Hyperglycemia is associated with subtle brain injury and impaired attention and memory even in young adults

Posted on June 26, 2015 by Maurice Preter MD
Neurology. 2015 Jun 9;84(23):2329-37. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000001655. Epub 2015 May 6.

Glucose indices are associated with cognitive and structural brain measures in young adults.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:

To evaluate the possible early consequences of impaired glucose metabolism on the brain by assessing the relationship of diabetes, fasting blood glucose (FBG) levels, and insulin resistance with cognitive performance and brain integrity in healthy young and middle-aged adults.

METHODS:

The sample included dementia-free participants (mean age 40 ± 9 years; 53% women) of the Framingham Heart Study third-generation cohort with cognitive testing of memory, abstract reasoning, visual perception, attention, and executive function (n = 2,126). In addition, brain MRI examination (n = 1,597) was used to determine white matter, gray matter, and white matter hyperintensity (WMH) volumes and fractional anisotropy measures. We used linear regression models to assess relationships between diabetes, FBG, and insulin resistance with cognition, lobar gray matter, and WMH volumes as well as voxel-based microstructural white matter integrity and gray matter density, adjusting for potential confounders. Mediating effect of brain lesions on the association of diabetes with cognitive performance was also tested.

RESULTS:

Diabetes was associated with worse memory, visual perception, and attention performance; increased WMH; and decreased total cerebral brain and occipital lobar gray matter volumes. The link of diabetes with attention and memory was mediated through occipital and frontal atrophy, and the latter also through hippocampal atrophy. Both diabetes and increased FBG were associated with large areas of reductions in gray matter density and fractional anisotropy on voxel-based analyses.

CONCLUSIONS:

We found that hyperglycemia is associated with subtle brain injury and impaired attention and memory even in young adults, indicating that brain injury is an early manifestation of impaired glucose metabolism.

© 2015 American Academy of Neurology.

PMID:

 

25948725

 

[PubMed – in process]
Posted in Aging, China, dietary, epigenetics, Events, Fifth Avenue Concierge Medicine, Forensic Neuropsychiatry, Health, keto, News, Psychiatry/Neurology | Tagged , , , , , , |

Association between benzodiazepine use and occurrence of benign brain tumors.

Posted on June 26, 2015 by Maurice Preter MD
J Neurol Sci. 2014 Jan 15;336(1-2):8-12. doi: 10.1016/j.jns.2013.11.009. Epub 2013 Nov 16.

An association between benzodiazepine use and occurrence of benign brain tumors.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:

This study was designed to evaluate the impact of long-term benzodiazepine use on the subsequent risk of benign brain tumor (BBT) or malignant brain tumor (MBT) development.

METHOD:

We used data from the National Health Insurance System of Taiwan. For the study cohort, we identified 62,186 patients who had been prescribed benzodiazepine for at least 2 months between January 1, 2000 and December, 31, 2009. For each of the benzodiazepine cases, we randomly selected one insured person from the non-benzodiazepine cohort with frequency matching sex, age, and year of index date. The non-benzodiazepine cohort comprised 62,050 patients. The related hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of developing brain tumors were investigated.

RESULTS:

The overall BBT incidence rate was 3.33-fold higher in the benzodiazepine cohort than the non-benzodiazepine cohort (46.3 vs 13.9 per 100,000 person-years) with an adjusted HR of 3.15 (95% CI=2.37-4.20). Similarly, the MBT incidence rate was 84% higher in the benzodiazepine cohort (3.71 vs 2.02 per 1000 person-years), and the adjusted HR of 1.21 (95% CI=0.52-2.81) was not statistically significant. When compared with the non-benzodiazepine cohort, the adjusted HRs of BBTs increased with benzodiazepine dosage (adjusted HR=2.12, 95% CI=1.45-3.10, for 36-150 mg/year; adjusted HR=7.03, 95% CI=5.19-9.51, for ≥151 mg/year).

CONCLUSION:

In this population-based study, we found a significant increase in the risk of benign brain tumor development in a cohort of long-term BZD users.

Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

KEYWORDS:

Benign brain tumor (BBT); Benzodiazepine; Cohort study; Malignant brain tumor (MBT); National Health Insurance System; Population-based

PMID:

 

24314718

 

[PubMed – indexed for MEDLINE] 
Icon for Elsevier Science
Posted in Aging, epigenetics, Events, Fifth Avenue Concierge Medicine, Forensic Neuropsychiatry, Health, keto, News, Psychiatry/Neurology | Tagged , , , |

Endogenous opiate high through exercise and pickled cabbage?

