Advanced brain aging mediates the relationship between cardiovascular health and aphasia severity in chronic stroke.

Introduction: There is evidence that overall physical health in general and cardiovascular risk (CV) factors in particular are associated with structural brain changes and recovery trajectories in stroke aphasia, however the nature of these relationships is still unclear. Therefore, we investigated the mediating role of advanced brain aging on the relationship between cardiovascular health and aphasia severity in chronic stroke.

Methods: Participants (N = 95) with chronic stroke aphasia completed behavioral testing including the Western Aphasia Battery Aphasia Quotient (WAB AQ) and MRI scanning.

White Matter Hyperintensities Mediate the Negative Impact of HbA1c Levels on Cognitive Function.

Background: Type 2 diabetes is linked to impaired cognitive function, but the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. As white matter hyperintensities (WMHs) are common in diabetes and associated with vascular brain injury, we investigated whether WMH burden mediates the relationship between hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels and cognition.

Methods: We quantified WMH load using the Fazekas scale and conducted a mediation analysis with HbA1c as the independent variable, Fazekas scale as the mediator, and MoCA scores as the outcome variable.

Epigenetic age is associated with regional brain aging along the sensorimotor-to-association axis of cortical organization.

Brain age and epigenetic age (DNAmAge) are 'biological clocks' independently linked to health outcomes. However, the relationship between brain and epigenetic age remains unclear. We used path analysis to investigate relationships between chronological age, DNAmAge, and brain age and explored whether advanced aging in specific brain regions relates to DNAmAge.

Distinct brain age gradients across the adult lifespan reflect diverse neurobiological hierarchies.

'Brain age' is a biological clock typically used to describe brain health with one number, but its relationship with established gradients of cortical organization remains unclear. We address this gap by leveraging a data-driven, region-specific brain age approach in 335 neurologically intact adults, using a convolutional neural network (volBrain) to estimate regional brain ages directly from structural MRI without a predefined set of morphometric properties. Six distinct gradients of brain aging are replicated in two independent cohorts.

Impact of White Matter Hyperintensities on Nonverbal Cognition Through Structural Disconnections in Poststroke Aphasia.

Background: Nonverbal cognitive deficits in poststroke aphasia remain poorly understood. They may result from direct stroke damage or disconnections of preserved cortical regions due to white matter injury, which may be worsened by white matter hyperintensities (WMH). Here, we examined the prevalence of nonverbal cognitive deficits in chronic poststroke aphasia and whether WMH-related disconnections contribute to these deficits beyond those caused by stroke lesions.

The Influence of Structural Brain Changes on Cognition in the Context of Healthy Aging: Exploring Mediation Effects Through gBAT-The Graphical Brain Association Tool.

The contribution of age-related structural brain changes to the well-established link between aging and cognitive decline is not fully defined. While both age-related regional brain atrophy and cognitive decline have been extensively studied, the specific mediating role of age-related regional brain atrophy on cognitive functions is unclear. This study introduces an open-source software tool with a graphical user interface that streamlines advanced whole-brain mediation analyses, enabling researchers to systematically explore how the brain acts as a mediator in relationships between various behavioral and health outcomes.

Type 1 Myocardial Infarction in Patients With Acute Ischemic Stroke.

Importance: Elevated values of high-sensitivity cardiac troponin (hs-cTn) are common in patients with acute ischemic stroke and are associated with poor prognosis. However, diagnostic and therapeutic implications in patients with ischemic stroke remain unclear.

Objective: To identify factors indicative of myocardial infarction (MI) in patients with acute ischemic stroke and hs-cTn elevation.

Thalamic Aphasia: a Review.

Purpose Of Review: Thalamic aphasia is a rare language disorder resulting from lesions to the thalamus. While most patients exhibit mild symptoms with a predominance of lexical-semantic difficulties, variations in phenotype have been described. Overall, the exact mechanisms of thalamic aphasia await empirical research.

Reclassifications of ischemic stroke patterns due to variants of the Circle of Willis.

Background: Variants of the Circle of Willis (vCoW) may impede correct identification of ischemic lesion patterns and stroke etiology. We assessed reclassifications of ischemic lesion patterns due to vCoW.

Methods: We analyzed vCoW in patients with acute ischemic stroke from the 1000+ study using time-of-flight magnetic resonance angiography (TOF MRA) of intracranial arteries.

Frequency and phenotype of thalamic aphasia.

Background: Aphasia is a recognized presenting symptom of thalamic lesions. Little is known regarding its frequency and phenotype. We examined the frequency of thalamic aphasia following Isolated Acute unilateral ischemic Lesions in the Thalamus (IALT) with respect to lesion location.

Frequency, clinical presentation and outcome of vigilance impairment in patients with uni- and bilateral ischemic infarction of the paramedian thalamus.

Ischemic stroke of the paramedian thalamus is a rare differential diagnosis in sudden altered vigilance states. While efforts to describe clinical symptomatology exist, data on the frequency of paramedian thalamic stroke as a cause of sudden impaired vigilance and on accompanying clinical signs and outcome are scarce. We retrospectively analyzed consecutive patients admitted to a tertiary stroke center between 2010 and 2019 diagnosed with paramedian thalamic stroke.

Bariatric Surgery and Brain Health-A Longitudinal Observational Study Investigating the Effect of Surgery on Cognitive Function and Gray Matter Volume.

Dietary modifications leading to weight loss have been suggested as a means to improve brain health. In morbid obesity, bariatric surgery (BARS)-including different procedures, such as vertical sleeve gastrectomy (VSG), gastric banding (GB), or Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) surgery-is performed to induce rapid weight loss. Combining reduced food intake and malabsorption of nutrients, RYGB might be most effective, but requires life-long follow-up treatment.