Publications by authors named "Szofia S Bullain"

The oldest-old represent the fastest growing segment of society, and the risk of developing dementia continues to increase with advancing age into the 9th and 10th decades of life. The most common form of dementia in the oldest-old is Alzheimer disease (AD), although there are often mixed pathologies contributing to dementia in addition to amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. Diagnosing AD in the oldest-old is challenging due to cognitive and physical changes associated with aging.

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Introduction: We investigated the association between age of onset of hypertension and dementia risk in an oldest-old cohort.

Methods: Participants are from The 90+ Study, a population-based longitudinal study of people aged 90+ who are survivors from the Leisure World Cohort Study. We estimated hypertension onset age using self-reported information from The 90+ Study and Leisure World Cohort Study, collected about 20 years earlier.

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Objectives: To examine the longitudinal association between physical performance and risk of dementia in individuals aged 90 and older without dementia.

Design: Population-based longitudinal study.

Settings: The 90+ Study, Laguna Woods, California.

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Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the role of multiple pathologies in the expression of dementia in the oldest-old.

Methods: A total of 183 participants of The 90+ Study with longitudinal follow-up and autopsy were included in this clinical-pathologic investigation. Eight pathologic diagnoses (Alzheimer disease [AD], microinfarcts, hippocampal sclerosis, macroinfarcts, Lewy body disease, cerebral amyloid angiopathy, white matter disease, and others) were dichotomized.

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Purpose Of Review: This article discusses some of the unique features of dementia in the oldest old, including some of the most common diagnostic challenges, and potential strategies to overcome them.

Recent Findings: Advances include new insight into the role of common risk factors and the effects of multiple underlying neuropathologic features for dementia in the oldest old. In addition, this article contains the latest age-specific normative data for commonly used neuropsychological tests for the oldest old.

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Background: The goal of this study was to examine cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between cognitive performance and beta amyloid (Aβ) load determined by florbetapir F18 positron emission tomography (PET) in nondemented oldest-old.

Methods: Thirteen nondemented (normal or cognitively impaired nondemented) participants (median age, 94.2 years) from The 90+ Study underwent florbetapir-PET scanning within 3 months of baseline neuropsychological testing.

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Objective: To examine the cross-sectional relationship between physical performance and dementia in the oldest old (those ≥ 90 years of age).

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: The 90+ Study is a population-based, longitudinal, epidemiologic study of aging and dementia performed at the University of California, Irvine, from January 1, 2003, through November 30, 2009.

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Glioblastoma remains a significant therapeutic challenge, warranting further investigation of novel therapies. We describe an immunotherapeutic strategy to treat glioblastoma based on adoptive transfer of genetically modified T-lymphocytes (T cells) redirected to kill EGFRvIII expressing gliomas. We constructed a chimeric immune receptor (CIR) specific to EGFRvIII, (MR1-zeta).

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Object: Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is characterized by neovascularization, raising the question of whether angiogenic blockade may be a useful therapeutic strategy for this disease. It has been suggested, however, that, to be useful, angiogenic blockade must be persistent and at levels sufficient to overcome proangiogenic signals from tumor cells. In this report, the authors tested the hypothesis that sustained high concentrations of 2 different antiangiogenic proteins, delivered using a systemic gene therapy strategy, could inhibit the growth of established intracranial U87 human GBM xenografts in nude mice.

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Patients with disturbances in affect, behavior, and cognition present a variety of challenges to healthcare providers; their evaluation and treatment becomes especially problematic in the setting of speech and language difficulties. The authors present the case of a man who sustained a left-side cerebrovascular accident with aphasia and discuss the approach to his diagnosis and treatment. Moreover, since a variety of speech and language problems can arise after stroke and since patients and their treaters can become frustrated by impaired communication and diagnostic uncertainties, authors review the clinical manifestations, timing, and treatment of such conditions so that treatment can be improved.

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