Applying evidence-based cross-disciplinary concepts helps to explain the heterogeneity in pain, function, and biological measures in individuals with knee pain with/at risk of osteoarthritis.

Introduction: Factors contributing to individual differences in knee osteoarthritis remain elusive. Dispositional traits and socioeconomic status are independent predictors of mental and physical health, although significant variability remains. Dispositional traits serve as the biological interface for life experiences.

Association of neighborhood-level disadvantage beyond individual sociodemographic factors in patients with or at risk of knee osteoarthritis.

Objective: Lower socioeconomic status (SES) is a risk factor for poorer pain-related outcomes. Further, the neighborhood environments of disadvantaged communities can create a milieu of increased stress and deprivation that adversely affects pain-related and other health outcomes. Socioenvironmental variables such as the Area Deprivation Index, which ranks neighborhoods based on socioeconomic factors could be used to capture environmental aspects associated with poor pain outcomes.

Music in Care (MIC) by Nurses: Initial Validation of a Questionnaire to Characterize Nurses' Attitudes and Feasibility of Implementation on the Use of Music in Patient Care.

The purpose of this study was to characterize nurses' attitudes toward music and implementation of music into patient care and to characterize barriers and facilitators toward the implementation of music into patient care. A cross-sectional, quantitative, web-based questionnaire with minor qualitative elements. The questionnaire contained both open- and closed-ended questions.

Multiple sleep disturbances are associated with apathy in individuals with Parkinson's disease.

Background: Parkinson's disease (PD) is associated with both sleep disturbances and apathy, and within PD, apathy has been associated with REM behavior disorder and excessive daytime sleepiness. Whether other forms of sleep disturbance are similarly associated with apathy in PD remains unclear. This study explored associations between a broad array of sleep disturbances and apathy in 50 individuals with idiopathic PD (PD) and 48 matched controls (MC).

Environmental and sociocultural factors are associated with pain-related brain structure among diverse individuals with chronic musculoskeletal pain: intersectional considerations.

Chronic musculoskeletal pain including knee osteoarthritis (OA) is a leading cause of disability worldwide. Previous research indicates ethnic-race groups differ in the pain and functional limitations experienced with knee OA. However, when socioenvironmental factors are included in analyses, group differences in pain and function wane.

Greater socioenvironmental risk factors and higher chronic pain stage are associated with thinner bilateral temporal lobes.

Introduction: Previous research indicates ethnic/race group differences in pain and neurodegenerative diseases. Accounting for socioenvironmental factors reduces ethnic/race group differences in clinical and experimental pain. In the current study sample, we previously reported that in individuals with knee pain, ethnic/race group differences were observed in bilateral temporal lobe thickness, areas of the brain associated with risk for Alzheimer's disease, and related dementias.

Perioperative Extracellular Brain Free-Water Changes for Older Adults Electing Total Knee Arthroplasty with General versus Spinal Anesthesia: A Pilot Study.

Background: Recent research shows that older adults electing to undergo total knee arthroplasty with general anesthesia have a pre- to postoperative acute increase in molecular free-water within their cerebral white matter. It is unknown if this change is similar for individuals who elect spinal anesthesia methods.

Objective: To explore white matter microstructural changes in a pilot sample of older adults undergoing total knee arthroplasty and receiving general or spinal anesthesia.

Elucidating individual differences in chronic pain and whole person health with allostatic load biomarkers.

Chronic pain is a stressor that affects whole person functioning. Persistent and prolonged activation of the body's stress systems without adequate recovery can result in measurable physiological and neurobiological dysregulation recognized as allostatic load. We and others have shown chronic pain is associated with measures of allostatic load including clinical biomarker composites, telomere length, and brain structures.

Contributions of Cardiovascular Burden, Peripheral Inflammation, and Brain Integrity on Digital Clock Drawing Performance in Non-Demented Older Adults.

Background: Greater cardiovascular burden and peripheral inflammation are associated with dysexecutive neuropsychological profiles and a higher likelihood of conversion to vascular dementia. The digital clock drawing test (dCDT) is useful in identifying neuropsychological dysfunction related to vascular etiology. However, the specific cognitive implications of the combination of cardiovascular risk, peripheral inflammation, and brain integrity remain unknown.

Elucidating factors contributing to disparities in pain-related experiences among adults with or at risk for knee osteoarthritis.

Background And Purpose: We and others have reported ethnic/race group differences in clinical pain, physical function, and experimental pain sensitivity. However, recent research indicates that with consideration for socioenvironmental factors, ethnicity/race differences become less or non-significant. Understanding of factors contributing to pain inequities are needed.

Free Water Fraction Predicts Cognitive Decline for Individuals with Idiopathic Parkinson's disease.

Introduction: Free water fraction (FWF) is considered a metric of microstructural integrity and may be useful in predicting cognitive decline in idiopathic Parkinson's Disease (PD). We sought to determine if higher FWF within the dorsal portion of the caudate nucleus and basal nucleus of Meynert, two regions associated with cognitive decline in PD, predict change in cognition over a two-year span. Due to the existence of cognitive and neurophysiological subgroups within PD, we statistically categorized participants based on FWF in these regions.

Relationships Between Cognitive Screening Composite Scores and Pain Intensity and Pain Disability in Adults With/At Risk for Knee Osteoarthritis.

Objectives: Chronic pain, cognitive deficits, and pain-related disability are interrelated. The prevalence of chronic pain and undiagnosed cognitive difficulties in middle age and older adults is increasing. Of the cognitive systems, executive function and episodic memory are most relevant to chronic pain.

