Study shows link between cyberbullying and suicidality in early adolescence

June 27, 2022

Science Daily/Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

Researchers found that targets of cyberbullying were more likely to report suicidal thoughts and attempts, above and beyond offline bullying.

Young adolescents who are targets of cyberbullying are more likely to report suicidal thoughts and attempts, an association that goes above and beyond the link between suicidality and traditional offline bullying, according to new research from the Lifespan Brain Institute (LiBI) of Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and the University of Pennsylvania. The findings were published today in JAMA Network Open.

"At a time when young adolescents are spending more time online than ever before, this study underscores the negative impact that bullying in the virtual space can have on its targets," said senior author Ran Barzilay, MD, PhD, an assistant professor at LiBI. "Given these results, it may be prudent for primary care providers to screen for cyberbullying routinely in the same way that they might screen for other suicide risk factors like depression. Educators and parents should also be aware of the substantial stress bullying in the cyberworld places on young adolescents."

Suicide rates among children have been steadily rising. According to the CDC, suicide was the second leading cause of death among individuals between the ages of 10 and 24 in 2018. The factors contributing to suicidality in children and adolescents are not fully understood, but research has shown that environmental stressors play a role. Traditional bullying and peer victimization are well established suicide risk factors among youth.

In modern times, and particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic, a substantial proportion of peer interaction, including bullying, occurs online, through text messages or social media platforms. However, prior to this study, it was not clear whether being a target of cyberbullying is an independent risk factor for suicidality.

To better understand whether cyberbullying is unique in its association with suicidality in early adolescence, the researchers collaborated with Anat Brunstein Klomek, PhD at Baruch Ivcher School of Psychology at Reichman University in Israel. Together, the researchers analyzed data collected between July 2018 and January 2021 from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study (ABCD Study), a diverse sample of over 10,000 US children between the ages of 10 and 13.

As part of the ABCD Study, participants filled out a cyberbullying questionnaire, which asked whether they had ever been a target or perpetrator of cyberbullying, defined as "purposefully trying to harm another person or be mean to them online, in texts or group texts, or on social media (like Instagram or Snapchat)." Traditional offline bullying was surveyed through a separate questionnaire, which broke down behavior into three categories: overt aggression, such as threatening or hitting; relational aggression, such as not inviting or leaving someone out; and reputational aggression, such as spreading rumors or gossiping.

To determine suicidality, the researchers examined whether participants reported past or current suicidal thoughts or acts.

Of the 10,414 ABCD Study participants included in the study, 7.6% responded that they had experienced suicidal thoughts or acts, 8.9% reported being targets of cyberbullying, and 0.9% reported cyberbullying others. The authors found that being a target of cyberbullying was associated with suicidality, whereas being a perpetrator of cyberbullying was not. That finding was distinct from traditional offline bullying, where being either a target or perpetrator of bullying is linked with suicidality.

Additionally, the researchers found that being bullied online only partly overlaps with being bullied offline, supporting the notion that cyberbullying is a distinct phenomenon, independent of offline experiences of bullying. This may suggest that adolescents affected by cyberbullying are different from those affected by offline bullying.

"Our findings suggest being a target of cyberbullying is an independent risk factor for youth suicidality," Dr. Barzilay said. "For policy makers wishing to optimize youth suicide prevention efforts, this study should further encourage interventions for those who are being bullied online."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/06/220627124955.htm

Researchers discover brain pathway that helps to explain light's effect on mood

July 7, 2022

Science Daily/Brown University

From changes in daylight across seasons to the artificial lighting choices in workplaces, it's clear that the quantity and quality of light that a person encounters can significantly impact mood.

Now, scientists at Brown University think they know why.

In a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, the research team used functional MRI to reveal how light-intensity signals reach the brain, and how brain structures involved in mood process those signals. The study demonstrated that some regions of the cerebral cortex involved in cognitive processing and mood show sensitivity for light intensity.

The discovery has implications for understanding mood problems like seasonal affective disorder and major depressive disorders, as well as how to treat them, said lead study author Jerome Sanes, a Brown professor of neuroscience affiliated with the University's Carney Institute for Brain Science.

"Identifying this pathway and understanding its function might directly promote development of approaches to treat depression, either by pharmacological manipulations or non-invasive brain stimulation in selected nodes of the pathway or with targeted bright-light therapy," Sanes said.

The findings build on previous research by study co-author David Berson, a Brown professor of neuroscience, who in 2002 discovered special light-sensing cells in the eye. Unlike rods and cones, these "intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells" are not involved in what's known as "object vision" or "form vision," Sanes said, but mainly function to sense light intensity.

Prior research, some of it by Berson, found that some animals have a mood-regulating neural pathway linking these photosensitive retinal cells to areas in the prefrontal cortex involved in mood disorders. Sanes said that the new study was designed to determine whether a similar pathway existed in humans and whether they could find evidence that the pathway had functional similarity to the light-sensitive retinal ganglion cells.

To determine whether a light-intensity-encoding pathway modulates the human prefrontal cortex, the researchers used functional MRI to explore whole-brain activation patterns in 20 healthy adults.

In a relatively simple experiment, according to Sanes, participants viewed four different levels of light intensity through goggles that diffused light and eliminated visual shapes, colors and other objects in the environment. Participants viewed light intensities ranging from dark to bright, for 30 seconds each. To keep them alert, they concurrently performed an auditory task requiring them to state the difference between two tones.

By assessing the functional MR images taken during the exercise, the researchers identified 26 human brain regions where activity either decreased or increased in accordance with light-intensity. This "luxotonic-related activation" occurred across the cerebral cortex, in diverse subcortical structures, and in the cerebellum, encompassing regions with functions related to visual image formation, motor control, cognition and emotion.

They found that light suppressed activity in the prefrontal cortex in proportion to the light intensity. The light-evoked responses in the prefrontal cortex and their alteration by prior light exposure resembled the responses of the intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells.

It's well-known that changes in ambient lighting that do not necessarily have anything to do with form or object vision influence various basic functions, such as circadian rhythms, visual-reflexes, mood and likely cognitive processing, Sanes said. However, it had remained unclear how these light-intensity signals reached the relevant areas of the human brain.

In this study, the researchers showed that the prefrontal regions of the human brain have light-sensitive signals, and that these signals are similar to intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells -- which together, Sanes said, may explain the effects of light intensity on complex emotional and cognitive behaviors.

"The findings from our study offer a functional link between light exposure and prefrontal cortex-mediated cognitive and affective responses," Sanes said.

One next logical question to ask, Sanes said, concerns how light affects these same brain pathways and regions in people with mood disorders like seasonal affective disorder or major depressive disorders.

"How does that compare to a control group of healthy people not diagnosed with these disorders?" he asked. "Does light activate the same regions, and if so, are these regions more or less sensitive to light activation? What is the magnitude of difference in the effect? This is an area of ongoing investigation," he said, adding that the answers could inform the development of therapeutic treatments for mood disorders.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/07/220707100940.htm

Gardening can cultivate better mental health

July 6, 2022

Science Daily/University of Florida

Many longtime gardeners will tell you that the garden is their happy place. New research suggests that many people may indeed reap mental health benefits from working with plants -- even if they've never gardened before.

In a study published in the journal PLOS ONE, University of Florida scientists found that gardening activities lowered stress, anxiety and depression in healthy women who attended twice-weekly gardening classes. None of study participants had gardened before.

"Past studies have shown that gardening can help improve the mental health of people who have existing medical conditions or challenges. Our study shows that healthy people can also experience a boost in mental wellbeing through gardening," said Charles Guy, principal investigator on the study and a professor emeritus in the UF/IFAS environmental horticulture department.

The study was co-authored by an interdisciplinary team of researchers with the environmental horticulture department, the UF College of Medicine, the UF Center for Arts in Medicine and the UF Wilmot Botanical Gardens, which also hosted all the study treatment sessions.

