Accidents & Violence, Brain Injury, Legal-Malpractice, Neurology / 23.02.2026

[caption id="attachment_72574" align="aligncenter" width="500"]Neuroinflammation Shapes Cognitive Outcomes Pexels image[/caption] Acute trauma has long been associated with visible physical damage. However, the invisible neurological consequences often shape long-term recovery just as strongly. Cognitive symptoms such as memory lapses, reduced attention span, slower processing speed, and emotional instability emerge after traumatic events. Growing research suggests that neuroinflammation plays a central role in determining the impact on cognitive function. For instance, the blood-brain barrier (BBB) can be affected by injury-induced inflammation. Studies have linked BBB disruption to cognitive decline. Some of the most associated factors are inflammation, metabolic imbalance, cellular aging, oxidative and nitrosative stress, and excitotoxicity. Studies also suggest that altering BBB permeability can produce either protective or harmful neurological effects, depending on the context. Understanding how inflammatory pathways respond to trauma offers insight into why some individuals regain their previous level of functioning while others don’t.

The Immediate Immune Response to Trauma

Immune activation is a central factor in traumatic brain injury (TBI) pathophysiology. A balanced immune response supports recovery, while persistent inflammation and immune dysregulation can worsen survival rates and increase disability. After the initial injury, an innate immune response develops. The inflammasome drives programmed cell death and the release of inflammatory mediators that activate microglia and amplify inflammation. This process can expand systemically, contributing to edema and immune cell migration. Trauma does not have to directly involve the brain to trigger these effects. Systemic inflammation resulting from bodily injury can influence neural activity through circulating inflammatory mediators. Such types of injuries can occur in various ways, such as a motorcycle accident. For instance, a motorcyclist was severely injured in a crash with an SUV in Oxnard. The motorcyclist was transported to Ventura County Medical Center. Patients hospitalized after such a serious injury in a motorcycle accident may face brain trauma. According to Wells Law, it is also important to find a lawyer during such incidents. They can help victims calculate damages for medical expenses and obtain compensation for them. This can offer patients peace of mind, which can help with the recovery.
Author Interviews, Cognitive Issues, COVID -19 Coronavirus, Imperial College, NEJM / 29.02.2024

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_61356" align="alignleft" width="150"]Prof. Adam Hampshire Ph.D.Faculty of Medicine, Department of Brain Sciences Professor in Restorative Neurosciences Imperial College London Prof. Hampshire[/caption] Prof. Adam Hampshire Ph.D. Faculty of Medicine, Department of Brain Sciences Professor in Restorative Neurosciences Imperial College London MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Cognitive symptoms after coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), the disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), are well-recognized. Whether objectively measurable cognitive deficits exist and how long they persist are unclear.
Author Interviews / 05.01.2022

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_58609" align="alignleft" width="150"]Dr. Thomas Blank PD Dr. Institute of Neuropathology, Faculty of Medicine University of Freiburg Freiburg, Germany Dr. Blank[/caption] Dr. Thomas Blank PD Dr. Institute of Neuropathology, Faculty of Medicine University of Freiburg Freiburg, Germany MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: There has been growing evidence of the benefits of fecal transplants in some medical conditions, like cancer, hypertension and obesity for several years. In fish, it’s been shown that their lifespan could be extended significantly after fecal transplant from young fish. When we found an impact on cognitive function in mice from a fecal transplant, we decided to research and isolate how that biological mechanism was implemented.
Author Interviews / 01.07.2020

