Association of Subjective Cognitive Concerns With Performance on Mobile App-Based Cognitive Assessment in Cognitively Normal Older Adults: Observational Study.

Background: Subjective cognitive concerns (SCCs) may be among the earliest clinical symptoms of dementia. There is growing interest in applying a mobile app-based cognitive assessment to remotely screen for cognitive status in preclinical dementia, but the relationship between SCC and relevant mobile assessment metrics is uncertain.

Objective: This study aimed to characterize the relationship between SCC and adherence, satisfaction, and performance on mobile app assessments in cognitively unimpaired older adults.

Psychometric and adherence considerations for high-frequency, smartphone-based cognitive screening protocols in older adults.

Objective: The psychometric rigor of unsupervised, smartphone-based assessments and factors that impact remote protocol engagement is critical to evaluate prior to the use of such methods in clinical contexts. We evaluated the validity of a high-frequency, smartphone-based cognitive assessment protocol, including examining convergence and divergence with standard cognitive tests, and investigating factors that may impact adherence and performance (i.e.

APOE Genotype Disclosure Influences Decisions About Future Planning but not Adoption of Healthy Lifestyle Changes in Cognitively Unimpaired Individuals.

Background: Studies have shown apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotype disclosure to be safe and well-tolerated in cognitively unimpaired (CU) older adults. This study aimed to examine the effect of the disclosure process on decisions about future directives and health behaviors in community-dwelling CU older adults from the Butler Alzheimer's Prevention Registry (BAPR).

Methods: CU APOE E4 non-carriers (n = 106) and carriers (n = 80) aged 58-78 completed in-person psychological readiness screening to undergo APOE disclosure.

Digital phenotyping: An equal opportunity approach to reducing disparities in Alzheimer's disease and related dementia research.

A rapidly aging world population is fueling a concomitant increase in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and related dementias (ADRD). Scientific inquiry, however, has largely focused on White populations in Australia, the European Union, and North America. As such, there is an incomplete understanding of AD in other populations.

Related amyloid burden and cortical atrophy in individuals with subtle cognitive decline.

Background And Purpose: Subtle cognitive decline represents a stage of cognitive deterioration in which pathological biomarkers may be present, including early cortical atrophy and amyloid deposition. Using individual items from the Montreal Cognitive Assessment and k-modes cluster analysis, we previously identified three clusters of individuals without overt cognitive impairment: (1) High Performing (no deficits in performance), (2) Memory Deficits (lower memory performance), and (3) Compound Deficits (lower memory and executive function performance). In this study, we sought to understand the relationships found in our clusters between cortical atrophy on MR and amyloid burden on PET.

A case of Tn polyagglutination discovered by an ABO blood group discrepancy.

Background: Tn syndrome is an acquired form of polyagglutination arising from somatic mutations of hematopoietic stem cells. Tn red blood cells (RBCs) are agglutinable by naturally occurring anti-Tn antibodies in most adult sera. Current ABO typing reagents are monoclonal and do not detect polyagglutination on forward typing.

Using the Montreal cognitive assessment to identify individuals with subtle cognitive decline.

Objective: Dementia is a devastating neurological disease that may be better managed if diagnosed earlier when subclinical neurodegenerative changes are already present, including subtle cognitive decline and mild cognitive impairment. In this study, we used item-level performance on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) to identify individuals with subtle cognitive decline.

Method: Individual MoCA item data from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative was grouped using -modes cluster analysis.

A highly feasible, reliable, and fully remote protocol for mobile app-based cognitive assessment in cognitively healthy older adults.

Introduction: The early detection of cognitive impairment is one of the most important challenges in Alzheimer's disease (AD) research. The use of brief, short-term repeated test sessions via mobile app has demonstrated similar or better reliability and validity compared to standard in-clinic assessments in adult samples. The present study examined adherence, acceptability, and reliability for a remote, app-based cognitive screening protocol in healthy older adults.

Dissociating Statistically Determined Normal Cognitive Abilities and Mild Cognitive Impairment Subtypes with DCTclock.

Objective: To determine whether the DCTclock can detect differences across groups of patients seen in the memory clinic for suspected dementia.

Method: Patients ( = 123) were classified into the following groups: cognitively normal (CN), subtle cognitive impairment (SbCI), amnestic cognitive impairment (aMCI), and mixed/dysexecutive cognitive impairment (mx/dysMCI). Nine outcome variables included a combined command/copy total score and four command and four copy indices measuring drawing efficiency, simple/complex motor operations, information processing speed, and spatial reasoning.

A Neuropsychological Perspective on Defining Cognitive Impairment in the Clinical Study of Alzheimer's Disease: Towards a More Continuous Approach.

The global fight against Alzheimer's disease (AD) poses unique challenges for the field of neuropsychology. Along with the increased focus on early detection of AD pathophysiology, characterizing the earliest clinical stage of the disease has become a priority. We believe this is an important time for neuropsychology to consider how our approach to the characterization of cognitive impairment can be improved to detect subtle cognitive changes during early-stage AD.