Thirty-two women between the ages of 26 and 49 completed the study. All were in good health, which for this experiment meant screening for factors such as chronic health conditions, tobacco use and drug abuse, and having been prescribed medications for anxiety or depression. Half of the participants were assigned to gardening sessions, while the other half were assigned to art-making sessions. Both groups met twice a week for a total eight times. The art group served as a point of comparison with the gardening group.

"Both gardening and art activities involve learning, planning, creativity and physical movement, and they are both used therapeutically in medical settings. This makes them more comparable, scientifically speaking, than, for example, gardening and bowling or gardening and reading," Guy explained.

In the gardening sessions, participants learned how to compare and sow seeds, transplant different kinds of plants, and harvest and taste edible plants. Those in the art making sessions learned techniques such as papermaking, printmaking, drawing and collage.

Participants completed a series of assessments measuring anxiety, depression, stress and mood. The researchers found that the gardening and art making groups experienced similar improvements in mental health over time, with gardeners reporting slightly less anxiety than art makers.

Given the relatively small number of participants and the length of the study, the researchers were still able to demonstrate evidence of what medical clinicians would call the dosage effects of gardening -- that is, how much gardening someone has to do to see improvements in mental health.

"Larger-scale studies may reveal more about how gardening is correlated with changes in mental health," Guy explained. "We believe this research shows promise for mental wellbeing, plants in healthcare and in public health. It would be great to see other researchers use our work as a basis for those kinds of studies."

The idea of using gardening to promote better health and wellbeing -- called therapeutic horticulture -- has been around since the 19th century.

But why does being around plants make us feel good? The answer might be found in the important role of plants in human evolution and the rise of civilization, the study's authors explain. As a species, we may be innately attracted to plants because we depend on them for food, shelter and other means of our survival.

Whatever the deeper reasons might be, many of the study participants left the experiment with a newly discovered passion, the researchers noted.

"At the end of the experiment, many of the participants were saying not just how much they enjoyed the sessions but also how they planned to keep gardening,'" Guy said.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/07/220706165413.htm

Only 1 in 5 people in the U.S. has optimal heart health

Circulation Journal Report: New Life's Essential 8™ score reveals concerning data

June 29, 2022

Science Daily/American Heart Association

Researchers found the U.S. population is well below optimal levels of cardiovascular health after applying the Life's Essential 8™ cardiovascular health scoring, the American Heart Association's updated metrics to measure heart and brain health. Life's Essential 8™ scoring was calculated using data from more than 23,400 adults and children from national health surveys from 2013-2018. Results show 80% of people in the U.S. have below-optimal cardiovascular health, and scores differed significantly according to age, gender, race/ethnicity, family income and depression status.

About 80% of people in the U.S. have low to moderate cardiovascular health based on the American Heart Association's new Life's Essential 8™ checklist according to a new study published today in Circulation, the Association's flagship, peer-reviewed journal. Life's Essential 8™, also published today in Circulation, details the Association's updated guidance to measure cardiovascular health, adding healthy sleep as essential for ideal heart and brain health.

The Life's Essential 8™ metrics are incorporated into the Association's My Life Check tool to determine a cardiovascular health score based on eight essential components for ideal heart and brain health: diet, physical activity, nicotine exposure, sleep duration, body mass index, blood lipids, blood glucose and blood pressure. It is an updated algorithm from the scientifically proven Life's Simple 7™, which did not include sleep heath. Life's Essential 8™ also updated some of the previous version's metrics to be more sensitive to differences among groups of people. In adults, overall cardiovascular health is calculated for each individual by summing the scores for each of the 8 metrics together and dividing the total by 8, to provide a Life's Essential 8™ score ranging from 0-100. Thus, the highest or healthiest cardiovascular health score possible is 100. Overall scores below 50 indicate "low" cardiovascular health, 50-79 is considered "moderate" and scores of 80 and above indicate "high" cardiovascular health.

According to this first study using Life's Essential 8™ as the measure for cardiovascular health, among more than 23,400 U.S. adults and children free of cardiovascular disease, the overall cardiovascular health of the U.S. population is well below ideal, with 80% of adults scoring at a low or moderate level. Researchers evaluated health information from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination surveys in 2013-2018 that included more than 13,500 adults (ages 20-79 years) and nearly 9,900 children (ages 2 to 19 years).

The analysis found:

• Life's Essential 8™ aligns with Life's Simple 7™, however, it was more sensitive to differences in cardiovascular health among groups of people and individuals.

• The average cardiovascular health score based on Life's Essential 8™ was 64.7 for U.S. adults and 65.5 for U.S. children. The children's average took into consideration age-based modifications for metrics in diet, physical activity and BMI for children ages 2 through 19 years.

• Only 0.45% of adults scored 100 on Life's Essential 8™.

• 19.6% of U.S. adults had high cardiovascular health; 62.5% moderate; and 17.9% low.

• Adult women had higher average cardiovascular health scores, of 67, compared to men, with a score of 62.5.

• In general, U.S. adults scored lowest in the areas of diet, physical activity and BMI.

• Cardiovascular health scores were generally lower at older ages.

• Individuals who identify as Non-Hispanic Asian Americans had a higher average cardiovascular health score than other racial/ethnic groups. Non-Hispanic White individuals had the second highest average cardiovascular health score, followed, in order, by Hispanic (other than Mexican), Mexican, and Non-Hispanic Black individuals.

• Children's diet scores were low, at an average of 40.6.

• Adult sociodemographic groups varied notably in cardiovascular health scores for diet, nicotine exposure, blood glucose and blood pressure.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/06/220629084031.htm

Scent of a friend: Similarities in body odor may contribute to social bonding

An electronic nose relying on body odor chemistry may predict whether we are likely to 'click' with a stranger

June 27, 2022

Science Daily/Weizmann Institute of Science

Weizmann Institute of Science researchers have found that people may have a tendency to form friendships with individuals who have a similar body odor. The researchers were even able to predict the quality of social interactions between complete strangers by first "smelling" them with a device known as an electronic nose, or eNose. These findings, published today in Science Advances, suggest that the sense of smell may play a larger role in human social interactions than previously thought.

Anyone who has ever walked a dog knows that their canine can usually tell from a distance whether an approaching dog is friend or foe. When in doubt, upon encountering one another, the two dogs might carefully and explicitly sniff each other before deciding whether to plunge into a play session or an all-out war. This dominant role played by the sense of smell in social interactions has been extensively documented in all terrestrial mammals except humans. Is this because humans don't use their noses in social settings the way all other terrestrial mammals do? Or is this behavior covert, rather than overt, in humans?

Graduate student Inbal Ravreby, in Prof. Noam Sobel's laboratory in Weizmann's Brain Sciences Department, hypothesized that the latter is the case. She relied on two previous observations. First, several lines of evidence suggest that humans are constantly, although mostly subconsciously, sniffing themselves. Second, humans often subconsciously sniff other people. In addition, it's known that people tend to become friends with others who are similar to themselves in appearance, background, values and even in measures such as brain activity. Ravreby hypothesized that when subconsciously sniffing themselves and others, people may be making subliminal comparisons, and that they may then gravitate toward those whose smell is similar to their own.

To test her hypothesis, Ravreby recruited pairs of click friends: same-sex nonromantic friends whose friendships had originally formed very rapidly. She hypothesized that because such friendships emerge prior to an in-depth acquaintance, they may be particularly influenced by physiological traits such as body odor. She then collected body odor samples from these click friends and conducted two sets of experiments to compare the samples with those collected from random pairs of individuals. In one set of experiments, she performed the comparison using the eNose, which assessed the chemical signatures of the odors. In the other, she asked volunteers to smell the two groups of body odor samples in order to assess similarities measured by human perception. In both types of experiments, click friends were found to smell significantly more like each other than did the individuals in the random pairs.

