Photo: NEAR
In the beginning of November, NEAR was on site in Indianapolis when the annual meeting of the Gerontological Society of America (GSA) took place. GSA is the oldest and largest interdisciplinary organization devoted to research, education, and practice in the field of aging.
Several NEAR representatives were present and held a symposium to present the infrastructure as well as research results from ongoing NEAR projects. NEAR’s Scientific Coordinator Debora Rizzuto chaired the session together with Scott Hofer from Oregon Health & Science University.
– GSA is an important arena for international cooperation and not least an important place to networking. We are therefore very happy that we were given the opportunity to have a symposium to both present NEAR and exemplify results that the infrastructure can contribute to, says Debora Rizzuto.
Three ongoing projects were presented, The new aging: how different aspect of ageing has changed over half century. The H70 study within NEAR by Ingmar Skoog, University of Gothenburg, Functional age trajectories and drug interactions by Deborah Finkel, Jönköping University, and Long-term prediction of dementia using machine learning algorithms by Ana Louiz from Blekinge Institute of Technology.
In addition to NEAR, there were over 4,000 participants, 1,200 symposiums, 700 papers and 1,400 posters.
Photo: Lu Dai
During 6th -7th October, NEAR attended the Collaboration in Science conference in Flemmingsberg.
The conference is an initiative of Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital Huddinge and aims to strengthen and promote translational research collaborations between basic science and clinical research. During the conference, there were both opportunities to take part in inspiring speakers and interesting presentations, but also a large poster and exhibition area where NEAR was represented with tables and dissemination of information about NEAR.
Among the participants were researchers, doctors, students, and administrative staff working with nuclear facilities, and we had many good conversations with interested and potential users.
Photo: Maja Rudolphson
For three days 8-10 June, NEAR attended the 26th edition of Nordic Congress of Gerontology which this year took place in Odense in Denmark. The theme of this year’s congress was CHANGE & CONTINUITY and NEAR participated as one of the sponsors and had an exhibition booth where we presented NEAR and research findings from ongoing NEAR Projects.
Photo: Maja Rudolphson
Over 550 people participated during the three days with exchange of research and inspiration from different countries and universities. The conference offered a large number of high-quality abstracts on a great variety of topics. The topics reflects the five pillars of the Nordic Gerontological Federation: biological and medical sciences; health sciences; behavioral and social sciences; humanities and arts; and social research, policy and practice. The well-planned program included 8 keynote speeches, 44 symposiums, more than 100 free oral presentations, 160 posters.
Photo: Maja Rudolphson
NEARs Scientific Coordinator, Debora Rizzuto was one of the speakers at the congress who held a presentation about her research project concerning air pollution and dementia. During the pauses NEAR held booth presentations where three Post Docs from Karolinska Institutet presented their research findings from ongoing NEAR projects.
Photo: Maja Rudolphson
Photo: Maria Wahlberg
NEAR consists of 15 databases and four of those belong to the Swedish National Study on Aging and Care (SNAC). This year SNAC is celebrating 20 years, and recently they met at a Jubileum retreat in Stockholm archipelago. Researchers and the data collection staff working with the SNAC met at Djurönäset, Stockholm, during a two-day retreat on 24–25 May 2022. During the retreat, examples of 20-year-long outstanding research activity were presented. Moreover, researchers and the data collection staff had the unique opportunity to discuss jointly about future challenges and lines of action. We also had the honor to have Mårten Lagergren with us, the promoter of the SNAC project by the beginning of the 2000s. After 20 years, we are well aware that the SNAC study is more relevant than ever, thanks to the relevance, comprehensiveness and long follow-up of the collected data. SNAC has been, is and will be key to answer some of the key priority challenges concerning the health and well-being of older people. During the retreat, NEAR’s Scientific Coordinator, Debora Rizzuto held a presentation about NEAR and talked about findings from NEAR projects.
NEAR participated at the Swedish Meeting for Alzheimer Research in Aula Medica, Stockholm. The KI President, Ole Petter Ottersen opened the conference followed by H.M. Queen Silvia. The NEAR Scientific Coordinator, Debora Rizzuto, held a presentation about dementia research within NEAR.
 H.M. Queen Silvia and Ole Petter Ottersen. Photo: Ulf Sirborn |
 Debora Rizzuto. Photo: Ulf Sirborn |
Other speakers during the day included the NEAR Board members, Lars Nyberg and Miia Kivipelto, who talked about aging and brain maintenance, as well as dementia prevention.
 Lars Nyberg. Photo: Bolin Wu |
 Miia Kivipelto. Photo: Ulf Sirborn. |
NEAR also had a booth where information about NEAR and NEAR-related activities was available. NEAR would like to thank the Center for Alzheimer Research (CAR) for hosting a fantastic and stimulating conference!
