Alcohol Consumption in Midlife and Cognitive Performance Assessed 13 Years Later in the SU.VI.MAX 2 Cohort

Background

Associations between alcohol consumption and cognitive function are discordant and data focusing on midlife exposure are scarce.

Objective

To estimate the association between midlife alcohol consumption and cognitive performance assessed 13 y later while accounting for comorbidities and diet.

Methods

3,088 French middle-aged adults included in the SU.VI.MAX (1994) study with available neuropsychological evaluation 13 y later. Data on alcohol consumption were obtained from repeated 24h dietary records collected in 1994–1996. Cognitive performance was assessed in 2007–2009 via a battery of 6 neuropsychological tests. A composite score was built as the mean of the standardized individual test scores (mean = 50, SD = 10). ANCOVA were performed to estimate mean differences in cognitive performance and 95% confidence intervals (CI).

Results

In women, abstainers displayed lower cognitive scores than did low-to-moderate alcohol drinkers (1 to 2 drinks/day) (mean difference = −1.77; 95% CI: −3.29, −0.25). In men, heavy drinkers (>3 drinks/day) had higher cognitive scores than did low-to-moderate (1 to 3 drinks/day) (mean difference = 1.05; 95% CI: 0.10, 1.99). However, a lower composite cognitive score was detected in male drinkers consuming ≥90 g/d (≈8 drinks/d). A higher proportion of alcohol intake from beer was also associated with lower cognitive scores. These associations remained significant after adjustment for diet, comorbidities and sociodemographic factors.

Conclusion

In men, heavy but not extreme drinking was associated with higher global cognitive scores. Given the known harmful effects of alcohol even in low doses regarding risk of cancer, the study does not provide a basis for modifying current public health messages.

Trial Registration

ClinicalTrials.gov {"type":"clinical-trial","attrs":{"text":"NCT00272428","term_id":"NCT00272428"}}NCT00272428     

Walking but not barking improves verb recovery: implications for action observation treatment in aphasia rehabilitation

Recent studies have shown that action observation treatment without concomitant verbal cue has a positive impact on the recovery of verb retrieval deficits in aphasic patients. In agreement with an embodied cognition viewpoint, a hypothesis has been advanced that gestures and language form a single communication system and words whose retrieval is facilitated by gestures are semantically represented through sensory-motor features. However, it is still an open question as to what extent this treatment approach works. Results from the recovery of motor deficits have suggested that action observation promotes motor recovery only for actions that are part of the motor repertoire of the observer. The aim of the present experiment was to further investigate the role of action observation treatment in verb recovery. In particular, we contrasted the effects induced by observing human actions (e.g. dancing, kicking, pointing, eating) versus non human actions (e.g. barking, printing). Seven chronic aphasic patients with a selective deficit in verb retrieval underwent an intensive rehabilitation training that included five daily sessions over two consecutive weeks. Each subject was asked to carefully observe 115 video-clips of actions, one at a time and, after observing them, they had to produce the corresponding verb. Two groups of actions were randomly presented: humans versus nonhuman actions. In all patients, significant improvement in verb retrieval was found only by observing video-clips of human actions. Moreover, follow-up testing revealed long-term verb recovery that was still present two months after the two treatments had ended. In support of the multimodal concept representation's proposal, we suggest that just the observation of actions pertaining to the human motor repertoire is an effective rehabilitation approach for verb recovery.     

Structure and function of vertebrate CMP-sialic acid synthetases

Activation of sugars into nucleotide sugars is critical for their entry into biosynthetic pathways. In eukaryotic cells, the activation of the acidic nine-carbon sugar sialic acid to CMP-sialic acid takes place in the cell nucleus, whereas all other nucleotide sugars are made in the cytoplasm. Molecular cloning of vertebrate CMP-sialic acid synthetases confirmed the nuclear localization and introduced new molecular tools for directly exploring the functional mechanisms of the enzymes, as well as the physiological relevance of their nuclear transport. Although major advances have been made in understanding structure-function relationships and defining elements involved in the nuclear transport, the riddle surrounding the physiological relevance of nuclear localization awaits resolution.     

The Local Complement Activation on Vascular Bed of Patients with Systemic Sclerosis: A Hypothesis-Generating Study

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Fluorescent ligands for the histamine H2 receptor: synthesis and preliminary characterization

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P130Cas-associated protein (p140Cap) as a new tyrosine-phosphorylated protein involved in cell spreading

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Pleural malignant mesothelioma, genetic susceptibility and asbestos exposure

Pleural malignant mesothelioma (MM) is a rare but extremely aggressive cancer. The limited impact of standard therapeutic treatments on survival rates makes the identification of factors that increase the individual risk a leading priority. The high proportion of cases explained by exposure to asbestos has guided intervention policies to an effective ban of this compound from our environment. However, MM cannot be solely attributed to this agent, and the role of predisposing factors and their interaction with asbestos exposure is increasingly studied. The role of mEH, GSTM1, GSTT1, NAT2, and CYP1A1 genotypes in modulating susceptibility to MM was examined in a case-control study of 80 subjects with a confirmed diagnosis of MM and 255 controls. Subjects with low mEH activity showed a significantly increased risk of MM (OR, 2.51; 95% CI, 1.11-5.68). The association was stronger in the group with low asbestos exposure (OR, 7.83; 95% CI, 0.98-62.60). A significant increased risk of MM was also found in NAT2 fast acetylators (OR, 1.74; 95% CI, 1.02-2.96). The presence of synergisms between genotypes, i.e., mEH and NAT2 (LRT for heterogeneity p<0.023), mEH and GSTM1 (LRT p<0.061), and NAT2 and GSTM1 (LRT p<0.049), combined with the interaction observed with exposure to asbestos, suggests the presence of gene-environment and gene-gene interactions in the development of MM, although the size of the study group does not allow to draw clearcut conclusions. Since genetic polymorphisms can also modify the extent of genetic damage occurring in subjects exposed to carcinogens, we measured the frequency of micronuclei in peripheral blood lymphocytes of a subgroup of MM cases. The limited number of cases (28) did not allow to observe significant effects. In conclusion, these results strengthen the hypothesis that individual susceptibility to MM can be modulated by the interaction between polymorphic genes involved in the metabolism and the intensity of asbestos exposure.