Next, Ravreby wanted to rule out the possibility that body odor similarity was a consequence of click friendships, rather than a contributing cause. For example, what if the friends had a similar smell because they ate the same types of food or shared other life experiences that influence body odor? To address this issue, Ravreby performed an additional set of experiments, in which she used an eNose to "smell" a number of volunteers who were complete strangers to one another, and then asked them to engage in nonverbal social interactions in pairs. After each such structured interaction, the participants rated the other individual in terms of how much they liked that person and how likely they were to become friends. Subsequent analysis revealed that the individuals who had more positive interactions indeed smelled more like each other, as determined by the eNose. In fact, when Ravreby and statistician Dr. Kobi Snitz entered the data into a computational model, they were able to predict with 71 percent accuracy which two individuals would have a positive social interaction, based on eNose data alone. In other words, body odor appears to contain information that can predict the quality of social interactions between strangers.

"These results imply that, as the saying goes, there is chemistry in social chemistry," Ravreby concludes. Sobel offers words of caution: "This is not to say that we act like goats or shrews -- humans likely rely on other, far more dominant cues in their social decision-making. Nevertheless, our study's results do suggest that our nose plays a bigger role than previously thought in our choice of friends."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/06/220627125010.htm

Light during sleep in older adults linked to obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure

Night lights, TV left on, smart phones linked to significantly higher disease rates, study finds

June 27, 2022

Science Daily/Northwestern University

In a sample of older men and women ages 63 to 84, those who were exposed to any amount of light while sleeping at night were significantly more likely to be obese, and have high blood pressure and diabetes compared to adults who were not exposed to any light during the night, reports a new Northwestern Medicine study.

Light exposure was measured with a wrist-worn device and tracked over seven days.

This is a real world (not experimental) study demonstrating the prevalence of any light exposure at night being linked to a higher obesity, high blood pressure (known as hypertension) and diabetes among older adults. It will be published June 22 in the journal SLEEP. 

"Whether it be from one's smartphone, leaving a TV on overnight or light pollution in a big city, we live among an abundant number amount of artificial sources of light that are available 24 hours of a day," said study corresponding author Dr. Minjee Kim, assistant professor of neurology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a Northwestern Medicine physician. "Older adults already are at higher risk for diabetes and cardiovascular disease, so we wanted to see if there was a difference in frequencies of these diseases related to light exposure at night."

Study investigators were surprised to find that less than half of the 552 study participants consistently had a five-hour period of complete darkness per day. The rest of participants were exposed to some light even during their darkest five-hour periods of the day, which were usually in the middle of their sleep at night.

Because this was a cross-sectional study, investigators don't know if obesity, diabetes and hypertension cause people to sleep with a light on, or if the light contributed to the development of these conditions. Individuals with these conditions may be more likely to use the bathroom in the middle of the night (with the light on) or may have another reason to keep the light on. Someone with foot numbness because of diabetes may want to keep a night light on to reduce the risk of falls.

"It's important for people to avoid or minimize the amount of light exposure during sleep," said senior study co-author Dr. Phyllis Zee, chief of sleep medicine at Feinberg and a Northwestern Medicine physician.

Zee and colleagues are considering an intervention study to test whether a restoration of the natural light-dark cycle improves health outcomes such as cognition.

Zee offered tips to reduce light during sleep:

1. Don't turn lights on. If you need to have a light on (which older adults may want for safety), make it a dim light that is closer to the floor.

2. Color is important. Amber or a red/orange light is less stimulating for the brain. Don't use white or blue light and keep it far away from the sleeping person.

3. Blackout shades or eye masks are good if you can't control the outdoor light. Move your bed so the outdoor light isn't shining on your face.

Who are the study participants?

The study participants were originally enrolled in the Chicago Heart Association Detection Project in Industry (CHA), a public health program and epidemiologic study conducted in 1967-1973 to identify high-risk adults for heart diseases in workplaces throughout the Chicago area. The study included a detailed examination of known risk factors for heart disease.

Almost 40 years later (2007-2010), Zee and Dr. Martha Daviglus, now adjunct professor of preventive medicine at Feinberg, conducted a separate study ("Chicago Healthy Aging Study (CHAS)") with 1,395 survivors of the original CHA study who agreed to participate. They underwent another detailed examination of blood pressure, weight, height, cholesterol, glucose and other known risk factors for heart disease. In addition, they wore the actigraphy device on their non-dominant wrists for seven days and filled out a daily sleep diary. Slightly more than half of the actigraphy devices used had the capacity to measure light, which constitute the basis of this new study.

Other Northwestern authors include senior co-author Kathryn Reid, Thanh-Huyen Vu, Matthew Maas, Rosemary Braun and Michael Wolf.

The study is titled, "Light at night in older age is associated with obesity, diabetes, and hypertension."

This research was supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (grants R01 HL089695, R01 HL090873, R01 HL021010), the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (UL1TR001422) and the National Institute on Aging (P30AG059988), all of the National Institutes of Health.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/06/220622130748.htm

Words matter: How to reduce gender bias with word choice

June 10, 2022

Science Daily/Cell Press

In the workplace, even subtle differences in language choice can influence the perception of gender, for better or worse. These choices fall into two main categories: minimizing the role of gender by using gender-neutral terms or emphasizing an individual's gender through "gender marking." In a commentary in the journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences, behavioral scientist Stav Atir argues that by using these two approaches thoughtfully, one can promote gender equality.

"If anyone suggested saying 'female politician' or 'lady scientist,' I think many would say 'No, thank you,'" says Atir, an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin Madison who studies how gender bias can affect perceptions of professionals.

The gender-neutral approach involves using words like "businessperson," instead of "businessman" or "businesswoman," or using gender-neutral pronouns like "they" instead of "he" or "she." Using this language can erase the conception that men and women are wildly different beings, and it fights back against our natural tendency to rely on stereotypes in our thinking, studies show.

"But wholesale gender neutrality in language is no panacea," says Atir. This approach suffers from the fact that gender-neutral terms tend to be considered masculine by default.

"Even when gender isn't explicitly specified, stereotypes often fill in the gender blank," says Atir. "Occupation words such as 'businessperson' or 'surgeon,' though technically gender neutral, likely conjure up an image of a man; likewise, 'nurse' (also technically gender neutral) conjures up an image of a woman."

The alternative -- using a gender-marking approach -- can be used to highlight the success of women in male-dominated fields. "In order to spotlight the breakers of glass ceilings and those following in their footsteps, we must mention their gender," says Atir.

This approach comes with its own drawbacks, like reinforcing negative stereotypes. "Gender marking, then, should not be used thoughtlessly," says Atir. "Though it can draw attention to professionals whose gender is underrepresented, it can also have ironic consequences, prompting stereotypical thinking and bolstering the perception of women as exotic exceptions to the male rule."

"We might be tempted to throw up our hands and give up the endeavor of using language to express and promote our beliefs. That would be a mistake," says Atir. "Language remains one tool in our toolbox for social change, and, unlike some of our other tools, it's one that we can all use. The key to using this tool effectively is to tailor our language to the context, taking into account our situation-specific goals."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/06/220610120216.htm

Narcissistic bosses stymie knowledge flow, cooperation inside organizations

June 1, 2022

Science Daily/University of Washington

Narcissism is a prominent trait among top executives, and most people have seen the evidence in their workplaces.

These individuals believe they have superior confidence, intelligence and judgment, and will pursue any opportunity to reinforce those inflated self-views and gain admiration. According to new research from the University of Washington, narcissism can also cause knowledge barriers within organizations.

When different units in the same company share information, it boosts performance and creates a competitive advantage. Narcissists hinder this knowledge transfer due to a sense of superiority that leads them to overestimate the value of internal knowledge and underestimate the value of external knowledge.

