Brain white matter imaging and cognitive ageing in the Lothian Birth Cohort of 1936: II

我们的人口中有更多的老年人，他们在社会中所占的比例也比以前更大。失去思维能力(认知功能)是变老最令人畏惧的方面。认知功能的丧失是英国40%的机构护理入院的原因。关于不同类型的痴呆症有很多研究。然而，一个更大的问题--因为它影响了更多的人--是较温和的精神衰退状态。年龄本身对记忆、推理、思维速度和思维组织等重要心理技能都有不利影响。失去这些技能对人们有严重的不利影响？S日常生活，降低他们的生活质量，并预示着痴呆症和死亡。我们还不知道一些人的所有因素--S的思维能力随着年龄的增长比其他人更好--但找出答案是很重要的。我们有一个独特的、时间有限的机会来解决这个问题。我们正在开展一项大型研究项目，名为《不相连的心灵》，慈善机构英国时代基金会是该项目的核心支持者。洛锡安出生队列1936年(LBC1936)是断断续续思维中人类受试者的样本。他们都出生于1936年。他们在11岁时参加了一项苏格兰全国智力调查；因此，至关重要的是，我们从孩提时代就知道他们的认知能力。在70岁时，他们接受了大量不同类型的认知测试，并接受了详细的医疗和血液测试，以及生活方式问卷。我们已经发表了许多关于他们从11岁到70岁认知变化的科学研究。73岁时，他们再次接受了所有这些认知和医学测试。此外，他们还对大脑进行了非常详细的磁共振成像扫描，集中在大脑上？S连接：大脑中较白的物质。结果开始显现(我们刚刚完成725+脑部扫描)，这清楚地表明：大脑的变化？S脑白质是年龄相关性认知下降的关键因素之一；童年智力是大脑状态的重要贡献者？S晚年的脑白质。我们从2008-2010年间收到的MRC资金支付了四名研究人员的费用，他们分析这些重要的大脑成像数据。我们正在请求2011-2013年的类似支持，届时LBC1936将在76岁时进行脑部扫描(和其他测试)。

There are more old people in our population, and they also make up a greater proportion of the society than previously. Losing thinking skills (cognitive functions) is the most feared aspect of growing older. Loss of cognitive functions is the cause for 40% of admissions to institutional care in the UK. There is a lot of research on different types of dementia. However, a larger problem?because it affects so many more people?is milder states of mental decline. Age itself has a detrimental effect on important mental skills, such as memory, reasoning, speed of thinking, and the organisation of thinking. Losing such skills has a serious detrimental effect on people?s everyday lives, lowers their quality of living, and heralds dementia and death. We do not yet know all the factors that make some people?s thinking skills hold up better with age than others?, but it is important to find out. We have a unique and time-limited opportunity to address this question. We are carrying out a large research project called The Disconnected Mind, of which the charity Age UK is the core supporter. The sample of human subjects in the Disconnected Mind is the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 (LBC1936). They were all born in 1936. They took part in a Scottish national survey of intelligence at age 11; therefore, crucially, we know their cognitive skills from childhood. At age 70, they took a large numbers of different types of cognitive testing, and they underwent detailed medical and blood testing, and lifestyle questionnaires. We have published many scientific studies on their changes in cognition from age 11 to age 70. At age 73 they took all these cognitive and medical tests again. In addition, they also took a very detailed magnetic resonance imaging brain scan that concentrated on the brain?s connections: the whiter matter of the brain. Results are starting to emerge (we have only just finished taking the 725+ brain scans) which make it clear that: changes in the brain?s white matter are one of the key contributors to age-related cognitive decline; and intelligence from childhood is a significant contributor to the state of the brain?s white matter in old age. The MRC funding we received from 2008-2010 paid for the four researchers who analyse these vital brain imaging data. We are requesting similar support for 2011-2013, when the LBC1936 will have brain scans (and other tests) at age 76.