Neighborhood greenness, or vegetative presence, has been associated with various indicators of health and wellbeing, but its relationship to Alzheimer’s disease has been less studied. Understanding the role of environmental factors in Alzheimer’s disease in older adults may inform and complement traditional interventions for Alzheimer’s disease and/or related dementias, including prevention and treatment. This study examines the relationship between neighborhood greenness and a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease among older adults in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States.

Check out the exciting new publication led by Dr. Joyce Gomes-Osman here at the Evelyn F. McKnight Brain Institute at University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, and in collaboration with Dr. Adam Woods at the Evelyn F. McKnight Brain Institute at the University of Florida. This article highlights the opportunities created by applying innovative methods of non-invasive brain stimulation to further elucidate mechanisms and create therapeutic opportunities in cognitive aging and cognitive impairment. Enjoy!

Read full article: Non-invasive Brain Stimulation: Probing Intracortical Circuits and Improving Cognition in the Aging Brain…

To find the answers, researchers led by Joyce Gomes-Osman, Ph.D., PT, assistant professor of clinical physical therapy and neurology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, reviewed all of the studies in which older adults were asked to exercise for at least four weeks and then take tests of thinking and memory skills. Their results were compared to those of people who did not start a new exercise routine. The review was published in the May 30 online issue of Neurology Clinical Practice, an official journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

The researchers found that people who exercised an average of at least 52 hours over about six months for about an hour each session may improve their thinking skills. In contrast, people who exercised for an average of 34 hours over the same time period did not show any improvement in their thinking skills.

The review did not find a relationship between a weekly amount of exercise and improved thinking skills.

“These results suggest that a longer-term exercise program may be necessary to gain the benefits in thinking skills,” said Gomes-Osman, the study’s author and director of the Neuromotor Plasticity Laboratory. “We were excited to see that even people who participated in lower-intensity exercise programs showed a benefit to their thinking skills. Not everyone has the endurance or motivation to start a moderately intense exercise program, but everyone can benefit even from a less-intense plan.”

The review included 98 randomized, controlled trials with a total of 11,061 participants, whose average age was 73. Of the total participants, 59 percent were categorized as healthy adults, 26 percent had mild cognitive impairment and 15 percent had dementia. A total of 58 percent did not regularly exercise before being enrolled in a study.

The researchers collected data on exercise session length, intensity, weekly frequency and amount of exercise over time. Aerobic exercise was the most common type of exercise, with walking the most common aerobic exercise; others including biking and dancing. Some studies used a combination of aerobic exercise along with strength, or resistance training and some used strength training alone. A small number of studies used mind-body exercises such as yoga or Tai chi.

After evaluating all of the data, the researchers found that in both healthy people and people with cognitive impairment, longer term exposure to exercise — at least 52 hours of exercise conducted over an average of about six months — improved the brain’s processing speed, the amount of time it takes to complete a mental task. In healthy people, that same amount of exercise also improved executive function, a person’s ability to manage time, pay attention and achieve goals. However, researchers found no link between the amount of exercise and improved memory skills. Aerobic exercise, strength training, mind-body exercise, and combinations of these were all found to be beneficial to thinking skills.

“Only the total length of time exercising could be linked to improved thinking skills,” said Gomes-Osman “but our results may also provide further insight. With a majority of participants being sedentary when they first enrolled in a study, our research suggests that using exercise to combat sedentary behavior may be a reason why thinking skills improved.”

Future studies could further investigate which thinking abilities experience the greatest improvement with exercise. They could also look at the short-term and long-term effects of exercise in both sedentary and physically fit individuals.

Tatjana Rundek, M.D., Ph.D., FAAN, professor of neurology and public health sciences and executive vice chair for research and faculty affairs in the Department of Neurology, has been named scientific director of the Evelyn F. McKnight Brain Institute and Evelyn F. McKnight Chair for Learning and Memory in Aging at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. She has served as the interim scientific director since October 2016.

The Evelyn F. McKnight Brain Institute at the University of Miami was established in 2007 with a donation from the McKnight Brain Research Foundation and a match from the Schoninger Foundation and other UM donors. Its mission is to discover and explore normal memory changes that happen with age, investigate the causes of age-related disorders of brain function and memory, and develop ways to prevent them.

“I am dedicated to our McKnight Brain Institute’s mission to accelerate discovery of the causes, treatment, and prevention of age-related memory loss and cognitive decline, and to enhance brain health through translational and patient-oriented research,” said Rundek, who also serves as director of the Clinical Translational Research Division in Neurology, and director of the Master of Science Degree in Clinical Translational Investigations.

Born and raised in Zagreb, Croatia, Rundek received her medical degree and neurology training at the University of Zagreb, a Ph.D. in neuroscience in Germany, and completed a research fellowship at Columbia University.

Rundek is a neurologist, clinical researcher, epidemiologist and principal investigator of several R01 grants and foundation awards funded by the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NIH/NINDS). She received a NINDS K24 training grant and research awards from the Hazel K. Goddess Fund for Stroke Research in Women and the Dr. Gilbert Baum Fund in Clinical Ultrasound for best clinical application of ultrasound in investigations of brain hemodynamics.

Rundek was the first Fulbright Scholar at the Neurological Institute at Columbia University. As the International Fulbright Scholar Leader in 1996-97, Rundek gave a presentation on the importance of the international research exchange program at the 1997 Annual UN Assembly in New York. Rundek is a dedicated scientist with a strong commitment to service to the scientific community. She serves on review study sections at the NIH, the American Heart Association, the American Academy of Neurology and on the editorial boards of many scientific journals. She has published more than 400 scientific publications, editorials, reviews and book chapters. Rundek’s professional and scientific interests include genetic, epigenetic and environmental contributions to cerebral small vessel disease, stroke and cognitive decline with a specific focus on health disparities in women and minority populations. Her current investigations involve the vascular mechanisms of successful aging, mild cognitive impairment and dementia, using magnetic resonance imaging and transcranial Doppler challenge testing in collaborations with the Einstein Aging Study in the Bronx, the Northern Manhattan Study, and with other McKnight Brain Institutes at the University of Florida, University of Arizona and University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Rundek is dedicated to brain health education to communities, and to training and mentoring new generations of cognitive neurologists and other professionals needed to overcome challenges of preserving and restoring brain health of the rapidly growing population of older adults in the U.S.

“Dr. Rundek is a wonderful choice as scientific director,” said Ralph L. Sacco, M.D., M.S., executive director of the McKnight Brain Institute, professor and chair of neurology, Olemberg Chair in Neurological Disorders, senior associate dean for clinical and translational science and director of UM’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute. “Her passion for team science and developing new ideas in a truly collaborative manner is very special. I am looking forward to great things under Dr. Rundek’s leadership.”

As interim director Rundek created the Miami McKnight Brain Institute Small Pilot Collaborative Award. The program gave small grants to junior faculty or post-doctoral trainees with promising potential to become successful investigators in age-related memory loss and cognitive decline, supporting research and advancing the McKnight Brain Institute collaborative research project pipeline.

“Dr. Rundek’s background and training, both as a clinician and a research scientist, make her uniquely qualified to advance the research initiatives in cognitive aging leading to the understanding of and alleviation of age-related memory loss, not only at the University of Miami, but throughout the universal scientific community,” said J. Lee Dockery, M.D., chair of the Board of Trustees for the McKnight Brain Research Foundation.