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_54754" align="alignleft" width="200"]Ruiyuan Zhang, MD, MS Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics University of Georgia College of Public Health Athens, Georgia Dr. Zhang[/caption] Ruiyuan Zhang, MD, MS Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics University of Georgia College of Public Health Athens, Georgia MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Although there are several studies that focused on the effect of alcohol drinking on cognitive function, their findings were still mixed. So we want to use some new analysis techniques on this topic to see if we can have new findings. MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings? Response: The main finding of our study is that low-to-moderate alcohol drinking is associated with better cognitive function outcomes.
Author Interviews, Cognitive Issues, OBGYNE, Sugar / 02.05.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: “Soda” by Jannes Pockele is licensed under CC BY 2.0Juliana F. W. Cohen, ScM, ScD Department of Health Sciences Merrimack College North Andover MA 01845. MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Sugar consumption among Americans is above recommended limits and this excess intake may have important health implications. This study examined the associations of pregnancy and offspring sugar consumption, as well as sugar-sweetened beverages, other beverages (diet soda, juice), and fruit consumption with child cognition. This study found that when pregnant women or their children consumed greater quantities of sugar, as well as when women consumed diet soda during pregnancy, this was associated with poorer childhood cognition.  However, children’s fruit consumption was associated with higher cognitive scores.
Author Interviews, PLoS / 30.03.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Ksenija Marinkovic and Lauren Beaton Psychology Department - College of Sciences Spatio-Temporal Brain Imaging Lab Center for Clinical and Cognitive Neuroscience San Diego State University San Diego CA MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: In general, we subjectively perceive our actions to be under our deliberate and voluntary control. However, our results are consistent with other accruing evidence suggesting that a large portion of our behavior is automatic and not accessible to conscious experience. The automatic processing primarily underlies predictable daily routines when we seem to be on an “auto-pilot”. In contrast, situations that are ambiguous or that evoke incompatible response tendencies engage cognitive control which allows conscious override of the preplanned actions and results in flexible behavior. Our study used a multimodal imaging approach that combines perfect time sensitivity of magnetoencephalography (MEG) with structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to investigate spatio-temporal stages of the seamless interplay between automatic and controlled processing. MEG is a highly sensitive method that records magnetic fields generated by the brain’s neural activity in real time. Young, healthy, participants performed a version of the Eriksen Flanker task, which presents two colored squares on either side of a centrally presented target square that appears after a short delay. Participants are instructed to press a button corresponding to the color of the target square in the middle and to pay no attention to the flankers. Although participants know that the flankers are irrelevant, they are unable to disregard them deliberately. Instead, flankers trigger an automatic preparation to respond. This is particularly apparent on mismatch trials on which the flanker color is misleading and it activates the wrong hand. Target appearance overrides the initial automatic response as the response plan is switched to the other hand to make a correct response. This process reflects recruitment of cognitive control or the decision-making capacity which includes a range of functions such monitoring contextual demands, selecting the correct response, and suppressing an automatic but irrelevant action. Our multimodal MEG imaging method has allowed us to track the neural response as the brain prepares an incorrect response to flankers and then “switches” motor preparation between hemispheres. This approach makes it possible to investigate the interplay between automatic and controlled processing and dissect decision making as it unfolds. The addition of a moderate dose of alcohol dysregulates this frontal network involved in motor decision making, which decreases accuracy when response conflict is present and lowers neural activity reflecting cognitive control. Related to this overall decrease, and of clinical importance, is the reduced ability to employ cognitive control to refrain from drinking excessively. However, the underlying patterns of response-switching were preserved under alcohol, suggesting that alcohol primarily induces deficits upstream during decision making and not during executing motor commands. 
Alzheimer's - Dementia, Author Interviews, Mental Health Research, Neurology / 16.02.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Joseph Therriault Integrative Program in Neuroscience  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?  Response: Neurologists have known for a long time that Anosognosia, or unawareness of illness, appears in individuals with Alzheimer’s disease. For example, these patients will have diminished awareness of their memory loss, and will also engage in dangerous behaviors, such as leaving the house to go for a walk, without knowing they are at high risk of getting lost. However, it was not known if decreased awareness of cognitive problems existed in the pre-dementia phase of Alzheimer’s disease. In our study, we compared the ratings of cognitive decline from the patient and their close relative, who also filled out the same questionnaire. When a patient reported having no cognitive problems but the family member reported significant difficulties, the patient was considered to have poor awareness of illness. We found that patients who are less aware had increased disease pathology, and were nearly three times as likely to progress to dementia within two years, even when taking into account other factors like genetic risk, age, gender and education. The increased progression to dementia was mirrored by increased brain metabolic dysfunction in regions vulnerable to Alzheimer’s disease.
Author Interviews, Cognitive Issues, Environmental Risks / 07.02.2018

