Surprising study results: Students are bored during exams

Boredom has a negative effect on exam results

August 30, 2023

Science Daily/University of Vienna

In the case of boredom, we think of many situations in life but intuitively not of exams. However, an international team of academics led by Thomas Götz from the University of Vienna has now studied exactly this phenomenon of test boredom for the first time and found remarkable results. According to the study, school students are actually very bored during exams. The study also showed that utter boredom has a negative effect on exam results. The research results have been published recently in the Journal of Educational Psychology.

Although boredom is currently a very intensively studied phenomenon, test boredom has so far been completely ignored in the research. For the first time and on an international basis, psychologists from the University of Vienna, the University of Konstanz, the University of Zurich, the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, the LMU Munich, the City University of New York, the University of Essex and the Australian Catholic University (Sidney) have now been able to show that test boredom does actually occur and that it clearly deteriorates performance. The main causes were being both underchallenged and overchallenged during the exam. In addition, test boredom was significantly higher when the exam content had no personal relevance for the students. The main result of the study was that a high level of test boredom had a negative effect on exam results.

The academics proposed the so-called abundance hypothesis for the first time in their study, which they were able to confirm. On the one hand, the abundance hypothesis states that boredom especially deteriorates exam performance if students are overchallenged, because all mental resources would have to be allocated to completing the tasks, i.e. those that are used for experiencing boredom but are no longer available for working on the tasks. On the other hand, in the case of boredom as a result of being underchallenged, resources are available in abundance for processing the tasks anyway.

Exam tasks should relate to the reality of students' lives

In the study, a total of 1,820 German students in the 5th to 10th grades were examined. Questions about the extent of boredom, of being underchallenged and overchallenged and the personal relevance of the tasks were directly included in the test, between the different tasks.

From the study results, the researchers also derive some recommendations for teachers and guardians. "In order to combat test boredom, teachers should prepare exam tasks in such a way that they relate to the reality of students' lives. In addition, the tasks should not be very underchallenging or overchallenging," explains educational psychologist Thomas Götz from the University of Vienna, "Parents or guardians can also support young people by starting an open conversation about possible overchallenging or underchallenging tasks at school. Especially in the case of being overchallenged at school, it is important to react quickly to avoid boredom and also other negative consequences, such as a downward spiral of poor performance."

This first study of test boredom also opens up a completely new field of research. The academics are making a decisive contribution to clarifying the negative effects of boredom in school. "A large number of studies already show that boredom has not only a detrimental effect on learning and performance but also on mental and physical health. With our work, we are now expanding the view to a central area in the everyday school life of children and adolescents, namely exams," says Götz.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/08/230830131726.htm

Researcher combats bullying of students with disabilities

Online professional development can help teachers prevent, recognize and respond to students with disabilities being bullied

August 30, 2023

Science Daily/University of Missouri-Columbia

Students with disabilities are often bullied and socially excluded in school at a far greater rate than their classmates. To help teachers recognize, respond to and prevent bullying toward these students, researchers at the University of Missouri collaborated to develop an evidence-based, online professional development curriculum.

The curriculum highlights the value of teachers building a strong rapport with their students, noticing changes in student behavior as potential warning signs, incorporating social skills and communication skills into classroom learning objectives, as well as practicing behavior-specific praise in a way that showcases students' strengths and encourages collaboration with peers.

While the online curriculum has recently been successfully received and implemented by 200 elementary school teachers in a pilot study in the southeastern region of the United States, the researchers hope that, with additional federal funding, the online curriculum can be soon accessed by teachers nationwide.

"Teachers often tell us they don't feel prepared to address bullying issues at school, especially those complicated cases involving at-risk youth or kids with disabilities," said Chad Rose, an associate professor in the MU College of Education and Human Development. "Students with disabilities often get bullied more than their peers without a disability. For example, kids with a stutter or kids that may walk or talk differently than their neurotypical peers often get mimicked, which could actually be a violation of federal civil rights laws related to disability-based harassment."

Given the busy schedules of teachers, Rose and colleagues created an evidence-based online curriculum that can be completed in four hours, compared to most bullying-related professional development courses that take place in-person for a full day and don't always include evidence-based information. The trainings are broken up into different modules, covering how to recognize and respond to bullying, as well as overall strategies to improve classroom climates in a way that reduce or prevent bullying in the first place.

"In the diverse public school district where we piloted this program, the teachers found it enjoyable and relevant. It increased their knowledge in bullying prevention, and it increased their willingness to intervene when they see bullying happening," Rose said. "One of the easiest, fastest, simplest and most effective things teachers can do is implement social and communication skills as a learning objective into their already-made lesson plans. Instead of just teaching students math or science, tell them you will be monitoring how well they interact with one another."

Rose encourages teachers to walk around their classroom and praise students who are having positive interactions with others.

"The two biggest predictors of bullying I have seen throughout my career are deficits in social and communication skills," Rose said. "If we can improve those two areas, not only will the bullying decrease, but the confidence students have in themselves will increase. That sets them up for success regardless of what they go on to do in their lives."

Rose explained that students with disabilities are often socially excluded by their peers for being "different" at a much higher rate than other students. In a 2022 study, Rose found that social exclusion is a far more common form of bullying than physical or verbal aggression.

"Imagine trying to learn algebra if you are more focused on if the kid sitting next to you even likes you in the first place," Rose said. "We don't all have to be best friends, but we need to be friendly to everyone."

Rose added that for students who are bullied most often, he encourages them, depending on the situation, to know when to be assertive and to stand up for one's values system, know when to walk away from a situation, as well as know who to tell if the environment seems unsafe.

"From the students' perspective, self-advocacy, self-determination, goal setting and knowing how to be assertive without being aggressive is key," Rose said. "From the teachers' perspective, we want them to highlight students' strengths in front of the entire class so that others start to perceive them differently. Some students tend to focus on what makes someone different, but if teachers can give behavior-specific praise when they see good things happening, it can improve the way students look at themselves."

Rose is the director of the Mizzou Ed Bully Prevention Lab and has been researching bullying prevention for 18 years. He became interested in the topic during his first job out of college as a high school special education teacher working with at-risk youth.

"I want to help the kids who go to bed thinking about what they don't like about themselves," Rose said. "If I can help them feel better about themselves by emphasizing what makes them great, that is my ultimate goal."

Future plans include incorporating bullying "office hours" into the online curriculum so that teachers can reach out to Rose, his collaborators, and their team of bully prevention coaches about specific case studies they may be dealing with in real time.

"Development of online professional development for teachers: Understanding, recognizing, and responding to bullying for students with disabilities" was recently published in Education and Urban Society. Funding was provided by the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/08/230830131715.htm

Boys' snooze patterns remain stable before their teenage years

Children's sleep problems may be better explained by social and behavioral factors

August 30, 2023

Science Daily/Flinders University

The time it takes for boys to fall asleep remains the same between 10 and 12 years of age, according to new Flinders University research.

With these new findings, families, clinicians and researchers can expect that before the age of 12, children's sleep problems may be better explained by social and behavioural factors rather than biological factors.

Previous research has shown that as children grow into adolescents, they build up more tolerance against the feeling of sleepiness during the evenings. This development means they can take longer to fall asleep and therefore don't wake up feeling refreshed for school in the morning or for sports activities on weekends.

A new study led by Dr. Chelsea Reynolds, a Clinical Psychologist at Flinders University, has investigated when this change in sleepiness levels happens in pre-adolescent boys to better inform future therapies that can prevent sleep problems in adolescence.

To measure the boy's sleepiness levels, experts invited twenty 10-year-old boys to stay at a sleep camp every 6 months for an 18-month period. They were given activities to complete during the day and experts measured their sleep throughout the night through a series of tests.

During each test, the boys were woken up if they showed signs of falling asleep. These tests happened nine times across the night, from 7:30 pm until 3:30 am, and enabled sleep experts to measure the time it took them to reach the point of sleepiness again.

Dr. Chelsea Reynolds says that while biological changes during puberty can make adolescent sleep difficult, new findings show that these changes don't become a problem up to the age of 12.

