1. High Levels of Physical Fitness Linked to Lower Dementia Risk in Those with Genetic Predisposition
High levels of physical fitness are linked to a lower risk of dementia for people with a genetic predisposition for the disease, according to a new study. Enhancing cardiorespiratory fitness could therefore be a strategy when a patient has a high genetic predisposition for Alzheimer’s disease—and researchers say it may be able to reduce the danger by up to 35%.
High cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF)–the capacity of the circulatory and respiratory systems to supply oxygen to muscles–is linked with better cognitive performance and lower risk of dementia long term, suggested the findings published by the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
Scientists say that CRF declines increasingly every decade as we age and skeletal muscle is lost. The lower the CRF the stronger the predictor of strokes and heart attacks—and an early death from any cause, according to previous research.
Most previous studies that investigating the impact of CRF on cognitive function or dementia risk included only small numbers of participants, but now Swedish scientists have studied a large sample of 61,000 people. All dementia-free, between the ages of 39 and 70, they were followed for up to 12 years after their enrollment in the UK Biobank study between 2009 and 2010.
A six-minute exercise test on a stationary bike was completed at the outset to estimate CRF, while cognitive function was estimated using neuropsychological tests. Genetic predisposition for dementia was estimated using the polygenic risk score for Alzheimer’s disease. During the follow-up period of up to 12 years, 553 people (0.9%) were diagnosed with dementia.
For the analysis, participants were divided into three equal-sized groups standardized for age and sex according to their CRF scores, and it showed that people with high CRF had higher cognitive function and a lower risk of dementia.
2. Son Surprises Dad with Dream Car He Gave up for Diaper Money 41 Years Ago
From Texas comes the beautiful story of love and appreciation between a father and son, and of a man who gave up his dream car to be a dad. It was Earl Guyness 65th birthday, and he unexpectedly found himself on a car lot being spoken to by a magician. Suddenly, his son held up a pair of keys, and told him they fit inside the ignition of a 1967 Chevrolet Camaro that was sitting just over his shoulder.
It was a car Earl knew very well. It was a car he sold 40 years ago so he could pay for diapers.
An automotive industry worker, Earl was working in parts as a 22-year-old in Mesquite, and an employee came in one day with a ’67 Camaro that made Earl’s eyes light up.
It was loud, he told NBC 5, the kind of car that had everyone looking out of the corner of their eyes as it passed down the block. He had a few good years with the Camaro, but after marrying his wife Mona and having their son Jared, he did what any responsible dad would do and trade in the dream of youth for the sake of the future.
“I used to tease Jared quite a bit. ‘I used to have a car like that one over there.’ And I said, ‘Yeah, I let it go for diaper money,’” Earl told NBC. “‘You needed diapers and so that’s what happened to that car.’”
Jared joked that he never believed his father, but gradually the fixation on the Camaro he left behind rubbed off on his son, who came to know it better than his father did.
3. In 10 Seconds, an AI Model Detects Cancerous Brain Tumors Often Missed During Surgery
Researchers have developed an AI-powered model that can determine in 10 seconds during surgery if any part of a cancerous brain tumor that could be removed remains.
The technology, called FastGlioma, outperformed conventional methods for identifying what remains of a tumor by a wide margin, according to the research team led by the universities of Michigan and California and the paper they published.
“FastGlioma is an artificial intelligence-based diagnostic system that has the potential to change the field of neurosurgery by immediately improving comprehensive management of patients with diffuse gliomas,” said senior author Todd Hollon, a neurosurgeon at University of Michigan Health.
“The technology works faster and more accurately than the current standard of care methods for tumor detection and could be generalized to other pediatric and adult brain tumor diagnoses. It could serve as a foundational model for guiding brain tumor surgery.”
When a neurosurgeon removes a life-threatening tumor from a patient’s brain, they are rarely able to remove the entire mass. What remains is known as a residual tumor.
Commonly, the tumor is missed during the operation because surgeons are not able to differentiate between healthy brain and residual tumor tissues in the cavity where the mass was removed.
Neurosurgical teams employ different methods to locate that residual tumor during a procedure, which may include MRI imaging, which may not be available in the hospital, or a fluorescent imaging agent to identify tumor tissue, which is not applicable for all tumor types.
These limitations prevent their widespread use.
In this international study of the AI-driven technology, neurosurgical teams analyzed fresh, unprocessed specimens sampled from 220 patients who had operations for low or high-grade diffuse glioma.
