Publications by authors named "Jeffery L Cummings"

Former American football players are at risk for developing traumatic encephalopathy syndrome (TES), the clinical disorder associated with neuropathologically diagnosed chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). The objective of this study was to determine whether hyposmia is present in traumatic encephalopathy syndrome. The study included 119 former professional American football players, 60 former college football players, and 58 same-age asymptomatic unexposed men from the DIAGNOSE CTE Research Project.

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Article Synopsis
  • Former football players are at risk for chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which can include parkinsonism as a clinical feature.
  • A study assessed 120 former professional and 58 college football players, comparing them to 60 similar-aged men without repetitive head impacts, to investigate rates of parkinsonism.
  • Results showed that 12.4% of football players met parkinsonism criteria, with a higher prevalence in professional players, but overall rates were low and inconclusive regarding the effects of football exposure on parkinsonism.
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To estimate regional Alzheimer disease (AD) pathology burden clinically, analysis methods that enable tracking brain amyloid or tau positron emission tomography (PET) with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measures are needed. We therefore developed a robust MRI analysis method to identify brain regions that correlate linearly with regional amyloid burden in congruent PET images. This method was designed to reduce data variance and improve the sensitivity of the detection of cortical thickness-amyloid correlation by using whole brain modeling, nonlinear image coregistration, and partial volume correction.

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Dementia-related psychosis (DRP) is prevalent across dementias and typically manifests as delusions and/or hallucinations. The mechanisms underlying psychosis in dementia are unknown; however, neurobiological and pharmacological evidence has implicated multiple signaling pathways and brain regions. Despite differences in dementia pathology, the neurobiology underlying psychosis appears to involve dysregulation of a cortical and limbic pathway involving serotonergic, gamma-aminobutyric acid ergic, glutamatergic, and dopaminergic signaling.

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Objective: This study examined the impact of age and apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotype on the rate of cognitive decline in nondemented elderly participants in a simulated Alzheimer's disease (AD) primary prevention treatment trial carried out by the Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study.

Method: Cognitive tests were administered at baseline and at four subsequent annual evaluations to 417 nondemented participants (172 men, 245 women) between the ages of 74 and 93 (M = 79.13 ± 3.

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Background: The Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) is commonly used in dementia trials to quantify and qualitate changes in psychiatric symptoms.

Methods: A questionnaire was administered to clinical trial raters to assess whether they were being trained to administer and score the NPI differently between clinical trial protocols.

Results: Responses to the survey indicated that there are differences between clinical trials protocols in how the instrument is administered and scored.

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