Ample research indicates that age-related neuronal-behavioral decrements are the result of oxidative stress that may be ameliorated by antioxidants. Our previous study had shown that rats given dietary supplements of fruit and vegetable extracts with high antioxidant activity for 8 months beginning at 6 months of age retarded age-related declines in neuronal and cognitive function. The present study showed that such supplements (strawberry, spinach, or blueberry at 14.8, 9.1, or 18.6 gm of dried aqueous extract per kilogram of diet, respectively) fed for 8 weeks to 19-month-old Fischer 344 rats were also effective in reversing age-related deficits in several neuronal and behavioral parameters including: oxotremorine enhancement of K(+)-evoked release of dopamine from striatal slices, carbachol-stimulated GTPase activity, striatal Ca(45) buffering in striatal synaptosomes, motor behavioral performance on the rod walking and accelerod tasks, and Morris water maze performance. These findings suggest that, in addition to their known beneficial effects on cancer and heart disease, phytochemicals present in antioxidant-rich foods may be beneficial in reversing the course of neuronal and behavioral aging.

A Fermi gas of atoms with resonant interactions is predicted to obey universal hydrodynamics, in which the shear viscosity and other transport coefficients are universal functions of the density and temperature. At low temperatures, the viscosity has a universal quantum scale ħ n, where n is the density and ħ is Planck's constant h divided by 2π, whereas at high temperatures the natural scale is p(T)(3)/ħ(2), where p(T) is the thermal momentum. We used breathing mode damping to measure the shear viscosity at low temperature. At high temperature T, we used anisotropic expansion of the cloud to find the viscosity, which exhibits precise T(3/2) scaling. In both experiments, universal hydrodynamic equations including friction and heating were used to extract the viscosity. We estimate the ratio of the shear viscosity to the entropy density and compare it with that of a perfect fluid.

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The prevalence of dementia is increasing with expansion of the older adult population. In the absence of effective therapy, preventive approaches are essential to address this public health problem. Blueberries contain polyphenolic compounds, most prominently anthocyanins, which have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. In addition, anthocyanins have been associated with increased neuronal signaling in brain centers mediating memory function as well as improved glucose disposal, benefits that would be expected to mitigate neurodegeneration. We investigated the effects of daily consumption of wild blueberry juice in a sample of nine older adults with early memory changes. At 12 weeks, we observed improved paired associate learning (p = 0.009) and word list recall (p = 0.04). In addition, there were trends suggesting reduced depressive symptoms (p = 0.08) and lower glucose levels (p = 0.10). We also compared the memory performances of the blueberry subjects with a demographically-matched sample who consumed a berry placebo beverage in a companion trial of identical design and observed comparable results for paired associate learning. The findings of this preliminary study suggest that moderate-term blueberry supplementation can confer neurocognitive benefit and establish a basis for more comprehensive human trials to study preventive potential and neuronal mechanisms. Keywordsblueberries; memory; metabolism; Mild Cognitive Impairment; prevention; neurodegeneration Alzheimer's disease (AD) accounts for 60% to 80% of cases of dementia (1). The prevalence of AD threatens to reach epidemic proportions in the coming decades, with projections of 16 million cases in the US by 2050 (1). There are several age-related health conditions that increase vulnerability to AD, most prominently cardiovascular risks (2). However, metabolic disturbance appears to be a fundamental factor driving both cardiovascular disorders and neurodegeneration (3). The presence of insulin resistance and diabetes increase risk for AD substantially, and the risk attributable solely to hyperinsulinemia was determined to be as high as 39% in one longitudinal study (4).A number of concepts have been introduced to classify older adults at different stages of cognitive decline. Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) identifies individuals with increased risk for dementia and represents the first clinical appearance of neurodegeneration for a substantial subset of individuals who will progress to AD (5). There is no remedy for dementia, and it is not clear when or if effective therapy will be developed. However, it has been proposed that interventions initiated in individuals with pre-dementia conditions such as MCI might forestall progression of cognitive decline, and MCI may represent the final point at which intervention can be effective (6).Dietary approaches hold promise as effective and safe preventive interventions. Dietary factors represent the most potent determinants of metabolic health and have been shown to mitigate specific mechanisms o...