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_39875" align="alignleft" width="200"]Dr. Lily Yan MD PhD Department of Psychology & Neuroscience Program Michigan State University East Lansing, MI 48824  Dr. Lily Yan[/caption] Dr. Lily Yan MD PhD Department of Psychology & Neuroscience Program Michigan State University East Lansing, MI 48824  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
  • The effects of light on cognitive function have been well-documented in human studies, with brighter illumination associated with better cognitive performance. However, the underlying neural mechanisms are not well understood.
  • In this study, we explored the mechanisms of how light modulates spatial learning and memory, using diurnal Nile grass rats. In contrast to most laboratory animals that are active at night and fall asleep following light exposure, these animals are active during the day, thus an ideal model for understanding the effects of light on humans.
  • When the animals were housed in dim light during the day, mimicking the cloudy days or typical indoor lighting, the animals had a ~30% reduction in the dendritic spines, which make the connection between brain cells, within the hippocampus, a brain region critical for learning and memory. Animals housed in dim light also performed poorly in a water maze, compared to those housed in bright light.
  • When the animals that had been in dim light were then housed in bright light for 4 weeks, the connections in their hippocampus and performance in the water maze recovered fully. 
Author Interviews, Memory / 11.12.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_38836" align="alignleft" width="150"]Dr-Beth-Taylor Dr. Taylor[/caption] Beth A. Taylor, PhD Director of Exercise Physiology Research, Hartford Hospital Associate Professor, Kinesiology University of Connecticut MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Hydroxy-methyl-glutaryl (HMG) CoA reductase inhibitors (statins) are the most effective medications for managing elevated concentrations of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C).  Although statins are generally well-tolerated, they are not without side effects, and mild central nervous system (CNS) complaints such as memory loss and attention decrements are the second most commonly reported adverse effect of these drugs. Studies assessing cognitive effects of statins vary widely and have produced inconclusive findings. Despite the equivocal data on adverse cognitive side effects with statin therapy, in 2012 the FDA announced a safety label change for statins, based on published case reports of memory loss and confusion and data from the Adverse Events Reporting System. One possibility for these equivocal findings is that studies involving the effects of statins on cognition typically have assessed cognitive function using traditional cognitive tests, which may yield small effect sizes and demonstrate high intra-participant variability. This may explain the discrepancy between clinical trials and patient self-reports, and could be addressed by utilizing CNS tests that directly assess brain parameters. To the best of our knowledge and literature review, this study is the first to investigate the effects of statins on the central nervous system by utilizing fMRI to assess brain neural activation in healthy adults treated with 80 mg atorvastatin or placebo. We detected few changes attributable to statin therapy with standardized neuropsychological tests, a finding similar to that from previous clinical trials. However, participants on atorvastatin demonstrated altered patterns of neural activation on vs. off statin compared to participants treated with placebo. Unexpectedly, the treatment groups differed at both timepoints. The clinical implications of these findings are unclear and warrant additional clinical trials.