"Many big companies are what one would describe as multi-business firms, an organizational form where you have a corporate parent and subsidiary units," said co-author Abhinav Gupta, associate professor of management in the UW Foster School of Business. "The financial logic for why these firms exist is so that knowledge and skills that reside in one unit can be used in another unit."

But units don't work with each other as much as companies would like, Gupta said. The study, published April 4 in the Strategic Management Journal, revealed that certain personality traits of executives -- specifically narcissism -- impede the flow of information.

"Narcissism affects people's desire to be distinctive," Gupta said. "It's correlated by people wanting glory for themselves. We hypothesized that business-unit heads that have those traits would be the ones to say, 'We don't want to work with you. We have sufficient skills and knowledge and abilities that we will work independently.' That was very strongly borne out based on our research design."

The authors surveyed business units of a headhunting company in China that helps organizations recruit talent and search for technical personnel. These units must share knowledge about building talent pools, identifying skills and persuading prospects to accept offers.

Researchers asked unit heads to rate, among other factors, their own narcissistic traits, the environmental complexity of the local market and perceived competition with other units. They then asked deputies to rate the level of knowledge imported from other units.

Narcissism was measured using the self-report Narcissistic Personality Inventory 16-item scale, which presents pairs of statements and asks individuals to select the one that best describes them. One pair consisted of "I like to be the center of attention" and "I prefer to blend in with the crowd."

The study found that unit-head narcissism can prevent knowledge sharing. That tendency diminished in fast-changing or complex environments because narcissists had an excuse to pursue external ideas. But when businesses have high inter-unit competition, narcissists are more tempted to distinguish themselves from other units.

The research has multiple implications for companies, Gupta said. For example, when filling roles that require knowledge sharing, managers might watch for signs of narcissistic personality traits. Companies could also design an organization and reward structure that encourages cooperation among current personnel.

"There are two views of how multi-business firms create value," Gupta said. "One perspective is you want to run an organization like an internal market. All the units are actively competing for resources from the corporate headquarters, and that competition is what enables superior performance.

"This research kind of goes against the grain of that. If you create the perception of competition inside an organization, then that will have some downstream effects. You will be essentially foregoing some essential knowledge-sharing activities."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/06/220601155508.htm

Gratitude expressions between co-workers improve cardiovascular responses to stress

June 1, 2022

Science Daily/University of California - San Diego

A study from the University of California San Diego's Rady School of Management finds teammates who thanked each other before performing a high-stress task had a better cardiovascular response compared to teams who did not express gratitude. The enhanced cardiovascular response leads to increased concentration, more confidence, allowing individuals to give their peak performance.

Expressions of gratitude are known to enhance marriages and other intimate relationships; however the study is to first to show they also benefit people in loose tie relationships, such as co-workers. It is also the first to reveal that gratitude builds biological resources, promoting better stress responses, which in addition to fueling performance on high pressure tasks, can have long-term health impacts. Repeated exposure to stress is linked to cardiovascular disease, cognitive impairment and weakened immunity.

"Our results have meaningful implications for organizations and particularly for employees who work together under acutely stressful conditions to accomplish joint goals," said Christopher Oveis, senior author of the forthcoming study to be published in Journal of Experimental Psychology: General and associate professor of economics and strategy at the Rady School of Management.

Results from the study were derived from an experiment with 200 participants who had to compete in a contest inspired by the TV show "Shark Tank." The participants were UC San Diego students who were paired in teams with their suitemates to replicate relationships between workplace colleagues -- individuals who are not close personally, but who spend a lot of time together. The teams were given six minutes together to come up with a pitch for creating and marketing a bicycle for students to ride on campus and they were given six minutes to pitch their product and its marketing plan before a panel of judges. The winning team was awarded $200.

"It's essentially an impossible task," said Oveis. "The experiment is designed to create a maximally stressful environment so we can gauge how gratitude shapes stress response during teamwork because most people spend a third or more of their daily lives at work."

To measure physiological responses, participants wore electrodes on their neck and torso which collected electrocardiography (ECG) and impedance cardiography (ICG) signals. In addition, blood pressure was monitored through a blood pressure cuff worn on subjects' arms.

A select group of teams were randomly assigned to express gratitude and their biological responses were compared to teams who did not thank each other during the contest.

"In a high-stakes, motivated performance task, people can react in one of two ways at a biological level," said Oveis. "Some people really rise to the challenge and have an efficient cardiovascular response known as a challenge response: The heart pumps out more blood, the vasculature dilates, blood gets to the periphery, oxygenated blood gets to the brain and cognition fires on all cylinders. But other people don't fare as well and instead have a threat response: The heart pumps out less blood, the vasculature constricts, blood flow to periphery is reduced and performance goes down."

However, the study found that just a single, one to two-minute expression of gratitude from one teammate to another pushed those teammates toward more adaptive, performance-oriented biological challenge responses.

Gratitude expressions play a fundamental role in strengthening relationships

Oveis and co-authors tested the study participants cardiovascular responses to stress on an individual and collaborative level. Both team members were monitored during the collaborative part of the experiment when they were designing the bicycle and creating a marketing plan. And individuals were monitored when one person out of the pair had to make the pitch before the panel of judges without looking or talking to their team member.

During the collaborative task, control teams displayed threat responses marked by decreased blood flow and increased vascular constriction. However, a simple gratitude expression prior to the task eliminated these threat responses. During the individual product pitches, control teams showed modest challenge responses marked by vascular dilation and increased blood flow to the periphery. However, gratitude-expressing teams showed significantly larger, amplified challenge responses which aided their performance.

"Gratitude expressions within work environments may be key to managing our day-to-day stress responses as well optimizing our how we respond during high-pressure performance tasks like product pitches, so that we can make our stress responses fuel performance instead of harm it," said Oveis. "But at their core, gratitude expressions play a fundamental role in strengthening our relationships at work."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/06/220601142822.htm

Flu vaccination linked to 40% reduced risk of Alzheimer's disease

June 24, 2022

Science Daily/University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

People who received at least one influenza vaccine were 40% less likely than their non-vaccinated peers to develop Alzheimer's disease over the course of four years, according to a new study from UTHealth Houston.

Research led by first author Avram S. Bukhbinder, MD, a recent alumnus of McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, and senior author Paul. E. Schulz, MD, the Rick McCord Professor in Neurology at McGovern Medical School, compared the risk of Alzheimer's disease incidence between patients with and without prior flu vaccination in a large nationwide sample of U.S. adults aged 65 and older.

An early online version of the paper detailing the findings is available in advance of its publication in the Aug. 2 issue of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.

"We found that flu vaccination in older adults reduces the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease for several years. The strength of this protective effect increased with the number of years that a person received an annual flu vaccine -- in other words, the rate of developing Alzheimer's was lowest among those who consistently received the flu vaccine every year," said Bukhbinder, who is still part of Schulz's research team while in his first year of residency with the Division of Child Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital. "Future research should assess whether flu vaccination is also associated with the rate of symptom progression in patients who already have Alzheimer's dementia."

The study -- which comes two years after UTHealth Houston researchers found a possible link between the flu vaccine and reduced risk of Alzheimer's disease -- analyzed a much larger sample than previous research, including 935,887 flu-vaccinated patients and 935,887 non-vaccinated patients.

During four-year follow-up appointments, about 5.1% of flu-vaccinated patients were found to have developed Alzheimer's disease. Meanwhile, 8.5% of non-vaccinated patients had developed Alzheimer's disease during follow-up.

These results underscore the strong protective effect of the flu vaccine against Alzheimer's disease, according to Bukhbinder and Schulz. However, the underlying mechanisms behind this process require further study.