Posted on June 26, 2015 by Maurice Preter MD

Endogenous opiate high through exercise and pickled cabbage?

An endogenous opiate high through exercise and pickled cabbage?

Psychiatry Res. 2015 Aug 15;228(2):203-8. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2015.04.023. Epub 2015 Apr 28.

Fermented foods, neuroticism, and social anxiety: An interaction model.

Abstract

Animal models and clinical trials in humans suggest that probiotics can have an anxiolytic effect. However, no studies have examined the relationship between probiotics and social anxiety. Here we employ a cross-sectional approach to determine whether consumption of fermented foods likely to contain probiotics interacts with neuroticism to predict social anxiety symptoms. A sample of young adults (N=710, 445 female) completed self-report measures of fermented food consumption, neuroticism, and social anxiety. An interaction model, controlling for demographics, general consumption of healthful foods, and exercise frequency, showed that exercise frequency, neuroticism, and fermented food consumption significantly and independently predicted social anxiety. Moreover, fermented food consumption also interacted with neuroticism in predicting social anxiety. Specifically, for those high in neuroticism, higher frequency of fermented food consumption was associated with fewer symptoms of social anxiety. Taken together with previous studies, the results suggest that fermented foods that contain probiotics may have a protective effect against socialanxiety symptoms for those at higher genetic risk, as indexed by trait neuroticism. While additional research is necessary to determine the direction of causality, these results suggest that consumption of fermented foods that contain probiotics may serve as a low-risk intervention for reducing socialanxiety.

Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

KEYWORDS:

Exercise; Neuroticism; Probiotic; Social anxiety disorder; Social phobia

PMID:

 25998000

[PubMed – in process]

Posted in Aging, China, dietary, Events, Fifth Avenue Concierge Medicine, Health, keto, News, Psychiatry/Neurology | Tagged |

Variants in Antiviral Genes are Risk Factors for Cognitive Decline and Dementia.

Posted on June 9, 2015 by Maurice Preter MD
J Alzheimers Dis. 2015 Apr 2. [Epub ahead of print]

Variants in Antiviral Genes are Risk Factors for Cognitive Decline and Dementia.

Abstract

A gene association study of factors regulating antiviral response such as interferon (IFN)-λ3, also known as IL-28B, mediator complex (Med) 23, and interferon regulatory factor (IRF) 7 with cognitive deterioration and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) was performed. Differences in the TT genotype distribution of IL-28B single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) between AD patients and controls were found. The GG genotype of Med23 gene appeared to influence the progression of the disease, being more frequent in the APOE ε4 negative elderly that developed AD during the five year follow-up. Leukocyte positivity for Epstein Barr virus (EBV) and human herpes virus (HHV)-6 DNA was analyzed. Med23 GG genotype correlated with the positivity to HHV-6 DNA. EBV and HHV-6 plasma IgG levels were also investigated and EBV IgG levels were increased in AD with the IRF7 GG genotype. A differential genetic background in genes regulating anti-virus responses was associated with an increased risk of cognitive decline and AD. EBV and HHV-6 appeared to be risk factors for AD in genetically susceptible elderly.

KEYWORDS:

Alzheimer’s disease; antiviral genes; case-control study; gene polymorphisms; herpes virus infection

PMID:

 

25835418

 

[PubMed – as supplied by publisher] 
Posted in Aging, China, dietary, epigenetics, Events, Fifth Avenue Concierge Medicine, Forensic Neuropsychiatry, Health, keto, News, Psychiatry/Neurology | Tagged |

HSV and Alzheimer’s Dementia – first described 40 years ago.

Posted on June 9, 2015 by Maurice Preter MD

Acta Virol. 1975 Nov;19(6):493-5.

Search for herpetic antibodies in the cerebrospinal fluid in senile dementia and mental retardation.

Abstract

Complement-requiring neutralizing antibodies to herpes simplex type 1 virus (HSV 1) in titres from 2 to greater than 16 were detected in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of 47% senile patients with various forms of dementia, but in none of mentally retarded adolescents and adults suffering from various neurologidal diseases. Also the incidence of HSV 1 serum antibodies in elevated titres (larger than or equal to 512) was increased in senile demented patients (61%) as compared with persons in normal senium (31%), normal adults (15%), mentally retarded adolescents (17%) and prisoned felons with low IQ (45-47%).

PMID:

 

1996

 

[PubMed – indexed for MEDLINE] 
Posted in Aging, China, dietary, epigenetics, Events, Fifth Avenue Concierge Medicine, Forensic Neuropsychiatry, Health, keto, News, Psychiatry/Neurology | Tagged |