Alzheimer's - Dementia, Author Interviews, JAMA, Mental Health Research / 30.11.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_38640" align="alignleft" width="128"]Willemijn Jansen, PhD  Postdoctoral researcher Department of Psychiatry & Neuropsychology Maastricht University Medical Center School for Mental Health and Neuroscience Alzheimer Center Limburg  Dr. Jansen[/caption] Willemijn Jansen, PhD Postdoctoral researcher Department of Psychiatry & Neuropsychology Maastricht University Medical Center School for Mental Health and Neuroscience Alzheimer Center Limburg  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Cerebral amyloid-β aggregation is an early pathological event in Alzheimer’s disease (AD), starting decades prior to dementia onset. About 25% of cognitively normal elderly and 50% of patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) have biomarker evidence of amyloid pathology. These persons are at increased risk for developing AD-type dementia, but the extent to which amyloid-β aggregation affects cognitive function in persons without dementia is unclear. This is important to know for a better understanding of the course of Alzheimer’s disease and for the design of AD prevention trials. We here investigate the association between amyloid plaques and memory scores, using data from 53 international studies included in the Amyloid Biomarker study. Cognitively healthy elderly people with plaques have a low memory score twice as often as these persons without plaques. MCI patients with plaques had 20% more often low memory and low global cognition scores than MCI patients without plaques. We further observed 10- to 15-year intervals between the onset of amyloid positivity and emergence of low memory scores in cognitively healthy persons.
Author Interviews, Psychological Science / 19.10.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Tobias Gerstenberg, PhD MIT MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The question of how causation is best understood has been troubling philosophers for a long time. As psychologists, we are particularly interested in understanding how people make causal judgments. In our experiments, we showed participants video clips of colliding billiard balls. Participants were asked to say whether one ball (ball A) caused another (ball B) to go through a gate, or prevented it from going through. We used eye-tracking technology to record participants' eye-movements as they were watching the clips. The results showed that participants spontaneously engaged in counterfactual simulation when asked to make causal judgments. They not only looked at what actually happened, but also tried to anticipate where ball B would have gone if ball A hadn't been present. The more certain participants were that ball B would have missed the goal if ball A hadn't been there, the more they agreed that ball A caused ball B to go through the gate. In a control condition we asked participants about what actually happened. In this condition, participants were much less likely to simulate where ball B would have gone. Together, these findings demonstrate a very close link between counterfactual simulation and causal judgment.
Alcohol, Author Interviews, Cognitive Issues / 05.06.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_35079" align="alignleft" width="200"]Dr. Anya Topiwala, BA (Hons) BMBCh (Oxon) MRCPsych DPhil Clinical lecturer Department of Psychiatry University of Oxford Dr. Topiwala[/caption] Dr. Anya Topiwala, BA (Hons) BMBCh (Oxon) MRCPsych DPhil Clinical lecturer Department of Psychiatry University of Oxford MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: I thought the question of whether moderate alcohol consumption is harmful or protective to the brain was a really interesting and important one, particularly because so many people drink this amount. There were a few studies reporting that a little alcohol may protect against dementia or cognitive decline, but the few brain imaging studies were conflicting in their results and had methodological limitations. We examined whether alcohol consumption over a 30-year period was associated with brain imaging and memory decline in a group of 550 non-alcohol dependent individuals from the remarkable Whitehall II cohort. Subjects completed questionnaires and had clinical examinations approximately every 5 years over the 30 years of the study, and had detailed brain scans at the end.
Author Interviews, Cognitive Issues / 24.11.2015

