Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Visual Attention And Emotion Regulation In Schizophrenia, Bern Lee

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Emotion regulation and emotion processing deficits cut across the varying symptom presentations of schizophrenia. Emotion processing deficits are inadequately treated by pharmacologic interventions and are related to real-world functional impact and disability. This study investigated behavioral and psychophysiological responses to a series of emotion regulation tasks while concurrently collecting eye tracking data as an index of visual attention. A brief neurocognitive assessment was also completed in order to examine potential cognitive determinants of emotion. Participants completed tasks designed to assess cognitive change and directed attention strategies for down-regulation of unpleasant and pleasant emotion. For each of our two unpleasant emotion …

Sex Differences In Cognitive Changes In De Novo Parkinson’S Disease, Ece Bayram, Sarah J. Banks, Guogen Shan, Nikki Kaplan, Jessica Z.K. Caldwell

Environmental & Occupational Health Faculty Publications

Objective: To evaluate the sex differences in cognitive course over 4 years in Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients with and without mild cognitive impairment (MCI) compared to controls. Methods: Four-year longitudinal cognitive scores of 257 cognitively intact PD, 167 PD-MCI, and 140 controls from the Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative were included. Longitudinal scores of men and women, and PD with and without MCI were compared. Results: Women had better verbal memory, men had better visuospatial function. There was no interaction between sex, diagnostic group, and/or time (4-year follow-up period). Conclusions: Sex differences in cognitive course in de novo PD are similar …

The Role Of Gamma Oscillations And Cortical Inhibition In The Development Of Working Memory In Adolescence, Christopher P. Walker

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

Adolescence is a dynamic period of social, cognitive, and biological changes. In particular, working memory, the ability to actively encode and maintain information over a short period of time, develops early in childhood and gradually increases in capacity and stability during adolescence. The precise neurophysiological mechanism by which working memory capacity increases during adolescence is unclear. The objective of this investigation was to evaluate the role of cortical gamma-band (> 30 Hz) oscillations—which are associated with working memory in adults—for the development of working memory capacity in adolescents, and to identify the extent to which the temporal profile of gamma-aminobutyric …

Chronic Maternal Depressive Symptoms Are Associated With Reduced Socio-Emotional Development In Children At 2 Years Of Age: Analysis Of Data From An Intervention Cohort In Rural Pakistan, Clariana V R. De Oliveira, Muneera Rasheed, Aisha K. Yousafzai

Department of Paediatrics and Child Health

Background: Maternal depression affects a high proportion of women during the antenatal and postnatal period in low- and middle-income countries. While maternal depression is recognized as a significant risk for poor early child development that warrants interventions, the effects of chronic maternal depression on children's development are less understood.
Objective: To determine the association of chronicity of maternal depressive symptoms and early child development in a rural population in southern Pakistan.
Materials and Methods: This study employs data from the "Pakistan Early Child Development Scale-Up Trial," a randomized controlled study that evaluated the integration of responsive stimulation and nutrition interventions …

The Effects Of Long-Term Benzodiazepine Use And Withdrawal In The Elderly, Lydia Suchecki, Hannah Granger, Jamie Kellner, Mary Ellen Hethcox

Pharmacy and Wellness Review

Benzodiazepines remain a commonly prescribed medication in the United States, and the high usage of this drug class is especially a concern in the elderly population for several reasons. First, elderly patients metabolize drugs differently, leading to varying responses. Age-related changes also have a significant impact on the effects of benzodiazepines. Second, elderly patients are more likely to be taking multiple centrally-acting drugs, which can further exacerbate negative effects. In regard to long-term benzodiazepine use, elderly patients experience an increased risk of cognitive impairment, motor vehicle accidents, decline in physical performance, falls and subsequent fractures, and sleep disturbances. Withdrawal is …

Effects Of Acute Physical Activity On Nih Toolbox-Measured Cognitive Functions Among Children In Authentic Education Settings, H. G. Calvert, J. M. Barcelona, D. Melville, L. Turner

University Author Recognition Bibliography: 2019

Introduction: Identifying a dose of physical activity (PA) that can improve cognitive function in children has important implications for school-day PA recommendations. Researchers and educators have interest in this link as it relates to both health and academic performance. This study examined the dose-response relationship between PA and improvement in cognition in a sample of fifth and sixth grade students.

