Study Looks at Long-Term Implications of Youth Concussions
Lingering effects of concussions could extend well beyond symptoms disappearing.
Athletes May Have White Matter Brain Changes Six Months After a Concussion
New research finds white matter changes in the brains of athletes six months after a concussion. The study was presented at the 2016 Sports Concussion Conference in Chicago in July. The study involved 17 high school and college football players who experienced a sports-related concussion. The participants underwent MRI brain scans and were assessed for concussion symptoms, balance problems, and cognitive impairment, or memory and thinking problems, at 24 hours, eight days and six months following the concussion. Researchers also assessed 18 carefully matched athletes who had not experienced a concussion.
At all time points, all participants had advanced brain scans to look for acute and chronic changes to the brain’s white matter. Those who had concussions had less water movement, or diffusion, in the acute stages following concussion (24 hours, six days) compared to those who did not have concussions. These changes still persisted six months after the injury. Also, those who had more severe symptoms at the time of the concussion were more likely to have alterations in the brain’s white matter six months later.
Despite those findings, there was no difference between the group of athletes with and without concussion with regard to self-reported concussion symptoms, cognition, or balance at six months post-injury. “In other words, athletes may still experience long-term brain changes even after they feel they have recovered from the injury. These findings have important implications for managing concussions and determining recovery in athletes who have experienced a sports-related concussion,” said study author Melissa Lancaster, PhD, of the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee.
Teaching Meditation to Those with Dementia
Meditation for those with dementia can yield benefits.
Meditation for Seniors – Good for the Mind and Soul
As doctors, researchers, and family members search for ways to improve the quality of life for people with dementia, the answer may lie in the quiet. Yoga and meditation has increasing been shown in research as a way to improve symptoms and even delay onset of dementia, including Alzheimer’s. Read more.
Busy Lifestyle Better Brain
A busy lifestyle no matter what your age can also be a benefit to your brain.
Busy Lifestyle Even As You Age Better for Cognition
Researchers Sara B. Festini, Ian M. McDonough and Denise C. Park have conducted a study that essentially shows that a busy lifestyle is better for our brain.
They surmised that because sustained engagement in mentally challenging activities has been shown to improve memory in older adults, an engaged lifestyle might facilitate cognition.
Results from more than 300 study participants, 50 and 89 years old, revealed that greater busyness was associated with better processing speed, working memory, episodic memory, reasoning, and crystallized knowledge. They assessed their “busyness” levels — asking questions such as, “How often do you have too many things to do each day to actually get them all done?” The data demonstrate that living a busy lifestyle is associated with better cognition.
The researchers also gave the volunteers a battery of tests that gauged memory, information processing speed, reasoning and vocabulary.
Now to be sure “occupation, income, ethnicity and race are all important factors that can influence accessibility to resources that support an active lifestyle,” said Debra Fleischman, a professor of neurological and behavioral sciences at Rush University Medical Center, in Chicago. Health also plays a part.
Older adults might tend to see a hectic schedule as a good thing — a sign that they have purpose in life, Fleischman said.
Genetic Risk Factors for Alzheimer’s Disease Detectable Even in Young Adults
Alzheimer’s Risk Could Be Detected in Young Adults through Genetic Testing
Sooner Detection. Sooner Treatment.
New research shows that a genetic risk score may detect those at higher risk for Alzheimer’s disease long before symptoms appear—even possibly in healthy young adults, according to a study published in Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
“The stage of Alzheimer’s before symptoms show up is thought to last over a decade,” said Elizabeth C. Mormino, PhD, with Massachusetts General Hospital in Charlestown, Mass. “Given that current clinical trials are testing whether therapies can slow memory and thinking decline among people at risk for the disease, it is critical to understand the influence of risk factors before symptoms are present.”
For the study, researchers calculated a polygenic risk score, or a numeric score based on whether or not a person has several high-risk gene variants, in 166 people with dementia and 1,026 without dementia. Participants had an average age of 75. Scientists also looked for specific markers of Alzheimer’s disease.
The study found that within older people free of dementia, a higher polygenic risk score was associated with worse memory and smaller hippocampus at the start of the study. Within the younger group, a higher risk score was tied to smaller hippocampus volume.
Said Mormino: “The goal of this type of research is to help physicians better identify those at high risk of dementia so that future preventative treatments may be used as early as possible.