[caption id="attachment_19608" align="alignleft" width="200"]Catherine Mewborn, B.A. Neuropsychology and Memory Assessment Laboratory Department of Psychology University of Georgia Ms. Mewborn[/caption] MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Catherine Mewborn, B.A. Neuropsychology and Memory Assessment Laboratory Department of Psychology University of Georgia Medical Research: What is the background for this study? Response: Vision and cognitive functioning both tend to decline as individuals age. Processing speed, or the speed at which an individual can process information, is particularly vulnerable to age-related declines. In previous studies, cognition has typically been measured using traditional paper-and-pencil tests; however, these tests can be quite complex and recruit many different abilities. We wanted to use a simpler test to assess processing speed in the hopes of tapping into the more basic abilities that underlie performance on more complex cognitive tasks. For this study, we chose a measure of visual processing speed called critical flicker fusion, or CFF. We tested how well CFF could predict cognition in both younger and older adults. Medical Research: What are the main findings? Response: As expected, younger adults had better visual processing speed than older adults. Interestingly, in both age groups, CFF significantly predicted performance on a test of executive functioning, which assess abilities such as problem-solving and shifting attention between different tasks.
Author Interviews, Cognitive Issues, Exercise - Fitness, Nutrition / 21.09.2015

Beetroot juice WikipediaMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Chris Thompson BSc MSc ANutr AFHEA University of Exeter St. Luke's Campus Exeter Devon Medical Research: What is the background for this study? Response: Dietary nitrate has been shown to favourably alter the contractility of type II muscle fibres and enhance blood flow to working muscles that are predominantly type II. Dietary nitrate may also improve perfusion to areas of the brain responsible for cognitive function. It is therefore possible that through these mechanisms, nitrate-rich beetroot juice supplementation may improve both physical and cognitive performance during exercise which reflects the high intensity intermittent nature of team sport play. Medical Research: What are the main findings? Response: Participants were able to complete greater total work during an intermittent sprint test following nitrate-rich beetroot juice supplementation. We also found that dietary nitrate enabled a reduction in response time to decision making during the cognitive tasks performed throughout the exercise test.
Author Interviews, Blood Pressure - Hypertension, Cognitive Issues, Geriatrics, JAMA / 25.08.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Justine Moonen and Jessica Foster-Dingley On behalf of the principal investigators: Roos van der Mast, Ton de Craen, Wouter de Ruijter and Jeroen van der Grond Department of Psychiatry, Leiden University Medical Center Leiden, the Netherlands Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Mid-life high blood pressure is a well-known risk factor for cerebrovascular pathology and, consequently, cognitive decline in old age. However, the effect of late-life blood pressure on cognition is less clear. It has been suggested that at old age not a higher, but a lower blood pressure increases the risk of cognitive decline as well as neuropsychiatric symptoms. Older persons are at risk for impaired regulation of their cerebral blood flow, and stringently lowering their blood pressure may compromise cerebral blood flow, and thereby cognitive function. Therefore, we hypothesized that increasing blood pressure by discontinuation of antihypertensive treatment would improve cognitive and psychological functioning. We performed a community-based randomized controlled trial in a total of 385 participants aged ≥75 years with mild cognitive deficits and without serious cardiovascular disease, and who were all receiving antihypertensive treatment. Persons were randomized to continuation or discontinuation of antihypertensive treatment. Contradictory to our expectation, we found that discontinuation of antihypertensive treatment in older persons did not improve cognitive functioning at 16-week follow-up.
Author Interviews, Beth Israel Deaconess, Cognitive Issues, Diabetes, Neurology / 11.07.2015

Vera Novak, MD PhD Associate Professor of Neurology Dept. of Neurology, Stroke Division Director Syncope and Falls in the Elderly Laboratory Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Boston, MAMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Vera Novak, MD PhD Associate Professor of Neurology Dept. of Neurology, Stroke Division Director Syncope and Falls in the Elderly Laboratory Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Boston, MA MedicalResearch: What is the background for this study? Dr. Novak: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a major contributor to morbidity and mortality. Type 2 diabetes mellitus affects more than 44 million people in the U.S., and its numbers are growing rapidly, affecting up to 27% of older adults. Diabetes mellitus accelerates brain aging by about 5 years1, manifests as a widespread generalized atrophy2, and promotes earlier onset of vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s disease (AD).3,4 Diabetes mellitus -related atrophy manifests as worse cognitive function, memory, and gait, especially during a dual task, 5,6 and even a tight glycemic control did not improve cognitive function in participants of the large clinical trials 7. MedicalResearch: What are the main findings? Dr. Novak: Sixty-five participants (aged 66± 9.2 years) 35 with T2DM and 30 non-diabetic controls participated in this study. After 2 years of follow-up, participants with T2 Diabetes mellitus had diminished vascular reactivity in the brain (an ability to increase blood flow in responses to a task or metabolic demands) and performed worse on multiple cognitive tasks (in particular verbal learning and memory). In T2DM group, lower cerebral vasoreactivity correlated with worse performance on daily living activities. Specifically, the lower vasodilatation (ability to increase blood flow) was associated with worse mental functions. In addition, those with higher markers of inflammation had greater decline in vascular function in the brain.
Author Interviews, Cognitive Issues, Endocrinology, OBGYNE / 03.06.2015