"As you would expect, we found that the 10-year-old boys took a long time to fall asleep early in the night and fell asleep very quickly as the tests reached the early hours of the morning and they grew more tired."

"However, what was interesting was that across the 18-month period, the boys took about the same amount of time to fall asleep during each sleep test. This means that their sleep remained stable over time. Overall, this indicates that for boys up to 12 years of age, they will not experience any changes to their sleepiness levels in the evening."

"What happens after the age of 12, however, is still to be researched in this same level of detail over time. We'd expect that some time before the age of 15, they will start to show less sleepiness in the evening and take longer to fall asleep. That is the time when parents may start seeking help for their teenagers who can't get up on time for school."

Dr. Reynolds says that it's common for teenagers to present to a sleep psychologist for help with delayed sleep patterns and extreme sleepiness in the morning.

Treatments of sleep problems in this age group may therefore focus on night-time fears, bedtime schedules and improving children's sleep environment.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/08/230830131909.htm

Sleep data from over 220,000 people reveal global differences in weekly sleep variability and sleep extension

August 29, 2023

Science Daily/National University of Singapore, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine

New research, using objective measures of sleep rather than subjective reports, has shown that not only do people in Asia go to sleep later and have shorter sleep, they also have lower sleep quality than those in other parts of the world. Additionally, their sleep during the work week is more variable and they do not extend their sleep as much at the weekend.

People in Asia are known to report worse sleep than their counterparts in Europe and North America. New research, using objective measures of sleep rather than subjective reports, has shown that not only do people in Asia go to sleep later and have shorter sleep, they also have lower sleep quality than those in other parts of the world. Additionally, their sleep during the work week is more variable and they do not extend their sleep as much at the weekend.

This finding surfaced after a team of researchers from the Centre for Sleep and Cognition at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS Medicine) in partnership with Oura Health Oy (Finland), analysed 50 million nights of anonymised sleep data, contributed by over 220,000 users of the Oura Ring, a consumer sleep tracker, from across 35 countries. Most of the users were working adults, aged between 30 and 55 years. To provide a comprehensive analysis of sleep measures for each user, the team gathered sleep data from multiple nights across a whole year -- on average, each user contributed 242 nights of data. Weekday and weekend sleep were analysed separately to assess the impact of the working week on sleep patterns.

The results showed that people in Asia have shorter sleep, and display higher variability in both sleep timing and duration on weekdays. They also fall asleep later than those living in Europe, Oceania and North America. Previous studies have shown that shorter sleep duration is usually associated with higher sleep efficiency as people try to make the most of their sleep opportunity; however, in this study, despite sleeping less, people in Asia also had lower sleep efficiency. This may be because factors that result in short sleep (e.g., work-related anxiety) also lead to lower quality sleep.

People often sleep for longer at the weekends than during the week, a phenomenon known as weekend sleep extension. While there was a clear association between shorter weekday sleep and longer weekend sleep extension, suggesting that people caught up on sleep at the weekend, even after accounting for this, people in Asia had the shortest weekend sleep extension.

While there are many socio-cultural factors that affect sleep patterns, the team hypothesises that because it plays such a fundamental role in our lives, work (and the broader work culture) is one of the most influential factors affecting how we sleep. Previous evidence from time use studies have demonstrated a strong association between long work hours and short sleep. Additionally, there is evidence that preoccupation with work demands and the inability to stop thinking about work contribute to sleep disturbances.

Dr Adrian Willoughby, Senior Research Fellow at NUS Medicine's Centre for Sleep and Cognition, said, "In Europe, weekends are generally considered time for relaxation, and engaging in social activities with friends and family. In Asia, however, people may use the weekends to catch up on work, do the things they didn't have time for during the week or attend to more family responsibilities. We think that longer working hours and the difference in work culture in Asia means that people don't catch up on sleep as much at the weekends, but try to catch up whenever they have the opportunity over the course of the week."

Prof Michael Chee, Director of the Centre for Sleep and Cognition at NUS Medicine said, "Sleep is a significant issue to address, especially for people living in Asia, who seem to sleep less than other global regions. Access to such a large dataset has allowed us to have unique insights into global sleep patterns. This research enables us to work towards our goal of giving customised sleep advice that considers individual sleep needs, environment factors and larger socio-cultural pressures that affect sleep. We want people to practise sleep routines that fit different contexts, but also promote health, well-being and performance."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/08/230829130004.htm

Your genes influence whether depression leads to other diseases

August 29, 2023

Science Daily/Aarhus University

Almost one in five Danes experiences depression during their lives. A new study from Aarhus University now shows that the genetic risk of depression can be linked to an increased genetic risk of other psychiatric diagnoses. The study has just been published in Nature Medicine.

Through a detailed genetic scan, the researchers studied the genome of 1.3 million people, where more than 370,000 of them suffered from depression. This is the largest genetic study of depression to date, and it shows that people with hospital-treated depression often have a higher risk of developing diseases such as substance abuse, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and anxiety disorders, and that it is possible to predict the risk of developing these psychiatric disorders using genetic analyses.

The study shows for instance that people with hospital-treated depression and a high genetic predisposition to bipolar disorder are 32 times more likely to develop the disease than the rest of the general population.

Similarly, people with hospital-treated depression and a high genetic predisposition to schizophrenia are 14 times more likely to develop schizophrenia compared to the rest of the population.

New prevention and treatment options

The results pave the way for offering high-risk people preventative measures and early treatment in the future, says professor Anders Børglum from the Department of Biomedicine at Aarhus University and iPSYCH (national initiative for integrative psychiatric research), who led the study:

"For example, targeted efforts that offer more frequent monitoring for the development of bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and anxiety among people with depression who have the highest genetic and clinical risk of being diagnosed with one of these disorders. This would enable early diagnosis and treatment, which we know can have beneficial effects."

Likewise, according to Anders Børglum, identifying people with depression and a high genetic risk of developing substance abuse could make the patient and the doctor aware of the issue. Preventative measures could then be initiated to prevent the development of substance abuse.

The study shows that people with hospital-treated depression and a high genetic predisposition to substance abuse have a 21 per cent risk of developing a serious substance abuse problem. This is more than five times higher than the group with a low genetic predisposition to substance abuse who have also had a depression. And ten times higher than the general population without hospital-treated depression. This group only has a 2 per cent risk of being diagnosed with substance abuse over the same period of time.

Negative effects on an individual's brain function and level of education

In the study, the researchers found many new genetic risk variants and risk genes for depression. These provide new knowledge about the biological disease mechanisms involved and point to new molecular targets for treatment.

"We found a number of biological systems and cell types that are affected by the genetic risk. The effects are seen in virtually all regions of the brain, but not in other organs. And mainly in the brain's nerve cells -- neurons," says Thomas Als, former associate professor at the Department of Biomedicine and the first author of the article.

"The genetic risk can affect many different types of neurons. Overall, it can be said that the genetic risk affects the development and communication of brain cells," says Thomas Als.

The study shows that a total of 11,700 genetic risk variants can explain 90 per cent of the heritability of depression, making depression one of the most complex and polygenic mental disorders. The majority of the risk genes still need to be identified.

The researchers have discovered that virtually all of the 11,700 genetic risk variants for depression also have an impact on the level of education of the general population. Some risk variants increase the likelihood of completing higher education, while others reduce the likelihood. However, overall, the genetic variants reduce the likelihood of a person completing higher education.

"In line with this, we found that genetic risk of depression is linked to reduced cognitive properties in the population. This particularly affects abstract thinking and mental flexibility, attention and verbal reasoning," explains Anders Børglum.

Suggests that depression to some extent is a brain development disorder

Depression can be a serious and severely debilitating condition. The results of the study indicate that the seeds of the disease are already being sown in the embryonic stage.

"We found evidence that part of the genetic risk is already influencing brain cells in the embryonic stage, and that depression to some extent is a neuronal developmental disorder," says Anders Børglum:

"This tracks with the fact that we're seeing a significant genetic overlap between depression and, for example, autism and ADHD."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/08/230829125934.htm

More sleep could reduce impulsive behavior in children

UGA study found that improved sleep can reduce environmental stressors' negative influence on behavior

August 29, 2023

Science Daily/University of Georgia

Sleep is a critical part of a child's overall health, but it can also be an important factor in the way they behave.

According to a new study from the Youth Development Institute at University of Georgia, getting enough sleep can help children combat the effects of stressful environments.

"Stressful environments are shown to make adolescents seek immediate rewards rather than delayed rewards, but there are also adolescents who are in stressful environments who are not impulsive," said lead author Linhao Zhang, a fourth-year doctoral student in UGA's College of Family and Consumer Sciences. "We looked at what explains that link and what makes some people differ from others. One mechanism we found is sleep."

Researchers analyzed data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study, a multi-year brain development study funded by the National Institutes of Health. Using information from 11,858 children from 9-10 years old, they found that lack of sleep and long sleep latency -- the amount of time it takes to get to sleep -- had a significant link to impulsive behaviors down the line.

Sleep problems, such as sleep latency (the time it takes an individual to fall asleep) and impulsive behaviors, were checked at multiple time points over the course of two years. When children got less than the recommended nine hours of sleep or took more than 30 minutes to get to sleep, there was a strong link to impulsive behaviors later down the line. Some of these behaviors included acting without a plan, seeking thrills or sensations, and lacking perseverance.

Sleep was a mediator between these actions, however, and when sleep problems were absent during the study, impulsivity was also less likely to be observed in the future.

Neurological hyperconnectivity, wherein the adolescents' brains remained very active even when they were not actively engaged in tasks, also played a role, Zhang said. This study looked at the default mode network, a brain network related to goal-directed behaviors. When this network was hyperactive during resting-state, it could exacerbate the link between stressful environments, sleep and impulsivity. This connection could be linked to ADHD, which Zhang would like to explore in future studies.

"We can look at the default mode network and emotional regulation regions," Zhang said. "It's also possible that this hyperactivity and ADHD are highly correlated, so in a future study, we could test that in a more clinical setting. That could have great implications on intervention or counseling programs."

These findings not only highlight sleep's role in cognitive and behavioral development, but could also inform low-cost interventions to aid in the psychological development of children facing at-home stressors, Zhang said.

"If you want to develop interventions for people in stressful environments, it's very costly, and sometimes it needs generational work to change," Zhang said. "Sleep is a modifiable behavior, however, and these changes can be cost-efficient."

Zhang said that too little sleep can be an issue even outside stressful environments. For example, teenagers often have a circadian rhythm that is geared toward staying up later and sleeping in, but early school start times and late nights completing homework can throw off that rhythm.

"A lot of adolescents don't have enough time to sleep, and they are sleep deprived," Zhang said. "This study shows why it is important to promote longer sleep duration by delaying school start times or establishing routines so that adolescents know, 'OK, after this event, I'm going to bed.'"

Establishing these routines, no matter the environment, can create healthier patterns and reduce the time it takes to get to sleep. It's also vital to act early when developing sleep habits, Zhang said.

"For people who may be in disadvantaged environments, if we can provide some strategies that help sleep, it can have a positive impact, especially for adolescents that are at such a critical developmental stage for their brain development."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/08/230829124717.htm

Enter Sandman: Study shows dreams spill over into the workplace and can be channeled for productivity

August 28, 2023

Science Daily/University of Notre Dame

Studies show that on any given morning, about 40 percent of the working population recalls its dreams. New research shows that when dreams are first recalled, people often draw connections between their dreams and waking lives, and the connections they draw alter how they think, feel and act at work.

Before heading to work each day, most people have spent the night dreaming. Studies show that on any given morning, about 40 percent of the working population recalls their dreams.

New research from the University of Notre Dame shows that when dreams are first recalled, people often draw connections between their dreams and waking lives, and the connections they draw alter how they think, feel and act at work.

"A Spillover Model of Dreams and Work Behavior: How Dream Meaning Ascription Promotes Awe and Employee Resilience" is forthcoming in the Academy of Management Journal from lead author Casher Belinda, assistant professor of management at Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business, and Michael Christian from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

"Similar to epiphany, we found that connecting the dots between dreams and reality gives rise to awe -- an emotion that sparks a tendency to think about ourselves and our experiences in the grand scheme of things," said Belinda, who specializes in organizational behavior, specifically emotions, interpersonal communication and close relationships in organizations. "This makes subsequent work stressors seem less daunting, bolstering resilience and productivity throughout the workday."

"People experience awe when they undergo something vast -- something that challenges their understanding or way of thinking about things," Belinda explained. "These experiences can come in different forms, whether physical, such as when witnessing aurora borealis, or conceptual, such as when grasping the implications of a grand theory. Awe often borders on the extremes or upper bounds of other emotions, for example, when people experience profound gratitude or admiration. Dreams are conceptually vast experiences that have a striking capacity to elicit feelings of awe."

The team performed three studies that collectively captured approximately 5,000 morning-of reports of dream recall among full-time employees. The researchers issued a morning-of field study, a single-day morning-to-afternoon study and a two-week experience sampling study.

They found that these relationships persisted even after accounting for how much or how well people slept, suggesting that the psychological consequences of recalling and finding meaning in dream experiences may at times offset the physiological consequences of poor sleep.

At face value, dreaming appears to have little connection to work. However, most people are dreaming shortly before they start work on a given day. And the study reveals that when we recall our dreams -- which, to sleeping minds, are very real -- they can set the stage for the rest of our day.

"We arrive at work shortly after interacting with deceased loved ones, narrowly escaping or failing to escape traumatic events and performing acts of immeasurable ability," Belinda said. "Regardless of our personal beliefs about dreams, these experiences bleed into and affect our waking lives -- including how productive we are at work."

Say you recall an awe-inspiring or meaningful dream in the morning, and then later in the afternoon, your supervisor tells you to conduct 10 more interviews than you were expecting to do. You might now think that in the grand scheme of things it's not that big a deal because your awe-inspiring dream just put everything into perspective. You have a greater realization that there's a bigger world out there and you're just part of it or that you're connected to everything.

"Harnessing the benefits of awe may prove invaluable to organizations," Belinda said. "And one of our primary goals was to understand how to do so."

First, get a good night's sleep.

Belinda explains that dreams occur in all stages of sleep and are impactful regardless of sleep habits. However, the most vivid dreams -- those most likely to have meaning and create waking awe -- occur during REM sleep. Because REM sleep takes place late in a given sleep cycle, getting sufficient, high-quality sleep will help you get the most out of your dreams.

Sleep-tracking devices that indicate when and how much time you spend in REM sleep can help improve sleep schedules to increase the odds of having awe-inspiring dreams.

"Also, keep a dream journal to allow meaningful dreams to stick with you," Belinda said. "Recording dreams gives them repeated opportunities to elicit beneficial emotions and make connections between dreams."

For both managers and employees, Belinda suggests promoting the "awe experience" at work. In addition to dreams, other elicitors include nature, art, music and exposure to senior leaders, all of which can increase productivity at work.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/08/230828162332.htm

From Sleepless Nights to Smiles: Effective Tips for New Parents

Guest Post by Randy Thom, Systematic Art

Knowing what to expect when you become a new parent is next to impossible and the sleepless nights of those first few years are going to make effective parenting something you feel is far out of your abilities. That doesn't mean you're failing as a parent, though, and it's important to realize that making mistakes is a part of the process. It will help you have an idea of some effective tips to take advantage of as a new parent.

One of the most important parenting tips for new parents is to simply expect stress as you transition from a childless person to a parent. There's going to be a lot of it and you have to be capable of dealing with it. It shouldn't be taken as a sign of failure when your planning falls through and your stress levels rise.

Be sure to Accept Help from Others

Knowing how to keep a newborn baby healthy and safe isn't going to be enough to feel like you're doing everything you possibly can for your new child. You're never going to be able to do it all on your own and that's why it's so important that you decide to accept help whenever it's being offered. There are friends and family members who can relieve you of some of the stress and that will make a world of difference to you.

It’s going to shock you when you realize just how important a single hour of sleep can be to your health and mood when you’re deprived in the first place. Letting someone else take over for that hour will allow you to rest comfortably while knowing that everything is perfectly fine. Once you decide to accept help, you’ll be able to become a much more effective parent to your child.

