Publications by authors named "Mitzi M Gonzales"

Background: Individuals with adverse pregnancy outcomes have an increased risk of cerebrovascular disease, but the association between adverse pregnancy outcomes and cognitive impairment and dementia is less well established. We aimed to synthesise, combine, and assess the growing body of data examining the associations between adverse pregnancy outcomes and mild cognitive impairment and dementia in parous women.

Methods: In this systematic review and meta-analysis, we searched PubMed (MEDLINE), Web of Science, and Embase from database inception up to July 18, 2024, with no language restrictions, for observational studies or clinical trials that reported mild cognitive impairment or dementia as outcomes and included female individuals or women who had an adverse pregnancy outcome, including hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, gestational diabetes, stillbirth, fetal growth restriction, preterm birth, or placental abruption.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: We evaluated whether higher Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII) scores were associated with increased incidence of all-cause dementia and Alzheimer's disease (AD) dementia over 22.3 years of follow-up in the community-based Framingham Heart Study Offspring cohort.

Methods: One thousand four hundred eighty-seven participants (mean ± standard deviation, age in years 69 ± 6) completed food frequency questionnaires (FFQs) and had incident all-cause dementia and AD surveillance data available.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) have been associated with alterations in both oral and gut microbiomes. While extensive research has focused on the role of gut dysbiosis in ADRD, the contribution of the oral microbiome remains relatively understudied. Furthermore, the potential synergistic interactions between oral and gut microbiomes in ADRD pathology are largely unexplored.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • * A study with 20 early-stage PD patients revealed that better deep sleep and olfactory identification correlated with improved cognitive performance, while other sleep variables did not have significant associations.
  • * Participants with RBD showed notably worse cognition and did not achieve deep sleep, suggesting that addressing sleep quality, smell perception, and cognition together could help identify high-risk individuals for early interventions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Understanding early neuropathological changes and their associations with cognition may aid dementia prevention. This study investigated associations of cerebral amyloid and tau positron emission tomography (PET) retention with cognition in a predominately middle-aged community-based cohort and examined factors that may modify these relationships.

Methods: C-Pittsburgh compound B amyloid and F-flortaucipir tau PET imaging were performed.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Higher midlife physical activity engagement has been associated with lower dementia risk in late life. However, the underlying mechanisms contributing to the protective effect remain unclear.

Objective: The goal of the current study was to evaluate the associations of physical activity with cerebral amyloid-β (Aβ) and tau in a predominately middle-aged community-based cohort, as well as to explore whether the associations differ by sex or age.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Loneliness has been declared an "epidemic" associated with negative physical, mental, and cognitive health outcomes such as increased dementia risk. Less is known about the relationship between loneliness and advanced neuroimaging correlates of Alzheimer's disease (AD).

Objective: To assess whether loneliness was associated with advanced neuroimaging markers of AD using neuroimaging data from Framingham Heart Study (FHS) participants without dementia.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: While Latin America (LatAm) is facing an increasing burden of dementia due to the rapid aging of the population, it remains underrepresented in dementia research, diagnostics, and care.

Methods: In 2023, the Alzheimer's Association hosted its eighth satellite symposium in Mexico, highlighting emerging dementia research, priorities, and challenges within LatAm.

Results: Significant initiatives in the region, including intracountry support, showcased their efforts in fostering national and international collaborations; genetic studies unveiled the unique genetic admixture in LatAm; researchers conducting emerging clinical trials discussed ongoing culturally specific interventions; and the urgent need to harmonize practices and studies, improve diagnosis and care, and use affordable biomarkers in the region was highlighted.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background And Hypothesis: It remains unclear whether the relation of chronic kidney disease (CKD) with cognitive dysfunction is independent of blood pressure (BP). We evaluated kidney function in relation to premorbid BP measurements, cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD), and incident mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia in Framingham Offspring Cohort participants.

Methods: We included Framingham Offspring participants free of dementia, attending an examination during midlife (exam cycle 6, baseline) for ascertainment of kidney function status, with brain magnetic resonance imaging late in life (exam cycles 7-9), cognitive outcome data, and available interim hypertension and BP assessments.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Neurodegenerative pathologies such as Alzheimer disease neuropathologic change (ADNC), Lewy body disease (LBD), limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy neuropathologic change (LATE-NC), and cerebrovascular disease (CVD) frequently coexist, but little is known about the exact contribution of each pathology to cognitive decline and dementia in subjects with mixed pathologies. We explored the relative cognitive impact of concurrent common and rare neurodegenerative pathologies employing multivariate logistic regression analysis adjusted for age, gender, and level of education. We analyzed a cohort of 6,262 subjects from the National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center database, ranging from 0 to 6 comorbid neuropathologic findings per individual, where 95.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • - Senescent cells build up as we age and contribute to conditions like Alzheimer's disease, prompting trials for senolytics, which are drugs that target and remove these cells, but there's a lack of clear outcome metrics.
  • - A recent trial tested dasatinib and quercetin in Alzheimer's patients for 12 weeks, showing that the treatment was safe, with some changes in brain biomarkers for inflammation and Alzheimer's, though levels of key proteins (amyloid beta and tau) remained stable.
  • - Further analysis indicated some changes in inflammatory markers in blood and cerebrospinal fluid, along with slight changes in lipid profiles, and suggested the need for standardized measures and further validation in future studies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background And Objectives: Higher YKL-40 levels in the CSF are a known biomarker of brain inflammation. We explored the utility of plasma YKL-40 as a biomarker for accelerated brain aging and dementia risk.