"Since there is evidence that several vaccines may protect from Alzheimer's disease, we are thinking that it isn't a specific effect of the flu vaccine," said Schulz, who is also the Umphrey Family Professor in Neurodegenerative Diseases and director of the Neurocognitive Disorders Center at McGovern Medical School. "Instead, we believe that the immune system is complex, and some alterations, such as pneumonia, may activate it in a way that makes Alzheimer's disease worse. But other things that activate the immune system may do so in a different way -- one that protects from Alzheimer's disease. Clearly, we have more to learn about how the immune system worsens or improves outcomes in this disease."

Alzheimer's disease affects more than 6 million people living in the U.S., with the number of affected individuals growing due to the nation's aging population. Past studies have found a decreased risk of dementia associated with prior exposure to various adulthood vaccinations, including those for tetanus, polio, and herpes, in addition to the flu vaccine and others.

Additionally, as more time passes since the introduction of the COVID-19 vaccine and longer follow-up data becomes available, Bukhbinder said it will be worth investigating whether a similar association exists between COVID-19 vaccination and the risk of Alzheimer's disease.

Co-authors from McGovern Medical School included Omar Hasan, research coordinator in the Department of Neurology and student at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences; Kamal N. Phelps, fourth-year medical student; Srivathsan Ramesh, PhD, first-year resident in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery; and alumni Albert Amran, MD, and Ryan Coburn, MD. Co-authors from UTHealth Houston School of Biomedical Informatics included Yaobin Ling, graduate research assistant; Xiaoqian Jiang, PhD, the Christopher Sarofim Family Professor in Biomedical Informatics and Engineering; and Yejin Kim, PhD, assistant professor. Qian Xiao, PhD, MPH, assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Disease Control with UTHealth School of Public Health, also co-authored the study.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/06/220624123814.htm

Sight problems may increase dementia risk in older adults

June 24, 2022

Science Daily/Taylor & Francis Group

Older adults with untreated sight conditions may be at increased risk of dementia, according to a new systematic review and meta-analysis of 16 studies involving 76,373 participants.

The results of the study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Aging and Mental Health, highlight a need for further research to examine the impact of correcting sight problems in older adults -- for example, with glasses or cataract surgery -- to prevent cognitive problems and dementia.

"This study is among the first to evaluate the association between sight problems and cognitive outcomes in older adults through a comprehensive examination of all available population-based studies in English. Our findings add to the growing evidence that fading eyesight is a risk factor for developing dementia," said lead author, Associate Professor Beibei Xu, from the Medical Informatics Center, at Peking University. "Although the reasons behind this remain unclear, it suggests that diagnosing and treating eye conditions may be beneficial -- both to improve a person's quality of life and also to potentially slow down or stop memory loss."

Nearly one million people are estimated to be living with dementia in the UK -- and that number is set to increase over the next few decades as the population ages. By 2050, it is predicted that this figure will have jumped to 1.6 million. The cost of dementia is expected to almost double in the same timeframe, from £25bn today to £47bn in 2050. The disease has a devastating impact on people's lives. As their disease progresses, they will experience greater memory loss and changes to their personality and behaviour. Ultimately, they will become completely dependent on others for their care.

The researchers included 16 studies including 76,373 participants, with five cross-sectional studies and 11 longitudinal studies published before April 2020. From these studies, the authors examined the relationship between visual impairment and cognitive outcomes in older adults. They found that:

• People with a sight problem had an increased risk of cognitive impairment and dementia, regardless of whether their visual impairment was self-reported or diagnosed using objective measures.

• The likelihood of having a cognitive impairment was 137% higher among people who had a sight problem compared to those who did not.

• People who had a sight problem at baseline had a 41% increased risk of developing cognitive impairment and a 44% increased risk of dementia, compared with those who did not.

"Finding ways to prevent or delay the onset of dementia could help reduce its devastating impact on the lives of affected individuals and their families, especially in light of the growing burden of the disease. Identifying modifiable risk factors is the first critical step for developing effective interventions to achieve this goal," says Beibei Xu. "Our new results highlight the importance of regular eye examinations for older adults -- enabling any potential problems with their vision to be spotted and treated early. They also suggest that any self-reported changes to a person's eyesight should not be ignored."

The authors (Gui-Ying Cao, Zi-Shuo Chen, Shan-Shan Yao, Kaipeng Wang, Zi-Ting Huang, He-Xuan Su, Yan Luo, Carson M De Fries, Yong-Hua Hu, and Beibei Xu) recommend future research is now warranted to examine the effectiveness of treating sight problems in older people to prevent cognitive impairment and dementia.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/06/220624104935.htm

Vitamin D deficiency can lead to dementia

June 14, 2022

Science Daily/University of South Australia

Dementia is one of the major causes of disability and dependency among older people worldwide, affecting thinking and behaviours as you age. But what if you could stop this degenerative disease in its tracks?

A world-first study from the University of South Australia could make this a reality as new genetic research shows a direct link between dementia and a lack of vitamin D.

Investigating the association between vitamin D, neuroimaging features, and the risk of dementia and stroke, the study found:

• low levels of vitamin D were associated with lower brain volumes and an increased risk of dementia and stroke

• genetic analyses supported a causal effect of vitamin D deficiency and dementia.

• in some populations as much as 17 per cent of dementia cases might be prevented by increasing everyone to normal levels of vitamin D (50 nmol/L).

Dementia is a chronic or progressive syndrome that leads to deterioration in cognitive function. About 487,500 Australians live with dementia and it is the country's second leading cause of death. Globally, more than 55 million people have dementia with 10 million new cases diagnosed every year.

Supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council, the genetic study analysed data from 294,514 participants from the UK Biobank, examining the impact of low levels of vitamin D (25 nmol/L) and the risk of dementia and stroke. Nonlinear Mendelian randomisation (MR) -- a method of using measured variation in genes to examine the causal effect of a modifiable exposure on disease -- were used to test for underlying causality for neuroimaging outcomes, dementia, and stroke.

Senior investigator and Director of UniSA's Australian Centre for Precision Health, Professor Elina Hyppönen, says the findings are important for the prevention of dementia and appreciating the need to abolish vitamin D deficiency.

"Vitamin D is a hormone precursor that is increasingly recognised for widespread effects, including on brain health, but until now it has been very difficult to examine what would happen if we were able to prevent vitamin D deficiency," Prof Hyppönen says.

"Our study is the first to examine the effect of very low levels of vitamin D on the risks of dementia and stroke, using robust genetic analyses among a large population.

"In some contexts, where vitamin D deficiency is relatively common, our findings have important implications for dementia risks. Indeed, in this UK population we observed that up to 17 per cent of dementia cases might have been avoided by boosting vitamin D levels to be within a normal range."

The findings are incredibly significant given the high prevalence of dementia around the world.

"Dementia is a progressive and debilitating disease that can devastate individuals and families alike," Prof Hyppönen says.

"If we're able to change this reality through ensuring that none of us is severely vitamin D deficient, it would also have further benefits and we could change the health and wellbeing for thousands."

"Most of us are likely to be ok, but for anyone who for whatever reason may not receive enough vitamin D from the sun, modifications to diet may not be enough, and supplementation may well be needed."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/06/220614122721.htm

Recent study indicates high prevalence of recently defined non-Alzheimer's dementia

Results show prevalence of brain changes from LATE may be roughly 40% in older adults and as high as 50% in people with Alzheimer's disease.

June 13, 2022

Science Daily/University of Kentucky

Researchers from the University of Kentucky's Sanders-Brown Center on Aging say a paper recently published in Acta Neuropathologica is the most definitive assessment yet of the prevalence of a form of dementia classified in 2019 and now known as LATE. The results show that the prevalence of brain changes from LATE may be roughly 40% in older adults and as high as 50% in people with Alzheimer's disease.