Believe in your Parenting Skills

No matter how difficult and stressful things get, you can always believe in your parenting skills as you raise your child. No one can do it as well as you and it's something to be proud of.

Don’t focus on the times when you’re exhausted and can’t quite make the best decisions. Those moments are a part of life that will never go anywhere, no matter how old or experienced you become. Enjoy the good times, let people help, and believe in yourself, no matter what happens along the way.

Cluster of slightly unhealthy traits linked with earlier heart attack and stroke

August 25, 2023

Science Daily/European Society of Cardiology

Middle-aged adults with three or more unhealthy traits including slightly high waist circumference, blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose have heart attacks and strokes two years earlier than their peers, according to research presented at ESC Congress 2023.1

"Many people in their 40s and 50s have a bit of fat around the middle and marginally elevated blood pressure, cholesterol or glucose but feel generally well, are unaware of the risks and do not seek medical advice," said study author Dr. Lena Lönnberg of Västmanland County Hospital, Västerås, Sweden. "This scenario, called metabolic syndrome, is a growing problem in Western populations where people are unknowingly storing up problems for later in life. This is a huge missed opportunity to intervene before heart attacks and strokes that could have been avoided occur."

It is estimated that up to 31% of the global population has metabolic syndrome.2 Previous studies have shown that people with metabolic syndrome are at higher risk of diabetes, heart disease, stroke and premature death.3-5 This study investigated the link between asymptomatic metabolic syndrome in midlife and cardiovascular disease and death up to three decades later.

The study enrolled 34,269 adults in their 40s and 50s who attended a cardiovascular screening programme in 1990 to 1999 in the Swedish county of Västmanland. Participants went to their primary health care centre for a clinical examination by a nurse, which included measurements of height, weight, blood pressure, total cholesterol, blood glucose, and waist and hip circumference. They also completed a questionnaire about lifestyle habits, previous history of cardiovascular disease and diabetes, and socioeconomic factors such as education.

Individuals were classified as having metabolic syndrome if they had three or more of the following: 1) waist circumference of 102 cm or above for men and 88 cm or above for women, 2) total cholesterol 6.1 mmol/l or above, 3) 130 mmHg or higher systolic blood pressure and/or 85 mm Hg or higher diastolic blood pressure, 4) fasting plasma glucose 5.6 mmol/l or higher.

Participants with metabolic syndrome were matched for age, sex and date of health examination to two individuals without metabolic syndrome who served as controls. Data on cardiovascular events (myocardial infarction and stroke) and death were collected from national and local registers. The researchers analysed the associations between midlife metabolic syndrome and nonfatal cardiovascular events and all-cause mortality after adjusting for age, sex, smoking, physical inactivity, education level, body mass index, hip circumference and living alone or with family.

A total of 5,084 individuals (15%) met the criteria for metabolic syndrome and a control group of 10,168 individuals without metabolic syndrome was identified. Some 47% of participants were women. During a median follow-up of 27 years, 1,317 (26%) participants with metabolic syndrome died compared with 1,904 (19%) controls -- meaning that those with metabolic syndrome were 30% more likely to die during follow-up than their counterparts without metabolic syndrome.

Non-fatal cardiovascular events (myocardial infarction and/or stroke) occurred in 1,645 (32%) participants with metabolic syndrome and 2,321 (22%) controls -- corresponding to a 35% greater risk of heart attack and stroke in the metabolic syndrome group. The median time to the first non-fatal heart attack or stroke was 16.8 years in the metabolic syndrome group and 19.1 years in the control group -- a 2.3 year difference.

Dr. Lönnberg said: "As metabolic syndrome is a cluster of risk factors, the level of each individual component does not have to be severely raised. In fact, most people live with slightly raised levels for many years before having symptoms that lead them to seek health care. In our study, middle-aged adults with metabolic syndrome had a heart attack or stroke 2.3 years earlier than those without the collection of unhealthy traits. Blood pressure was the riskiest component, particularly for women in their 40s, highlighting the value of keeping it under control."

She concluded: "The results underline the importance of early detection of risk factors through health screening programmes so that preventive actions can be taken to prevent heart attack, stroke and premature death. As a general rule of thumb, even if you feel well, check your blood pressure every year, avoid smoking, keep an eye on your waist circumference and last, but definitely not least, be physically active every day."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/08/230825122052.htm

Women more severely affected by chronic fatigue syndrome

Science Daily/University of Edinburgh

Women with ME/CFS tend to have more symptoms and co-occurring conditions than men, according to initial results from the world's largest study of the disease.

It has long been known that women are more likely to have ME/CFS (myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome) but the DecodeME study has shown for the first time how their experience differs from men.

The study reveals that women who have ME/CFS -- a long-term neurological condition where an excessive increase in symptoms can be triggered by normal levels of exertion -- for more than 10 years are more likely to experience increasingly severe symptoms as they age.

Experts say that gaining a better understanding of how ME/CFS affects people is the first step to developing effective treatment options.

To aid their efforts, the study team from the University of Edinburgh are calling on more people with ME/CFS, aged 16 and over and based in the UK to take part in the study.

Experts analysed anonymous survey questionnaires from more than 17,000 people with ME/CFS. They included information on how long the respondent has had ME/CFS symptoms, when they were diagnosed, and whether they had any co-occurring conditions.

The study confirmed the well-established sex bias amongst ME/CFS patients, with women making up 83.5 per cent of respondents.

Two-thirds (66.7 per cent) of women, and slightly more than half (52.7 per cent) of men, reported at least one active co-occurring condition. Similarly, 39.2 per cent of women and 28.6 per cent of men reported at least one inactive co-occurring condition.

A condition was considered active if the participant had experienced symptoms in the preceding six months.

The most common active co-occurring condition was irritable bowel syndrome (41.3 per cent), with clinical depression (32.4 per cent), fibromyalgia (29.5 per cent), anaemia (14.1 per cent) and hypothyroidism (12.8 per cent) also featuring prominently.

Women also reported, on average, more symptoms than men -- 42 compared with 36.

The most common of these symptoms were brain fog -- a term commonly used to describe the cognitive impairment experienced by participants -- unrefreshing sleep, and muscle pain.

Participants were also asked to define the severity of their illness from mild to very severe using definitions from the UK's National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines.

Experts identified that being a woman and having ME/CFS for more than 10 years are risk factors for severe illness, with symptoms increasing in intensity as they age.

To increase their understanding of the disease, the study team want to recruit a further 6000 participants to the study.  

In the next stage of the project experts will study at least 20,000 individual DNA samples to explore whether the disease is partly genetic and, if so, research its cause.

ME/CFS is estimated to affect more than one quarter of a million people in the UK, of all ages and from all social and economic backgrounds.

Its key feature, called post-exertional malaise, is a delayed dramatic worsening of symptoms following minor physical effort. Other symptoms include pain, brain fog and extreme energy limitation that does not improve with rest. Causes are unknown and there is currently no diagnostic test or cure.

Initial results from the study have been posted on NIHR Open Research: https://openresearch.nihr.ac.uk/articles/3-20.

As well as the University of Edinburgh, the study involves the charity Action for M.E., the Forward M.E. alliance of UK charities, and people who have experienced the condition. The study is funded by the Medical Research Council and the National Institute for Health and Care Research.

Professor Chris Ponting, study lead from the MRC Human Genetics Unit at the University of Edinburgh's Institute of Genetics and Cancer, said: "ME/CFS is a devastating disease affecting a UK population the size of Derby. We discovered that the disease is worse for women, in older people, and many years after their ME/CFS started. Our hope is that DecodeME's genetic results will shed light on why certain groups are more susceptible to ME/CFS than others."