Methods: We performed cross-sectional and prospective analyses of 4 community-based cohorts in the United States or Europe: the Age, Gene/Environment Susceptibility-Reykjavik Study, Atherosclerosis Risk in the Communities study, Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults study, and Framingham Heart Study (FHS).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to assess the feasibility and performance of the Dreem Headband for measuring sleep in individuals with Parkinson's disease, compared to standard polysomnography.
  • Ten participants with Parkinson's disease wore the headband for a night while undergoing polysomnography, with analyses focused on the accuracy of sleep metrics.
  • Results indicated that while the headband overestimated several sleep metrics, it still offered sufficient accuracy across different sleep stages and could improve access to sleep assessments for Parkinson's patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) has been linked to multiple pathophysiological processes that could increase risk for Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD). However, the impact of prior TBI on blood biomarkers for ADRD remains unknown.

Objective: Using cross-sectional data, we assessed whether a history of TBI influences serum biomarkers in a diverse cohort (approximately 50% Hispanic) with normal cognition, mild cognitive impairment, or dementia.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) involve biological processes that begin years to decades before onset of clinical symptoms. The plasma proteome can offer insight into brain aging and risk of incident dementia among cognitively healthy adults.

Objective: To identify biomarkers and biological pathways associated with neuroimaging measures and incident dementia in two large community-based cohorts by applying a correlation-based network analysis to the plasma proteome.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background And Objectives: Elevations in circulating glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), a putative marker of reactive astrocytosis, have been found to associate with cognitive decline and dementia status. Further validation in diverse cohorts and evaluation of potential health disparities are necessary for broader generalization. The goal of this study was to examine the associations between demographics, cardiovascular risk factors, and APOE ε4 status with serum GFAP levels among Mexican American and non-Hispanic White older adults across the continuum from cognitively unimpaired to Alzheimer disease dementia.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) visible perivascular spaces (PVS) are associated with the risk of incident dementia but their association with the early stages of cognitive impairment remains equivocal.

Objective: We examined the association between MRI visible PVS and the risk of incident mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in the community-based Framingham Heart Study (FHS).

Methods: FHS participants aged at least 50 years free of stroke, cognitive impairment, and dementia at the time of MRI were included.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Preclinical studies highlight the importance of endogenous cannabinoids (endocannabinoids; eCBs) in neurodegeneration. Yet, prior observational studies focused on limited outcome measures and assessed only few eCB compounds while largely ignoring the complexity of the eCB system. We examined the associations of multiple circulating eCBs and eCB-like molecules with early markers of neurodegeneration and neuro-injury and tested for effect modification by sex.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Cellular senescence contributes to Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathogenesis. An open-label, proof-of-concept, phase I clinical trial of orally delivered senolytic therapy, dasatinib (D) and quercetin (Q), was conducted in early-stage symptomatic patients with AD to assess central nervous system (CNS) penetrance, safety, feasibility and efficacy. Five participants (mean age = 76 + 5 years; 40% female) completed the 12-week pilot study.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII), has been specifically designed to capture the inflammatory content of diet and has shown association with neurodegenerative disease related outcomes. But literature is limited on the role of diet-driven inflammation measured by the DII on incident all-cause dementia and Alzheimer's disease dementia (AD).

Objective: We evaluated whether higher DII scores were associated with increased incidence of all-cause dementia and AD over 22.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: To calibrate cognitive assessment data across multiple waves of the Framingham Heart Study (FHS), addressing study design considerations, ceiling effects, and measurement precision.

Method: FHS participants completed several cognitive assessments including screening instruments and more comprehensive batteries at different study visits. We used expert opinion to assign each cognitive test item to a single domain-memory, executive function, language, visuospatial abilities, or none of the above.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Cellular senescence has been identified as a pathological mechanism linked to tau and amyloid beta (Aβ) accumulation in mouse models of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Clearance of senescent cells using the senolytic compounds dasatinib (D) and quercetin (Q) reduced neuropathological burden and improved clinically relevant outcomes in the mice. Herein, we conducted a vanguard open-label clinical trial of senolytic therapy for AD with the primary aim of evaluating central nervous system (CNS) penetrance, as well as exploratory data collection relevant to safety, feasibility, and efficacy.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Alzheimer's disease neuropathologic change (ADNC) is defined by the progression of both hyperphosphorylated-tau (p-tau) and amyloid-β (Aβ) and is the most common underlying cause of dementia worldwide. Primary age-related tauopathy (PART), an Aβ-negative tauopathy largely confined to the medial temporal lobe, is increasingly being recognized as an entity separate from ADNC with diverging clinical, genetic, neuroanatomic, and radiologic profiles.

Objective: The specific clinical correlates of PART are largely unknown; we aimed to identify cognitive and neuropsychological differences between PART, ADNC, and subjects with no tauopathy (NT).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Apathy is among the neuropsychiatric symptoms frequently observed in people with cognitive impairment. It has been postulated to be a potential predictor of conversion from mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to Alzheimer's disease (AD).

Objective: To detect conversion rates from MCI to AD, and to determine the effect of apathy on the progression to AD in patients with MCI enrolled in the Texas Alzheimer's Research and Care Consortium (TARCC) cohort.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF