Predictors of Gait Speeds and the Relationship of Gait Speeds to Falls in Men and Women With Parkinson Disease.

Predictors of gait speeds and the relationship of gait speeds to falls in men and women with Parkinson disease.

Parkinsons Dis. 2013; 2013: 141720
Nemanich ST, Duncan RP, Dibble LE, Cavanaugh JT, Ellis TD, Ford MP, Foreman KB, Earhart GM

Gait difficulties and falls are commonly reported in people with Parkinson disease (PD). Reduction in gait speed is a major characteristic of Parkinsonian gait, yet little is known about its underlying determinants, its ability to reflect an internal reservation about walking, or its relationship to falls. To study these issues, we selected age, disease severity, and nonmotor factors (i.e., depression, quality of life, balance confidence, and exercise beliefs and attitudes) to predict self-selected (SELF), fast-as-possible (FAST), and the difference (DIFF) between these walking speeds in 78 individuals with PD. We also examined gender differences in gait speeds and evaluated how gait speeds were related to a retrospective fall report. Age, disease severity, and balance confidence were strong predictors of SELF, FAST, and, to a lesser extent, DIFF. All three parameters were strongly associated with falling. DIFF was significantly greater in men compared to women and was significantly associated with male but not female fallers. The results supported the clinical utility of using a suite of gait speed parameters to provide insight into the gait difficulties and differentiating between fallers in people with PD. HubMed – depression

 

Relationship between Serum and Brain Carotenoids, ?-Tocopherol, and Retinol Concentrations and Cognitive Performance in the Oldest Old from the Georgia Centenarian Study.

J Aging Res. 2013; 2013: 951786
Johnson EJ, Vishwanathan R, Johnson MA, Hausman DB, Davey A, Scott TM, Green RC, Miller LS, Gearing M, Woodard J, Nelson PT, Chung HY, Schalch W, Wittwer J, Poon LW

Oxidative stress is involved in age-related cognitive decline. The dietary antioxidants, carotenoids, tocopherols, and vitamin A may play a role in the prevention or delay in cognitive decline. In this study, sera were obtained from 78 octogenarians and 220 centenarians from the Georgia Centenarian Study. Brain tissues were obtained from 47 centenarian decedents. Samples were analyzed for carotenoids, ?-tocopherol, and retinol using HPLC. Analyte concentrations were compared with cognitive tests designed to evaluate global cognition, dementia, depression and cognitive domains (memory, processing speed, attention, and executive functioning). Serum lutein, zeaxanthin, and ?-carotene concentrations were most consistently related to better cognition (P < 0.05) in the whole population and in the centenarians. Only serum lutein was significantly related to better cognition in the octogenarians. In brain, lutein and ?-carotene were related to cognition with lutein being consistently associated with a range of measures. There were fewer significant relationships for ?-tocopherol and a negative relationship between brain retinol concentrations and delayed recognition. These findings suggest that the status of certain carotenoids in the old may reflect their cognitive function. The protective effect may not be related to an antioxidant effect given that ?-tocopherol was less related to cognition than these carotenoids. HubMed – depression

 

Well-Being and the Risk of Depression under Stress.

PLoS One. 2013; 8(7): e67395
Grant F, Guille C, Sen S

Improving our ability to accurately predict individual risk for depression would have profound public health benefits. While there has been growing interest in understanding the relation between measures of positive emotion, such as well-being, and depression, it is not clear whether low well-being is an independent predictor of short term depression risk. We assessed whether low well-being is a risk factor for depressive symptoms. Medical internship is a well-established period of stress when levels of depressive symptoms increase dramatically. 1621 individuals beginning medical internship were assessed for well-being, depressive symptoms, and a set of psychological and demographic traits prior to starting internship year and again for depressive symptoms at 3 month intervals during the year. Low subjective well-being significantly predicted increased depression symptom scores during the stress of medical internship and accounted for individual level inter-variability in depression symptom trends across time. Assessing well-being may have utility in predicting future depression risk. HubMed – depression

 

Comparing bona fide psychotherapies of depression in adults with two meta-analytical approaches.

PLoS One. 2013; 8(6): e68135
Braun SR, Gregor B, Tran US

Despite numerous investigations, the question whether all bona fide treatments of depression are equally efficacious in adults has not been sufficiently answered.We applied two different meta-analytical techniques (conventional meta-analysis and mixed treatment comparisons). Overall, 53 studies with 3,965 patients, which directly compared two or more bona fide psychotherapies in a randomized trial, were included. Meta-analyses were conducted regarding five different types of outcome measures. Additionally, the influence of possible moderators was examined.Direct comparisons of cognitive behavior therapy, behavior activation therapy, psychodynamic therapy, interpersonal therapy, and supportive therapies versus all other respective treatments indicated that at the end of treatment all treatments but supportive therapies were equally efficacious whereas there was some evidence that supportive therapies were somewhat less efficacious than all other treatments according to patient self-ratings and clinical significance. At follow-up no significant differences were present. Age, gender, comorbid mental disorders, and length of therapy session were found to moderate efficacy. Cognitive behavior therapy was superior in studies where therapy sessions lasted 90 minutes or longer, behavior activation therapy was more efficacious when therapy sessions lasted less than 90 minutes. Mixed treatment comparisons indicated no statistically significant differences in treatment efficacy but some interesting trends.This study suggests that there might be differential effects of bona fide psychotherapies which should be examined in detail. HubMed – depression