Methods: Participants (n = 156) from eight classes each completed two of four different cognitive assessments on an iPad, both before and after exposure to one of four randomized, 10-min PA conditions (sedentary, light, moderate, and vigorous). Conditions …

Amantadine Minimally Improves Arousal In Patients With Severe Traumatic Brain Injury, Michelle Eventov

Clinical Research in Practice: The Journal of Team Hippocrates

A critical appraisal and clinical application of Giacino JT, Whyte J, Bagiella E, et al. Placebo-Controlled Trial of Amantadine for Severe Traumatic Brain Injury. New England Journal of Medicine. 2012;366(9):819-826. doi: 10.1056/nejmoa1102609.

Exercising Choice And Control: A Qualitative Meta-Synthesis Of Perspectives Of People With A Spinal Cord Injury, Carolyn M. Murray, Gisela Van Kessel, Michelle Guerin, Susan Hillier, Mandy Stanley

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

OBJECTIVE: To systematically search the literature and construct a meta-synthesis of how choice and control are perceived by people with spinal cord injury (SCI).

DATA SOURCES: Medline, Academic Search Premier, CINAHL, Cochrane, EMBASE, HealthSource, ProQuest, PsychInfo, SAGE, and SCOPUS were searched from 1980 until September 2018 including all languages. Reference lists of selected studies were also reviewed.

STUDY SELECTION: Eligible qualitative studies included perspectives about choice of control as reported by people with an SCI. Studies were excluded if they included perspectives from other stakeholder groups. A total of 6706 studies were screened for title and abstract and full text …

Assessing General Cognitive And Adaptive Abilities In Adults With Down Syndrome: A Systematic Review, Sarah Hamburg, Bryony Lowe, Carla Marie Startin, Concepcion Padilla, Antonia Coppus, Wayne Silverman, Juan Fortea, Shahid Zaman, Elizabeth Head, Benjamin L. Handen, Ira Lott, Weihong Song, André Strydom

Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Measures of general cognitive and adaptive ability in adults with Down syndrome (DS) used by previous studies vary substantially. This review summarises the different ability measures used previously, focusing on tests of intelligence quotient (IQ) and adaptive behaviour (AB), and where possible examines floor effects and differences between DS subpopulations. We aimed to use information regarding existing measures to provide recommendations for individual researchers and the DS research community.

RESULTS: Nineteen studies reporting IQ test data met inclusion for this review, with 17 different IQ tests used. Twelve of these IQ tests were used in only one study while …

Brain Activity Associated With Dual-Task Performance Of Ankle Motor Control During Cognitive Challenge., Sue Peters, Janice J Eng, Teresa Liu-Ambrose, Michael R Borich, Elizabeth Dao, Ameen Amanian, Lara A Boyd

Physical Therapy Publications

INTRODUCTION: Skilled Ankle motor control is frequently required while performing secondary cognitively demanding tasks such as socializing and avoiding obstacles while walking, termed "Dual tasking." It is likely that Dual-task performance increases demand on the brain, as both motor and cognitive systems require neural resources. The purpose of this study was to use functional MRI to understand which brain regions are involved in resolving Dual-task interference created by requiring high levels of Ankle motor control during a cognitive task.

METHODS: Using functional MRI, brain activity was measured in sixteen young adults during performance of visually cued Ankle plantar flexion to …

Comorbid Symptom Treatment In Parkinson’S Disease Using Neurofeedback, Joanne Mcfarland O'Rourke

Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to determine the impact of neurofeedback (NFB) on Parkinson’s symptoms that patients identify as priorities. First, a focus group of patients helped identify priority symptoms, then a pilot study tested protocols resulting from the focus group, and finally, an intervention study using a single subject design was conducted.

