A recent study from the Nuffield School of Clinical Neuroscience at the University of Oxford, published in Nature Communications, identified 15 modifiable risk factors for dementia, the most harmful of which were diabetes, alcohol consumption and traffic-related air pollution. It’s pollution.
Previous research by the group has revealed weaknesses in the brain in a particular network of higher-order regions that develops only in late adolescence but shows early degeneration in old age. , and showed that this brain network is particularly vulnerable to Alzheimer’s disease and schizophrenia. This study utilized data from the UK Biobank to explore genetic and modifiable influences on these regions.
The study analyzed brain scans of 40,000 people over the age of 45 and looked at 161 risk factors for dementia. Beyond the natural effects of aging, modifiable risk factors are ranked by their impact on vulnerable brain networks and include blood pressure, diabetes, weight, cholesterol, smoking, inflammation, hearing, sleep, diet, physical and more classified into 15 broad categories. Activities, education, socialism, environmental pollution, alcohol consumption, and depressed mood.
“We know that a collection of brain regions degenerate early in aging, and this new study shows that these specific parts of the brain are linked to diabetes, traffic-related air pollution (increasingly a leading cause of dementia) “Of the common risk factors for dementia, alcohol is the most important,” said Professor Gwenaël Douault, who led the study.
“We have shown that some mutations in the genome can affect this brain network, leading to cardiovascular death, schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and even two little-known blood type antigens. “We found that it involved the XG antigen, which was missing. This was a completely new and unexpected discovery,” Douaud added.
“In fact, two of our seven genetic discoveries are located in this particular region that contains the gene for the XG blood type, as that region is shared by both the X and Y sex chromosomes. , is highly atypical. This is very interesting because not much is known about these parts of the genome. Our study has the advantage of further investigating this unknown genetic region. co-author Professor Lloyd Elliott of Simon Fraser University agreed.
“What makes this study special is that it examines the unique contribution of each modifiable risk factor, all of them together, to assess the degeneration that occurs as a result of this particular brain ‘weakness.’ This was investigated by. With this kind of comprehensive, holistic approach, and taking into account the effects of age and gender, we found that diabetes, air pollution, and alcohol were the three most harmful.”Anderson Winkler says the professor. Co-authors from the National Institutes of Health and the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.