"This is a fundamental question about any disease or condition, 'How commonly is it seen in peoples' brains?' and it is deceptively challenging to answer that question," said Pete Nelson, M.D., Ph.D., neuropathologist and the R.C. Durr Foundation Chair in Alzheimer's Disease at UK.

In 2019 Nelson and large group of international experts, working together, named this new form of dementia named limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy (LATE).

The data for this new research came from 13 existing community and population-based study cohorts. The study included autopsy, genetic and clinical data from more than 6,000 brains. Five different countries across three continents are represented in the samples and data. The results indicated that more than a third of the brains had LATE pathology.

Symptoms of LATE mimic Alzheimer's disease by causing memory loss and problems with thinking and reasoning in old age. But researchers found the LATE-affected brain looks different from the Alzheimer's brain, and the therapies that may work for one probably would not work for the other.

Ten NIH-funded Alzheimer's Disease Research Centers, including University of Kentucky, were represented and worked together as a large coherent team. In addition to these U.S. centers, two cohorts from the United Kingdom, and one cohort each from Brazil, Austria, and Finland took part in this study.

"Not only is the size of this combined analysis important but also the fact that those who took part in the studies leading to brain donation were derived from longitudinal studies in researched populations. Due to this we can say more about the contribution of LATE to dementia in older populations. This is quite different from most research which is effectively from individuals without that anchoring," said Carol Brayne, M.D., British academic and Professor of Public Health Medicine at the University of Cambridge. "Given older ages are when dementia is most common, the LATE findings are particularly important. Although there are many differences between the studies that are combined here -- from design to methodologies -- they all reveal the importance of LATE and suggest our findings will be relevant beyond any individual country or region of the world."

In addition to the University of Kentucky, other U.S. Alzheimer's Disease Research Centers involved in this work include Northwestern University Medical Center, Rush University Medical Center, Mayo Clinic (both MN and FL campuses), Duke University, University of California (Davis), University of California (Irvine), University of California (San Francisco), University of Washington, and Stanford University. Nelson says that ultimately this study helps indicate that LATE is an extremely common contributor to the devastating clinical syndrome that is often referred to as Alzheimer's disease or dementia. While looking at the findings, Nelson and the other researchers indicated that LATE was even more common in brains with severe Alzheimer's disease neuropathologic change (ADNC) -- over half of severe ADNC cases also had LATE.

With the first clinical trial in the world for LATE currently underway at the University of Kentucky, and attention turning towards preventing LATE and Alzheimer's, Nelson says basic information gained through studies like this one is crucial. "It helps us frame key questions like, 'Who should be recruited into a research study? What should we be looking for?' It can also help guide us on how to better study LATE and Alzheimer's disease when those two brain diseases are so often present in the same person."

While progress is being made, there still are many knowledge gaps.

"We need more information in more diverse cohorts. People with African or Asian heritage were relatively under-sampled in this study. So far, it does not appear that people with different ethnic backgrounds have differing risk for LATE but further work is required in this important area," said Nelson.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/06/220613111434.htm

Multiple heart-related conditions linked to triple dementia risk, regardless of genetics

Having multiple conditions that affect the heart are linked to a greater risk of dementia than having high genetic risk, according to a largescale new study

June 8, 2022

Science Daily/University of Exeter

Having multiple conditions that affect the heart are linked to a greater risk of dementia than having high genetic risk, according to a largescale new study.

Led by Oxford University and the University of Exeter, the study is among the largest ever to examine the link between several heart-related conditions and dementia, and one of the few to look at the complex issue of multiple health conditions.

Published in The Lancet Healthy Longevity, the paper looked at data from more than 200,000 people, aged 60 or above, and of European ancestry in UK Biobank. The international research team identified those who had been diagnosed with the cardiometabolic conditions diabetes, stroke, or a heart attack, or any combination of the three, and those who went on to develop dementia.

Within this study population, the researchers found that the more of these three conditions a person had, the higher their risk of dementia. People who had all three conditions were three times more likely to develop dementia than people who had a high genetic risk.

Dr Xin You Tai, Lead Author and Doctoral Student at University of Oxford, said: "Dementia is a major global issue, with predictions that 135 million worldwide will have the devastating condition by 2050. We found that having such heart-related conditions is linked to dementia risk to a greater extent than genetic risk. So whatever genetic risk you were born with, you can potentially make a big impact on reducing risk of dementia by looking after heart and metabolic health throughout life."

The team, which included the universities of Glasgow and Michigan, found that nearly 20,000 of the UK Biobank participants they studied had been diagnosed with one of the three conditions. Just over 2,000 had two conditions, and 122 had all three.

Professor David Llewellyn, Senior Author, Professor of Clinical Epidemiology and Clinical Health at the University of Exeter, said: "Many studies look at the risk of a single condition in relation to dementia, but health is more complex than that. We know that many patients actually have a range of conditions. Our study tells us that for people who have a diagnosis of diabetes, stroke or a heart attack it is particularly important to look after their health and ensure they are on the right treatment, to prevent further problems as well as to reduce their dementia risk."

The team divided the 200,000 participants into three categories of genetic risk from high to low, based on a comprehensive risk score reflecting multiple genetic risk traits relevant to individuals of European ancestry. They also had brain imaging data for over 12,000 participants, and found widespread damage across the brain for those with more than one cardiometabolic condition. By contrast, high genetic risk was linked to deterioration only in specific parts of the brain.

Dr Kenneth M. Langa, Study Co-author, Professor of Medicine at the University of Michigan and Veteran Affairs Ann Arbor Healthcare System, said: "Our research indicates that protecting the heart throughout life likely also has significant benefits for the brain. To look after your heart, you can engage in regular exercise, eat a healthy diet and do everything possible to ensure blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol levels fall within guidelines."

Dr Sara Imarisio, Head of Research at Alzheimer's Research UK, said: "The evidence is clear that what's good for your heart is also good for your head. A person's risk of developing dementia is a complex mix of their age, their genes, and aspects of their lifestyle. In this study, researchers looked at data from a population of 60 years and older, including whether they had particular heart conditions, information about their genetics, and how these affected their risk of developing dementia. They found that people with multiple heart health conditions were even more likely to develop dementia than people who had an increased risk of Alzheimer's disease due to their genetics

"These findings reiterate the importance of treating the causes of poor heart health, not just for its own sake, but also the added benefit in terms of reducing the number of dementia cases. From the generosity of our supporters who enabled us to fund this work, to the selflessness of the volunteers that made it possible, we want to say thank you, without you research like this cannot take place.

"If anyone is worried about the health of your heart or your brain, please speak to your doctor."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/06/220608184340.htm

Social isolation is directly associated with later dementia

June 8, 2022

Science Daily/University of Warwick

Interdisciplinary study shows changes to brain structures associated with memory and cognitive function are directly linked to social isolation. The data shows that socially isolated people are 26% more likely to develop later dementia. The study has implications for health and social care policy, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Social isolation is directly linked with changes in the brain structures associated with memory, making it a clear risk factor for dementia, scientists have found.

Setting out to investigate how social isolation and loneliness were related to later dementia, researchers at the University of Warwick, University of Cambridge and Fudan University used neuroimaging data from more than 30,000 participants in the UK Biobank data set. Socially isolated individuals were found to have lower gray matter volumes of brain regions involved in memory and learning.

The results of the study are published online today (June 8, 2022) in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, in a paper entitled "Associations of social isolation and loneliness with later dementia" by Shen, Rolls, Cheng, Kang, Dong, Xie, Zhao, Sahakian and Feng.

Based on data from the UK Biobank, an extremely large longitudinal cohort, the researchers used modelling techniques to investigate the relative associations of social isolation and loneliness with incident all-cause dementia. After adjusting for various risk factors (including socio-economic factors, chronic illness, lifestyle, depression and APOE genotype), socially isolated individuals were shown to have a 26% increased likelihood of developing dementia.

Loneliness was also associated with later dementia, but that association was not significant after adjusting for depression, which explained 75% of the relationship between loneliness and dementia. Therefore, relative to the subjective feeling of loneliness, objective social isolation is an independent risk factor for later dementia. Further subgroup analysis showed that the effect was prominent in those over 60 years old.

Professor Edmund Rolls, neuroscientist from the University of Warwick Department of Computer Science, said: "There is a difference between social isolation, which is an objective state of low social connections, and loneliness, which is subjectively perceived social isolation.

"Both have risks to health but, using the extensive multi-modal data set from the UK Biobank, and working in a multidisciplinary way linking computational sciences and neuroscience, we have been able to show that it is social isolation, rather than the feeling of loneliness, which is an independent risk factor for later dementia. This means it can be used as a predictor or biomarker for dementia in the UK.

"With the growing prevalence of social isolation and loneliness over the past decades, this has been a serious yet underappreciated public health problem. Now, in the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic there are implications for social relationship interventions and care -- particularly in the older population."

Professor Jianfeng Feng, from the University of Warwick Department of Computer Science, said: "We highlight the importance of an environmental method of reducing risk of dementia in older adults through ensuring that they are not socially isolated. During any future pandemic lockdowns, it is important that individuals, especially older adults, do not experience social isolation."

Professor Barbara J Sahakian, of the University of Cambridge Department of Psychiatry, said: "Now that we know the risk to brain health and dementia of social isolation, it is important that the government and communities take action to ensure that older individuals have communication and interactions with others on a regular basis."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/06/220608161434.htm

How sleep builds relational memory

Learning connections between unrelated items requires neurons and brain circuits representing these items to be active and interact during sleep

May 31, 2022

Science Daily/University of California - San Diego

Relational memory is the ability to remember arbitrary or indirect associations between objects, people or events, such as names with faces, where you left your car keys and whether you turned off the stove after cooking but before you left the house.

Previous research has established that animal and human memory benefits from sufficient, quality sleep. In a new study, published May 25, 2022 in the Journal of Neuroscience, Maxim Bazhenov, PhD, professor of medicine at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, and Timothy Tadros, a graduate student in his lab, describe the underlying mechanisms that strengthen or create new relational memories during sleep.

The authors developed an artificial model of two regions of the brain: the thalamic (involved in earlier sensory processing) and the cortical (involved in memory, learning and decision-making). The model was capable of simulating two major brain states: awake when neurons are spontaneously active and optimized to process sensory input and deep sleep when intrinsic oscillations of electrical activity are generated, such as slow-waves.

The properties of the network model could be changed to promote transitions between awake and asleep activity, similar to what the biological brain does every day.

In the cortical region, connections between the neurons were permitted to become stronger or weaker based on their activity, known as synaptic plasticity, which reflects the primary known biological mechanism for how memories are formed or erased.

"We modelled the cortex after visual processing, with one cortical layer representing primary visual cortex and another cortical layer representing associative cortex," said Tadros. "Every time one sees the same object, roughly the same neurons in the visual cortex would be active. If a person sees two objects in the same context, then these associations might be learned in the associative cortex by strengthening connections between neurons that represent each of the two objects."

The scientists trained the network in its awake mode to learn such direct associations, such as A+B or B+C but not A+C, then discovered that in the sleep mode, the model formed indirect associations: A+C.

"This happened because during sleep the neurons representing all three related items (A, B and C) spontaneously fired in close temporal order, a phenomenon called sleep replay, which triggered synaptic plasticity and led to formation of strong synaptic connections between all these neurons," said Bazhenov. "Therefore, after sleep, activating any one group, such as A, activated all other related groups, such as B and C."

While primarily conceptual, the researchers said the work has real-world implications.

"One important real-world impact of the study is in informing future studies of disease, such as schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorder," said Bazhenov. "Studies have shown that people with these conditions perform worse on relational memory tasks and also have disrupted sleep, specifically slow-wave sleep.

"Our study suggests that focusing on improving slow-wave sleep in order to alleviate some of the cognitive symptoms associated with these conditions may be a more fruitful path forward than focusing on the cognitive symptoms exclusively."

The authors also noted that memory function and sleep quality decline with age, but current or new technologies that augment sleep oscillations may help protect and improve memory function in older adults.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/05/220531111821.htm

Seven healthy habits linked to lower risk of dementia in those with genetic risk

May 25, 2022

Science Daily/American Academy of Neurology

Seven healthy habits and lifestyle factors may play a role in lowering the risk of dementia in people with the highest genetic risk, according to research published in the May 25, 2022, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

The seven cardiovascular and brain health factors, known as the American Heart Association's Life's Simple 7, are: being active, eating better, losing weight, not smoking, maintaining a healthy blood pressure, controlling cholesterol, and reducing blood sugar.

"These healthy habits in the Life's Simple 7 have been linked to a lower risk of dementia overall, but it is uncertain whether the same applies to people with a high genetic risk," said study author Adrienne Tin, PhD, of the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson. "The good news is that even for people who are at the highest genetic risk, living by this same healthier lifestyle are likely to have a lower risk of dementia."

The study looked at 8,823 people with European ancestry and 2,738 people with African ancestry who were followed for 30 years. People had an average age of 54 at the beginning of the study.

Study participants reported their levels in all seven health factors. Total scores ranged from 0 to 14, with 0 representing the most unhealthy score and 14 representing the most healthy score. The average score among those with European ancestry was 8.3 and the average score amongst those with African ancestry was 6.6.

Researchers calculated genetic risk scores at the start of the study using genome-wide statistics of Alzheimer's disease, which have been used to study the genetic risk for dementia.

Participants with European ancestry were divided into five groups and those with African ancestry were divided into three groups based on genetic risk scores. The group with the highest genetic risk included people who had at least one copy of the APOE gene variant associated with Alzheimer's disease, APOE e4. Of those with European ancestry, 27.9% had the APOE e4 variant, while of those who had African ancestry, 40.4% had the APOE e4 variant. The group with the lowest risk had the APOE e2 variant, which has been associated with a decreased risk of dementia.

By the end of the study, 1,603 people with European ancestry developed dementia and 631 people with African ancestry developed dementia.

For people with European ancestry, researchers found that people with the highest scores in the lifestyle factors had a lower risk of dementia across all five genetic risk groups, including the group with the highest genetic risk of dementia. For each one-point increase in the lifestyle factor score, there was a 9% lower risk of developing dementia. Among those with European ancestry, compared with the low category of the lifestyle factor score, the intermediate and high categories were associated with 30% and 43% lower risk for dementia, respectively. Among those with African ancestry, the intermediate and high categories were associated with 6% and 17% lower risk for dementia, respectively.

Among people with African ancestry, researchers found a similar pattern of declining dementia risk across all three groups among those with higher scores on the lifestyle factors. But researchers said the smaller number of participants in this group limited the findings, so more research is needed.

"Larger sample sizes from diverse populations are needed to get more reliable estimates of the effects of these modifiable health factors on dementia risk within different genetic risk groups and ancestral backgrounds," Tin said.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/05/220525163821.htm

Ageism and health: Study shows close links

Nearly all older adults have experienced some forms of 'everyday ageism,' but those with more health concerns had higher rates

June 15, 2022

Science Daily/Michigan Medicine - University of Michigan

Nearly all older adults have experienced some form of ageism in their everyday lives, a new study finds -- whether it's seeing ageist messages and images on television or the internet, encountering people who imply that they're less capable just because they're older, or believing stereotypes about aging.

Older adults with more health concerns, though, appear most likely to have experienced this kind of "everyday ageism," according to new findings published by a team from the University of Oklahoma, Norman and the University of Michigan. The data, from a survey of more than 2,000 people between ages of 50 and 80, come from the National Poll on Healthy Aging.