In the focus group, tremor and activity planning were identified as issues affecting every group member. The pilot study was conducted with three mid-stage Parkinson’s patients, who received a sensory motor (SM) protocol to address tremor, a SM plus cognition protocol (SM+Cog) for tremor and planning …

Across Continents And Demographics, Unpredictable Maternal Signals Are Associated With Children's Cognitive Function, Elyssia Poggi Davis, Riikka Korja, Linnea Karlsson, Laura Glynn, Curt A. Sandman, Brian Vegetabile, Eeva-Leena Kataja, Saara Nolvi, Eija Sinervä, Juho Pelto, Hasse Karlsson, Hal S. Stern, Tallie Z. Baram

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Background

Early life experiences have persisting influence on brain function throughout life. Maternal signals constitute a primary source of early life experiences, and their quantity and quality during sensitive developmental periods exert enduring effects on cognitive function and emotional and social behaviors. Here we examined if, in addition to established qualitative dimensions of maternal behavior during her interactions with her infant and child, patterns of maternal signals may contribute to the maturation of children's executive functions. We focused primarily on effortful control, a potent predictor of mental health outcomes later in life.

Methods

In two independent prospective cohorts in Turku, …

White Matter Hyperintensity Regression: Comparison Of Brain Atrophy And Cognitive Profiles With Progression And Stable Groups, Omar M. Al-Janabi, Christopher E. Bauer, Larry B. Goldstein, Richard R. Murphy, Ahmed A. Bahrani, Charles D. Smith, Donna M. Wilcock, Brian T. Gold, Gregory A. Jicha

Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Faculty Publications

Subcortical white matter hyperintensities (WMHs) in the aging population frequently represent vascular injury that may lead to cognitive impairment. WMH progression is well described, but the factors underlying WMH regression remain poorly understood. A sample of 351 participants from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative 2 (ADNI2) was explored who had WMH volumetric quantification, structural brain measures, and cognitive measures (memory and executive function) at baseline and after approximately 2 years. Selected participants were categorized into three groups based on WMH change over time, including those that demonstrated regression (n = 96; 25.5%), stability (n = 72; 19.1%), and …

The Impact Of Cognitive Functioning On Daily Occupations For People With Multiple Sclerosis: A Qualitative Study, Aoife Mc Auliffe, Sinéad M. Hynes

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

Background: Cognitive rehabilitation research in multiple sclerosis is ever-developing, but the impact of cognitive difficulties, seen in 40% to 80% of people, on daily occupations is not well known. The aim of this study is to explore the needs of people with MS who have self-reported cognitive deficits.

Methods: An exploratory qualitative descriptive research design was used. Data was collected through semi-structured telephone interviews with the participants. Recordings were transcribed and analyzed thematically.

Results: Seven participants were recruited (mean age 47). Three themes were developed through associations found in the data. “Neglected symptom” reported the participants’ frustrations …

Home-Based Cognitive Monitoring: The Role Of Personality And Predictors Of Adherence And Satisfaction, Nasreen A. Sadeq

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Over the last several decades, a growing awareness of the benefits of regular screening for common health conditions, such as cancer and cardiovascular diseases, has paved the way for preventative screenings to become routine in medical settings. Given that cognitive impairment is frequently reported as the number one worry of older adults, home-based cognitive monitoring may be an innovative solution that allows middle aged and older adults to take an active role in monitoring an important aspect of their health. Although several home-based cognitive monitoring programs have been validated for use in clinical and home-based settings, the Cogstate Brief Battery …

Neurocognitive Basis Of Repetition Deficits In Primary Progressive Aphasia, Sladjana Lukic, Maria Luisa Mandelli, Ariane Welch, Kesshi Jordan, Wendy Shwe, John Neuhaus, Zachary Miller, H. Isabel Hubbard, Maya Henry, Bruce L. Miller, Nina F. Dronkers, Maria Luisa Gorno-Tempini

Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Publications

Previous studies indicate that repetition is affected in primary progressive aphasia (PPA), particularly in the logopenic variant, due to limited auditory-verbal short-term memory (avSTM). We tested repetition of phrases varied by length (short, long) and meaning (meaningful, non-meaningful) in 58 participants (22 logopenic, 19 nonfluent, and 17 semantic variants) and 21 healthy controls using a modified Bayles repetition test. We evaluated the relation between cortical thickness and repetition performance and whether sub-scores could discriminate PPA variants.

