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Alison Pattie

Publications and source records attributed to Alison Pattie.

9 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2005

Retinal vascular image analysis as a potential screening tool for cerebrovascular disease: a rationale based on homology between cerebral and retinal microvasculatures.

The retinal and cerebral microvasculatures share many morphological and physiological properties. Assessment of the cerebral microvasculature requires highly specialized and expensive techniques. The potential for using non-invasive clinical assessment of the retinal microvasculature as a marker of the state of the cerebrovasculature offers clear advantages, owing to the ease with which the retinal vasculature can be directly visualized in vivo and photographed due to its essential two-dimensional nature. The use of retinal digital image analysis is becoming increasingly common, and offers new techniques to analyse different aspects of retinal vascular topography, including retinal vascular widths, geometrical attributes at vessel bifurcations and vessel tracking. Being predominantly automated and objective, these techniques offer an exciting opportunity to study the potential to identify retinal microvascular abnormalities as markers of cerebrovascular pathology. In this review, we describe the anatomical and physiological homology between the retinal and cerebral microvasculatures. We review the evidence that retinal microvascular changes occur in cerebrovascular disease and review current retinal image analysis tools that may allow us to use different aspects of the retinal microvasculature as potential markers for the state of the cerebral microvasculature.

Aging↗
PubMed2005

The cognitive cost of being a twin: two whole-population surveys.

Do twins have a lower mean IQ score than singletons? Previous studies have not examined whole populations and are likely to be biased. Twin data from two whole-population surveys of IQ at age 11 years were examined: the Scottish Mental Surveys of 1932 and 1947. Additional variables from childhood were examined as possible mediating effects. There were 1080 twins from the 1932 survey, and 949 from the 1947 survey. In both surveys twins scored lower on the Moray House Test of verbal reasoning, equivalent to a deficit of about 5 IQ points. In the Scottish Mental Survey of 1947 the whole-population group of twins was compared in detail with a representative population sample. The same mental ability difference of about 5 IQ points was found, and was not accounted for by father's occupation, overcrowding in the childhood home, childhood height, school attendance or the number of people in the family.

Child↗
PubMed2004

Life long changes in cognitive ability are associated with prescribed medications in old age.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the association between prescribed medication and life long changes in cognitive ability. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SETTING: Community residents of a largely urban region of South East Scotland. PARTICIPANTS: Four hundred and seventy-eight survivors of the 1932 Scottish Mental Health Survey (n=87,498) without dementia. MEASUREMENTS: The Moray House Test (MHT) of intelligence administered at age 11 and age 80 years. Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) score, history of disease and current prescribed medications age 80 years. RESULTS: After adjusting for sex, neuroactive drugs had a detrimental effect on life long cognitive change age (F=12.2, p=0.001, partial eta-squared=0.026), statins a beneficial effect (F=5.78, p=0.017, partial eta-squared=0.013) and polypharmacy a detrimental effect (F=6.46, p=0.011, partial eta-squared=0.014). In the optimal model estimated marginal means revealed: a relative improvement for statin users, IQ age 11=93.2 (95% CI 87.9-98.4) and age 80=100.6 (95% CI 95.3-105.9); compared with non-users, IQ age 11=100.9 (95% CI 99.4-102.3) and age 80=100.0 (95% CI 98.6-101.5). CONCLUSIONS: Clinically, the degree to which drugs impair cognition in relatively fit, older people may not be apparent. However, in population terms, medication use, particularly polypharmacy, is important. Statins, used as currently indicated for cardiovascular disease, appear promising in ameliorating cognitive decline in older people. However, firm recommendation of their use should await the outcome of ongoing randomised clinical trials.

Aged↗
PubMed2004

Apolipoprotein e gene variability and cognitive functions at age 79: a follow-up of the Scottish mental survey of 1932.

Apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotype is a possible influence on nonpathological cognitive aging. The authors studied 462 community-dwelling, 79-year-old people born in 1921, whose childhood IQ had been assessed in the Scottish Mental Survey of 1932 (Scottish Council for Research in Education, 1933). Adjusting for sex, childhood IQ, and self-reported illnesses, the authors found that those with an APOE e4 allele had significantly lower Wechsler Logical Memory (D. Wechsler, 1987) scores than those without an e4 allele. Those people with APOE s2/e3 genotypes had significantly higher Wechsler Logical Memory scores than e3/s3, who were significantly higher than e3/e4. Neither nonverbal reasoning nor verbal fluency were affected. In this sample, APOE genotype contributed to verbal memory in old age.

Aged↗
PubMed2003

Lack of association between polymorphisms in angiotensin-converting-enzyme and methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase genes and normal cognitive ageing in humans.

The hypothesis that polymorphisms at two candidate genes that code for angiotensin-converting-enzyme (ACE) and methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) are associated with normal cognitive ageing was tested using a sample (n=536) of healthy 80-year-old people who were born in 1921 and whose cognitive ability at age 11 was measured in the Scottish Mental Survey 1932. Cognitive ability at age 11 and age 80 was assessed using the Moray House Test. Cognitive ageing was defined as the change in IQ from age 11 to 80. There was no significant association between the tested ACE and MTHFR polymorphisms and IQ score at age 11, IQ at age 80, and IQ change (all P>0.05). The ACE genotypes deviated significantly from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium proportions (P=0.02), which could indicate that this gene is under selection. Polymorphisms at the two studied genes are unlikely to be risk factors for normal cognitive ageing.

Aged↗
PubMed2002

Cognitive change and the APOE epsilon 4 allele.

There is a marked variation in whether people retain sufficient cognitive function to maintain their quality of life and independence in old age, even among those without dementia, so it would be valuable to identify the determinants of normal age-related cognitive change. We have retested non-demented 80-year-olds who were participants in the Scottish Mental Survey of 1932, and find that the variation in their non-pathological cognitive change from age 11 to 80 is related to their apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotype. This effect of the APOE epsilon 4 allele on normal cognitive ageing may be mediated by a mechanism that is at least partly independent of its predisposing effect towards Alzheimer's disease.

Adolescent↗