Publications by authors named "Francesca R Farina"

Protective and risk factors can drive healthy or accelerated aging, with distinct environments modulating their effects. The impact of the exposome-the combined physical and social exposures experienced throughout life-on accelerated aging remains unknown. We assessed delayed and accelerated aging in 161,981 participants from 40 countries (45.

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Introduction: The extent to which Alzheimer's disease (AD) concerns relate to pathological changes in cognitively unimpaired populations is unclear.

Methods: We analyzed screening data from the Anti-Amyloid Treatment in Asymptomatic Alzheimer's (A4) study to determine if AD concerns are associated with amyloid burden in cognitively unimpaired older adults, and how they relate to lifestyle. AD concerns were measured using the six-item Concerns about Alzheimer's Disease Questionnaire.

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In this "centenary" paper, an expert panel revisited Hans Berger's groundbreaking discovery of human restingstate electroencephalographic (rsEEG) alpha rhythms (8-12 Hz) in 1924, his foresight of substantial clinical applications in patients with "senile dementia," and new developments in the field, focusing on Alzheimer's disease (AD), the most prevalent cause of dementia in pathological aging. Clinical guidelines issued in 2024 by the US National Institute on Aging-Alzheimer's Association (NIA-AA) and the European Neuroscience Societies did not endorse routine use of rsEEG biomarkers in the clinical workup of older adults with cognitive impairment. Nevertheless, the expert panel highlighted decades of research from independent workgroups and different techniques showing consistent evidence that abnormalities in rsEEG delta, theta, and alpha rhythms (< 30 Hz) observed in AD patients correlate with wellestablished AD biomarkers of neuropathology, neurodegeneration, and cognitive decline.

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Objective: The topic of brain health across the life-course is currently receiving exponential attention. Alongside this, exposure to lifestyle-related risk factors for Alzheimer's disease and related dementias accumulates across the life-course. This study aimed to explore young adults' (18-39 years) perceptions and understanding of brain health and dementia risk.

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Structural inequality, the uneven distribution of resources and opportunities, influences health outcomes. However, the biological embedding of structural inequality in aging and dementia, especially among underrepresented populations, is unclear. We examined the association between structural inequality (country-level and state-level Gini indices) and brain volume and connectivity in 2,135 healthy controls, and individuals with Alzheimer's disease and frontotemporal lobe degeneration from Latin America and the United States.

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Efforts to prevent dementia can benefit from precision interventions delivered to the right population at the right time; that is, when the potential to reduce risk is the highest. Young adults (aged 18-39 years) are a neglected population in dementia research and policy making despite being highly exposed to several known modifiable risk factors. The risk and protective factors that have the biggest effect on dementia outcomes in young adulthood, and how these associations differ across regions and groups, still remain unclear.

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Many coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) positive individuals exhibit abnormal electroencephalographic (EEG) activity reflecting "brain fog" and mild cognitive impairments even months after the acute phase of infection. Resting-state EEG abnormalities include EEG slowing (reduced alpha rhythm; increased slow waves) and epileptiform activity. An expert panel conducted a systematic review to present compelling evidence that cognitive deficits due to COVID-19 and to Alzheimer's disease and related dementia (ADRD) are driven by overlapping pathologies and neurophysiological abnormalities.

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Brain clocks, which quantify discrepancies between brain age and chronological age, hold promise for understanding brain health and disease. However, the impact of diversity (including geographical, socioeconomic, sociodemographic, sex and neurodegeneration) on the brain-age gap is unknown. We analyzed datasets from 5,306 participants across 15 countries (7 Latin American and Caribbean countries (LAC) and 8 non-LAC countries).

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Brain clocks, which quantify discrepancies between brain age and chronological age, hold promise for understanding brain health and disease. However, the impact of multimodal diversity (geographical, socioeconomic, sociodemographic, sex, neurodegeneration) on the brain age gap (BAG) is unknown. Here, we analyzed datasets from 5,306 participants across 15 countries (7 Latin American countries -LAC, 8 non-LAC).

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Background: Lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) due to benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) significantly impact quality of life among older men. Despite the prevalent use of the American Urological Association Symptom Index (AUA-SI) for BPH, this measure overlooks key symptoms such as pain and incontinence, underscoring the need for more comprehensive patient-reported outcome (PRO) tools. This study aims to integrate enhanced PROs into routine clinical practice to better capture the spectrum of LUTS, thereby improving clinical outcomes and patient care.