Logopenic participants showed impaired repetition across all phrases, specifically in repeating long phrases and any phrases that were non-meaningful. Nonfluent, semantic, and healthy control …

Dual Task Effects On Story Retell For Participants With Moderate, Mild, Or No Aphasia: Quantitative And Qualitative Findings, Tyson G. Harmon, Adam Jacks, Katarina L. Haley, Antoine Bailliard

Faculty Publications

Purpose: To determine dual task effects on content accuracy, delivery speed, and perceived effort during narrative discourse in people with moderate, mild, or no aphasia and to explore subjective reactions to retelling a story with a concurrent task.

Method: Two studies (one quantitative and one qualitative) were conducted. In study 1, participants with mild or moderate aphasia and neurotypical controls retold short stories in isolation and while simultaneously distinguishing between high and low tones. Story retell accuracy (speech productivity and efficiency), speed (speech rate, repetitions, and pauses), and perceived effort were measured and compared. In study 2, participants completed semi-structured …

Effect Of Learning To Use A Mobility Aid On Gait And Cognitive Demands In People With Mild To Moderate Alzheimer's Disease: Part I - Cane, Susan W. Hunter, Alison Divine, Humberto Omana, Walter Wittich, Keith D Hill, Andrew M Johnson, Jeffrey D Holmes

Physical Therapy Publications

BACKGROUND: People with Alzheimer's disease (AD) exhibit balance and walking impairments that increase falls risk. Prescription of a mobility aid is done to improve stability, yet also requires increased cognitive resources. Single-point canes require unique motor sequencing for safe use. The effect of learning to use a single-point cane has not been evaluated in people with AD.

OBJECTIVES: In people with AD and healthy adult controls: 1) examine changes in gait while using a cane under various walking conditions; and 2) determine the cognitive and gait costs associated with concurrent cane walking while multi-tasking.

METHODS: Seventeen participants with AD (age …

Repetitive Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Impairs Performance In A Rodent Assay Of Cognitive Flexibility, Christopher P. Knapp, Doug P. Fox, Ramesh Raghupathi, Laura L. Giacometti, Stan B. Floresco, Barry D. Waterhouse, Rachel L. Navarra

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) occurs in almost 80% of the 3 million reported cases of TBI-related emergency department visits each year in the United States. The majority of mTBIs, sometimes classified as concussions, are due to sports-related activities and typically occur repeatedly over the course of an athlete’s career. mTBI symptoms are generally classified as either somatic or neuropsychiatric/cognitive in nature and include impairments in prefrontal cortex mediated functions, including attention, memory, processing speed, reaction times, problem solving, and cognitive flexibility. To date, there remains a major gap in our understanding of the behavioral manifestations, underlying neurobiology, and treatment …

Sex-Related Differences In Perception And Discrimination Of Different Speakers: An Analysis Of The Auditory Dorsal Stream Via Eeg, David Thornton

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Growing evidence that speech perception tasks elicit sensorimotor activity, and that this activity varies due to context, sex, cognitive load, and cognitive ability. However, it is unknown as to whether the sex of the speaker and demands of the task differentially effect males and females during speech perception tasks. This study investigated whether speaker sex and task demands (i.e. passive listening or active discrimination) influence sensorimotor and auditory cortical activity in males and females differently. Raw EEG data were collected from 27 males and 29 females during passive listening to, and discrimination of /ba/ and /da/ syllable pairs spoken by …

Functional Network Resilience To Pathology In Presymptomatic Genetic Frontotemporal Dementia, Timothy Rittman, Robin Borchert, Simon Jones, John Van Swieten, Barbara Borroni, Daniela Galimberti, Mario Masellis, Maria Carmela Tartaglia, Caroline Graff, Fabrizio Tagliavini, Giovanni B. Frisoni, Robert Laforce, Elizabeth Finger, Alexandre Mendonça, Sandro Sorbi, Jonathan D. Rohrer, James B. Rowe, Sónia Afonso, Maria Rosario Almeida, Sarah Anderl-Straub, Christin Andersson, Anna Antonell, Silvana Archetti, Andrea Arighi, Mircea Balasa, Myriam Barandiaran, Nuria Bargalló, Robart Bartha, Benjamin Bender, Luisa Benussi, Valentina Bessi, Giuliano Binetti

