Biology subjects

Damoiseaux, J. S.

Publications and source records attributed to Damoiseaux, J. S..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2023

Fornix fractional anisotropy mediates the association between Mediterranean diet adherence and memory four years later in older adults without dementia

Here, we investigated whether fractional anisotropy (FA) of hippocampus-relevant white-matter tracts mediates the association between baseline Mediterranean diet adherence (MeDiAd) and verbal episodic memory over four years. Participants were healthy older adults with and without subjective cognitive decline and patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment from the DELCODE cohort study (n = 376; age: 71.47 {+/-} 6.09 years; 48.7% female). MeDiAd and diffusion data were obtained at baseline. Verbal episodic memory was assessed at baseline and four yearly follow-ups. The associations between baseline MeDiAd and white matter, and verbal episodic memorys mean and rate of change over four years were tested with latent growth curve modeling. Baseline MeDiAd was associated with verbal episodic memory four years later (95% confidence interval, CI [0.01, 0.32]) but not with its rate of change over this period. Baseline Fornix FA mediated - and, thus, explained - that association (95% CI [0.002, 0.09]). Fornix FA may be an appropriate response biomarker of Mediterranean diet interventions on verbal memory in older adults.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2022

Subjective cognitive decline predicts lower cingulo-opercular network functional connectivity in individuals with lower neurite density in the forceps minor

Cognitive complaints of attention/concentration problems are highly frequent in older adults with subjective cognitive decline (SCD). Functional connectivity in the cingulo-opercular network (CON-FC) supports cognitive control, tonic alertness, and visual processing speed. Thus, those complaints in SCD may reflect a decrease in CON-FC. Frontal white-matter tracts such as the forceps minor exhibit age- and SCD-related alterations and, therefore, might influence the CON-FC decrease in SCD. Here, we aimed to determine whether SCD predicts an impairment in CON-FC and whether neurite density in the forceps minor modulates that effect. To do so, we integrated cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of multimodal data in a latent growth curve modeling approach. Sixty-nine healthy older adults (13 males; 68.33 {+/-} 7.95 years old) underwent resting-state functional and diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging, and the degree of SCD was assessed at baseline with the memory functioning questionnaire (greater score indicating more SCD). Forty-nine of the participants were further enrolled in two follow-ups, each about 18 months apart. Baseline SCD did not predict CON-FC after three years or its rate of change (p-values > 0.092). Notably, however, the forceps minor neurite density did modulate the relation between SCD and CON-FC (intercept; b = 0.21, 95% confidence interval, CI, [0.03, 0.39], p = 0.021), so that SCD predicted a greater CON-FC decrease in older adults with relatively lower neurite density in the forceps minor. The neurite density of the forceps minor, in turn, negatively correlated with age. These results suggest that CON-FC alterations in SCD are dependent upon the forceps minor neurite density. Accordingly, these results imply modifiable age-related factors that could help delay or mitigate both age and SCD-related effects on brain connectivity.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2020

Predicting future cognitive decline from non-brain and multimodal brain imaging data in healthy and pathological aging

Cognitive decline occurs in healthy and pathological aging, and both may be preceded by subtle changes in the brain -- offering a basis for cognitive predictions. Previous work has largely focused on predicting a diagnostic label from structural brain imaging. Our study broadens the scope of applications to cognitive decline in healthy aging by predicting future decline as a continuous trajectory, rather than a diagnostic label. Furthermore, since brain structure as well as function changes in aging, it is reasonable to expect predictive gains when using multiple brain imaging modalities. Here, we tested whether baseline multimodal neuroimaging data improve the prediction of future cognitive decline in healthy and pathological aging. Non-brain data (including demographics and clinical and neuropsychological scores) were combined with structural and functional connectivity MRI data from the OASIS-3 project (N = 662; age = 46 - 96y). The combined input data was entered into cross-validated multi-target random forest models to predict future cognitive decline (measured by the Clinical Dementia Rating and the Mini-Mental State Examination), on average 5.8y into the future. The analysis was preregistered and all analysis code is publicly available. We found that combining non-brain with structural data improved the continuous prediction of future cognitive decline (best test-set performance: R2 = 0.42) and that cognitive performance, daily functioning, and subcortical volume drove the performance of our model. In contrast, including functional connectivity did not improve predictive accuracy. In the future, the prognosis of age-related cognitive decline may enable earlier and more effective cognitive, pharmacological, and behavioral interventions to be tailored to the individual.

neuroscience↗