Dr.Carey Gleason Ph.D School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital Wisconsin Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Madison, WisconsinMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr.Carey Gleason Ph.D School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital Wisconsin Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Madison, Wisconsin Dr. Gleason: In this response I refer to hormone therapy (HT), which was formally called hormone "replacement" therapy. In particular, we examined menopausal HT, i.e., the use of HT during the menopausal transition to address menopausal symptoms. Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Gleason: The WHI Memory Study (WHIMS) suggested that HT was associated with cognitive harm for women age 65 and older. In contrast, we found that the cognitive performance of women randomized to receive menopausal hormone therapy did not differ from that of women randomized to receive the placebo. On a measure of mood states, women treated with conjugated equine estrogens showed improvements compared to those on placebo.
Author Interviews, Blood Pressure - Hypertension, Cognitive Issues, Geriatrics, JAMA / 03.03.2015

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Enrico Mossello Research Unit of Medicine of Ageing Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine University of Florence MedicalResearch: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Mossello: In spite of the high prevalence of high blood pressure (HBP) and cognitive impairment in old age, their relationship is still controversial. While several (but not all) studies have identified high blood pressure as a risk factor for incident cognitive impairment, evidence regarding the prognostic role of blood pressure in cognitively impaired older subjects is scarce and inconsistent. To our knowledge, no longitudinal study has been published up to now regarding Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring (ABPM) in subjects with cognitive impairment. Moreover recent European and American guidelines on HBP leave decisions on antihypertensive therapy of frail elderly patients to the treating physician and do not provide treatment targets for cognitively impaired patients. In the present cohort study of subjects with dementia and Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) low values of day-time systolic blood pressure measured with ABPM were associated with greater progression of cognitive decline after a median 9-month follow-up. This association was limited to subjects treated with anti-hypertensive drugs and was independent of age, vascular comorbidity and baseline cognitive level, holding significant both in dementia and in Mild Cognitive Impairment subgroups. A similar trend of association was observed for office systolic blood pressure, although this was weaker and did not reach statistical significance in all analyses.
Author Interviews, Baylor College of Medicine Houston, Cognitive Issues, Sleep Disorders / 26.01.2015

Michael K. Scullin, Ph.D. Principal Investigator of the Sleep Neuroscience & Cognition (SNaC) Laboratory and an Assistant Professor of Psychology & Neuroscience Director Sleep Neuroscience and Cognition Laboratory Baylor UniversityMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Michael K. Scullin, Ph.D. Principal Investigator of the Sleep Neuroscience & Cognition (SNaC) Laboratory and an Assistant Professor of Psychology & Neuroscience Director Sleep Neuroscience and Cognition Laboratory Baylor University Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Scullin: One of the purposes of sleep in healthy adults is to optimize cognitive functioning. When we lose out on a few hours of sleep we tend not to be able to focus or think as well as when we get enough sleep (typically 8 hours). Even more interesting is that particular aspects of sleep physiology—our deepest levels of sleep known as slow wave sleep and rapid eye movement sleep—are essential to our brain’s ability to take the information that we learn during the day and stabilize those memories so that we can use them in the future. Sleep quantity and quality change markedly across the lifespan, though there are individual differences in how much one’s sleep changes. Our work was concerned with the possible long-term repercussions of cutting back on sleep and getting lower quality sleep (less slow wave sleep and rapid eye movement sleep).  We reviewed approximately 200 scientific articles on this topic and we found that the amount of total sleep and the quality of that sleep is important to cognitive and memory functioning in young adults and middle-aged adults and can even predict how well someone’s cognitive functioning will be decades later. Thus, if you’re sleeping well when you are 40 then you are investing in preserving your mental functioning at age 50.
Author Interviews, Columbia, JAMA, Neurological Disorders / 19.01.2015

