 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| . |  |
. |
Brain Systems Become Less Coordinated With Age, Even In The Absence Of Disease
Cambridge, MA (SPX) Dec 06, 2007 Some brain systems become less coordinated with age even in the absence of Alzheimer's disease, according to a new study from Harvard University. The results help to explain why advanced age is often accompanied by a loss of mental agility, even in an otherwise healthy individual. "This research helps us to understand how and why our minds change as we get older, and why some individuals remain sharp into their 90s, while others' mental abilities decline as they age," says Andrews-Hanna. "One of the reasons for loss of mental ability may be that these systems in the brain are no longer in sync with one another." Previous studies have focused on the specific structures and functions within the brain, and how their deterioration might lead to decreased cognitive abilities. However, this study examined the way that large-scale brain systems that support higher-level cognition correlate and communicate across the brain, and found that in older adults these systems are not in sync. In particular, widely separated systems from the front to the back of the brain were less correlated. The researchers studied 55 older adults, approximately age 60 and over, and 38 younger adults, approximately age 35 and younger. They used a neuroimaging technique called fMRI to obtain a picture of activity in the brain. The results showed that among the younger people, brain systems were largely in sync with one another, while this was not the case with the older individuals. Among the older individuals, some of the subjects' brains systems were correlated, and older individuals that performed better on psychometric tests were more likely to have brain systems that were in sync. These psychometric tests, administered in addition to the fMRI scanning, measured memory ability, processing speed and executive function. Among older individuals whose brain systems did not correlate, all of the systems were not affected in the same way. Different systems process different kinds of information, including the attention system, used to pay attention, and the default system, used when the mind is wandering. The default system was most severely disrupted with age. Some systems do remain intact; for example, the visual system was very well preserved. The study also showed that the white matter of the brain, which connects the different regions of the brain, begins to lose integrity with age. One of the challenges to studying the aging brain is that the early signs of Alzheimer's disease are very subtle, and it is difficult to distinguish between the early stages of Alzheimer's disease and normal aging. In order to ensure that the researchers were only looking at healthy aging brains, the researchers used a PET scanning process to identify the presence of amyloid, a chemical present in individuals with Alzheimer's. When the presence of this chemical was detected, individuals were not included in the study. In this way, the researchers ensured that they were looking at a healthy aging brain. "Understanding why we lose cognitive function as we age may help us to prolong our mental abilities later in life," says Buckner. "The results of this study help us to understand how the aging brain differs from the brain of a younger individual." The study, published in the Dec. 6 issue of Neuron, was led by Jessica Andrews-Hanna, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Psychology in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard, with Justin Vincent, a graduate student in the Department of Psychology and Randy Buckner, Harvard professor of psychology and an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Co-authors also include Andrew Snyder, Denise Head and Marcus Raichle of Washington University in St. Louis and Cindy Lustig of the University of Michigan. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links Harvard University All About Human Beings and How We Got To Be Here
Neanderthal Bearing Teeth
Leipzig, Germany (SPX) Dec 05, 2007An international European research collaboration led by scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology reports evidence for a rapid developmental pattern in a 100,000 year old Belgian Neanderthal (Homo neanderthalensis). The report, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA (online edition early December), details how the team used growth lines both inside and on the surfaces of the child's teeth to reconstruct tooth formation time and its' age at death. |
|
|
| The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2007 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement |
