Exploring the role of telomere length in the efficacy of an exercise intervention for vascular cognitive impairment: a 12‐month randomised controlled trial substudy
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Abstract Background Subcortical ischemic vascular cognitive impairment (SIVCI) is the most common form of vascular cognitive impairment. Exercise is a potentially effective intervention for SIVCI. However, the mechanisms through which exercise promotes brain health and cognitive function are not well understood. Telomere length restoration and an increased capacity for cellular proliferation may provide a putative mechanism. Therefore, in this exploratory study we aimed to 1) assess the effect of a resistance training program on leukocyte telomere length; and 2) determine whether telomere length and/or change in telomere length is related to intervention response (i.e., change in cognitive function and/or brain structure). Method The sample consists of a subset of participants from a 12‐month single‐blinded, randomized controlled trial (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02669394). Participants (N = 91) were randomized to twice‐weekly resistance training (RT) or an active control group (balance and tone exercises; BAT). Study eligibility included: 1) age 55 years and older; 2) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) evidence of cerebral small vessel disease; 3) mild cognitive impairment; and 4) the absence of dementia. We measured participants’ leukocyte (blood) telomere length at baseline, 6 months, and 12 months, using a qPCR‐based method. The intervention outcomes include cognitive function measured by the Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale‐Cognitive‐Plus (ADAS‐Cog‐13 with additional cognitive tests) and structural brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) markers of SIVCI (e.g., white matter hyperintensities). Result We have generated telomere length data, demonstrating very good reproducibility with an intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) of 0.853 [0.772, 0.907]. We will present findings that provide novel insights into the usefulness of telomere length as a predictive biomarker for intervention response. Furthermore, our work will contribute to the mechanistic understanding of exercise‐induced benefits for cognitive and brain health in SIVCI. Conclusion To our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the role of telomere length in the efficacy of an exercise intervention for vascular cognitive impairment. This could inform the development of personalised interventions and aid the discovery of novel therapeutic targets.
Fetched live from OpenAlex and de-inverted. Abstracts are not stored in this database: the inverted indexes are 8.6 GB of the frame’s 9.3 GB of text, and the host has 13 GB free.
How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.006 | 0.006 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.002 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.004 | 0.004 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.003 | 0.003 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.005 | 0.001 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".