 Debora Rizzuto. Photo: Jing Wu |
 NEAR Central Operational Group (OG). Photo: Giulia Grande |
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The Database Coordinator of NEAR, Alexander Darin-Mattsson presented NEAR at the 7th annual Big Data Conference at Linnaeus University Centre for Data Intensive Sciences and Applications (DISA) in Växjö, Sweden, 1 December 2021.
NEAR’s Scientific Coordinator Debora Rizzuto and Database Manager Alexander Darin Mattsson participated in “Optimising Multistudy Integrative Research”, a conference held at the Wellcome Genome Center, Cambridge, UK at 18-20 September. Themes ranged from approaches for multistudy analyses, to challenges and solutions related to heterogeneity, data sharing, and measurement harmonization. Researchers from several prominent programmes like IALSA, ATHLOS and IGEMS shared experiences and presented their results.
NEAR was well-represented during the International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics European Region (IAGG-ER) Congress 2019 in Gothenburg.
The NEAR director Laura Fratiglioni had a key stage talk with the title: “NEAR: A common effort for a better future” where she talked about how solutions for a better life in old age can be found in Swedish research.
NEAR also held a well-visited symposium with the title: “NEAR – the National E-infrastructure on Aging Research in Sweden: Building on 30 Years of Experience to Prepare for Future Aging Research”
Chair: Laura Fratiglioni, Karolinska Institutet and Stockholm University, Co-chair: Debora Rizzuto, Karolinska Institutet and Stockholm University.
- Social Inequalities in old age. Speaker: Carin Lennartsson, Karolinska Institutet and Stockholm University.
- Care of elderly people. Speaker: Anders Wimo, Karolinska Institutet.
- Gene-Environmental Interplay to Explain Health Heterogeneity: Results from the Swedish Twin Registry. Speaker: Nancy Pedersen, Karolinska Institutet
- Redefine dementia diagnosis etiology in epidemiological studies. Speaker: Ingmar Skoog, University of Gothenburg.
Many persons also came to visit our booth where information about NEAR and NEAR-related activities could be found.
NEAR would like to thank the organizers for hosting a fantastic and stimulating congress and we are looking forward to upcoming IAGG-ER conferences!
We hope to see you there!
SYMPOSIUM PROGRAM
NEAR – the National Infrastructure on Aging Research in Sweden: building on 30 years of experience to prepare for future aging research
Chair: Laura Fratiglioni, Karolinska Institutet and Stockholm University, Co-chair: Debora Rizzuto, Karolinska Institutet and Stockholm University.
- Gene-Environmental Interplay to Explain Health Heterogeneity: Results from Swedish Twin Register. Speaker: Nancy Pedersen, Karolinska Institutet
- Social Inequalities in Health in old age. Speaker: Johan Fritzell, Karolinska Institutet and Stockholm University.
- Redefine dementia diagnosis etiology in epidemiological studies. Speaker: Ingmar Skoog, University of Gothenburg.
- Care of elderly people. Speaker: Anders Wimo, Karolinska Institutet.
- Neuroimaging Biomarkers in Brain Ageing. Speaker: Lars Nyberg, Umeå University.
Abstract
Since the 1970s, Swedish longitudinal population-based studies have played a major role in geriatric research by exploring health-related conditions in older adults. Most of those studies are now collaborating to build the newly started National E-infrastructure for Aging Research (NEAR) to empower aging research in Sweden. This symposium presents and discusses some of the breakthrough contributions of the participating studies. The Gothenburg Population Studies will provide a comprehensive overview of the role vascular factors play in dementia and Alzheimer disease, starting with pioneering evidence of the impact of high blood pressure on dementia risk. Findings from the Swedish Twin Registry, which uses a life course approach, will also be presented. This research has quantified genetic and environmental influences on common chronic disorders and individual changes in physical and cognitive functioning. SWEOLD will present results on the relevance of living conditions and family connections to well-being and healthy aging, as well as information on health inequality by sex, education, and socioeconomic position found in older adults, even in Sweden. Speakers will also cover findings on the complexity and heterogeneity of older adults’ health in relation to care needs and use of medical and social resources, based on integrated information from the four SNAC studies. For a more complete picture, temporal trends of different health indicators will also be presented. Finally, findings from the Betula project will be presented; researchers have observed large heterogeneity in memory-aging profiles linked not only to genetic and lifestyle-related factors but also to specific brain characteristics that could be used as clinically relevant biomarkers. In conclusion, NEAR integrates rich medical and social data and brings together the scientific experience of its founders, providing unique opportunities to identify sustainable intervention strategies for better health and care for old people.