Medical Biophysics Publications

© 2019 The Authors The presymptomatic phase of neurodegenerative diseases are characterized by structural brain changes without significant clinical features. We set out to investigate the contribution of functional network resilience to preserved cognition in presymptomatic genetic frontotemporal dementia. We studied 172 people from families carrying genetic abnormalities in C9orf72, MAPT, or PGRN. Networks were extracted from functional MRI data and assessed using graph theoretical analysis. We found that despite loss of both brain volume and functional connections, there is maintenance of an efficient topological organization of the brain's functional network in the years leading up to the estimated age …

Executive Function And Motor Skills In Preschool Children, Meggin Kelley

Undergraduate Distinction Papers

The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of a short-term motor program on the executive function and motor skills in preschool children utilizing a Pretest and Post test design. The present study was designed with two periods of program intervention- once in the fall and once in the spring. It was hypothesized that a 10-week motor intervention would demonstrate positive motor and executive function gains in the experimental (motor) group. Children ranging from 4 to 6 years of age participated in this study. Baseline motor and executive function scores were obtained during the Pretest phase. Subsequently, …

The Role Of Motivation And Cognition In Adults With Schizophrenia, Jaime Willard, Evangeline Abraham

Thinking Matters Symposium Archive

Our work is based around the holistic nature of the field of occupational therapy. This evidence-based project initially began, at the request of our community partner, with the intention of finding one or more assessments that may help identify the cause of a lack of motivation among group home residents at Tri County Mental Health in Lewiston, ME who suffer from schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a chronic and severe mental illness that is now diagnosed as a spectrum disorder. It is characterized by distortions in the perception of reality and impairments in cognition and motivation. Schizophrenia can be categorized into three …

Rationale And Methods For A Multicenter Clinical Trial Assessing Exercise And Intensive Vascular Risk Reduction In Preventing Dementia (Rrad Study), Amanda N. Szabo-Reed, Eric Vidoni, Ellen F. Binder, Jeffrey Burns, C. Munro Cullum, William P. Gahan, Aditi Gupta, Linda S. Hynan, Diana R. Kerwin, Heidi Rossetti, Ann M. Stowe, Wanpen Vongpatanasin, David C. Zhu, Rong Zhang, Jeffrey N. Keller

Neurology Faculty Publications

Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is an age-related disease with modifiable risk factors such as hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, obesity, and physical inactivity influencing the onset and progression. There is however, no direct evidence that reducing these risk factors prevents or slows AD. The Risk Reduction for Alzheimer's Disease (rrAD) trial is designed to study the independent and combined effects of intensive pharmacological control of blood pressure and cholesterol and exercise training on neurocognitive function. Six hundred and forty cognitively normal older adults age 60 to 85 years with hypertension and increased risk for dementia will be enrolled. Participants are randomized into one of …

A Qtl On Chromosome 3q23 Influences Processing Speed In Humans, Emma E. M. Knowles, Samuel R. Mathias, Josephine Mollon, Amanda Rodrigue, Marinka M. G. Koenis, Thomas D. Dyer, Harald H. H. Goring, Joanne E. Curran, Rene L. Olvera, Ravindranath Duggirala, Laura Almasy, John Blangero, David C. Glahn

School of Medicine Publications and Presentations

Processing speed is a psychological construct that refers to the speed with which an individual can perform any cognitive operation. Processing speed correlates strongly with general cognitive ability, declines sharply with age, and is impaired across a number of neurological and psychiatric disorders. Thus, identifying genes that influence processing speed will likely improve understanding of the genetics of intelligence, biological aging, and the etiologies of numerous disorders. Previous genetics studies of processing speed have relied on simple phenotypes (e.g., mean reaction time) derived from single tasks. This strategy assumes, erroneously, that processing speed is a unitary construct. In the present …

Nmd-12: A New Machine-Learning Derived Screening Instrument To Detect Mild Cognitive Impairment And Dementia, Pai-Yi Chiu, Haipeng Tang, Cheng-Yu Wei, Chaoyang Zhang, Guang-Uei Hung, Weihua Zhou

Faculty Publications

Introduction

Using machine learning techniques, we developed a brief questionnaire to aid neurologists and neuropsychologists in the screening of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia.

