Vitamin D in Older Adults: Cognition and Brain Structure

老年人的维生素 D：认知和大脑结构

• 批准号: 7469510
• 负责人: CONSUELO HOPKINS WILKINS
• 金额: $ 16.79万
• 依托单位: WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2006-09-15 至 2011-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/7469510
• 关键词: Affect; Alzheimer' s Disease; Animals; Award; Brain; Brain Injuries; Caregiver Burden; Clinical; Cognition; Cognition Disorders; Cognitive; Data; Dementia; Depressed mood; Development; Diagnosis; Disease; Elderly; Fracture; Funding; High Prevalence; Hippocampus (Brain); Human; Impaired cognition; Individual; Institutionalization; Longitudinal Studies; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Measures; Medical; Mental Depression; Messenger RNA; Methods; Mood Disorders; Moods; Morbidity - disease rate; Nerve Growth Factors; Neuroglia; Neurons; Numbers; Participant; Performance; Personal Satisfaction; Persons; Physical Function; Play; Population; Psychometrics; Rate; Research; Research Personnel; Research Training; Risk Factors; Role; Staging; Structure; Techniques; Training and Education; Vitamin D; Vitamin D Deficiency; Vitamin D3 Receptor; brain volume; career; cognitive function; depressive symptoms; design; disability; falls; mild neurocognitive impairment; neuroprotection; osteoporosis with pathological fracture; patient oriented; prevent; research study; size; skills; social

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This career development application proposes an integrated research and training plan to develop expertise in assessing mild cognitive impairment and measuring brain structures, particularly the hippocampus, in older adults. The specific aims of the application are to determine whether vitamin D deficiency is related to worse cognitive performance, depressive symptoms and/or decreased hippocampal volumes. The long-term objectives are to provide training and education to facilitate the applicant's transition to an independent patient-oriented investigator. The proposed research and training will provide the applicant with skills in designing and implementing longitudinal studies and with valuable techniques in stereological estimation methods to measure brain volumes. Upon completion of the award, the applicant will have the necessary skills to design, obtain funding, and implement original research studies to understand biologic mechanisms important in cognitive function in older adults. As Alzheimer's disease continues to be a major medical and social challenge, research in this field increasingly focuses on detecting the very earliest signs of cognitive impairment. As many investigate approaches to diagnose and prevent mild cognitive impairment in older adults, the relationship between depressive symptoms and mild cognitive impairment has been less studied. Recent data find an association between depression and very mild cognitive impairment. The combination of cognitive and depression increases the likelihood of institutionalization, increases caregiver burden and decreases survival. It is therefore important to identify risk factors that may affect both cognition and mood. One potential risk factor is vitamin D deficiency, which is associated with falls and fractures, affective disorders, and also has roles in neuroprotection and brain development. Vitamin D is a potent inducer of nerve growth factor and in animal studies has reversed brain injury due to various insults. Although more than half of older adults have vitamin D deficiency, few are treated. This is partly due to the lack of data supporting a role for vitamin D in nonbone related disorders. This application will investigate important relationships between vitamin D deficiency, cognitive function and mood all of which result in excess disability in the elderly.

描述(由申请人提供)：这份职业发展申请提出了一项综合研究和培训计划，以发展评估轻度认知障碍和测量老年人大脑结构，特别是海马体的专业知识。该应用的具体目的是确定维生素D缺乏是否与认知能力下降、抑郁症状和/或海马体体积减少有关。长期目标是提供培训和教育，以促进申请人过渡到独立的、以病人为导向的调查人员。拟议的研究和培训将为申请者提供设计和实施纵向研究的技能，以及测量脑体积的体视学估计方法方面的宝贵技术。获奖后，申请者将拥有必要的技能来设计、获得资金并实施原创研究，以了解对老年人认知功能重要的生物机制。 由于阿尔茨海默病仍然是一个重大的医学和社会挑战，该领域的研究越来越专注于检测认知障碍的最早迹象。随着许多人研究诊断和预防老年人轻度认知障碍的方法，抑郁症状和轻度认知障碍之间的关系研究较少。最近的数据发现，抑郁症和非常轻微的认知障碍之间存在关联。认知和抑郁的结合增加了住院的可能性，增加了照顾者的负担，降低了存活率。因此，确定可能影响认知和情绪的风险因素是很重要的。一个潜在的风险因素是维生素D缺乏，它与跌倒、骨折、情感障碍有关，也对神经保护和大脑发育有作用。维生素D是一种有效的神经生长因子诱导剂，在动物研究中，它可以逆转由于各种侮辱而造成的脑损伤。尽管超过一半的老年人患有维生素D缺乏症，但很少有人得到治疗。这在一定程度上是因为缺乏数据支持维生素D在非骨骼相关疾病中的作用。这项应用将调查维生素D缺乏、认知功能和情绪之间的重要关系，所有这些都会导致老年人过度残疾。