The effect of long-term adherence to physical activity recommendations in midlife on plasma proteins associated with frailty in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study.

Clinical trials have shown favorable effects of exercise on frailty, supporting physical activity (PA) as a treatment and prevention strategy. Proteomics studies suggest that PA alters levels of many proteins, some of which may function as molecules in the biological processes underlying frailty. However, these studies have focused on structured exercise programs or cross-sectional PA-protein associations.

Evaluating Social Determinants of Health-Based Alternatives to Race-Based Cognitive Normative Models.

Background And Objectives: Race and ethnicity are proxy measures of sociocultural factors that influence cognitive test performance. Our objective was to compare different regression-based cognitive normative models adjusting for demographics and different combinations of easily accessible/commonly used social determinants of health (SDoH) factors, which may help describe cognitive performance variability historically captured by ethnoracial differences.

Methods: We performed cross-sectional analyses on data from Black and White participants without mild cognitive impairment/dementia in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study who attended visit 5 in 2011-2013.

Gerontologic Biostatistics and Data Science: Aging Research in the Era of Big Data.

Introduced in 2010, the subdiscipline of gerontologic biostatistics was conceptualized to address the specific challenges of analyzing data from clinical research studies involving older adults. Since then, the evolving technological landscape has led to a proliferation of advancements in biostatistics and other data sciences that have significantly influenced the practice of gerontologic research, including studies beyond the clinic. Data science is the field at the intersection of statistics and computer science, and although the term "data science" was not widely used in 2010, the field has quickly made palpable effects on gerontologic research.

Repeatability of 3D MR fingerprinting during scanner software upgrades.

Objective: This study aims to quantify the repeatability of a 3D Magnetic Resonance Fingerprinting (MRF) research protocol in the context of a scanner software upgrade. All of MRI assumes consistent hardware performance and raw data pre-processing on the acquisition side. Software upgrades can affect hardware specifications and reconstruction chain parameters.

Free-breathing qRF-MRF with pilot tone respiratory motion navigator for T, T, T*, and off-resonance mapping of the human body at 3 T.

Standard quantitative abdominal MRI techniques are time consuming, require breath-holds, and are susceptible to patient motion artifacts. Magnetic resonance fingerprinting (MRF) is naturally multi-parametric and quantifies multiple tissue properties, including T and T. This work includes T* and off-resonance mapping into a free-breathing MRF framework utilizing a pilot tone navigator.

Real-time automated quality control for quantitative MRI.

Objective: This work presents an automated quality control (QC) system within quantitative MRI (qMRI) workflows. By leveraging the ISMRM/NIST quantitative MRI system phantom, we establish an open-source pipeline for rapid, repeatable, and accurate validation and stability tracking of sequence quantification performance across diverse clinical settings.

Materials And Methods: A microservice-based QC system for automated vial segmentation from quantitative maps was developed and tested across various MRF acquisition and protocol designs, with reports generated and returned to the scanner in real time.

3D MR fingerprinting for dynamic contrast-enhanced imaging of whole mouse brain.

Purpose: Quantitative MRI enables direct quantification of contrast agent concentrations in contrast-enhanced scans. However, the lengthy scan times required by conventional methods are inadequate for tracking contrast agent transport dynamically in mouse brain. We developed a 3D MR fingerprinting (MRF) method for simultaneous T and T mapping across the whole mouse brain with 4.

Temporal maturation of Sertoli cells during the establishment of the cycle of the seminiferous epithelium†.

Sertoli cells, omnipresent, somatic cells within the seminiferous tubules of the mammalian testis are essential to male fertility. Sertoli cells maintain the integrity of the testicular microenvironment, regulate hormone synthesis, and of particular importance, synthesize the active derivative of vitamin A, all trans retinoic acid (atRA), which is required for germ cell differentiation and the commitment of male germ cells to meiosis. Stages VIII-IX, when atRA synthesis occurs in the testis, coincide with multiple germ cell development and testicular restructuring events that rely on Sertoli cell gene products to proceed normally.

Optimizing cutpoints for clinical interpretation of brain amyloid status using plasma p-tau217 immunoassays.

Introduction: We aimed to evaluate clinical interpretation cutpoints for two plasma phosphorylated tau (p-tau)217 assays (ALZpath and Lumipulse) as predictors of amyloid status for implementation in clinical practice.

Methods: Clinical performance of plasma p-tau217 against amyloid positron emission tomography status was evaluated in participants with mild cognitive impairment or mild dementia (n = 427).

Results: Using a one-cutpoint approach (negative/positive), neither assay achieved ≥ 90% in both sensitivity and specificity.

Associations of mid-to-late-life inflammation with late-life mobility and the influences of chronic comorbidities, race, and social determinants of health: The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study.

Background: Relationships of midlife inflammation with late-life mobility and influences of chronic health conditions, race, and social determinants of health (SDoH) on these relationships are poorly understood.

Methods: Among 4758 community-dwelling participants (41% men, 20% Black), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) was measured over 20+ years: in midlife at study visit 2 (V2: 1990-1992, 47-68 years); at V4 (1996-1998, 53-74 years); and with concurrent late-life 4-m gait speed at V5 (2011-2013, 67-88 years, mean 75 years). SDoH measures included race, the national-rank area deprivation index, education, and income.

Lung Function and Brain MRI Outcomes in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Neurocognitive Study.

Background: Brain imaging studies may provide etiologic insight into observed links between lung function and dementia and stroke.

