Findings from Trinity College in the Area of Neuropsychology Described

2019 APR 15 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Pain & Central Nervous System Daily News -- Current study results on Psychology - Neuropsychology have been published. According to news originating from Dublin, Ireland, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “Ageing is associated with widespread alterations to the brain’s anatomy and to attendant cortical networks. Yet, few studies to date have indexed anatomical covariance network differences within the age distribution of older adulthood, despite known phenotypic variation.”

Funders for this research include Health Research Board, Higher Education Authority, through its PRTLI Program, Atlantic Philanthropies, Irish Life.

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from Trinity College, “Here, we explored cortical anatomical covariance networks in middle and older age cross-sectionally, using a large sample of community-dwelling older adults from the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA). We assayed age-related anatomical changes via cortical thickness. Moreover, we explored age-related alterations in small-world and global properties of cortical thickness covariance networks, by targeting analyses towards the elder (ages 75-88; n = 88) and younger (ages 52-64; n = 95) sample members. Age, sex, and chronic disease-adjusted vertex-wise analyses revealed robust reductions in cortical thickness with age. Graph theoretical analyses of cortical thickness covariance networks revealed significantly lower betweenness centrality (i.e., network hub status) at left inferior parietal cortex in the eldest participant group as compared to the youngest. Furthermore, indices of small-worldness revealed greater lambda (i.e., less effective integration) across the right hemisphere of the eldest participant group versus the youngest.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Our results are interpreted in the context of mechanisms of cortical atrophy in ageing, functional network organisation, and cognition in ageing.”

For more information on this research see: Cortical Covariance Networks In Ageing: Cross-sectional Data From the Irish Longitudinal Study On Ageing (Tilda). Neuropsychologia, 2019;122():51-61. Neuropsychologia can be contacted at: Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd, The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford OX5 1GB, England. (Elsevier - www.elsevier.com; Neuropsychologia - http://www.journals.elsevier.com/neuropsychologia/)

The news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained from D. Carey, Trinity College, Irish Longitudinal Study Ageing Tilda, Dublin 2, Ireland. Additional authors for this research include H. Nolan, R.A. Kenny and J. Meaney.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2018.11.013. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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