Early alterations of functional connectivity, regional brain volumes and astrocyte markers in the beta-sitosterol beta-d-glucoside (BSSG) rat model of parkinsonism.

The β-sitosterol-β-ᴅ-glucoside (BSSG) rat model of experimental parkinsonism develops pathological behaviour and motor changes that progress over time. The purpose of this study was to identify early changes in structure and function of the brain of rats treated with BSSG using both structural and resting-state functional MRI. BSSG and non-BSSG rats were fed five days a week for sixteen weeks, then underwent in vivo MRI scans and an assessment of motor performance 2 and 8 weeks later (18 and week 24 from BSSG).

Research Priorities for Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response: An Interdisciplinary Delphi Study.

Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) is a multisensory experience most often associated with feelings of relaxation and altered consciousness, elicited by stimuli which include whispering, repetitive movements, and close personal attention. Since 2015, ASMR research has grown rapidly, spanning disciplines from neuroscience to media studies but lacking a collaborative or interdisciplinary approach. To build a cohesive and connected structure for ASMR research moving forwards, a modified Delphi study was conducted with ASMR experts, practitioners, community members, and researchers from various disciplines.

Sample size estimates for biomarker-based outcome measures in clinical trials in autosomal dominant Alzheimer's disease.

Introduction: Alzheimer disease (AD)-modifying therapies are approved for treatment of early-symptomatic AD. Autosomal dominant AD (ADAD) provides a unique opportunity to test therapies in presymptomatic individuals.

Methods: Using data from the Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network (DIAN), sample sizes for clinical trials were estimated for various cognitive, imaging, and CSF outcomes.

Associations of life-course cardiovascular risk factors with late-life cerebral haemodynamics.

While the associations of mid-life cardiovascular risk factors with late-life white matter lesions (WMH) and cognitive decline have been established, the role of cerebral haemodynamics is unclear. We investigated the relation of late-life (69-71 years) arterial spin labelling (ASL) MRI-derived cerebral blood flow (CBF) with life-course cardiovascular risk factors (36-71 years) and late-life white matter hyperintensity (WMH) load in 282 cognitively healthy participants (52.8% female).

Association of Changes in Cerebral and Hypothalamic Structure With Sleep Dysfunction in Patients With Genetic Frontotemporal Dementia.

Background And Objectives: Sleep dysfunction is common in patients with neurodegenerative disorders; however, its neural underpinnings remain poorly characterized in genetic frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Hypothalamic nuclei important for sleep regulation may be related to this dysfunction. Thus, we examined changes in hypothalamic structure across the lifespan in patients with genetic FTD and whether these changes related to sleep dysfunction.

Spotting missing or wanted people: racial biases in prospective person memory.

Searching for missing or wanted people is a crucial task in our society. Previous work on prospective person memory (PPM) has demonstrated that performance on this type of search task is worse relative to standard prospective memory tasks. Importantly, this process may be further affected by the race of the missing person, yet this has never been tested in laboratory settings.

Overview of ADNI MRI.

The magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) Core has been operating since Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative's (ADNI) inception, providing 20 years of data including reliable, multi-platform standardized protocols, carefully curated image data, and quantitative measures provided by expert investigators. The overarching purposes of the MRI Core include: (1) optimizing and standardizing MRI acquisition methods, which have been adopted by many multicenter studies and trials worldwide and (2) providing curated images and numeric summary values from relevant MRI sequences/contrasts to the scientific community. Over time, ADNI MRI has become increasingly complex.

Sex-Dependent Effects of Cardiometabolic Health and on Brain Age: A Longitudinal Cohort Study.

Background And Objectives: The aging population is growing faster than all other demographic strata. With older age comes a greater risk of health conditions such as obesity and high blood pressure (BP). These cardiometabolic risk factors (CMRs) exhibit prominent sex differences in midlife and aging, yet their influence on brain health in females vs males is largely unexplored.

Graded Multidimensional Clinical and Radiologic Variation in Patients With Alzheimer Disease and Posterior Cortical Atrophy.

Background And Objectives: Alzheimer disease (AD) spans heterogeneous typical and atypical phenotypes. Posterior cortical atrophy (PCA) is a striking example, characterized by prominent impairment in visual and other posterior functions in contrast to typical, amnestic AD. The primary study objective was to establish how the similarities and differences of cognition and brain volumes within AD and PCA (and by extension other AD variants) can be conceptualized as systematic variations across a transdiagnostic, graded multidimensional space.

Investigating reliable amyloid accumulation in Centiloids: Results from the AMYPAD Prognostic and Natural History Study.

Introduction: To support clinical trial designs focused on early interventions, our study determined reliable early amyloid-β (Aβ) accumulation based on Centiloids (CL) in pre-dementia populations.

