Elevated plasma p-tau231 is associated with reduced generalization and medial temporal lobe dynamic network flexibility among healthy older African Americans.

Background: Phosphorylated tau (p-tau) and amyloid beta (Aβ) in human plasma may provide an affordable and minimally invasive method to evaluate Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathophysiology. The medial temporal lobe (MTL) is susceptible to changes in structural integrity that are indicative of the disease progression. Among healthy adults, higher dynamic network flexibility within the MTL was shown to mediate better generalization of prior learning, a measure which has been demonstrated to predict cognitive decline and neural changes in preclinical AD longitudinally.

Higher Number of Children Is Associated With Increased Risk of Generalization Deficits in Older African American Women.

Objectives: The objectives of this project were to: (1) examine the relationship between the number of biological children and hippocampal-dependent cognitive performance among older African American women and (2) determine the influence of socioeconomic status (i.e., age, education, marital status, median household income), if any, on this relationship.

Obesity reduces hippocampal structure and function in older African Americans with the APOE-ε4 Alzheimer's disease risk allele.

Introduction: Excess body weight and Alzheimer's disease (AD) disproportionately affect older African Americans. While mid-life obesity increases risk for AD, few data exist on the relationship between late-life obesity and AD, or how obesity-based and genetic risk for AD interact. Although the APOE-ε4 allele confers a strong genetic risk for AD, it is unclear if late-life obesity poses a greater risk for APOE-ε4 carriers compared to non-carriers.