• Hviid Mead posted an update 5 days, 5 hours ago

    Heart rate variability (HRV) mirrors autonomic nervous system activities and might serve as a parameter to monitor health status in older adults. However, it is currently unknown which functional health measures, including cognitive, physical, and gait performance parameters, are most strongly related to HRV indices. G Protein antagonist This knowledge would enable implementing HRV assessments into health monitoring routines and training planning for older adults. Simultaneous cognitive-motor and exergame training may be effective to improve HRV indices but has not been investigated yet. Eighty-nine healthy older adults (≥70 years of age) were randomized into three groups (1) virtual reality video game dancing, i.e., exergaming (DANCE); (2) treadmill walking with simultaneous verbal memory training (MEMORY); or (3) treadmill walking only (PHYS). Strength and balance exercises complemented each program. Over 6 months, two weekly 1-h training sessions were performed. HRV indices (standard deviation of N-N intervals, SDNN; root meanp = 0.011 one-tailed, ΔR2 = 0.013). We conclude that mainly cognitive executive functions are associated with HRV indices and that exergame training improves global and parasympathetic autonomic nervous system activities in older adults. Periodic assessments of HRV in older citizens could be particularly beneficial to monitor cognitive health and provide indications for preventative exercise measures.Alzheimer’s disease is an emerging global epidemic that is becoming increasingly unsustainable. Most of the clinical trials have been centered around targeting β-amyloid and have met with limited success. There is a great impetus to identify alternative drug targets. Iron appears to be the common theme prevalent across neurodegenerative diseases. Iron has been shown to promote aggregation and pathogenicity of the characteristic aberrant proteins, β-amyloid, tau, α-synuclein, and TDP43, in these diseases. Further support for the involvement of iron in pathogenesis is provided by the recent discovery of a new form of cell death, ferroptosis. Arising from iron-dependent lipid peroxidation, ferroptosis is augmented in conditions of cysteine deficiency and glutathione peroxidase-4 inactivation. Here, we review clinical trials that provide the rationale for targeting ferroptosis to delay the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), potentially of relevance to other neurodegenerative diseases.Schizophrenia patients often show impaired facial expression recognition, which leads to difficulties in adaptation to daily life. However, it remains unclear whether the deficit is at the perceptual or higher cognitive level of facial emotion processing. Recent studies have shown that earlier face-evoked event-related potential (ERP) components such as N170 and P100 can effectively distinguish schizophrenia patients from healthy controls; however, findings for later waveforms are ambiguous. To clarify this point, in this study we compared electroencephalographic signals in schizophrenia patients and control subjects during a facial expression judgment task. We found that group effects of the occipital N170 and frontal lobe contingent negative variation (CNV) were both significant. The effect sizes (ESs) of N170 and CNV amplitudes were generally medium or small, whereas that of CNV slope for an upright face was large (>0.8). Moreover, N170 amplitude and CNV slope but not CNV amplitude was correlated with Personal and Social Performance (PSP) Scale score. These results suggest that the slope of CNV drift during facial expression processing has a potential clinical value for schizophrenia.Introduction Extended periods of sitting may have detrimental effects on brain health. However, the effects of breaking up prolonged sedentary periods with frequent, short physical activity bouts on mechanisms to improve brain health remain unclear. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the immediate effects of uninterrupted sitting and frequent, short bouts of physical activity on cerebral blood flow and cognitive function in the prefrontal cortex in middle-aged adults. Methods This is a protocol article to describe a randomized crossover study. We will collect data from 13 healthy adults, aged between 40 and 60 years old, with a body mass index less then 35 kg/m2. Participants will be required to come into the laboratory on three occasions, sit for 3 h, and perform a different type of break for 3 min every 30 min at each visit in a random order, being either (1) a social break; (2) brisk walk on a treadmill; or (3) simple resistance activities. Before and after each experimental condition, cerebral blood flow (primary outcome) will be measured using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), with short-separation channels, and working memory (1-, 2-, and 3-back on the computer) will be assessed. The following additional secondary outcomes will be collected psychological factors (questionnaires); arterial stiffness; salivary cortisol levels; and blood glucose levels. Conclusion The results from this randomized crossover study will determine the effects of uninterrupted sitting and frequent, short bouts of physical activity on cerebral blood flow and cognitive performance. Publication of this study protocol emphasizes the importance of registration and publication of protocols in the field of sedentary behavior research.[This corrects the article DOI 10.3389/fnhum.2020.00063.].[This corrects the article DOI 10.3389/fnhum.2020.00095.].Ischemic stroke of the middle cerebral artery (MCA), a major brain vessel that supplies the primary motor and premotor cortex, is one of the most common causes for severe upper limb impairment. Currently available motor rehabilitation training largely lacks satisfying efficacy with over 70% of stroke survivors showing residual upper limb dysfunction. Motor imagery-based functional magnetic resonance imaging neurofeedback (fMRI-NF) has been suggested as a potential therapeutic technique to improve motor impairment in stroke survivors. In this preregistered proof-of-concept study (https//osf.io/y69jc/), we translated graded fMRI-NF training, a new paradigm that we have previously studied in healthy participants, to first-time MCA stroke survivors with residual mild to severe impairment of upper limb motor function. Neurofeedback was provided from the supplementary motor area (SMA) targeting two different neurofeedback target levels (low and high). We hypothesized that MCA stroke survivors will show (1) sustained SMA-region of interest (ROI) activation and (2) a difference in SMA-ROI activation between low and high neurofeedback conditions during graded fMRI-NF training.