Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Early Diagnosis Of Alzheimer’S Disease In The Primary Care Setting, Raymond R. Romano

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

The burden of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) affects not just the individual but also families, providers, and society. Early recognition and diagnosis of AD may reduce cost by reducing interaction with the health care system, earlier initiation of treatment, and prolonging time to long- term care. Primary care providers, the first contact for diagnosis of patients with AD, are not fulfilling the potential of early diagnosis for a variety of reasons. Biomarkers of AD emerge on average 15 to 20 years before clinical diagnosis, yet currently established biomarkers are not easily available in the primary care setting. A growing body of …

Association Study: Apoe Alleles Association With Neurodegenerative Disorders In The Hispanic Population, Kimberly Moreno

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of phenotypic variables and Apolipoprotein E (APOE) alleles and its effect on cognitive statues. APOE is a gene found vastly in the Hispanic community, speculated to be linked to neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). Compared demographic, clinical, and genetic features among Hispanics who were diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease, Mild Cognitive Impairment, and psychiatric disorders (e.g., anxiety and depression) in the efforts to assess the role of APOE. In past research, APOE has been considered a pathological hallmark for neurological diseases.

Past research has …

Evaluation Of Aging And Genetic Mutation Variants On Tauopathy, Amber M. Tetlow

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is characterized by amyloid β plaques and neurofibrillary tau tangles (NFTs). While research has demonstrated amyloid pathology occurs prior to tau pathology, or tauopathy, tau has proven to be more toxic. Tauopathy is associated with cognitive declines and neurodegeneration. These findings have highlighted the importance of further understanding tauopathy. In the progression of tauopathy, there is an observable immune response that can be measured by glial cells such as microglia. Activated microglia are known to exacerbate tauopathy rather than reducing the pathology. Research has indicated that with increased age there is an increased risk for AD-related tauopathy …

Comparison Of Longitudinal Changes In Resting State Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Between Alzheimer’S And Healthy Controls, Berk Can Yilmaz

Theses

Resting State Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (rs-fMRI) is a technique that is widely used for analyzing brain function using different approaches and methods. This study involves rs-fMRI analysis of Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent (BOLD) signals acquired from Alzheimer’s disease (AD) Patients and Healthy Controls (HC). Each subject in the study had both functional and anatomical images with at least one rs-fMRI scan with their Anatomical (T1) scans. Previous rs-fMRI studies have demonstrated that AD shows differences in Amplitude of Low Frequency (<0.1 Hz) Fluctuations (ALFF), and Regional Homogeneity (ReHo) measures according to HCs.

The aim of the study is to investigate individual and group level differences using ReHo and mALFF related …

Investigation Of The Role Of Heparin-Binding Pocket In Amyloid Fibrils Formation Of Fgf-1, I Gusti Ayu Agung Septiari

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Human acidic fibroblast growth factor (aFGF/hFGF-1) is one of the promising molecules to be investigated to generate an in-depth understanding of the pathological mechanism of Alzheimer's disease (AD) neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the presence of amyloid fibrils. Some in vivo and human brain tissue studies proved the correlation of high-level expression of FGF-1-induced neuroinflammation and the occurrence of AD. The presence of amyloid fibrils as a hallmark of AD can be related to the generic property of the proteins to form amyloid fibrils; High level of FGF-1, in this case, may contribute to the formation of amyloid fibrils. As a …

Elucidating The Effects Of Glucose Toxicity On Tauopathy And Aging, Lukas Fluitt

Natural Sciences and Mathematics | Biological Sciences Master's Theses

Diabetes patients are at higher risk of contracting an age-related neurodegenerative disease such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, the mechanisms which link these diseases are poorly understood. We hypothesize that glucose and elevated levels of the glycolysis by product advanced glycation end-products (AGEs), may be involved. AGEs accumulate with age and are elevated in both diabetic and AD patients. Diabetes is a metabolic disorder for which consumption of sugar-rich diets is a major risk factor and is central to etiology in the vast majority of cases.