Sonya Chowdhury, Chief Executive of Action for M.E. and Chair of the Management Group of the study, added: "These findings highlight the very serious impact ME/CFS has on women who are disproportionately affected. It's important to also recognise the impact that it has on men who have ME/CFS, and we thank the 20,000 men and women who have already signed up to take part in this very important study. But we still need more to join us so if you are 16 or older, live in the UK and have a diagnosis of ME/CFS, please do take part now to help us decode ME at www.decodeme.org.uk/portal."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/08/230824111857.htm

Sedentary time in children linked with heart damage in young adulthood

August 23, 2023

Science Daily/European Society of Cardiology

Hours of inactivity during childhood could be setting the stage for heart attacks and strokes later in life, according to research presented at ESC Congress 2023.1 The study found that sedentary time accumulated from childhood to young adulthood was associated with heart damage -- even in those with normal weight and blood pressure.

"All those hours of screen time in young people add up to a heavier heart, which we know from studies in adults raises the likelihood of heart attack and stroke,"2 said study author Dr. Andrew Agbaje of the University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland. "Children and teenagers need to move more to protect their long-term health."

This was the first study to investigate the cumulative effect of smartwatch-assessed sedentary time in young people and cardiac damage later in life. It was conducted as part of the Children of the 90s study, which began in 1990/1991 and is one of the world's largest cohorts with lifestyle measurements from birth.3

At 11 years of age, children wore a smartwatch with an activity tracker for seven days. This was repeated at 15 years of age and again at 24 years of age. The weight of the heart's left ventricle was assessed by echocardiography, a type of ultrasound scan, at 17 and 24 years of age and reported in grams relative to height (g/m2.7). The researchers analysed the association between sedentary time between 11 and 24 years of age and heart measurements between 17 and 24 years of age after adjusting for factors that could influence the relationship including age, sex, blood pressure, body fat, smoking, physical activity and socioeconomic status.

The study included 766 children, of whom 55% were girls and 45% were boys. At 11 years of age, children were sedentary for an average of 362 minutes a day, rising to 474 minutes a day in adolescence (15 years of age), and 531 minutes a day in young adulthood (24 years of age). This means that sedentary time increased by an average of 169 minutes (2.8 hours) a day between childhood and young adulthood.

Each one-minute increase in sedentary time from 11 to 24 years of age was associated with a 0.004 g/m2.7 increase in left ventricular mass between 17 to 24 years of age. When multiplied by 169 minutes of additional inactivity this equates to a 0.7 g/m2.7 daily rise -- the equivalent of a 3 gram increase in left ventricular mass between echocardiography measurements at the average height gain. A previous study in adults found that a similar increase in left ventricular mass (1 g/m2.7) over a seven-year period was associated with a two-fold increased risk of heart disease, stroke, and death.4

Dr. Agbaje said: "Children were sedentary for more than six hours a day and this increased by nearly three hours a day by the time they reached young adulthood. Our study indicates that the accumulation of inactive time is related to heart damage regardless of body weight and blood pressure. Parents should encourage children and teenagers to move more by taking them out for a walk and limiting time spent on social media and video games. As Martin Luther King Jr. once said, 'If you can't fly, run. If you can't run, walk. If you can't walk, crawl. But by all means keep moving.'"

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/08/230823122511.htm

Study adds to evidence that Parkinson's starts in the gut

August 22, 2023

Science Daily/Columbia University Irving Medical Center

Ask any neurologist: Parkinson's disease is a brain disorder. The conspicuous symptoms of Parkinson's disease -- uncontrollable tremors, slowed down motions, and the feeling that one's feet are stuck to the ground -- all stem from the loss of neurons in a region of the brain that helps control movement.

But many researchers believe that the neurodegenerative disorder may get started far away from the brain -- in the gut -- and years before the first neurological signs appear.

New findings by Columbia researchers David Sulzer, PhD, and Dritan Agalliu, PhD, and two of their graduate students are adding to evidence backing this hypothesis -- and showing that what triggers initial gastrointestinal changes in Parkinson's could be a misdirected immune attack.

"If this is the beginning of Parkinson's in many people, we could potentially identify who has the disease before it ever reaches the brain and hopefully stop it in its tracks," Sulzer says. The new findings were published Aug. 18 in Neuron.

Autoimmunity and the gut

The gut-first theory of Parkinson's, originally proposed 20 years ago, started to intrigue Sulzer after his own research pointed toward the role of an autoimmune response in Parkinson's.

In Parkinson's, a protein called alpha-synuclein becomes misfolded, accumulates inside neurons, and slowly poisons the cells. Sulzer's lab in collaboration with immunologists at the La Jolla Institute of Immunology has shown that small portions of the misfolded alpha-synuclein also can appear on the outside of neurons, which makes the neurons vulnerable to attack from the immune system. The immune attack could be doing more acute damage to the neurons than the internal deposits of alpha synuclein.

"The blood of Parkinson's patients often contains immune cells that are primed to attack the neurons," Sulzer says, "but it's not clear where or when they are primed."

The gut was an intriguing possibility because it contains the same neurons and because most Parkinson's patients experience constipation years before brain symptoms emerge and the disease is diagnosed. To pursue this hypothesis, Sulzer teamed up with Agalliu, a neuroimmunologist with expertise in mouse models of another neurological disorder (multiple sclerosis) that has autoimmune features.

Immune response to alpha synuclein leads to gut symptoms

To find out if an immune reaction to alpha-synuclein can kick-start the disease and where, Francesca Garretti and Connor Monahan, grad students directed by Agalliu and Sulzer, first created a mouse capable of displaying pieces of misfolded alpha-synuclein on cell surfaces (natural mice do not have this ability). They then injected the mice with alpha-synuclein and monitored what happened in the brain and the gut.

The researchers did not see any signs resembling Parkinson's disease in the brain, but they did see that an immune attack on neurons in the gut produced constipation and other gastrointestinal effects resembling those seen in most Parkinson's patients years before they are diagnosed with the disease.

"This shows that an autoimmune reaction can lead to what appears to be the early stages of Parkinson's and is strong support that Parkinson's is in part an autoimmune disease," Sulzer says.

The findings also raise the possibility that early detection -- and then interruption -- of an immune response in the gut could prevent a later attack on the brain's neurons and stop Parkinson's in its tracks.

Wanted: A mouse with Parkinson's disease

Right now, though, it's not clear how big a role the immune system plays in the Parkinson's brain. The answer to that question may become clearer if the researchers find out why the brains of their mice did not develop any signs of Parkinson's.

The team hypothesizes that the immune cells in their mouse model may not be reaching the brain because the animals are young and age has not yet weakened the blood-brain barrier sufficiently to let immune cells squeeze through. Opening the barrier or accelerating the aging process may lead to mice that develop gastrointestinal and brain symptoms.

"Our ultimate goal is to develop a model of Parkinson's disease in mice that recreates the human disease process, which doesn't exist right now," Sulzer says. "That will be critical in answering questions about the disease that we can't explore in people and eventually developing better therapies."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/08/230822151748.htm

Why childhood adversity impacts how a person's behavior is judged

August 22, 2023

Science Daily/University of Missouri-Columbia

It's human nature to be judgmental. But why do we place less blame on someone, or give more praise, if we find out that person had a history of suffering in childhood? In a recent study, University of Missouri researchers discovered why someone's childhood adversity influences how others judge their behavior.

The finding contributes to a growing body of evidence that suggests judgments of praise and blame are "asymmetrically sensitive" to certain types of information about someone's life history, said Philip Robbins, associate professor and chair of the Department of Philosophy.

"In the case of negative or anti-social behavior, we see the actions of people with adverse childhood experiences as less of a reflection of their fundamental moral character, and more as a reflection of the environment they were raised in, so we blame them less for those actions," Robbins said. "On the other hand, when someone has experienced adversity in childhood and does something good, we tend to think of that behavior as more reflective or expressive of who the person is deep down, so we praise them more for it."

The research, based on statistical analysis of survey results from 248 participants, suggests that struggling with adversity in early life can be a "deformative experience," reshaping an individual's moral development.

"Experiences deform people's behavior in the sense that adverse experiences can pull people away from who they really are on a deeper level by pushing them onto an 'alternative' track of anti-sociality that they otherwise wouldn't be on," Robbins said.

