Sandra E. Black
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View article: Ethnicity Moderates the Associations between Personality‐Related Motivational Systems and Subjective Cognitive Decline
Ethnicity Moderates the Associations between Personality‐Related Motivational Systems and Subjective Cognitive Decline Open
Background Personality traits may influence dementia risk by shaping health behaviors, social relationships, and stress responses over the lifespan. According to Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory, individuals vary in their sensitivity to pu…
View article: Mapping tau spread to long‐range functional and structural connections along the major axes of brain organization
Mapping tau spread to long‐range functional and structural connections along the major axes of brain organization Open
Background Prior studies have focused on tau spread from the entorhinal cortex along first‐order (short‐range) connections within anatomical brain space (seed‐to‐target). Here, we explore tau spread along long‐range connections within a no…
View article: Health Behaviour Changes driven by Personalized Feedback Reports from wearables data: A HANDDS‐ONT Study
Health Behaviour Changes driven by Personalized Feedback Reports from wearables data: A HANDDS‐ONT Study Open
Background Wearable technologies combined with health feedback can influence health behaviours in older adults and individuals with neurodegenerative diseases (NDD). Despite their potential, limited research explores how health feedback fr…
View article: BDNF Val66Met genotype, age at menopause, and physical activity synergistically influence cognition in postmenopausal women
BDNF Val66Met genotype, age at menopause, and physical activity synergistically influence cognition in postmenopausal women Open
Background Earlier age at menopause is a risk factor for cognitive decline and dementia. Carriers of the Met allele of the Val66Met polymorphism show decreased levels of brain‐derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which is associated with wo…
View article: Identifying multimodal amyloid, tau, and neurodegeneration (ATN) subtypes in Alzheimer’s Disease across datasets and imaging markers
Identifying multimodal amyloid, tau, and neurodegeneration (ATN) subtypes in Alzheimer’s Disease across datasets and imaging markers Open
Background Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is heterogeneous in pathology and clinical presentation. A comprehensive study on the spatio‐temporal progression of multimodal imaging biomarkers in AD is currently lacking. Here, we identified multimod…
View article: Baseline estimation of cognition with retinal thickness in aging and Alzheimer disease: an ONDRI study
Baseline estimation of cognition with retinal thickness in aging and Alzheimer disease: an ONDRI study Open
Background The contribution of retinal total thickness in optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging towards estimating a comprehensive cognitive profile in aging and dementia is not well studied. To investigate the contribution of retinal…
View article: White matter perivascular spaces are associated with lower phosphorylated tau and preserved cognitive function in Alzheimer’s Disease
White matter perivascular spaces are associated with lower phosphorylated tau and preserved cognitive function in Alzheimer’s Disease Open
Background Enlarged perivascular spaces (PVS) are features of small vessel cerebrovascular diseases (CVD) and have been implicated in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Questions remain, however, on the role that PVS may play in the pathophysiology…
View article: Cellular signatures underlying functional resilience in presymptomatic frontotemporal dementia
Cellular signatures underlying functional resilience in presymptomatic frontotemporal dementia Open
Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) shows autosomal dominant transmission in up to a third of families, enabling the study of presymptomatic and prodromal phases. Despite self-reported well-being and normal daily cognitive functioning, brain str…
View article: Brain and retina in Alzheimer's disease: Pathological intersections and estimates from imaging
Brain and retina in Alzheimer's disease: Pathological intersections and estimates from imaging Open
Recent studies have highlighted retinal optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging as a promising biomarker for the early detection of Alzheimer's disease (AD). This review connects AD brain pathology – particularly amyloid beta (Aβ), tau,…
View article: Cardiovascular contributions to dementia: Examining sex differences and female‐specific factors
Cardiovascular contributions to dementia: Examining sex differences and female‐specific factors Open
Growing evidence underscores the importance of cardiovascular contributions to Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (AD/ADRD). While sex differences in cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors and outcomes are well established, the q…
View article: Sex Differences in Associations of Lewy Body Disease with Alzheimer's Disease and Cognitive Decline