Jose Gutierrez MD, MPH Assistant Professor of Neurology Division of Stroke and Cerebrovascular Disease Columbia University Medical Center NY, NYMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jose Gutierrez MD, MPH Assistant Professor of Neurology Division of Stroke and Cerebrovascular Disease Columbia University Medical Center NY, NY Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Gutierrez: There is growing interest in the effects of vascular health in cognition. The prevailing thought is that vascular disease leads to worse cognition due to direct structural damage of the brain, as in the case of brain infarcts, microhemorrhages or white matter hyperintensities, which are themselves associated with traditional cardiovascular risk factors such as hypertension, diabetes, smoking etc. Arterial stiffness, particularly of the aorta, has gained interest among researchers as predictors of vascular disease and worse cognition, but it is not clear whether arterial stiffness in the absence of traditional definition of vascular disease may be associated with worse cognition. We investigated in a representative sample of the US among adults 60 years or older who underwent cognitive testing with the Digit Symbol Subtraction test and who also had other measures of vascular disease, including blood workup, blood pressure measurement and Pulse pressure. We hypothesized that indirect measures of arterial stiffness such as ABI > 1.3 or pulse pressure would be associated with worse cognition, even among those without any clinical vascular disease or traditional vascular risk factors. We Included 2573 US adults in the sample, segregated those with any self-reported vascular disease or vascular risk factors and we found that among those without vascular disease or risk factors, an ABI > 1.3 and increased intra-visit blood pressure variability were predictors of worse cognitive performance compared with those without these indicators. Among participants with both indirect markers of arterial stiffness, their cognitive performance was worse that having only one of them suggesting additive effects of these two variables.
Author Interviews, Cognitive Issues, PNAS / 14.01.2015

Dr Christos Pliatsikas PhD Lecturer in Cognitive Psychology School of Psychology University of Kent Canterbury KentMedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr Christos Pliatsikas PhD Lecturer in Cognitive Psychology School of Psychology University of Kent Canterbury Kent Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: It has been proposed that lifelong bilingualism preserves the white matter structure of older bilinguals because of the increased cognitive demands that come with handling two languages for their entire life. We wanted to extend this by investigating whether active (or "immersive") bilingualism in younger late bilinguals would give similar results. We showed increased white matter integrity (or myelination) in several white matter tracts that have also been shown to be better preserved in older lifelong bilinguals, compared to monolinguals.  Based on our findings, we propose that any benefit of bilingualism to the brain structure is simply an effect of actively handling two languages without presupposing lifelong usage- our participants were only about 30 years old and had been active bilinguals for only about 7-8 years. In other words, immersive bilingualism, even in late bilinguals, leads to structural changes that can bring about benefits in older age, by assisting in the preservation of the white matter structure in the brain.
Author Interviews, Cognitive Issues, Johns Hopkins, Mental Health Research / 07.10.2013

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Seth S. Martin, MD Division of Cardiology, Johns Hopkins Hospital 600 North Wolfe Street Baltimore, Maryland 21287 Johns Hopkins Hospital Baltimore, MD 21287. MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Martin: Our systematic review identified 16 studies for qualitative synthesis and 11 for quantitative synthesis. In individuals without baseline cognitive dysfunction, statins did not adversely affect memory when used in the short-term (<1 year). Long-term cognition studies including 23,433 patients with a mean exposure duration of 3 to 24.9 years showed a 29% relative reduction in incident dementia related to statin use (hazard ratio, 0.71; 95% CI 0.61-0.82) and a 2% absolute risk reduction (number needed to treat for 6.2 years: 50).
BMJ, Brain Injury, Mental Health Research / 15.03.2013

Dr. Anna Nordström MD Department of Community Medicine and Rehabilitation, Rehabilitation Medicine, Umeå University, SE-901 87 Umeå, SwedenMedical Research.com Interview with Dr. Anna Nordström MD Department of Community Medicine and Rehabilitation, Rehabilitation Medicine, Umeå University, SE-901 87 Umeå, Sweden Medical Research.com: What are the main findings of the study? Dr. Nordström: We have found that low cognitive function and factors related to low socioeconomic status and intoxications are strong independent risk factors for mild traumatic brain injury in men. Medical Research.com: Were any of the findings unexpected? Dr. Nordström:  Our knowledge of risk factors that predispose people to sustaining such injury is limited. Previous research has inferred that mild traumatic brain injuries have important long-term consequences on cognitive function. However, we found similar deficits in cognitive function in subjects that sustained a mild traumatic brain injury before and after cognitive testing. Thus our data suggest that the injury itself may not reduce cognitive function.
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