The ascarid nematodes Toxocara canis (Werner, 1782) and Toxocara cati (Schrank, 1788) may infect humans resulting in toxocariasis. A prior study associated species of Toxocara Stiles, 1905 with cognitive deficits in children. To determine if a similar association between toxocariasis and cognition exists in adults, we analysed a large dataset from the United States' Center for Disease Control's National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. We used linear-regression and multivariate models to examine the association between toxocariasis as assessed by the presence of anti-Toxocara IgG antibodies and three measures of cognitive function - simple reaction time (SRT), symbol-digit substitution (SDS) and serial-digit learning (SDL) in 4 279 adults aged 21 to 59 years. Toxocara seroprevalence did not vary with age or blood-lead concentration but did vary with gender, ethnicity, educational attainment and poverty-to-income ratio. Controlling for gender, age, blood-lead concentration, educational attainment, ethnic background and the poverty-to-income ratio, we found that toxocariasis predicted worse performance on the SDS but not on the SRT or the SDL. Moreover, there were significant interactions between toxocariasis and age, gender and educational attainment. In conclusion, toxocariasis appears to be associated with decreased cognitive function. Interactions between toxocariasis and gender, age and educational attainment further suggest that certain groups may be more susceptible than others to the cognitive dysfunction associated with toxocariasis in adults., Lance D. Erickson, Shawn D. Gale, Andrew Berrett, Bruce L. Brown, Dawson W. Hedges., and Obsahuje bibliografii
The nematodes Toxocara canis (Werner, 1782) and Toxocara cati (Schrank, 1788) have been associated with worse human cognitive function in children and middle-aged adults. In this study, we sought to determine the association between Toxocara seropositivity and serointensity determined by detection of IgG antibodies against the Toxocara antigen recombinant Tc-CTL-1 and cognitive function in older adults, including approximately 1,350 observations from the 2013-2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Mean fluorescence intensity was used to quantify IgG antibodies against the Toxocara recombinant Tc-CTL-1 antigen, and respondents were considered positive at values greater than 23.1. In adjusted models from sample sizes ranging from 1,274 to 1,288 depending on the individual cognitive task, we found that Toxocara seropositivity was associated with worse performance on the animal-fluency task (b = -1.245, 95% CI: -2.392 to -0.099, P< 0.05) and the digit-symbol coding task (b = -5.159, 95% CI: -8.337 to -1.980, P< 0.001). Toxocara serointensity assessed using log-transformed mean fluorescence intensity as a continuous variable was associated with worse performance on the digit-symbol coding task (b = -1.880, 95% CI: -2.976 to -0.783, P < 0.001). There were no significant associations with tasks assessing memory. Further, age modified the association between Toxocara and cognitive function, although sex, educational attainment, and income did not. These findings suggest that Toxocara might be associated with deficits in executive function and processing speed in older U.S. adults, although additional research is required to better describe cognitive function in older adults who are seropositive for Toxocara spp.