Objective: We evaluated associations of lung function measures with brain MRI markers of vascular and neurodegenerative disease in the ARIC Neurocognitive Study, as few studies have examined the associations.

Methods: Lung function was measured at participants' midlife in 1990-1992 (mean age = 56±5 years) and later-life in 2011-2013 (mean age = 76±5 years), and brain MRI was performed in 2011-2013.

3D MR Fingerprinting for Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced Imaging of Whole Mouse Brain.

Purpose: Quantitative MRI enables direct quantification of contrast agent concentrations in contrast-enhanced scans. However, the lengthy scan times required by conventional methods are inadequate for tracking contrast agent transport dynamically in mouse brain. We developed a 3D MR fingerprinting (MRF) method for simultaneous T and T mapping across the whole mouse brain with 4.

Nursing student perceptions of racism and health disparities in the United States: A critical race theory perspective.

Background: Limited research has been done on nursing students' awareness of racial disparities and their readiness to address bias and racism in clinical practice.

Purpose: This study investigated nursing students' perceptions of how racial disparities affect health outcomes, including maternal outcomes, in the United States.

Methods: Interpretive description was used and supported by the critical race theory as a framework to guide the data collection, analysis, and interpretation to understand participants' perceptions surrounding racism and health disparities.

Maintenance of Normal Blood Pressure From Middle to Older Age: Results From the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study.

Background: It is unknown whether maintaining normal blood pressure (BP) from middle to older age is associated with improved health outcomes.

Methods: We estimated the proportion of Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study participants who maintained normal BP from 1987 to 1989 (visit 1) through 1996 to 1998 and 2011 to 2013 (over 4 and 5 visits, respectively). Normal BP was defined as systolic BP <120 mm Hg and diastolic BP <80 mm Hg, without antihypertensive medication.

Ankle-Brachial Index and Risk of Sudden Cardiac Death in the Community: The ARIC Study.

Background: Sudden cardiac death (SCD) is a significant global public health problem accounting for 15% to 20% of all deaths. A great majority of SCD is associated with coronary heart disease, which may first be detected at autopsy. The ankle-brachial index (ABI) is a simple, noninvasive measure of subclinical atherosclerosis.

Acute Medication Poisoning.

Poisoning is the leading cause of injury-related morbidity and mortality in the United States. The highest rates of exposure to poisons occur in children five years and younger, but opioid overdoses in young adults account for most deaths from poisonings in recent years. Intentional or accidental medication poisoning should be considered when evaluating patients with mental status changes, vital sign abnormalities, seizures, and gastrointestinal or cardiovascular problems.

Trajectory of Cognitive Function After Incident Heart Failure.

Background: The size/magnitude of cognitive changes after incident heart failure (HF) are unclear. We assessed whether incident HF is associated with changes in cognitive function after accounting for pre-HF cognitive trajectories and known determinants of cognition.

Methods: This pooled cohort study included adults without HF, stroke, or dementia from six US population-based cohort studies from 1971-2019: Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study, Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults Study, Cardiovascular Health Study, Framingham Offspring Study, Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, and Northern Manhattan Study.

Serum Proteomic Signatures of Common Health Outcomes among Older Adults.

Introduction: In aging populations, the coexistence of multiple health comorbidities represents a significant challenge for clinicians and researchers. Leveraging advances in omics techniques to characterize these health conditions may provide insight into disease pathogenesis as well as reveal biomarkers for monitoring, prognostication, and diagnosis. Researchers have previously established the utility of big data approaches with respect to comprehensive health outcome measurements in younger populations, identifying protein markers that may provide significant health information with a single blood sample.

Quantifying 3D MR fingerprinting (3D-MRF) reproducibility across subjects, sessions, and scanners automatically using MNI atlases.

Purpose: Quantitative MRI techniques such as MR fingerprinting (MRF) promise more objective and comparable measurements of tissue properties at the point-of-care than weighted imaging. However, few direct cross-modal comparisons of MRF's repeatability and reproducibility versus weighted acquisitions have been performed. This work proposes a novel fully automated pipeline for quantitatively comparing cross-modal imaging performance in vivo via atlas-based sampling.

Stereo-EEG-guided network modulation for psychiatric disorders: Interactive holographic planning.

Background: Connectomic modeling studies are expanding understanding of the brain networks that are modulated by deep brain stimulation (DBS) therapies. However, explicit integration of these modeling results into prospective neurosurgical planning is only beginning to evolve. One challenge of employing connectomic models in patient-specific surgical planning is the inherent 3D nature of the results, which can make clinically useful data integration and visualization difficult.

Global population profile of tropical cyclone exposure from 2002 to 2019.

Tropical cyclones have far-reaching impacts on livelihoods and population health that often persist years after the event. Characterizing the demographic and socioeconomic profile and the vulnerabilities of exposed populations is essential to assess health and other risks associated with future tropical cyclone events. Estimates of exposure to tropical cyclones are often regional rather than global and do not consider population vulnerabilities.

Self-calibrated subspace reconstruction for multidimensional MR fingerprinting for simultaneous relaxation and diffusion quantification.

Purpose: To propose a new reconstruction method for multidimensional MR fingerprinting (mdMRF) to address shading artifacts caused by physiological motion-induced measurement errors without navigating or gating.

Methods: The proposed method comprises two procedures: self-calibration and subspace reconstruction. The first procedure (self-calibration) applies temporally local matrix completion to reconstruct low-resolution images from a subset of under-sampled data extracted from the k-space center.