The higher a person's score on a scale of everyday ageism experiences, the more likely they were to be in poor physical or mental health, to have more chronic health conditions, or to show signs of depression.

Though the study, published in JAMA Network Open, can't show cause and effect, the authors note that the linkages between ageism and health need to be explored further and taken into account when designing programs to encourage good health and well-being among older adults.

"These findings raise the question of whether aging-related health problems reflect the adverse influences of ageism and present the possibility that anti-ageism efforts could be a strategy for promoting older adult health and well-being," says first author Julie Ober Allen, Ph.D., M.P.H., Department of Health and Exercise Science, University of Oklahoma, Norman.

Allen worked on the survey during her time as a postdoctoral fellow at the Population Studies Center at U-M's Institute for Social Research.

The team previously published preliminary findings in a report from the NPHA, which is based at the U-M Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation and supported by AARP and Michigan Medicine, U-M's academic medical center.

But the new analysis goes further, and uses the Everyday Ageism Scale developed by the team. That scale, validated and published last year, calculates a score based on an individual's answers to 10 questions about their own experiences and beliefs regarding aging.

In all, 93% of the older adults surveyed said they regularly experienced at least one of the 10 forms of ageism. The most common one, experienced by nearly 80%, was agreeing with the statement that "having health problems is part of getting older" -- even though 83% of the people surveyed described their own health as good or very good. This kind of "internalized" ageism also included agreeing with the statements that feeling lonely, or feeling depressed, sad or worried, are part of getting older.

Meanwhile, 65% of the older adults said they regularly see, hear or read jokes about older people, or messages that older adults are unattractive or undesirable.

Another class of ageist experiences -- which the researchers call interpersonal ageism -- was reported as a regular occurrence by 45% of the respondents. These included experiences involving another person, where the older person felt it was assumed that they were having trouble with using technology, seeing, hearing, understanding, remembering, or doing something independently -- or that they don't do anything valuable.

The researchers calculated Everyday Ageism scores for every one of the more than 2,000 poll respondents, based on their responses to all the poll questions.

The overall average score was just over 10. As a group, people who were ages 65 to 80 scored over 11, indicating more ageism experiences those among those ages 50-64.

People who had lower levels of income or education, and those who lived in rural areas, also had average ageism scores that were higher than others. Older adults who reported spending four hours or more every day watching television, browsing the internet or reading magazines had higher scores than those with less exposure to such media.

The researchers then looked at each person's individual score in light of what they had said about their own health, including self-rated physical and mental health, number of chronic health conditions and report of depression symptoms.

They found a close link between higher scores and all four health-related measures. That is, those who reported higher Everyday Ageism scores were more likely to have reported that their overall physical health or overall mental health were fair or poor, more chronic health conditions, and depression symptoms.

A lot of this linkage had to do with internalized ageism measures -- the questions that measured how strongly a person agreed with the statements about health problems, loneliness and sadness being part of getting older. But experiences with the interpersonal forms of ageism were also linked to health-related measues, as were some aspects of ageist messages.

The relationship between ageism experiences in older adults' day-to-day lives and health especially interested poll director and senior author Preeti Malani, M.D., a professor at Michigan Medicine with a background in caring for older adults.

"The fact that our poll respondents who said they'd felt the most forms of ageism were also more likely to say their physical or mental health was fair or poor, or to have a chronic condition such as diabetes or heart disease, is something that needs more examination," she says.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/06/220615113231.htm

Too much self-confidence can endanger health

Especially older people often overestimate their health

May 31, 2022

Science Daily/University of Vienna

Older people who overestimate their health go to the doctor less often. This can have serious consequences for their health, for example, when illnesses are detected too late. By contrast, people who think they are sicker than they actually are visit the doctor more often. This is what a new study by Sonja Spitzer from the Institute for Demography at the University of Vienna and Mujaheed Shaikh from the Hertie School in Berlin found based on data from over 80,000 Europeans aged 50 and older. The results were published in The Journal of the Economics of Aging.

Our confidence affects our behaviour. People who overestimate their abilities earn more, invest their money differently, and are more likely to be leaders. But they also act riskier, have more accidents, and live less healthy by drinking more alcohol, eating less healthily, and sleeping too little.

How people perceive the state of their health can also have consequences for their own health decisions -- like whether to visit a doctor or not. A new study by Sonja Spitzer of the University of Vienna and Hertie School Professor Mujaheed Shaikh finds that individuals who overestimate their health visit the doctor 17.0% less often than those who correctly assess their health, which is crucial for preventive care such as screenings. Similar results were found for dentist visits.

The perception of one's own health has, however, no effect on the number and duration of hospital stays; presumably because hospital stays are more regulated and often require a doctor's referral.

Those who think they are sicker than they are visit the doctor more often

The authors also found that individuals who underestimate their health visit the doctor 21% more frequently. On the one hand, there is the disadvantage that these additional visits could cause unnecessary costs, which is relevant given population ageing and the associated high public health expenditure. On the other hand, people who underestimate their health and therefore pay close attention to it may be particularly fit in the long term, which could have a positive impact on society. Overall, it is difficult for outsiders to assess which visits are justified and which are not.

For their study, the researchers analysed data from over 80,000 Europeans aged 50 and older, using statistical methods. The data were collected as part of the SHARE study (Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe) between 2006 and 2013. First, the participants were asked how they assessed their health, for example, whether they had problems getting up from a chair after sitting for a long period. Then, the participants had to actually get up from a chair during a test -- this way it can be determined whether someone overestimates, underestimates, or correctly assesses their health. The researchers also took misjudgments related to memory and mobility into account. Overall, the majority of survey participants correctly assess their health (79%), 11% overestimate, and 10% underestimate themselves.

Who knows about their health?

With their new study, the researchers built on a previous study that showed that the perception of health differs greatly depending on age, nationality, and education. The older people are, the more often they overestimate their health. The researchers also found large regional differences: according to the analysis, people in Southern Europe tend to overestimate their health, while people in Central and Eastern Europe often underestimate their health. Educated people are also more likely to correctly assess their health. The scientists' appeal: Focus more on health education and health literacy. How healthy we feel can influence how healthy we actually are in the long term.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/05/220531091527.htm

Why the memory of fear is seared into our brains

June 1, 2022
Science Daily/Tulane University
Experiencing a frightening event is likely something you'll never forget. But why does it stay with you when other kinds of occurrences become increasingly difficult to recall with the passage of time?

A team of neuroscientists from the Tulane University School of Science and Engineering and Tufts University School of Medicine have been studying the formation of fear memories in the emotional hub of the brain -- the amygdala -- and think they have a mechanism.

In a nutshell, the researchers found that the stress neurotransmitter norepinephrine, also known as noradrenaline, facilitates fear processing in the brain by stimulating a certain population of inhibitory neurons in the amygdala to generate a repetitive bursting pattern of electrical discharges. This bursting pattern of electrical activity changes the frequency of brain wave oscillation in the amygdala from a resting state to an aroused state that promotes the formation of fear memories.

Published recently in Nature Communications, the research was led by Tulane cell and molecular biology professor Jeffrey Tasker, the Catherine and Hunter Pierson Chair in Neuroscience, and his PhD student Xin Fu.

Tasker used the example of an armed robbery. "If you are held up at gunpoint, your brain secretes a bunch of the stress neurotransmitter norepinephrine, akin to an adrenaline rush," he said.

"This changes the electrical discharge pattern in specific circuits in your emotional brain, centered in the amygdala, which in turn transitions the brain to a state of heightened arousal that facilitates memory formation, fear memory, since it's scary. This is the same process, we think, that goes awry in PTSD and makes it so you cannot forget traumatic experiences."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/06/220601133030.htm