Irene Esteban-Cornejo

University of Granada | UGR · Insituto Mixto deporte y Salud (IMUDS)

Background and Aims Individuals with coronary artery disease have poorer mental health, health-related quality of life (HR-QoL), and cognition compared with (age-matched) controls. Exercise training may attenuate these effects. The aim is to systematically review and meta-analyse the effects of different exercise types and settings on brain structu...

Background Understanding the association of different fitness components with brain structure, and further, how possible fitness‐related brain associations relate to executive function is important for developing public health strategies to improve the health and wellbeing of elderly adults worldwide. Thus, we aimed to investigate the association o...

Background Amyloid β (Aβ) deposition in the brain is a pathological hallmark of Alzheimer's disease (AD). While immunoprecipitation‐mass spectrometry (IP‐MS) stands out as an accurate method for quantifying blood‐based Aβ peptides, its major limitations such as prolonged sample preparation, extensive analysis time, large specimen volume, and high c...

In the quest to combat Alzheimer’s disease (AD), physical exercise has emerged as one of the leading non‐pharmaceutical approaches to improve executive function and ameliorate cognitive decline. The limited understanding of the mechanisms by which exercise impacts cognition in late adulthood hinders the widespread use of exercise as a therapeutic o...

Regular exercise has been shown to have beneficial effects including reducing risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, it is unclear if exercise has direct effects on AD pathophysiology. To this end, several emerging initiatives have been established to investigate plasma biomarker changes in relation to exercise among older adults. Th...

There is a pressing need for accessible biomarkers with high diagnostic accuracy for Alzheimer's disease (AD) diagnosis to facilitate widespread screening, particularly in underserved groups. Saliva is an emerging specimen for measuring AD biomarkers, with distinct contexts of use that could complement blood and cerebrospinal fluid and detect vario...

INTRODUCTION: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a leading cause of disability worldwide. Alterations in cerebral blood flow (CBF) and AD blood biomarkers are fundamental at early stages of AD. Exercise shows promise in delaying physiological changes, but its mechanisms for enhancing brain health remains unclear. FlADex aims to examine the acute effects o...

Objective The objective of this paper is to quantify muscle load using Theraband elastic bands across seven resistance intensities. Methods Bands were profiled using a force sensor, standardized to 200 cm length, and manually stretched. Measurements for each band were twice recorded at 11 distances and converted to percentages for standardization....

Evidence suggests that stress levels are rising among children and adolescents in the last years. High levels of stress negatively influence the mental and physical health in youth. Physical activity (PA) levels seem to be inversely related to stress levels. However, evidence supporting the association of physical activity and stress levels is scar...

The aim of the study is to investigate the association of cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and muscular strength indicators with gray matter volume (GMV) and to study whether fitness‐related regions of GMV are associated to executive function (EF) in cognitively normal older adults. Ninety‐one cognitively normal older adults (71.69 ± 3.91 years; 57....

Introduction Patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) have a higher risk of developing cognitive impairment and mental health disorders compared to the general population. Physical exercise might improve their brain health. The overall goal of the HEART-BRAIN randomized controlled trial (RCT) is to investigate the effects of different types of e...

High-performance, resource-efficient methods for plasma amyloid-β (Aβ) quantification in Alzheimer’s disease are lacking; existing mass spectrometry-based assays are resource- and time-intensive. We developed a streamlined mass spectrometry method with a single immunoprecipitation step, an optimized buffer system, and ≤75% less antibody requirement...

Background: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is crucial for brain health, and exercise has been shown to boost its levels. However, the impact of exercise on BDNF on apparently healthy participants, studied exclusively through randomized controlled trials (RCTs), remains unclear. We conducted a systematic-review and multilevel meta-analyses...

Introduction Patients with coronary artery disease (CAD), also called coronary heart disease, have a higher risk of developing cognitive impairment and mental health disorders compared to the general population. There is a need to identify effective and sustainable strategies to improve brain health in individuals with CAD, in which physical exerci...

Background Overweight and obesity affect more than 18% of children and adolescents in the world. Obesity-related associations with brain morphology might be associated with reduced efficiency of inhibitory control. This association highlights a possible mechanism by which obesity impacts intelligence and academic achievement. Prior work indicates a...

Objective To examine the associations between muscular strength and mental health. Design We used baseline data of 91 cognitively healthy older adults (71.69 ± 3.91 years old, 57 % women) participating in the AGUEDA randomized controlled trial. Methods Muscular strength was assessed using both objective (i.e., handgrip strength, biceps curl, squa...

