The researchers found that, in general, air quality greatly improved over the 10 years before the study began. During a median of six years of follow-up, cognitive functions tended to decline as women aged, as expected. However, for those living in locations with greater reduction per 10% of the EPA's current standard in both PM2.5 (fine particles that are 30 times thinner than a human hair) and NO2 (indicator of traffic-related pollutants), their risk of dementia decreased by 14% and 26%. This was similar to the lower level of risk seen in women two to three years younger.

Benefits were also seen for slower decline in overall cognitive function and memory, similar to women one to two years younger, and on specific tests of working memory, episodic memory and attention/executive function -- cognitive domains with early decline detectable in dementia at the preclinical stage. These benefits were seen regardless of age, level of education, the geographic region where they lived and whether they had cardiovascular disease.

"Our findings are important because they strengthen the evidence that high levels of outdoor air pollution in later life harm our brains, and also provide new evidence that by improving air quality we may be able to significantly reduce risk of cognitive decline and dementia," Wang said. "The possible benefits found in our studies extended across a variety of cognitive abilities, suggesting a positive impact on multiple underlying brain regions."

Reduction of Fine Particulates is Associated with Reduced Risk of Dementia in Older French Adults

In a similarly structured study, Noemie Letellier, Ph.D., postdoctoral scholar at University of California, San Diego, and colleagues worked with the French Three-City Study, a large cohort of more than 7,000 participants aged 65 or older, to investigate the links between air pollution exposure and dementia risk. The researchers observed reduction of PM2.5 concentration between 1990-2000, which was associated with a 15% reduced risk of all-cause dementia and a 17% reduced risk of Alzheimer's disease for every microgram of gaseous pollutant per cubic meter of air (µg/m3) decrease in PM2.5, independent of socio-demographic and health behaviors factors, and APOE genotype.

"These data, for the first time, highlight the beneficial effects of reduced air pollution on the incidence of dementia in older adults." Letellier said. "The findings have important implications to reinforce air quality standards to promote healthy aging. In the context of climate change, massive urbanization and worldwide population aging, it is crucial to accurately evaluate the influence of air pollution change on incident dementia to identify and recommend effective prevention strategies."

Long-Term Air Pollution is Associated with Increased Beta Amyloid Plaques

Accumulation of beta amyloid plaques is one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease. While a relationship between air pollution and increased beta amyloid production has been found in animal and human studies, relatively little is known about the effects of long-term exposure to air pollution on beta amyloid.

Christina Park, doctoral student in the Department of Epidemiology at University of Washington, and colleagues examined associations between exposure to air pollutant levels of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), larger particles (PM10) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and levels of Aβ1-40 (one of the major protein components of plaques) in more than 3,000 individuals who were dementia-free at the beginning of the Ginkgo Evaluation of Memory Study. The study evaluated and averaged air pollution levels at participant residential addresses for time periods up to 20 years prior to taking blood tests to measure individuals' beta amyloid.

People who were in the study longer (eight years) showed a strong link between all three air pollutants and Aβ1-40. These are some of the first human data suggesting long-term exposure to air pollutants is associated with higher Aβ1-40 levels in the blood.

"Our findings suggest that air pollution may be an important factor in the development of dementia," Park said. "Many other factors that impact dementia are not changeable, but reductions in exposure to air pollution may be associated with a lower risk of dementia. More research is needed."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/07/210726113936.htm

Think about this: Keeping your brain active may delay Alzheimer's dementia 5 years

July 14, 2021

Science Daily/American Academy of Neurology

Keeping your brain active in old age has always been a smart idea, but a new study suggests that reading, writing letters and playing card games or puzzles in later life may delay the onset of Alzheimer's dementia by up to five years. The research is published in the July 14, 2021, online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

"The good news is that it's never too late to start doing the kinds of inexpensive, accessible activities we looked at in our study," said study author Robert S. Wilson, PhD, of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. "Our findings suggest it may be beneficial to start doing these things, even in your 80s, to delay the onset of Alzheimer's dementia."

The study looked at 1,978 people with an average age of 80 who did not have dementia at the start of the study. The people were followed for an average of seven years. To determine if they had developed dementia, participants were given annual examinations, which included a number of cognitive tests.

When the study began, people rated their participation in seven activities on a five-point scale. The questions included: "During the past year, how often did you read books?" and "During the past year, how often did you play games like checkers, board games, cards or puzzles?"

Participants also answered questions about cognitive activity in childhood, adulthood and middle age.

Researchers then averaged each person's responses, with a score of one meaning once a year or less and score of five meaning every day or almost every day. People in the group with high cognitive activity scored an average of 4.0 which meant activities several times per week, compared to an average score of 2.1 for those with low cognitive activity, which meant activities several times per year.

During the study follow-up period, 457 people with an average age of 89 were diagnosed with Alzheimer's dementia. People with the highest levels of activity, on average, developed dementia at age 94. The people with the lowest cognitive activity, on average, developed dementia at age 89, a difference of five years. The results were similar when researchers adjusted for other factors that could affect dementia risk, such as education level and sex.

To test the idea that low cognitive activity may be an early sign of dementia, not the other way around, researchers also looked at the brains of 695 people who died during the study. Brain tissue was examined for markers of Alzheimer's like amyloid and tau protein deposits, but researchers found no association between how active they were cognitively and markers of Alzheimer's disease and related disorders in their brains.

"Our study shows that people who engage in more cognitively stimulating activities may be delaying the age at which they develop dementia," Wilson said. "It is important to note, after we accounted for late life level of cognitive activity, neither education nor early life cognitive activity were associated with the age at which a person developed Alzheimer's dementia. Our research suggests that the link between cognitive activity and the age at which a person developed dementia is mainly driven by the activities you do later in life."

A limitation of the study is that it was based on a group of mainly white people who had high levels of education. Further research will be needed to determine if the findings apply to the general population.

The study was supported by the National Institute on Aging.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/07/210714170134.htm