We show that transgenic C. elegans expressing wild type (WT) human tau fed a …

Regulation And Function Of Trem2-Dependent Pathways In Neurodegeneration, Wilbur Madison Song

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Carriers of the R47H allele of the microglia-specific lipid receptor TREM2 have a greatly increased risk of developing Alzheimerճ disease. The objective of this dissertation is to develop further mechanistic knowledge about how TREM2 is regulated and how TREM2 mutations affect microglia and neurodegeneration. Using an in vitro reporter assay, we find that several AD risk-associated TREM2 mutations decrease ligand-dependent activation. Using humanized TREM2 mice, we find that in vivo, the R47H mutation leads to reduced microglia activation and response to A_, as well as decreased shedding of soluble TREM2. These results suggest that TREM2 is protective during disease. We …

A Study Of The Antioxidant Versus Pro-Oxidant Nature Of The Amyloid Beta Peptide And An Analysis Of The Natural Products, Isorhamnetin And Narignenin, As Antioxidants, Kaylee Holmes

Honors Theses

Alzheimer’s disease is a neurodegenerative disorder with no cure. Due to the widespread effects of this disease, abundant research efforts have gone towards finding a cure. The amyloid beta (Ab) peptide has been shown to be a potential cause of the disease due to destructive effects on tissues that it can have both by itself and through reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation. This study was performed in order to assess the structural properties of Ab₄₂monomers, fibrils and oligomers, to assess the antioxidant versus pro-oxidant behavior of the Ab peptide, and to assess the antioxidant nature of the natural …

Bilingualism/Multilingualism To Protect Against Cognitive Decline In Alzheimer’S Disease And Other Forms Of Dementia: A Systematic Review, Kirsten L. May

Honors Thesis

Given a growing incidence of Alzheimer’s disease and lack of treatments, prevention is a popular topic in both research literature (Angevaren et al., 2008; Orrell & Sahakian, 1995) and in news articles (Iacono et al., 2009). A cognitive reserve is a skill that improves cognitive functioning in executive controls. Bilingualism is believed to be a practice that increases cognitive reserve, which could delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.

The purpose of this project was to analyze the possibility that bilingualism or multilingualism could create a cognitive reserve to delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementia-related diseases. This systematic …

Burden And Coping Strategies Of Caregivers Of Persons With Alzheimer's Disease, Annette Laverne Tucker Osborne

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) currently presents a huge burden to individuals and families, a burden that is increasing in incidence with the aging of the baby boomer generation. Caring for a spouse diagnosed with AD holds potentially severe negative consequences for the caregiver’s physical and psychological well-being. The current study used secondary data from the 2017 New York State Department of Health/Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System to identify a relationship, if any, between the time and activities a caregiver spends with the AD person and the caregiver’s self-reported level of general and mental health. A logistic regression was used for RQ1 …

Locus Coeruleus Degeneration In Alzheimer’S Disease And Its Effect On Beta-Adrenergic Signaling In The Hippocampus, Bethany Langner

All ETDs from UAB

Locus coeruleus (LC) degeneration in Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and loss of noradrenergic (NA) innervation in hippocampus contributes to learning and memory deficits. Recently, a novel rat model (TgF344-AD) has been created that allows for a more thorough investigation into these mechanisms due to its similarity to human AD pathology. The McMahon lab has recently demonstrated heightened long-term potentiation (LTP) and a ‘supersensitivity’ of -adrenergic receptors (-ARs) at excitatory synapses in the dentate gyrus (DG) in TgF344-AD rats. These mechanisms could be responsible for maintaining learning and memory during buildup of AD pathology. The first goal of this Master’s thesis was …

Tau-Dependent Regulation Of Network Hyperexcitability By Alzheimer’S Disease Risk Gene Bin1, Yuliya Voskobiynyk

All ETDs from UAB

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the leading neurodegenerative disorder that affects an astonishing 5.8 million Americans, a number projected to reach 14 million by the year 2050. While only about 1% of all AD cases are caused by mutations in APP, PSEN1, and PSEN2, the cause of sporadic AD remains unknown. Variations in several risk genes have been proposed to contribute to the development of sporadic AD cases. Since, currently, there are no disease-modifying therapies for families affected by AD and multiple anti-amyloid-beta therapies failed in clinical trials, determining how these risk genes contribute to the development of AD is crucial …