Associations between pain catastrophizing and resting-state functional brain connectivity: Ethnic/race group differences in persons with chronic knee pain.

Chronic pain is a significant public health problem, and the prevalence and societal impact continues to worsen annually. Multiple cognitive and emotional factors are known to modulate pain, including pain catastrophizing, which contributes to pain facilitation and is associated with altered resting-state functional connectivity in pain-related cortical and subcortical circuitry. Pain and catastrophizing levels are reported to be higher in non-Hispanic black (NHB) compared with non-Hispanic White (NHW) individuals.

Chronic Pain Severity and Sociodemographics: An Evaluation of the Neurobiological Interface.

Chronic pain is variably associated with brain structure. Phenotyping based on pain severity may address inconsistencies. Sociodemographic groups also differ in the experience of chronic pain severity.

Functional connectivity of key resting state networks and objectively measured physical activity in older adults with joint pain: A pilot study.

Background: Greater brain network integrity may associate with physically active lifestyles. Three resting state networks may provide unique insights into known physical activity-mediated brain health benefits: the default mode network (involved with self-monitoring), the salience network (involved in orienting oneself to salient external and internal stimuli), and the central executive network (responsible for higher level cognitive task). The current study explored relationships between system-wide neural network integrity measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging and objectively-measured physical activity.

Relationships Between Chronic Pain Stage, Cognition, Temporal Lobe Cortex, and Sociodemographic Variables.

Background: Non-Hispanic black (NHB) individuals have increased risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD) relative to non-Hispanic whites (NHW). Ethnicity/race can serve as a proxy sociodemographic variable for a complex representation of sociocultural and environmental factors. Chronic pain is a form of stress with high prevalence and sociodemographic disparities.

Parkinson's Disease Cognitive Phenotypes Show Unique Clock Drawing Features when Measured with Digital Technology.

Background: A companion paper (Crowley et al., 2020) reports on the neuroimaging and neuropsychological profiles of statistically determined idiopathic non-dementia Parkinson's disease (PD).

Objective: The current investigation sought to further examine subtle behavioral clock drawing differences within the same PD cohort by comparing 1) PD to non-PD peers on digitally acquired clock drawing latency and graphomotor metrics, and 2) PD memory, executive, and cognitively well phenotypes on the same variables.

Resilience, pain, and the brain: Relationships differ by sociodemographics.

Chronic musculoskeletal (MSK) pain is disabling to individuals and burdensome to society. A relationship between telomere length and resilience was reported in individuals with consideration for chronic pain intensity. While chronic pain associates with brain changes, little is known regarding the neurobiological interface of resilience.

Statistically Defined Parkinson's Disease Executive and Memory Cognitive Phenotypes: Demographic, Behavioral, and Structural Neuroimaging Comparisons.

Background: Some individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD) experience working memory and inhibitory difficulties, others learning and memory difficulties, while some only minimal to no cognitive deficits for many years.

Objective: To statistically derive PD executive and memory phenotypes, and compare PD phenotypes on disease and demographic variables, vascular risk factors, and specific neuroimaging variables with known associations to executive and memory function relative to non-PD peers.

Methods: Non-demented individuals with PD (n = 116) and non-PD peers (n = 62) were recruited to complete neuropsychology measures, blood draw, and structural magnetic resonance imaging.

Pilot Investigation: Older Adults With Atrial Fibrillation Demonstrate Greater Brain Leukoaraiosis in Infracortical and Deep Regions Relative to Non-Atrial Fibrillation Peers.

Background: This pilot study explored differences in distribution of white matter hyperintensities (called leukoaraiosis; LA) in older adults (mean age = 67 years) with atrial fibrillation (AF) vs. non-AF peers measured by: (1) depth distribution; (2) anterior-posterior distribution; (3) associations between LA and cortical thickness; and (4) presence of lacunae and stroke.

Methods: Participant data (AF = 17; non-AF peers = 17) were acquired with the same magnetic resonance imaging protocols.

Associations of pain catastrophizing with pain-related brain structure in individuals with or at risk for knee osteoarthritis: Sociodemographic considerations.

Compelling evidence exists that non-Hispanic blacks (NHB) engage in pain catastrophizing (negatively evaluate one's ability to cope with pain) more often than non-Hispanic whites (NHW). Functional neuroimaging studies revealed that individuals with high levels of trait pain catastrophizing show increased cerebral responses to pain in several pain-related brain regions (e.g.

Cognitive Impairments and Self-Reported Sleep in Early-Stage Parkinson's Disease with Versus without Probable REM Sleep Behavior Disorder.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is associated with cognitive and sleep impairments. The presence of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder (RBD) symptoms may represent a worse disease prognosis for PD individuals. We investigated cognitive functioning and self-reported sleep in early-stage PD individuals with ( = 19) or without ( = 31) probable RBD.

Better Brain and Cognition Prior to Surgery Is Associated With Elevated Postoperative Brain Extracellular Free-Water in Older Adults.

For adults age 65 and older, the brain shows acute functional connectivity decreases after total knee arthroplasty with the severity of change predicted by preoperative cognitive function and brain disease burden. The extent of acute structural microstructural brain changes acutely after surgery remains unknown within the literature. For the current study, we report on the severity of acute post-surgery microstructural brain changes as measured by diffusion imaging and free-water analysis.