Preschool children spend a large part of their day at school, and a large part of that time they spend in sedentary time. Although sedentary time negatively affects regions of the brain responsible for cognition, it is believed that the type of sedentary time performed can favor executive functions' performance. The present study explored the assoc...

Background Emerging research supports the idea that physical activity benefits brain development. However, the body of evidence focused on understanding the effects of physical activity on white matter microstructure during childhood is still in its infancy, and further well-designed randomized clinical trials are needed. Aim This study aimed: (i)...

Background Amyloid beta (Aβ) is a protein associated with dementia‐related pathologies such Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). The accumulation of Aβ in the brain leads to neurodegeneration, cognitive decline, and motor impairment. Those factors might appear years before the onset of apparent symptoms. There is evidence for an association between gait perfo...

Background Amyloid‐beta (Aβ) plaques are considered the initiating pathological hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). While animal studies suggest that physical exercise may have the potential to clear Aβ, there is limited research on humans, particularly in relation to resistance exercise. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of a 2...

Background The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that, by 2050, the world’s population over the age of 65 will reach 71 million, and in turn, there is a clear trend of increasing numbers of older adults with some form of mental illness. Indeed, over 21% of older people are affected by mental disorders (e.g., depression or anxiety). Favorabl...

Purpose To compare the strength of associations between different indices of cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and brain health outcomes in children with overweight/obesity. Methods Participants were 100 children aged 8–11 years. CRF was assessed using treadmill exercise test (peak oxygen uptake [V̇O2peak], treadmill time, and V̇O2 at ventilatory th...

Background: The aims of this study were to investigate the association of early life factors, including birth weight, birth length, and breastfeeding practices, with structural brain networks; and to test whether structural brain networks associated with early life factors were also associated with academic performance in children with overweight/...

Background: Accumulation of amyloid-β (Aβ) plaques is one of the main features of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Physical performance has been related to dementia risk and Aβ, and it has been hypothesized as one of the mechanisms leading to greater accumulation of Aβ. Yet, no evidence synthesis has been performed in humans. Objective: To investigate...

Objectives To provide a comprehensive CERT (Consensus on Exercise Reporting Template)-based description of the resistance exercise program implemented in the AGUEDA (Active Gains in brain Using Exercise During Aging) study, a randomized controlled trial investigating the effects of a 24-week supervised resistance exercise program on executive funct...

Cardiorespiratory fitness is one of the most important markers of health. Several studies have demonstrated the relationship between cardiorespiratory fitness and brain functioning in healthy children. Some of these works suggested that cardiorespiratory fitness may have a protective role on the executive function, which represents a set of cogniti...

Objective: To investigate whether a 20-week aerobic and resistance exercise program induces changes in brain current density underlying working memory and inhibitory control in children with overweight/obesity. Methods: A total of 67 children (10.00 ± 1.10 years) were randomized into an exercise or control group. Electroencephalography (EEG)-bas...

We investigated the interaction between a genetic score and an exercise intervention on brain health in children with overweight/obesity. One hundred one children with overweight/obesity (10.0 ± 1.5 years, 59% girls) were randomized into a 20-week combined exercise intervention or a control group. Several cognitive and academic outcomes were measur...

Background: One of the pathological hallmarks distinguishing Alzheimer's disease from other dementias is the accumulation of amyloid beta (Aβ). Higher physical activity is associated with decreased dementia risk, and one potential path could be through Aβ levels modulation. We aimed to explore the relationship between physical activity and Aβ in m...

Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: Public grant(s) – National budget only. Main funding source(s): - HEARTY-BRAIN - Effects of Exercise on Brain in Patients with Coronary Heart Disease: The Heart-Brain Connection. Andalusian Plan for Research Development and Innovation (PAIDI). University of Granada. Funding: 116.000 €. PI: F. Ortega...

Alzheimer’s disease is currently the leading cause of dementia and one of the most expensive, lethal and severe diseases worldwide. Age-related decline in executive function is widespread and plays a key role in subsequent dementia risk. Physical exercise has been proposed as one of the leading non-pharmaceutical approaches to improve executive fun...

Muscular strength has been positively associated with better brain health indicators during childhood obesity. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the positive impact of muscular strength in brain health are poorly understood. We aimed to study the association of muscular strength with neurology‐related circulating proteins in plasma in ch...

The current study evaluated longitudinal associations between profile transitions of context-specific sedentary behaviour (SB) and changes in academic performance (AP) among school-aged youth. Participants were 466 children and 717 adolescents (50.8% males) aged 8-18 years (children = 7.92 ± 0.41 years; adolescents = 11.85 ± 1.53 years). Non-school...

