About 30.1% of all participants changed states at 6 months, 24.1% at 12 months, and 11.0% at both time points. The PA group was more likely to regain or sustain functioning and less likely to lose functioning when compared with SA. For

example, PA participants were 20% more likely than the SA participants to remain in state 1.

PA appears to have a favorable effect on the dynamics of physical functioning Liproxstatin1 in older adults.”
“Chronic activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary adrenal (HPA) system is a risk factor for a variety of physical and mental disorders, and yet the complexity of the system has made it difficult to define the role of genetic and environmental factors in producing long-term individual differences in HPA activity. Cortisol levels in hair have been suggested as a marker of total HPA activation over a period of several months. This study takes advantage of a pedigreed nonhuman primate colony to investigate genetic and environmental influences on hair cortisol levels before and after an environmental change. A sample of 226 adult female vervet monkeys (age 3-18) living in multigenerational, matrilineal social groups at the Vervet Research Colony were sampled in a stable low stress baseline environment and 6 months after the

entire colony was moved to a new facility with more frequent handling and group disturbances (higher stress environment). Variance components analysis AP24534 using the extended colony pedigree was applied to determine heritability of hair cortisol levels in the two environments. Bivariate genetic correlation assessed degree of overlap in genes influencing hair cortisol levels in the low and higher stress environments. The results showed that levels of cortisol in hair of female vervets this website increased significantly from the baseline to the post-move environment. Hair cortisol levels were heritable in

both environments (h(2) = 0.31), and there was a high genetic correlation across environments (rhoG = 0.79), indicating substantial overlap in the genes affecting HPA activity in low and higher stress environments. This is the first study to demonstrate that the level of cortisol in hair is a heritable trait. It shows the utility of hair cortisol as a marker for HPA activation, and a useful tool for identifying genetic influences on tong term individual differences in HPA activity. The results provide support for an additive model of the effects of genes and environment on this measure of long term HPA activity. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.”
“Studies that have investigated the association between markers of inflammation and risk of dementia are conflicting. Therefore, the researchers conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies with the hypothesis that an increased level of peripheral proinflammatory markers would be associated with risk of all-cause dementia or Alzheimers disease (AD).