The research conducted by Robbins and Fernando Alvear, a doctoral candidate in philosophy at MU, builds upon earlier work by Robbins and other colleagues, including Paul Litton, dean of the MU School of Law. Previously, Robbins and his colleagues found that people tend to think of a violent criminal as less culpable and less deserving of punishment when told that the accused had suffered serious harm in childhood. They also found that people tend to give more praise to someone for their good deeds as an adult after discovering that person had to overcome adversity or suffering earlier in life, such as abuse and neglect as a child.

The current study by Robbins and Alvear aimed to address a largely unanswered question from the earlier work about why this kind of information has this effect on people's judgements.

"This has all sorts of implications for people's social interactions," Robbins said. "Moral judgment is tremendously important for how we relate to others as people because they form an essential part of social judgment. The current research is part of a larger project aimed at understanding how moral judgment works. This understanding could potentially reorient people's thinking in ways that could have positive effects on the everyday practice of blaming and praising."

Robbins believes there is a natural "track" for a person's development, and people who haven't experienced challenging life events, including loss, trauma or other social disadvantages, do not typically develop strong anti-social tendencies later in life.

"People generally learn to behave in morally appropriate ways toward other people, such as not hurting, harming or speaking ill of them," Robbins said. "When people don't learn these lessons, they are pulled off-track from the natural path of development. People may not be saints or heroes, but most of us aren't villains either."

In future work, Robbins plans to explore the role that gender stereotyping may play in determining how judgments of blame and praise are affected by information about a person's life history.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/08/230822151724.htm

Keep fit to avoid heart rhythm disorder and stroke

August 22, 2023

Science Daily/European Society of Cardiology

A study in more than 15,000 people has found that physical fitness is linked with a lower likelihood of developing atrial fibrillation and stroke. The research is presented at ESC Congress 2023.

Atrial fibrillation is the most common heart rhythm disorder, affecting more than 40 million people worldwide. It is estimated that one in three Europeans will develop atrial fibrillation in their lifetime. Patients with the condition have a five-fold higher risk of stroke than their peers. This study examined whether fitness was related to the likelihood of developing atrial fibrillation.

The study included 15,450 individuals without atrial fibrillation who were referred for a treadmill test between 2003 and 2012. The average age was 55 years and 59% were men. Fitness was assessed using the Bruce protocol, where participants are asked to walk faster and at a steeper grade in successive three-minute stages. Fitness was calculated according to the rate of energy expenditure the participants achieved, which was expressed in metabolic equivalents (METs).

Participants were followed for new-onset atrial fibrillation, stroke, myocardial infarction and death. The researchers analysed the associations between fitness and atrial fibrillation, stroke and major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE; a composite of stroke, myocardial infarction and death) after adjusting for factors that could influence the relationships including age, sex, cholesterol level, kidney function, prior stroke, hypertension and medications.

During a median of 137 months, 515 participants (3.3%) developed atrial fibrillation. Each one MET increase on the treadmill test was associated with an 8% lower risk of atrial fibrillation, 12% lower risk of stroke and 14% lower risk of MACE.

Participants were divided into three fitness levels according to METs achieved during the treadmill test: low (less than 8.57 METs), medium (8.57 to 10.72) and high (more than 10.72). The probability of remaining free from atrial fibrillation over a five-year period was 97.1%, 98.4% and 98.4% in the low, medium and high fitness groups, respectively.

Study author Dr. Shih-Hsien Sung of the National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei, Taiwan said: "This was a large study with an objective measurement of fitness and more than 11 years of follow up. The findings indicate that keeping fit may help prevent atrial fibrillation and stroke."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/08/230822151718.htm

Want to increase resiliency in kids? Teach creativity

Study finds program helps children cope with problems

August 22, 2023

Science Daily/Ohio State University

Train elementary school students how to be creative and you can help increase their resilience in the face of real-life problems, new research suggests.

In a small study, researchers trained third, fourth and fifth graders to use literary techniques such as perspective shifting, counter-factual (what if) thinking and causal (why) thinking to improve creativity in dealing with difficulties.

The techniques helped kids come up with new, creative and practical ways to solve problems, said Angus Fletcher, lead author of the study and a professor of English at The Ohio State University and member of the university's Project Narrative.

"There are concerns about the resiliency of American children in the wake of COVID-19 and this sense that many kids are having a hard time in school and in life," Fletcher said.

"Creativity training can help kids come up with a second plan when things aren't working out for them."

The study was published recently in the Journal of Creativity.

Fletcher said the program used to help kids in this study was similar to one he and his colleagues used successfully with the U.S. Army -- and which resulted in Fletcher receiving the Public Service Commendation Medal, the fourth-highest public service decoration that the Army can bestow upon a civilian.

The researchers did two separate studies involving students attending a summer camp in a Columbus suburb.

In one study, 32 students were split into two groups. In the control condition, the children were told to identify a special quality about themselves. They were told this was their special power that could help them solve any problem.

In the creative condition, the students were told to think of a friend who did something special and think of them as their "creative friend" who could help them solve any problem. This type of creativity training is called perspective-shifting, in which the kids look at a problem through the eyes of someone else.

"When you ask people to shift their perspective and imagine receiving advice from a friend, you get a lot more creative and effective solutions to problems than just trying to solve the problem yourself," Fletcher said.

And that's what the study found. In one part of the study, teachers identified a problem that was challenging for their students -- for example, not being able to go to a friend's birthday party because you're going to be out of town with your parents.

Students also thought about a challenging problem in their own lives. Some problems that were mentioned included "my brother has a communication disorder," "my dad has to be away for two months" and "my sister bullies me."

Results showed that without the perspective-shift training, fewer than half of the students were able to provide a solution to the age-typical problems and almost none were able to provide a solution to their own problems.

But 94% of those who were trained in perspective-shifting provided a solution to both.

Judges (who were trained teachers) also rated the children's solutions on creativity, as assessed by how surprising or unique the solutions were.

With the intervention, the average creativity score was 6.44 out of 10 (moderate creativity) compared to 3.05 (low creativity) for those who did not receive the perspective-shifting intervention.

These results showed how creativity training could boost children's sense of self-efficacy -- the belief that they had some control and power over their own lives, Fletcher said.

When considering their own problems, most of the children who received the intervention came up with a potential solution. But 15 of 16 children in the control group essentially gave up, Fletcher said. They either said they didn't know how to fix their problem, or displayed some version of magical thinking, such as saying they could become a superhero.

A second longitudinal study involving 28 students in the same camp was designed to test the effects of a five-day, 10-hour narrative creativity curriculum on creativity, self-efficacy and resilience.

In addition to perspective-shifting, the students were also trained in other narrative creativity techniques, such as causal thinking, Fletcher said.

"If children can't solve a problem, we train them to back up and think about what they are trying to accomplish -- the why problem," Fletcher said.

"Step back and say why does this matter? We often find that if you think more broadly about what you are trying to accomplish, and why it is so important, then you can see there are other ways of getting what you want."

At the end of the curriculum, the students were presented with age-typical problems similar to the first study and also examined one of their own problems.

In order to test resilience, the researchers provided an unexpected challenge when the children presented their proposed solution to their problems: they told the kids it wouldn't work.

Results showed that every student who took the five-day curriculum was able to provide a second solution to both the age-typical and personal problems.

"With this training, the children were unfazed by being told their first solution didn't work. They came up with a second plan, which is a good test of resilience," Fletcher said.

And the second solution to the problems averaged higher creativity scores from the judges -- 7.5, which indicated moderate to high creativity, compared to 5.45 for their first solution.

Second solutions also scored higher on utility, which is how likely they are to succeed in the real world.

Fletcher said this study provides a hopeful message: There are things we can do to help children cope with their problems.

"We are at this moment in our society where our kids need help. We found that before this training, kids had this propensity to just give up when faced with problems. That could lead them to get angry, or embarrassed that they can't solve their problems, or look for adults to offer solutions."

What narrative creativity training can do is teach children there are ways to approach real-life problems that don't have easy answers, he said.

Fletcher said that kids can learn creativity through the arts, such as literature and theater, if they are done the right way. Rather than just asking students to analyze works of art, teachers can have students imagine themselves as different characters, explore new perspectives and engage in why and what-if thinking.

"The ability to use this type of thinking can't be assessed via standardized tests. But it is still very important and can help children use and grow their creativity to solve real-world challenges," he said.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/08/230822111639.htm

Intermittent fasting improves Alzheimer's pathology

Mice on a time-restricted feeding schedule had better memory and less accumulation of amyloid proteins in the brain compared to controls

August 21, 2023

Science Daily/University of California - San Diego

One of the hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease is disruption to the body's circadian rhythm, the internal biological clock that regulates many of our physiological processes. Nearly 80% of people with Alzheimer's experience these issues, including difficulty sleeping and worsening cognitive function at night. However, there are no existing treatments for Alzheimer's that target this aspect of the disease.

A new study from researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine has shown in mice that it is possible to correct the circadian disruptions seen in Alzheimer's disease with time-restricted feeding, a type of intermittent fasting focused on limiting the daily eating window without limiting the amount of food consumed.

In the study, published August 21, 2023 in Cell Metabolism, mice that were fed on a time-restricted schedule showed improvements in memory and reduced accumulation of amyloid proteins in the brain. The authors say the findings will likely result in a human clinical trial.

"For many years, we assumed that the circadian disruptions seen in people with Alzheimer's are a result of neurodegeneration, but we're now learning it may be the other way around -- circadian disruption may be one of the main drivers of Alzheimer's pathology," said senior study author Paula Desplats, PhD, professor in the Department of Neurosciences at UC San Diego School of Medicine. "This makes circadian disruptions a promising target for new Alzheimer's treatments, and our findings provide the proof-of-concept for an easy and accessible way to correct these disruptions."

Alzheimer's disease affects more than 6 million Americans, and it is considered by many to be the biggest forthcoming health challenge in the United States. People with Alzheimer's experience a variety of disruptions to their circadian rhythms, including changes to their sleep/wake cycle, increased cognitive impairment and confusion in the evenings, and difficulty falling and staying asleep.

"Circadian disruptions in Alzheimer's are the leading cause of nursing home placement," said Desplats. "Anything we can do to help patients restore their circadian rhythm will make a huge difference in how we manage Alzheimer's in the clinic and how caregivers help patients manage the disease at home."

Boosting the circadian clock is an emerging approach to improving health outcomes, and one way to accomplish this is by controlling the daily cycle of feeding and fasting. The researchers tested this strategy in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease, feeding the mice on a time-restricted schedule where they were only allowed to eat within a six-hour window each day. For humans, this would translate to about 14 hours of fasting each day.

Compared to control mice who were provided food at all hours, mice fed on the time-restricted schedule had better memory, were less hyperactive at night, followed a more regular sleep schedule and experienced fewer disruptions during sleep. The test mice also performed better on cognitive assessments than control mice, demonstrating that the time-restricted feeding schedule was able to help mitigate the behavioral symptoms of Alzheimer's disease.

The researchers also observed improvements in the mice on a molecular level. In mice fed on a restricted schedule, the researchers found that multiple genes associated with Alzheimer's and neuroinflammation were expressed differently. They also found that the feeding schedule helped reduce the amount of amyloid protein that accumulated in the brain. Amyloid deposits are one of the most well-known features of Alzheimer's disease.

Because the time-restricted feeding schedule was able to substantially change the course of Alzheimer's in the mice, the researchers are optimistic that the findings could be easily translatable to the clinic, especially since the new treatment approach relies on a lifestyle change rather than a drug.

"Time-restricted feeding is a strategy that people can easily and immediately integrate into their lives," said Desplats. "If we can reproduce our results in humans, this approach could be a simple way to dramatically improve the lives of people living with Alzheimer's and those who care for them."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/08/230821153213.htm

Overuse of social media and devices top parent concerns as kids head back to school

Over half of parents worried about mental health issues; children's health concerns greater among parents in low-income households

August 21, 2023

Science Daily/Michigan Medicine - University of Michigan

As children head back to school, two issues have climbed higher on their parents' list of concerns: the role of social media and the internet in kids' lives.

Over half of parents also rate mental health issues as leading health concerns for children and teens, according to the University of Michigan Health C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health.

Overall, emotional health and technology use dominated this year's top 10 list of parent concerns about health-related issues for kids in the U.S.- surpassing childhood obesity, which parents rated the number one children's health issue a decade ago.

"Parents still view problems directly impacting physical health, including unhealthy eating and obesity, as important children's health issues. But these have been overtaken by concerns about mental health, social media and screen time," said Mott Poll co-director and Mott pediatrician Susan Woolford, M.D., M.P.H.

Two-thirds of parents are worried about children's increased time on devices, including overall screen time and use of social media, taking the No.1 and No.2 spots on the list of children's health concerns this year, according to the nationally representative poll.

"Children are using digital devices and social media at younger ages, and parents may struggle with how to appropriately monitor use to prevent negative impacts on safety, self-esteem, social connections and habits that may interfere with sleep and other areas of health," Woolford said.

Screen time became a growing concern for parents during the pandemic, previous reports suggest. Woolford encourages parents to regularly evaluate their children's use of technology and consider limiting use if they notice signs of unhealthy interactions or behaviors. Certain social media and device settings can also help protect kids.

Mental, emotional health concerns top of mind

The poll findings, which are based on 2,099 responses collected in February,also demonstrate parents' continued concern about children's mental health. The majority of parents view depression, suicide, stress, anxiety, and related topics like bullying as big problems.

And nearly half of parents expressed concern with a lack of mental health services.

"The mismatch between the growing number of youth with mental health concerns and the limited access to mental health services has serious implications for children's well-being," Woolford said.

Parents also shared a high level of concern about school violence, which may reflect direct experience with school shootings or fights as well as media coverage about such events, Woolford says.

She adds that changes to the school environment, such as metal detectors, armed guards and locked doors, as well as active shooter drills may remind children and parents about the potential for school violence. Parents may struggle with how to manage their own stress and anxiety while they try to reassure their child.

"Parents may want to talk with their child periodically about how safe they feel at school and what they've heard about violent incidents," Woolford said. "They should tailor the information to their child's age and avoid sharing graphic details while offering reassurance about safety measures that their school has in place."

Parents in low-income households were more likely to view several children's health issues as a major concern, including depression and suicide, bullying, school violence, unsafe neighborhoods, drinking and drugs, smoking and vaping, teen pregnancy and sexual activity, child abuse and neglect, parental stress, discrimination, COVID, and health risks from pollution.

Meanwhile, parents in middle and high-income homes are more likely to rate overuse of devices and social media as significant problems.

"Differences in how parents view children's health problems may reflect their day-to-day experiences dealing with environmental challenges such as unsafe neighborhoods, as well as discrimination that may be more frequently experienced by children from low-income homes," Woolford said.

Concern about a greater number of child health issues may be reflected in this group's higher reports of parental stress as a big problem, Woolford adds.

But parents across income groups rated other topics similarly, including unhealthy diet, obesity, healthcare costs, and lack of mental health services.

Falling just outside the top 10 children's health concerns are obesity (48%), guns/gun injuries (47%), lack of mental health services (47%), poverty (45%), drinking/using drugs (44%), child abuse/neglect (42%), followed by unequal access to health care (35%), parental stress (35%), inaccurate/misleading health information (31%), teen pregnancy/sexual activity (31%), discrimination (31%), unsafe neighborhoods (30%), gay/gender issues (LGBTQ) (29%), and health risks from polluted water and air (23%).

At the bottom of the list: safety of vaccines (16%), over-involved parents/parents doing too much (13%) and COVID (12%).

"Today's school aged children have experienced dramatic shifts in classroom environments, technology norms and increased mental health challenges," Woolford said.

"Parents should partner with schools, mentors and their child's health care providers to address both ongoing and emerging health concerns. They should also regularly revisit conversations with their children and teens that encourage them to share any concerns they might be experiencing, both physically and emotionally."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/08/230821114406.htm

Formerly depressed patients continue to focus on negative

Attending to positives may be as important as minimizing negatives to prevent relapse, study says

August 21, 2023

Science Daily/American Psychological Association

People who have recovered from a major depressive episode, when compared with individuals who have never experienced one, tend to spend more time processing negative information and less time processing positive information, putting them at risk for a relapse, according to research published by the American Psychological Association.