The background of this study is to examine the associations of individual and combined early morning patterns (i.e., active commuting to school, physical activity before school, having breakfast and good sleep) with white matter microstructure (WMM) and, whether the associated white mater microstructure outcomes were related to mental health outcom...

Introduction The aims of this study were to examine cross-sectional, and longitudinal association of different measures of obesity and physical fitness with cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in adolescents with Down syndrome. Methods Longitudinal analysis included 90 adolescents with Down syndrome. Obesity and physical fitness were measure...

Background/Objectives: Cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) is inversely associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors and brain health impairments. However, the molecular mechanisms linking CRF to health in children are poorly understood. We aimed to examine protein levels related to brain health and CVD in plasma of fit compared to unfit c...

Objective We investigated the association of anthropometric neonatal data (birth length and birth weight) and breastfeeding practices (exclusive and any breastfeeding) with hippocampal functional connectivity and its academic implication in children with overweight/obesity. Methods Ninety six children with overweight/obesity aged 8–11 years (10.01...

Background Emerging research supports the idea that exercise positively affects neurodevelopment. However, the mechanisms linking exercise with brain health are largely unknown. We aimed to investigate the effect of exercise on (a) blood biomarkers selected based on previous evidence (brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), β-hydroxybutyrate (BHB...

Strong evidence supports physical activity and fitness levels being positively associated with cognitive performance and overall academic performance in youth. This also applies to sports participation. However, whether participation in sports at the elite level is associated with greater academic performance remains unknown. Thus, the present stud...

Objectives: To examine the association between physical activity, sedentary time, and physical fitness with the shapes of subcortical brain structures in children with overweight/obesity. Further, we analyzed whether differences in the shapes of subcortical brain structures were related to intelligence. We hypothesized that those children with hig...

Importance: Pediatric overweight and obesity are highly prevalent across the world, with implications for poorer cognitive and brain health. Exercise might potentially attenuate these adverse consequences. Objectives: To investigate the effects of an exercise program on brain health indicators, including intelligence, executive function, academi...

Background Physical fitness outcomes are considered major health biomarkers to assess and monitor exercise-based interventions across the lifespan. Recent studies provide evidence that many adult and childhood chronic diseases should have their origins in gestational or fetal life. To date, a few pioneering studies have showed associations between...

Background Emerging research supports that exercise positively affects neurodevelopment. However, the mechanisms linking exercise with brain health are largely unknown. We aimed to investigate the effect of exercise on (i) blood biomarkers selected based on previous evidence (brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), β-hydroxybutyrate (BHB), cathep...

Background This study examined the strength, shape and direction of associations of accelerometer-assessed overall, school- and non-school-based moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and sedentary time (ST) with BMI among adolescents across the world. Second, we examined whether these associations differed by study site and sex. Methods Cr...

Background: Depression and anxiety are the leading mental health problems worldwide; depression is ranked as the leading cause of global disability with anxiety disorders ranked sixth. Preventive strategies based on the identification of modifiable factors merit exploration. The aim of the present study was to investigate the associations of handg...

Approximately 4–11% of children suffer from sleep-disordered breathing (SDB), and children with obesity are at increased risk. Both obesity and SDB have been separately associated with poorer brain health, yet whether SDB severity affects brain health in children with obesity remains unanswered. This study aimed to examine associations of SDB sever...

Background: This study aimed to investigate the associations of grip strength with incidence and mortality from dementia and whether these associations differ by sociodemographic and lifestyle factors. Methods: A total of 466 788 participants of the UK Biobank (median age 56.5 years, 54.5% women). The outcome was all-cause dementia incidence and...

Introduction The objective of the present work is to investigate the prospective associations between physical fitness components (cardiorespiratory fitness, motor fitness, and muscular strength) and two domains of executive function, working memory, and inhibitory control, in adolescents. Methods A total of 422 Spanish adolescents (13.35 ± 1.54 y...

Objectives To investigate the effects of exercise on intelligence, executive functions, academic performance and brain outcomes in children with overweight/obesity. In secondary analyses, we explored potential mediators and moderators of the exercise effects. Methods A total of 109 children (8-11.9y) with overweight/obesity were randomized (intent...

Neurotrophic factors and cardiorespiratory fitness are both considered important in developmental trajectories but their link to brain health remains poorly understood. The aims of the study were to examine whether levels of plasma-derived neurotrophic factors were associated with brain health indicators in children with overweight or obesity; and...

