Tag: Cognitive Decline

Researchers have found that inflamed, senescent microglia prune too many synapses in the hippocampus and demonstrated that a senolytic compound can ameliorate this process in Aging Cell. Some synapse pruning is normal During brain development, the resident immune cells of the brain (microglia) prune unneeded synapses as a form of maintenance. This is normally a...

Researchers have ascertained that excessive amounts of complement C3, an essential immune protein that increases with aging, are responsible for causing dementia in a mouse model. A necessary complement The complement system is a key immune system component that is involved in removing misfolded proteins, infectious diseases, and various cellular fragments from the brain [1]....

Analysis of over a thousand postmenopausal women suggests that women with longer reproductive spans, earlier first period (menarche), and later menopause experience slower brain aging [1]. Linking sex hormones to brain health The female reproductive system fails to work properly much earlier than other systems in the human body. The aging of the reproductive system...

By analyzing a large UK dataset, scientists have identified various financial behaviors that might point to dementia years before it leads to loss of financial capacity [1]. The money trail Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias remain a particularly hard nut for scientists to crack. One commonly mentioned problem is that dementia is usually diagnosed relatively...

A recent analysis of over 20,000 middle-aged and older adults showed an association between a later chronotype (‘night owls’) and cognitive decline among highly educated people [1]. Early birds and night owls One risk factor linked to dementia is a disrupted circadian rhythm, the natural 24-hour cycle of sleep and activity patterns. Common disruptions in...

New research suggests that digital technologies provide beneficial effects on cognition in middle-aged and older adults who did not grow up with such technologies [1]. Childhood without computers For younger people, it is difficult to imagine living in a world without the internet and digital technologies. However, older people grew up in a world without...