"Our findings suggest that people who have a history of depression spend more time processing negative information, such as sad faces, than positive information, such as happy faces, and that this difference is greater compared to healthy people with no history," said lead author Alainna Wen, PhD, a postdoctoral scholar at the Anxiety and Depression Research Center at the University of California, Los Angeles. "Because more negative thinking and mood and less positive thinking and mood are characteristic of depression, this could mean that these individuals are at a greater risk for having another depressive episode."

The research was published in the Journal of Psychopathology and Clinical Science.

Major depression is one of the most common mental disorders in the United States. In 2020, approximately 21 million U.S. adults reported at least one incidence of major depression (8.4% of the U.S. population), according to the National Institute of Mental Health. Defined as a period of at least two weeks of a depressed mood or loss of interest or pleasure in daily activities, major depression can interfere with or limit a person's ability to carry out major life activities.

Despite well-established treatments for depression, relapse rates for major depressive disorder remain high, according to Wen. More than 50% of individuals with a first-time major depressive episode will experience subsequent episodes, often relapsing within two years of recovery. Thus, more insight is needed into the risk factors involved in major depressive disorder to improve treatment and prevent relapse.

For this paper, researchers conducted a meta-analysis of 44 studies involving 2081 participants with a history of major depressive disorder and 2285 healthy controls. All studies examined participants' response times to negative, positive or neutral stimuli. In some cases, participants were shown either a happy, sad or neutral human face and asked to push a different button for each. In others, participants reacted to positive, negative or neutral words.

Healthy participants as a group responded more quickly to emotional and non-emotional stimuli than participants with a history of depression, regardless of whether those stimuli were positive, neutral or negative. But participants who previously had major depressive disorder spent more time processing negative emotional stimuli over positive stimuli compared with controls. While healthy controls showed a significant difference in how much time they spent processing positive vs. negative emotional stimuli compared with those in remission from major depression, that distinction did not appear when comparing time spent processing negative vs. neutral or positive vs. neutral stimuli.

Overall, the findings suggest that individuals with recurrent major depressive disorder not only are less able to control the information they process than healthy individuals, they also display a greater bias for focusing on negative over positive or neutral information, according to Wen.

"The current findings have implications for the treatment of depression," said Wen. "Focusing on reducing the processing of negative information alone may not be sufficient to prevent depression relapse. Instead, patients may also benefit from strategies to increase the processing of positive information."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/08/230821113943.htm

Caution: Living alone puts people with cognitive decline at risk

Patients forget appointments, mix up medications and have no one to contact in an emergency.

August 18, 2023

Science Daily/University of California - San Francisco

An estimated 1 in 4 older Americans with dementia or mild cognitive impairment lives alone and is at risk of practices like unsafe driving, wandering outside the home, mixing up medications and failing to attend medical appointments.

In a study publishing in JAMA Network Open on Aug. 18, 2023, researchers led by UC San Francisco concluded that the United States health system is poorly equipped to serve patients living solo with cognitive decline, a group whose numbers are predicted to swell as the population ages.

For these patients, living alone is a social determinant of health with an impact as profound as poverty, racism and low education, said first author Elena Portacolone, PhD, MBA, MPH, of the UCSF Institute for Health and Aging and the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies.

In this qualitative study, researchers interviewed 76 health care providers, including physicians, nurses, social workers, case workers, home care aides and others. Participants worked in memory clinics, home care services and social services and other places in California, Michigan and Texas

The providers raised concerns about patients missing medical appointments, failing to respond to follow-up phone calls from the doctor's office and forgetting why appointments were made, leaving them vulnerable to falling off the radar. "We don't necessarily have the staff to really try to reach out to them," said a physician in one interview.

Discharging a patient is like 'sending a kid out to play on freeway'

Some patients could not assist their doctor with missing information on their chart, leaving the providers uncertain about the pace of their patient's decline. Many had no names listed as emergency contacts, "not a family member, not even a friend to rely on in case of a crisis," according to a case manager.

These patients were at risk for untreated medical conditions, self-neglect, malnutrition and falls, according to the providers. A house service coordinator also noted that calls to Adult Protective Services were sometimes dismissed until a patient's situation became very serious.

One consequence of the shaky infrastructure supporting these patients was that they were not identified until they were sent to a hospital following a crisis, like a fall or reaction to medication mismanagement. Some were discharged without a support system in place. In one case, a patient was sent home with a taxi voucher, a situation that a psychiatrist likened to "sending a kid out to play on the freeway."

These findings are an indictment of our health care system, which fails to provide subsidized home care aides for all but the lowest-income patients, said Portacolone.

"In the United States, an estimated 79% of people with cognitive decline have an income that is not low enough to make them eligible for Medicaid subsidized home care aides in long-term care," she said, adding that the threshold for a person living alone in California is $20,121 per year.

While Medicare is available to adults over 65, subsidized aides are generally only provided after acute episodes, like hospitalizations, for fixed hours and for limited durations, she said.

"Most patients need to pay out-of-pocket and since cognitive impairment can last for decades, it is unsustainable for most people. Aides that are available via Medicaid are very poorly paid and usually receive limited training in caring for older adults with cognitive impairment," she added.

Subsidized home care aides plentiful in Europe, Japan, Canada

In contrast, subsidized home care aides are generally available to a significantly larger percentage of their counterparts living in parts of Europe, Japan and Canada, said Portacolone, citing a 2021 review of 13 countries, of which she was the senior author.

The study's findings illustrate substantial deficiencies in how our health system provides for people with dementia, said senior author Kenneth E. Covinsky, MD, MPH, of the UCSF Division of Geriatrics. "In an era when Medicare is going to spend millions of dollars for newly approved drugs with very marginal benefits, we need to remember that Medicare and other payers refuse to pay far less money to provide necessary supports for vulnerable people with dementia."

The researchers advocate for a system in which robust supports are made available by funding from an expanded Medicare and Medicaid. This will become increasingly critical, said Portacolone, "because effective treatments to reverse the course of cognitive impairment are unavailable, childlessness and divorce are common, and older adults are projected to live longer and often alone."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/08/230818135219.htm

Are you breaking your body clock?

Researchers use mathematical models to better understand how the body regulates circadian rhythms

August 17, 2023

Science Daily/University of Waterloo

Researchers are using mathematical models to better understand the effects of disruptions like daylight savings time, working night shifts, jet lag or even late-night phone scrolling on the body's circadian rhythms.

The University of Waterloo and the University of Oxford researchers have developed a new model to help scientists better understand the resilience of the brain's master clock: the cluster of neurons in the brain that coordinates the body's other internal rhythms. They also hope to suggest ways to help improve this resilience in individuals with weak or impaired circadian rhythms.

Sustained disruptions to circadian rhythm have been linked to diabetes, memory loss, and many other disorders.

"Current society is experiencing a rapid increase in demand for work outside of traditional daylight hours," said Stéphanie Abo, a PhD student in applied mathematics and the study's lead author. "This greatly disrupts how we are exposed to light, as well as other habits such as eating and sleeping patterns."

Humans' circadian rhythms, or internal clocks, are the roughly 24-hour cycles many body systems follow, usually alternating between wakefulness and rest. Scientists are still working to understand the cluster of neurons known as Suprachiasmatic Nucleus (SCN) or master clock.

Using mathematical modelling techniques and differential equations, the team of applied mathematics researchers modelled the SCN as a macroscopic, or big-picture, system comprised of a seemingly infinite number of neurons. They were especially interested in understanding the system's couplings -- the connections between neurons in the SCN that allow it to achieve a shared rhythm.

Frequent and sustained disturbances to the body's circadian rhythms eliminated the shared rhythm, implying a weakening of the signals transmitted between SCN neurons.

Abo said they were surprised to find that "a small enough disruption can actually make the connections between neurons stronger."

"Mathematical models allow you to manipulate body systems with specificity that cannot be easily or ethically achieved in the body or a petri dish," Abo said. "This allows us to do research and develop good hypotheses at a lower cost."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/08/230817164008.htm