Small vessel cerebrovascular disease is associated with cognition in prospective Alzheimer's clinical trial participants.

Background: Secondary prevention clinical trials for Alzheimer's disease (AD) target amyloid accumulation in asymptomatic, amyloid-positive individuals, but it is unclear to what extent other pathophysiological processes, such as small vessel cerebrovascular disease, account for participant performance on the primary cognitive outcomes in those trials. White matter hyperintensities are areas of increased signal on T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) that reflect small vessel cerebrovascular disease. They are associated with cognitive functioning in older adults and with clinical presentation and course of AD, particularly when distributed in posterior brain regions.

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Dementia Risk: Potential Pathways to Cognitive Decline.

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the far-reaching pandemic, has infected approximately 185 million of the world's population to date. After infection, certain groups, including older adults, men, and people of color, are more likely to have adverse medical outcomes. COVID-19 can affect multiple organ systems, even among asymptomatic/mild severity individuals, with progressively worse damage for those with higher severity infections.

Racioethnic Differences in Human Posterior Scleral and Optic Nerve Stump Deformation.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to quantify the biomechanical response of human posterior ocular tissues from donors of various racioethnic groups to better understand how differences in these properties may play a role in the racioethnic health disparities known to exist in glaucoma.

Methods: Sequential digital image correlation (S-DIC) was used to measure the pressure-induced surface deformations of 23 normal human posterior poles from three racioethnic groups: African descent (AD), European descent (ED), and Hispanic ethnicity (HIS). Regional in-plane principal strains were compared across three zones: the optic nerve stump (ONS), the peripapillary (PP) sclera, and non-PP sclera.

Sequential-digital image correlation for mapping human posterior sclera and optic nerve head deformation.

Optic nerve head (ONH) deformations may be involved in the onset or further development of glaucoma, including in patients with relatively normal intraocular pressures (IOPs). Characterizing posterior scleral deformations over physiological pressures may provide a better understanding of how changes in IOP lead to changes in the mechanical environment of the ONH and possibly retinal ganglion cell death. Pressure inflation measurement test protocols are commonly used to measure deformation of the peripapillary sclera with full-field noncontact optical methods.

In situ electrokinetic enhancement for self-assembled-monolayer-based electrochemical biosensing.

This study reports a multifunctional electrode approach which directly implements electrokinetic enhancement on a self-assembled-monolayer-based electrochemical sensor for point-of-care diagnostics. Using urinary tract infections as a model system, we demonstrate that electrokinetic enhancement, which involves in situ stirring and heating, can enhance the sensitivity of the strain specific 16S rRNA hybridization assay for 1 order of magnitude and accelerate the time-limiting incubation step with a 6-fold reduction in the incubation time. Since the same electrode platform is used for both electrochemical signal enhancement and electrochemical sensing, the multifunctional electrode approach provides a highly effective strategy toward fully integrated lab-on-a-chip systems for various biomedical applications.