OCTA reveals remodeling of the peripheral capillary free zones in normal aging.

The retinal neurovascular unit consists of blood vessel endothelial cells, pericytes, neurons, astrocytes, and Müller cells that form the inner retinal blood barrier. A peripheral capillary free zone (pCFZ) represents the distance that oxygen and nutrients must diffuse to reach the neural retina, and serves as a metric of retinal tissue oxygenation. The pCFZs are formed based on oxygen saturation in the retinal arterioles and venules.

Safety and Tolerability of APOE Genotyping and Disclosure in Cognitively Normal Volunteers From the Butler Alzheimer's Prevention Registry.

Aims: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a gradually progressive neurodegenerative disease that ultimately results in total loss of cognitive and functional independence in older adults. This study aimed to examine the safety and tolerability of disclosure in community-dwelling, cognitively normal (CN) older adults from the Butler Alzheimer's Prevention Registry (BAPR), and to determine whether disclosure impacted participant's decisions to participate in AD clinical research.

Methods: 186 (N = 106 ∊4 non-carriers, 80 ∊4 carriers) CN older adults aged 58-78 from the BAPR completed 2 visits: one for psychological readiness screening and genotyping and one for disclosure.

Depression screening in cognitively normal older adults: Measurement bias according to subjective memory decline, brain amyloid burden, cognitive function, and sex.

Introduction: Understanding the associations among depression, subjective cognitive decline, and prodromal Alzheimer's disease (AD) has important implications for both depression and dementia screening in older adults. The Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) is a depression screening tool for older adults that queries memory concerns. To determine whether depression symptoms on the GDS (15-item version), including self-reported memory problems, differ by levels of brain amyloid beta (Aβ), a pathological hallmark of early stage AD, we investigated potential measurement bias with regard to Aβ level.

Disruption of cholinergic neurotransmission, within a cognitive challenge paradigm, is indicative of Aβ-related cognitive impairment in preclinical Alzheimer's disease after a 27-month delay interval.

Background: Abnormal beta-amyloid (Aβ) is associated with deleterious changes in central cholinergic tone in the very early stages of Alzheimer's disease (AD), which may be unmasked by a cholinergic antagonist (J Prev Alzheimers Dis 1:1-4, 2017). Previously, we established the scopolamine challenge test (SCT) as a "cognitive stress test" screening measure to identify individuals at risk for AD (Alzheimer's & Dementia 10(2):262-7, 2014) (Neurobiol. Aging 36(10):2709-15, 2015).

Developing retinal biomarkers for the earliest stages of Alzheimer's disease: What we know, what we don't, and how to move forward.

The last decade has seen a substantial increase in research focused on the identification, development, and validation of diagnostic and prognostic retinal biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease (AD). Sensitive retinal biomarkers may be advantageous because they are cost and time efficient, non-invasive, and present a minimal degree of patient risk and a high degree of accessibility. Much of the work in this area thus far has focused on distinguishing between symptomatic AD and/or mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and cognitively normal older adults.

A Potential Association Between Retinal Changes, Subjective Memory Impairment, and Anxiety in Older Adults at Risk for Alzheimer's Disease: A 27-Month Pilot Study.

Introduction: The utility of subjective memory impairment (SMI) as a risk marker for preclinical Alzheimer's disease (AD) remains unclear; however, recent studies have identified a correlation between retinal biomarkers and onset of preclinical disease. This study examines the relationship between retinal biomarkers that have been associated with cerebral amyloid, an early hallmark of AD, and SMI scores in patients at risk for developing AD.

Methods: Forty-nine cognitively normal subjects were followed over 27 months and evaluated using a combination of neuropsychological, psychological, and retinal imaging instruments.

Affective differences in Iowa Gambling Task performance associated with sexual risk taking and substance use among HIV-positive and HIV-negative men who have sex with men.

We investigated the relationship between emotional distress and decision making in sexual risk and substance use behavior among 174 (ages 25 to 50 years, 53% black) men who have sex with men (MSM), a population at increased risk for HIV. The sample was stratified by HIV status. Measures of affective decision making, depression, anxiety, sex acts, and substance use during the past 60 days were collected at our research center.

G-protein-coupled estrogen receptor 1 is anatomically positioned to modulate synaptic plasticity in the mouse hippocampus.

Both estrous cycle and sex affect the numbers and types of neuronal and glial profiles containing the classical estrogen receptors α and β, and synaptic levels in the rodent dorsal hippocampus. Here, we examined whether the membrane estrogen receptor, G-protein-coupled estrogen receptor 1 (GPER1), is anatomically positioned in the dorsal hippocampus of mice to regulate synaptic plasticity. By light microscopy, GPER1-immunoreactivity (IR) was most noticeable in the pyramidal cell layer and interspersed interneurons, especially those in the hilus of the dentate gyrus.