Abstract: Lack of physical activity is a global public health problem causing not only morbidity and premature mortality, but it is also a major economic burden worldwide. One of the cornerstones of a physically active lifestyle is Motor Competence (MC). MC is a complex biocultural attribute and therefore, its study requires a multi-sectoral, multi...

Background Alzheimer’s disease is the main cause of dementia in the world. Particularly, amyloid beta (Aβ) plaques are the primary hallmarks of this disease. Previous research has shown that higher levels of physical activity might be associated with lower levels of Aβ accumulation. However, a synthesis of evidence is needed to confirm or refute th...

Background & aims Exposure to a suboptimal environment during the fetal and early infancy period’s results in long-term consequences for brain morphology and function. We investigated the associations of early life factors such as anthropometric neonatal data (i.e., birth length, birth weight and birth head circumference) and breastfeeding practice...

Abstract Background Most studies on the effects of sleep, sedentary behavior (SB), and physical activity (PA) on mental health did not account for the intrinsically compositional nature of the time spent in several behaviors. Thus, we examined the cross-sectional and prospective associations of device-measured compositional time in sleep, SB, light...

Background : Physical fitness and fatness converge simultaneously modulating cognitive skills, which in turn, are associated with children and adolescents’ socioeconomic background. However, both fitness components and fat mass localization are crucial for understanding its implication at the cognitive level. Objective : This study aimed to determi...

To examine the longitudinal relationships between objectively measured total volume and specific intensities of physical activity (PA) with academic performance in a large sample of youth aged 6‐18 years. A longitudinal study of 1046 youth (10.04 ± 3.10 years) from Spain were followed over 2 years. PA (volume and intensity) was measured by accelero...

The hippocampus is particularly susceptible to neurodegeneration. Physical activity, specifically increasing cardiorespiratory fitness via aerobic exercise, shows promise as a potential method for mitigating hippocampal decline in humans. Numerous studies have now investigated associations between the structure and function of the hippocampus and e...

El envejecimiento es un proceso natural asociado a un declive que repercute en un mayor riesgo de padecer discapacidad física y cognitiva, y/o afección emocional y social. En consecuencia, diversos estudios muestran los múltiples beneficios de los programas de entrenamiento multicomponente. Además, las directrices actuales amplían este enfoque haci...

A current challenge in breast cancer (BC) patients is how to reduce the side effects of cancer and cancer treatments and prevent a decrease in quality of life (QoL). Neurotoxic side effects, especially from chemotherapy, are present in up to 75% of women with BC, which implies a large impact on QoL. There is a special interest in the preventive pos...

Objective: We determined the representation of women in sport sciences research leadership by assessing the proportion of women in (i) leading authorship positions of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) published from January 2000 to September 2020 in sport sciences journals and (ii) editorial boards of these journals as of September 2020. Design:...

Preschool children spend a large part of their day at school, and a large part of that time they spend in sedentary behaviour (SB). Although SB negatively affects regions of the brain responsible for cognition, it is believed that the type of SB performed can favour executive functions' performance. The present study aimed to analyse the associatio...

Trajectories of physical activity and sedentary time (SED) may differ between subgroups of youth. The aim of this study was to identify group‐based dual trajectories of physical activity and SED and explore individual, social and environmental correlates of these trajectories. Longitudinal data (three time‐points, baseline 2011‐12) of Spanish youth...

Previous studies have observed a link between gender and well-being and health in young populations. The purpose of this research was twofold: (1) to analyse the cross-sectional relationship between gender status with well-being indicators and self-perceived health in adolescents at baseline and at 2-year follow-up and (2) to evaluate the prospecti...

This study examines trends in the rates of active commuting to school (ACS) in Spanish children (n=18,343; 8.93±1.68) and adolescents (n=18,438; 14.11±1.58) aged 6‐18 years from 2010 to 2017. Given the study period included the economic crisis in Spain (2008‐2013), the second aim of this study was to compare ACS rates during and after the economic...

Background Adolescence is a critical period for neurodevelopment, it is characterised by the establishment of behavioural patterns that can affect children’s physical, mental and cognitive health, both immediately and later in life. Objective The aim of the present research was to examine the association between adherence to the Mediterranean diet...

This study aimed to analyze the associations of activity‐rest pattern indicators with academic achievement, executive function, and intelligence and to explore whether these associations are mediated by the total gray matter volume among children with overweight/obesity. Ninety‐five children (10 ± 1 year, 37 girls) with overweight/obesity (based on...