Methods: A total of 1032 participants from the Amyloid Imaging to Prevent Alzheimer's Disease-Prognostic and Natural History Study (AMYPAD-PNHS) and Insight46 who underwent [F]flutemetamol, [F]florbetaben or [F]florbetapir amyloid-PET were included. A normative strategy was used to define reliable accumulation by estimating the 95 percentile of longitudinal measurements in sub-populations (N = 101/750, N = 35/382) expected to remain stable over time.

Peripheral hearing loss at age 70 predicts brain atrophy and associated cognitive change.

Background: Hearing loss has been proposed as a modifiable risk factor for dementia. However, the relationship between hearing, neurodegeneration, and cognitive change, and the extent to which pathological processes such as Alzheimer's disease and cerebrovascular disease influence these relationships, is unclear.

Methods: Data from 287 adults born in the same week of 1946 who underwent baseline pure tone audiometry (mean age=70.

Distinct spatiotemporal atrophy patterns in corticobasal syndrome are associated with different underlying pathologies.

Objective: To identify imaging subtypes of the cortico-basal syndrome (CBS) based solely on a data-driven assessment of MRI atrophy patterns, and investigate whether these subtypes provide information on the underlying pathology.

Methods: We applied Subtype and Stage Inference (SuStaIn), a machine learning algorithm that identifies groups of individuals with distinct biomarker progression patterns, to a large cohort of 135 CBS cases (52 had a pathological or biomarker defined diagnosis) and 252 controls. The model was fit using volumetric features extracted from baseline T1-weighted MRI scans and validated using follow-up MRI.

Effect of a Multidisciplinary Review Panel on Daily Morphine Milligram Equivalents for Patients With Chronic Pain.

Introduction/objective: Physicians and other health care professionals are challenged regularly to balance managing pain for patients with chronic pain receiving chronic opioid therapy (COT) with following the national guidelines and standards regarding daily morphine milligram equivalents (MME). This quality improvement project aimed to determine the effect of referral to a multidisciplinary review panel on daily MME for patients receiving COT for chronic pain.

Methods: This quality improvement project included patients who had an established relationship with a primary care or community internal medicine clinician at a large health care organization and were referred to a newly created multidisciplinary review panel for their recommendations regarding treatment of pain.

Presenilin-1 mutation position influences amyloidosis, small vessel disease, and dementia with disease stage.

Introduction: Amyloidosis, including cerebral amyloid angiopathy, and markers of small vessel disease (SVD) vary across dominantly inherited Alzheimer's disease (DIAD) presenilin-1 (PSEN1) mutation carriers. We investigated how mutation position relative to codon 200 (pre-/postcodon 200) influences these pathologic features and dementia at different stages.

Methods: Individuals from families with known PSEN1 mutations (n = 393) underwent neuroimaging and clinical assessments.

A collaboration between adult protective services and forensic accounting examiners to investigate complex financial exploitation: formative evaluation findings.

Financial exploitation (FE) is one of the most common reports to Adult Protective Services (APS) and the cases are often complex. Consequently, APS caseworkers report FE investigations to be among the most difficult while simultaneously reporting low confidence in productive outcomes for these investigations. This necessitates finding ways to support APS FE investigations.

Investigating brain alterations in the Dp1Tyb mouse model of Down syndrome.

Down syndrome (DS) is one of the most common birth defects and the most prevalent genetic form of intellectual disability. DS arises from trisomy of chromosome 21, but its molecular and pathological consequences are not fully understood. In this study, we compared Dp1Tyb mice, a DS model, against their wild-type (WT) littermates of both sexes to investigate the impact of DS-related genetic abnormalities on the brain phenotype.

Updating the study protocol: Insight 46 - a longitudinal neuroscience sub-study of the MRC National Survey of Health and Development - phases 2 and 3.

Background: Although age is the biggest known risk factor for dementia, there remains uncertainty about other factors over the life course that contribute to a person's risk for cognitive decline later in life. Furthermore, the pathological processes leading to dementia are not fully understood. The main goals of Insight 46-a multi-phase longitudinal observational study-are to collect detailed cognitive, neurological, physical, cardiovascular, and sensory data; to combine those data with genetic and life-course information collected from the MRC National Survey of Health and Development (NSHD; 1946 British birth cohort); and thereby contribute to a better understanding of healthy ageing and dementia.

Rates of cortical thinning in Alzheimer's disease signature regions associate with vascular burden but not with β-amyloid status in cognitively normal adults at age 70.

Background: Consistent patterns of reduced cortical thickness have been identified in early Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, the pathological factors that influence rates of cortical thinning within these AD signature regions remain unclear.

Methods: Participants were from the Insight 46 substudy of the MRC National Survey of Health and Development (NSHD; 1946 British birth cohort), a prospective longitudinal cohort study.

Yes, No, Maybe So: The Effects of Relationship Status on Perceptions of Inferred Consent.

Despite the notion that sexual consent is either granted or refused, its communication can sometimes be ambiguous. This uncertainty stems from the tendency to rely on implicit, nonverbal cues to indicate consent. Without clear, explicit communication, people might be encouraged to rely upon contextual information when assessing whether a sexual encounter was consensual.