Atrophy within primary sensorimotor and medial temporal areas might be important for development of

bradykinesia and of gait disturbances in community-dwelling elderly adults. The pathways underlying these associations may not include changes in white matter hyperintensities volume, cognition, information Sorafenib processing speed, mood, or gait speed.”
“Mood and substance-use disorders are both associated with cognitive deficits. Patients with mood and substance-use disorders have poorer cognition than patients with only a mood disorder. Pregnenolone may have beneficial effects on mood and cognition. In a proof-of-concept investigation, 70 participants with bipolar disorder or recurrent major depressive disorder and history of substance abuse/dependence (abstinent for >= 14 days prior to enrollment) were randomly assigned to receive pregnenolone (titrated to 100 mg/day) or placebo for 8 weeks. Participants were assessed using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview, Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD), Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS), Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT), Trail Making Test (TMT-B), and Stroop Test. Mood was assessed

biweekly. while cognition was evaluated at baseline, and weeks 4 and 8. Groups were compared using a random regression analysis that used all of the available data. The pregnenolone group showed trends toward greater improvement, relative to placebo, on the HRSD and YMRS. A post hoc analysis of completers found a statistically significant reduction in HRSD scores with pregnenolone Fluorometholone Acetate as compared to placebo. Pregnenolone appeared to be safe and well tolerated. Findings NSC23766 molecular weight suggest that pregnenolone use may be associated

with some improvement in manic and depressive symptoms, but not cognition in depressed patients with a history of substance use. Larger trials examining the impact of pregnenolone on mood in more narrowly defined populations may be warranted. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.”
“Anemia has been associated with elevated cerebral blood flow (CBF) in animal models and certain clinical conditions (eg, renal disease), but whether hemoglobin level variations across a relatively normal range are associated with local or diffuse CBF changes is unclear. We investigated whether lower hemoglobin is associated with regional increases in relative CBF in older individuals, and if these increases occur in watershed regions.

Seventy-four older nondemented adults underwent serial O-15 water positron emission tomography scans. Voxel-based analysis was used to investigate regional relative CBF patterns in association with hemoglobin level and in individuals with and without anemia. Analyses of cross-sectional relations between regional CBF and anemia were performed separately at two time points, 2 years apart, to identify replicable patterns of associations.