A meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies of depression identified 102 independent variants, 269 genes, and 15 genesets associated with depression, including both genes and gene pathways associated with synaptic structure and neurotransmission. The analysis included 807,553 individuals (246,363 cases and 561,190 controls). An enrichment analysis provided further evidence of the […]
A cohort study revealed that blood neurofilament light chain (NfL) changes predict disease progression and brain neurodegeneration more than a decade before the onset of familial Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The study included 243 participants with an early-onset genetic variant known to cause dominantly inherited AD and 162 unaffected relatives as […]
A multicenter randomized controlled trial in the Netherlands showed that both individual and group hypnotherapy were effective in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Between May 31, 2011, and April 6, 2016, 354 patients with IBS (aged 18–65 years) were randomly allocated (3:3:1) to three groups to receive six sessions of individual […]
An US cohort study showed that prolonged temporal synchrony of functional brain connections is reproducibly observed in autism. The study included male autism (n = 52, mean age 27.73 years) and typically developing individuals (n = 38, 27.09 years) between December 2016 and April 2018. Increases in both sustained and functional brain connectivity at […]
A longitudinal randomized controlled trial in Canada revealed that concurrent and lasting effects of adolescent cannabis use can be observed on important cognitive function and appear to be more pronounced than those observed for alcohol. The study included a population-based sample of 3,826 seventh-grade students from 31 schools consisting of […]
An US prospective cohort study revealed that orthostatic hypotension (OH) in midlife was independently associated with incident dementia and ischemic stroke. The study included 11,709 participants without a history of coronary heart disease or stroke at the baseline examination (1987–1989, mean age 54). OH was defined as a drop in […]
A US prospective clinical-pathologic study revealed that late in life both higher average and faster decline in blood pressure (BP) are related to cardiovascular and/or Alzheimer disease (AD). The study included 1,288 persons (mean age at death = 88.6 years; 65% women, mean follow-up 8 years). Each participant had BP […]
An ongoing study in the UK revealed that systolic blood pressure (SBP) ≥130 mmHg at age 50 is associated with increased risk of dementia, independent of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Systolic and diastolic blood pressure were measured on 8639 persons (32.5% women) in 1985, 1991, 1997, and 2003. Incidence of dementia (n […]
A systematic review found that exercising for at least 52 hours (averaging about an hour, 3 times a week) is associated with improved cognitive performance in older adults with and without cognitive impairment. Another population-based study in Chinese suggested that active participation in intellectual activities might help prevent dementia in […]
A prospective cohort study in the US revealed that greater depressive symptoms were associated with worse episodic memory, smaller cerebral volume, and silent infarcts. The study included 1,111 stroke-free older adults with an average age of 71 between 2003 and 2008, 52% were Caribbean Hispanic. 22% of participants had greater […]