2022 Fiscal Year Annual Research Report
| Project/Area Number |
22J14503
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Research Institution | Tohoku University |
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Principal Investigator |
LIU YINGXU 東北大学, 医学系研究科, 特別研究員(DC2)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2022-04-22 – 2024-03-31
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| Keywords | Brain vulnerability / Social class / SES |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
Last year, I successfully applied for a visiting fellowship at Michigan State University (Sep 2022 to Feb 2023); where I learned about longitudinal high-dimensional model analysis and the recognized resources of multiple platforms for investigating the interaction of lifestyle with cognitive trajectories (ongoing project). Apart from this project, I am engaged in a collaborative research project with Umea University (Sweden, founded by MIRAI 2.0 Jiont Seed). I led the analysis of lifestyle and brain structure (MRI screening) variants across socioeconomic (SES) levels in Japan and Sweden to quantify solutions to address women's brain vulnerability. Key findings were published at the Annual Meeting of the Gerontology Society of America (DOI: 10.1093/geroni/igac059.2909). This study showed a similar parameter in both countries that lifestyle diseases (diabetes, hypertension, depression and obesity) explained the relationship between SES and the volume of different limbic lobe regions. Such findings suggest that targeted disease management at the professional level (i.e. free medical lectures by the local community and easy access to hospitals) is the most feasible and effective strategy for maintaining cognitive well-being in older adults, especially for women who are SES disadvantaged.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
1: Research has progressed more than it was originally planned.
Reason
In 2022, one paper was successfully published in the top IF gerontology journal (Journal of Gerontology, series a). The main paper of this project will be presented at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference 2023 as a Special Featured Issue session and is currently being submitted to PNAS. The side project with Swedish universities is under final review and will be submitted as an international collaborative paper.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
Continuing question with MIRAI 2.0 project is that individual SES, as well as cognitive function, is not static; as mobility in the SES brings/damages access to useful health resources (insurance, health check), it will generate growing/downcast influence on one’s cognitive ability. To capture the bidirectional dynamic association, the main project paper utilized longitudinal data in the UK and followed mobility in SES with the relationship on brain structure features and cognitive trajectories over 20 years.
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