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Background: Lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) due to benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) significantly impact quality of life among older men. Despite the prevalent use of the American Urological Association Symptom Index (AUA-SI) for BPH, this measure overlooks key symptoms such as pain and incontinence, underscoring the need for more comprehensive patient-reported outcome (PRO) tools. This study aims to integrate enhanced PROs into routine clinical practice to better capture the spectrum of LUTS, thereby improving clinical outcomes and patient care.

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Article Synopsis
  • A study looked into factors that can help reduce the risk of dementia and checked if the "LIBRA" score needs updating!
  • After reviewing many research studies and getting input from experts, they found six important factors, but highlighted three: hearing problems, social contact, and sleep!
  • The study suggests that it's important to keep updating the ways we measure dementia risk, and future work will check how well the new LIBRA score works!
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Article Synopsis
  • The study examined how health literacy and confidence in COVID-19 vaccines relate to self-reported vaccination rates among adults in Boston and Chicago.
  • Participants (N = 271) were predominantly around 50 years old and included diverse racial backgrounds, with 85% having received at least one COVID-19 vaccine.
  • Results indicated that while both higher health literacy and vaccine confidence were linked to vaccination, only vaccine confidence directly predicted vaccination status, suggesting it plays a crucial mediating role.
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Background: Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) are among the most feared age-related conditions. The aim of this study was to evaluate a brief psychological intervention to promote adaptive coping in older adults experiencing heightened fear of ADRD and investigate positive downstream effects on health-related secondary outcomes, including frequency of reported memory failures, psychosocial functioning, and quality of life.

Methods: Eighty-one older adults were recruited and randomized into REFRAME or active control intervention arms.

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Article Synopsis
  • Women are more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease and related dementias than men, with initial attention focusing on sex hormones but not on hormonal contraception's potential impact on brain health.
  • A literature review identified 11 studies examining the relationship between hormonal contraceptive use and brain health, showing some links to lower risk of dementia and better cognition, although findings were inconsistent.
  • The study highlights the need for more research on young adults using hormonal contraceptives and different types beyond oral pills, as well as considering how factors like sex, gender, and race might influence outcomes.
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The potential for future prevention of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) through healthy lifestyle change is spurring a positive brain health movement. However, most ADRD research continues to focus on mid- and later life. We lack evidence regarding risk exposure and protective factors in young adulthood, i.

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Introduction: Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) are among the most feared conditions. However, research around ADRD-specific fear and avoidance behaviors is lacking. Here, we validated a novel measure of fear and avoidance specific to memory loss, the Fear and Avoidance of Memory Loss (FAM) scale, and examined associations between fear avoidance and psychosocial functioning in older adults.

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Recent advances have enabled the creation of wireless, "dry" electroencephalography (EEG) recording systems, and easy-to-use engaging tasks, that can be operated repeatedly by naïve users, unsupervised in the home. Here, we evaluated the validity of dry-EEG, cognitive task gamification, and unsupervised home-based recordings used in combination. Two separate cohorts of participants-older and younger adults-collected data at home over several weeks using a wireless dry EEG system interfaced with a tablet for task presentation.

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Animals can use a range of strategies to recall important locations. These include simple stimulus-response strategies and more complex spatial (place) strategies, which are thought to have distinct neural substrates. The hippocampus-and NMDA receptor activation therein-is considered to be crucial for spatial, but not response strategies.

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Contralateral delay activity (CDA) has been proposed as a pre-clinical neural marker for mild cognitive impairment (MCI). However, existing evidence is limited to one study with a small sample size (n = 24). Our aim was to extend previous work by investigating the relationship between the CDA and MCI risk in a large sample of older adults (n = 76).

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Adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have been described as having altered resting-state electroencephalographic (EEG) spectral power and theta/beta ratio (TBR). However, a recent review (Pulini et al. 2018) identified methodological errors in neuroimaging, including EEG, ADHD classification studies.

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Objectives: Difficulties recalling specific events from one's autobiographical past have been associated with a range of emotional disorders. We present the first examination of whether diagnoses of depression or individual differences in depression severity explain the most variance in autobiographical memory specificity. We also examine the contribution of other key cognitive factors associated with reduced memory specificity - rumination and verbal fluency - to these effects.

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