Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Genetic Moderators Of Cognitive Decline In The Health And Retirement Study, Shannon K. Runge

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The current dissertation used a gene x environment (G x E) approach to examine the independent and interactive effects of specific genetic variants and participation in physical and cognitive/social activities (PA and CSA) on cognitive performance in 4,764 participants of the Health and Retirement Study. Using three-wave data, three sets of multi-level growth models were conducted to examine baseline, longitudinal, and interactive effects of genotype (i.e., ApoE, COMT, and BDNF) and CSA/PA on performance across five cognitive measures: immediate, delayed and total word recall, and serial 7s and backwards counting.

At baseline, the ApoE ε4 allele predicted …

Histological Evidence Of The Effect Of Oil Palm Phenolics In Atherogenic Diet Induced Rat Model Of Alzheimer’S Disease, Kenechukwu Monplaisir Monplaisir

Wayne State University Theses

BACKGROUND: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease with the clinical presentation of memory loss and cognitive impairment. Alzheimer's disease pathology is the accumulation of beta amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles.

METHOD: In this study atherogenic diet was used to induce AD in aged Brown Norway rats. The rats were assigned to the following four groups fed isocaloric diets; control group (C ),high cholesterol diet (H), high cholesterol + oil palm phenolics group (HP), high cholesterol + curcumin group (HC). The impact of oil palm phenolics (OPP) on neuronal health and its effect on amyloid deposition was evaluated using histology …

Investigating The Role Of Dna Polymerase Beta In The Aging Phenotype Of Down Syndrome, Aqila Ahmed Ahmed

Wayne State University Dissertations

Down syndrome (DS) is a chromosomal condition characterized by accelerated aging that has yet to be directly linked to a DNA repair defect. Reduced PolB and unrepaired damage from oxidative stress observed in DS, point toward defective base excision repair (BER). In this study, we report that low PolB transcript correlates with increased markers of senescence. The gene dosage effect of Trisomy 21 is likely the source for PolB downregulation. We show that the HSA21-localized miR-155 overexpression correlates with a decrease in Creb1 and PolB, thus establishing a putative regulatory pathway. Data from the DS mouse model, Ts65Dn, reveal low …