Objectives. Neuropsychological tests employ several cognitive functions to a different extent. Thus, factor structures of various neuropsychological batteries and their analyses show both similarities and discrepancies. The study explores the Czech comprehensive neuropsychological battery for SuperAgers (older people with excellent cognition) from the cross-sectional and longitudinal point of view in respect to its factor structure and its stability over time. Sample and settings. The study sample consisted of 361 healthy older adults (age 60–94) assessed in years 2012 and 2015 with cognitive tests battery. Statistical analyses. Data were analyzed with confirmatory factor and invariance analyses over time using multiple competing theory-driven models of cognition based on previous studies consisting of 1–5 factors. Results. The results show that the best fitting model consists of four factors: verbal memory, attention/working memory, executive functions, and language. The results also suggest that the four factorial structure of cognition in healthy older people was the most stable. This reflects their cognitive functioning and highlights the need to identify the SuperAgers on the basis of performance in multiple cognitive domains. The authors propose that these four domains should be taken into account for identifying SuperAgers and that comparing competing models should be a standard procedure in future studies.Limitations. The visuospatial or nonverbal memory factors were not represented in our study with relevant tests. Our sample consisted of healthy older adults. and Cíle. Neuropsychologické testy sledují v různé míře řadu kognitivních funkcí. Faktorové struktury různých neuropsychologických baterií a jejich analýzy tak vykazují jak podobnosti, tak 49Metodické studie/rozdíly. Studie zkoumá českou komplexní neuropsychologickou baterii pro SuperAgery (starší osoby s vynikajícími kognitivními schopnostmi) z průřezového a longitudinálního hlediska s ohledem na její faktorovou strukturu a její stabilitu v čase. Soubor. Soubor tvořilo 361 zdravých starších osob (ve věku 60–94 let), které byly v letech 2012 a 2015 hodnoceny pomocí baterie kognitivních testů. Statistické analýzy. Data byla analyzována konfirmační faktorovou analýzou a analýzou invariance v čase s využitím několika konkurenčních modelů kognice založených na teoriích vycházejících z předchozích studií a sestávajících z 1-5 faktorů. Výsledky. Výsledky ukazují, že nejlepší model se skládá ze čtyř faktorů: verbální paměť, pozornost/pracovní paměť, exekutivní funkce a jazyk. Tento model kognice byl také nejstabilnější. Model odráží kognitivní funkce zdravých seniorů a zdůrazňuje potřebu identifikovat SuperAgery na základě výkonu ve více kognitivních oblastech. Autoři navrhují, aby tyto čtyři domény byly brány v úvahu při identifikaci SuperAgerů a aby porovnávání konkurenčních modelů bylo standardním postupem v budoucích studiích. Omezení. Ve studii nebyly zastoupeny faktory vizuálně-prostorové funkce nebo neverbální paměti s příslušnými testy. Vzorek tvořili zdraví starší dospělí.
Perinatal hypoxia is still one of the greatest threats to the
newborn child, even in developed countries. However, there is
a lack of works which summarize up-to-date information about
that huge topic. Our review covers a broader spectrum of recent
results from studies on mechanisms leading to hypoxia-induced
injury. It also resumes possible primary causes and observed
behavioral outcomes of perinatal hypoxia. In this review, we
recognize two types of hypoxia, according to the localization of
its primary cause: environmental and placental. Later we analyze
possible pathways of prenatal hypoxia-induced injury including
gene expression changes, glutaminergic excitatory damage (and
a role of NMDA receptors in it), oxidative stress with ROS and
RNS production, inflammation and apoptosis. Moreover, we focus
on the impact of these pathophysiological changes on the
structure and development of the brain, especially on its regions:
corpus striatum and hippocampus. These brain changes of the
offspring lead to impairments in their postnatal growth and
sensorimotor development, and in their motor functions, activity,
emotionality and learning ability in adulthood. Later we compare
various animal models used to investigate the impact of prenatal
and postnatal injury (hypoxic, ischemic or combinatory) on living
organisms, and show their advantages and limitations.
V posledních letech se můžeme v gerontologické literatuře setkat s novými termíny reflektujícím jevy nové či nově sledované. Mezi tyto termíny patří tzv. „SuperAging“. Tato stať seznamuje čtenáře s obsahem termínu ve dvou hlavních souvislostech: 1) v rámci společnosti – sociologie a demografie, 2) v rámci neuropsychologie a kognitivního stárnutí jedinců. Cílem je rozšířit tyto pojmy a jejich obsah mezi českou psychologickou obec. and Novel terms have been introduced in gerontology, reflecting new or newly observed phenomena. „SuperAging“ is one of those terms. This text introduces its content to the readers in the main areas of interest: 1) societal view of sociology and demography, 2) neuropsychology and cognitive ageing of individuals. Our goal is to make the aspects of SuperAgeing familiar to Czech psychologists.