Air pollution affects children's memory, IQ

Children living in cities with significant air pollution are at an increased risk for detrimental impacts to the brain, including short-term memory loss and lower IQ, a new study has found.

Researchers show that children with lifetime exposures to concentrations of air pollutants above the current US standards, including fine particulate matter, are at an increased risk for brain inflammation and neurodegenerative changes, including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.

The study found that clinically healthy children who live in a polluted environment and who also carry a gene - the apolipoprotein e4 allele, already known to increase a person's risk of developing Alzheimer's disease - demonstrated compromised cognitive responses when compared with children carrying a gene with apolipoprotein e3 allele.

Metropolitan Mexico City is an example of extreme urban growth and serious environmental pollution, where 8 million children are involuntarily exposed to harmful concentrations of fine particulate matter in the air every day beginning at conception, researchers said.

The study matched two groups of children living in Mexico City by multiple variables, including age, gender, socioeconomic status and education, among others.

Researchers then compared children carrying the e4 allele to children carrying the e3 allele and found that those with the e4 allele had three significant alterations.

They had short-term memory shortfalls, an IQ that while within the normal limits measured 10 points less, and changes in key metabolites in the brain that mirror those of people with Alzheimer's disease.

"The results add to growing data suggesting e4 carriers could have a higher risk of developing early Alzheimer's disease if they reside in a polluted urban environment," said Dr Lilian Calderon-Garciduenas from the University of Montana.

She said the study also raises concerns about important educational issues. Since Mexico City children mostly attend underprovided public schools, children do not build cognitive reserves that serve as a defence to pollution impacts.

"An IQ difference of 10 points will likely have a negative impact on academic and social issues, including bullying and teen delinquency," she said.

The authors argue that sustained exposures to urban air pollution result in cognitive underperformance and metabolic brain changes that could lead to an acceleration of neurodegenerative changes.

Air pollution is a serious public health issue, and exposures to concentrations of air pollutants at or above the current standards have been linked to neuroinflammation and neuropathology. The study was published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease

New Zealand: Scientists use virtual reality helps boost memory in stroke patients

Melbourne: Scientists have developed a new treatment which uses a 3D virtual reality environment to improve the memory of stroke patients. Researchers from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, have developed the treatment method which improves prospective memory in stroke patients.

"These tests using a virtual reality environment for stroke patients to practise their cognitive skills clearly work," said Professor Tanja Mitrovic.

"Prospective memory, or remembering to perform actions in the future, is of crucial importance for everyday life. This kind of memory is often impaired in stroke survivors and can interfere with independent living, as it can result in forgetting to take medication, or remember something they had to do."It is a complex cognitive ability, which requires coordination of multiple cognitive abilities: spatial navigation, retrospective memory, attention and executive functioning. We have developed a computer-based treatment based on visual imagery which teaches participants how to remember time and event-based prospective memory tasks. After the treatment, participants practiced their skills using videos first and later in a 3D virtual reality environment," Mitrovic said.

The study included 15 stroke survivors and each participant had 10 individual sessions spread over 10 weeks. The results showed that the memory skills of the stroke patients tested increased significantly. The researchers aim to make this training available freely over the internet to stroke survivors.