Methods

With the reduction of the survey size as a goal of this research, feature selection based on information gain was performed to rank the contribution of the 45 items corresponding to patient responses to the specified questions. The most important items were used to build the optimal screening model based on the accuracy, practicality, and interpretability. The diagnostic accuracy for discriminating normal cognition (NC), MCI, very mild dementia (VMD) and dementia was validated in …

Human Verbal Memory Encoding Is Hierarchically Distributed In A Continuous Processing Stream., Michal T. Kucewicz, Krishnakant Saboo, Brent M. Berry, Vaclav Kremen, Laura R. Miller, Fatemeh Khadjevand, Cory S. Inman, Paul Wanda, Michael R. Sperling, Richard Gorniak, Kathryn A. Davis, Barbara C. Jobst, Bradley Lega, Sameer A. Sheth, Daniel S. Rizzuto, Ravishankar K. Iyer, Michael J. Kahana, Gregory A. Worrell

Department of Neurology Faculty Papers

Processing of memory is supported by coordinated activity in a network of sensory, association, and motor brain regions. It remains a major challenge to determine where memory is encoded for later retrieval. Here, we used direct intracranial brain recordings from epilepsy patients performing free recall tasks to determine the temporal pattern and anatomical distribution of verbal memory encoding across the entire human cortex. High γ frequency activity (65-115 Hz) showed consistent power responses during encoding of subsequently recalled and forgotten words on a subset of electrodes localized in 16 distinct cortical areas activated in the tasks. More of the high …

Screening Intelligence Of Primary School Children Using Draw-A-Person Test, Ali M. El-Shafie, Dalia M. Ellahony, Khaled M. Biram, Mohamed A. Samir

Menoufia Medical Journal

Objectives The aim of this study was to screen intelligence among primary school children using Draw-a-Person test (DAP) in Alexandria, Egypt. Background DAP test was created by Dr. Florence Goodenough in 1926. It measures multiple developmental streams of progress like learning, cognitive, visual, and motor by having the child to draw any person, with scoring based according to the presence and quality of features. By comparing the raw score to the typical rates of drawing, the child's intelligence quotient (IQ) is obtained. Patients and methods This study was carried out on 1000 apparently healthy primary school children aged from 6 …

Evaluating Trajectories Of Episodic Memory In Normal Cognition And Mild Cognitive Impairment: Results From Adni, Xiuhua Ding, Richard J. Charnigo, Frederick A. Schmitt, Richard J. Kryscio, Erin L. Abner, Alzheimer’S Disease Neuroimaging Initiative

Statistics Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Memory assessment is a key factor for the diagnosis of cognitive impairment. However, memory performance over time may be quite heterogeneous within diagnostic groups.

METHOD: To identify latent trajectories in memory performance and their associated risk factors, we analyzed data from Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) participants who were classified either as cognitively normal or as Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) at baseline and were administered the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning test (RAVLT) for up to 9 years. Group-based trajectory modeling on the 30-minute RAVLT delayed recall score was applied separately to the two baseline diagnostic groups.

RESULTS: There were …

Ambroxol As A Novel Disease-Modifying Treatment For Parkinson's Disease Dementia: Protocol For A Single-Centre, Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial, C. R.A. Silveira, J. Mackinley, K. Coleman, Z. Li, E. Finger, R. Bartha, S. A. Morrow, J. Wells, M. Borrie, R. G. Tirona, C. A. Rupar, G. Zou, R. A. Hegele, D. Mahuran, Penny A. Macdonald, M. E. Jenkins, M. Jog, S. H. Pasternak

Medical Biophysics Publications

© 2019 The Author(s). Background: Currently there are no disease-modifying treatments for Parkinson's disease dementia (PDD), a condition linked to aggregation of the protein α-synuclein in subcortical and cortical brain areas. One of the leading genetic risk factors for Parkinson's disease is being a carrier in the gene for β-Glucocerebrosidase (GCase; gene name GBA1). Studies in cell culture and animal models have shown that raising the levels of GCase can decrease levels of α-synuclein. Ambroxol is a pharmacological chaperone for GCase and is able to raise the levels of GCase and could therefore be a disease-modifying treatment for PDD. The …