Public Health.

Background: Individuals' attitudes toward research predict recruitment, engagement, and retention. The Research Attitudes Questionnaire (RAQ), developed to predict individuals' willingness to participate, is often used in AD research. It can be used to identify strategies to mitigate individuals' reluctance to engage in research.

Developing Topics.

Background: Blood tests for Alzheimer's disease (AD) that measure biomarkers could be useful as minimally-invasive ways to give patients more and earlier access to screening. While some AD biomarkers can be detected in plasma, they need to be more sensitive to make plasma AD tests more effective. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) in plasma carry AD-related biomarkers from the brain and could offer a concentrated source of brain-related biomarkers, but it is hard to isolate and analyze plasma EVs for clinical use.

Dementia Care Research and Psychosocial Factors.

Background: To promote caregiver health and reduce burden, the Savvy Caregiver Program (SCP), an evidence-based caregiving intervention, was adapted with a Native Hawaiian (NH) community in Hawai'i. The adaptation process occurred prior to pilot testing in two phases: 1) the preliminary adaptation by a community action board (CAB) and mentorship team and 2) pre-pilot testing and expert validation with NH adults. The preliminary adaptation, titled 'Auamo Kuleana O Nā Ma'i Poina ('Auamo Kuleana), aimed to include Hawaiian values, language, proverbs, and culturally relevant examples while maintaining the core components of the program.

Perceptions about preclinical Alzheimer's disease biomarker collection procedure influences willingness to participate: Findings from an ethnoracially diverse study.

Background: Past research suggests that ethnoracialized groups differ in their willingness to engage in preclinical Alzheimer's disease (AD) research overall. Studies indicated that participation willingness was affected by attitudes toward research and perceived invasiveness of biomarker collection techniques. However, comparative quantitative studies are few, and minoritized groups are under-included.

Development, Optimization, and Validation of a Quantitative PCR Assay for Detection in Tick, Wildlife, and Human Samples.

Tick-borne pathogens are growing in importance for human and veterinary research worldwide. We developed, optimized, and validated a reliable quantitative PCR (qPCR; real-time PCR) assay to assess Borrelia burgdorferi infection by targeting two B. burgdorferi genes, and .