Sex Differences in Associations of Lewy Body Disease with Alzheimer's Disease and Cognitive Decline Open
Objective To investigate how sex and age at menopause influence the interplay between Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Lewy body disease (LBD) neuropathologies, and their associations with cognitive decline. Methods We analyzed data from: (1) …
View article: A vision transformer approach for fully automated and scalable dementia screening using clock drawing test images
A vision transformer approach for fully automated and scalable dementia screening using clock drawing test images Open
INTRODUCTION The clock drawing test (CDT) screens for dementia but requires trained scorers and lacks standardized criteria. Thus, we developed an automated vision transformer (ViT)‐based diagnostic system with convolutional neural network…
View article: MRS demonstrates elevated brain glutathione in vascular mild cognitive impairment compared to cognitively normal coronary artery disease controls
MRS demonstrates elevated brain glutathione in vascular mild cognitive impairment compared to cognitively normal coronary artery disease controls Open
INTRODUCTION Oxidative stress (OS) is implicated in dementia. While elevated peripheral OS biomarkers were observed in vascular mild cognitive impairment (vMCI), the role of central antioxidants remains unclear. We assessed levels of the m…
View article: Disease-modifying effects of <i>TMEM106B</i> in genetic frontotemporal dementia: a longitudinal GENFI study
Disease-modifying effects of <i>TMEM106B</i> in genetic frontotemporal dementia: a longitudinal GENFI study Open
Common variants within TMEM106B are associated with risk for frontotemporal lobar degeneration with TDP-43 pathology (FTLD-TDP). The G allele of the top single nucleotide polymorphism, rs1990622, confers protection against FTLD-TDP, includ…
View article: A Cross Sectional and Longitudinal Assessment of Neuropsychiatric Symptoms and Brain Functional Connectivity in Patients With Mild Cognitive Impairment, Cerebrovascular Disease and Parkinson Disease
A Cross Sectional and Longitudinal Assessment of Neuropsychiatric Symptoms and Brain Functional Connectivity in Patients With Mild Cognitive Impairment, Cerebrovascular Disease and Parkinson Disease Open
Introduction Mild Behavioral Impairment (MBI) is characterized by later‐life emergent and persistent neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) in older adults without dementia, serving as a potential precursor to various forms of dementia. This stud…
View article: Examining the association between sleep apnea and total hippocampal volumes in cognitive impairment
Examining the association between sleep apnea and total hippocampal volumes in cognitive impairment Open
INTRODUCTION The prevalence of dementia is rising due to an aging population. Given the known risks of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) on cerebrovascular health, we hypothesized that markers of OSA would correlate with reduced hippocampal vo…
View article: Association of Plasma Biomarkers With Longitudinal Atrophy and Microvascular Burden on MRI Across Neurodegenerative and Cerebrovascular Diseases
Association of Plasma Biomarkers With Longitudinal Atrophy and Microvascular Burden on MRI Across Neurodegenerative and Cerebrovascular Diseases Open
Selected plasma biomarkers seem useful as prognosis and monitoring tools of longitudinal imaging changes within real-world populations of neurodegenerative and/or cerebrovascular diseases, and provide insight into overlap across diseases i…
View article: Vascular endothelial growth factor and regional cerebral blood flow in early Alzheimer’s disease
Vascular endothelial growth factor and regional cerebral blood flow in early Alzheimer’s disease Open
This manuscript supports the findings from previous in vitro and in vivo Alzheimer’s disease (AD) studies where angiogenesis was associated with cerebral blood flow (CBF) changes. Using both neuroimaging and neurophysiology measures, this …
View article: Use of lecanemab and donanemab in the Canadian healthcare system: Evidence, challenges, and areas for future research
Use of lecanemab and donanemab in the Canadian healthcare system: Evidence, challenges, and areas for future research Open
Lecanemab and donanemab are monoclonal antibody therapies that remove amyloid-beta from the brain. They are the first therapies that alter a fundamental mechanism, amyloid-beta deposition, in Alzheimer disease (AD). To inform Canadian deci…
View article: Sensitivity of diffusion tensor imaging to regional mixed cerebrovascular pathology
Sensitivity of diffusion tensor imaging to regional mixed cerebrovascular pathology Open
Diffusion tensor imaging is a candidate biomarker in cerebrovascular disease. Yet, little is known about the sensitivity of diffusion tensor imaging to mixed forms of cerebrovascular pathology: stroke and white matter hyperintensities. We …
View article: Stepwise connectivity of the entorhinal cortex along connectomic gradients in Alzheimer’s disease
Stepwise connectivity of the entorhinal cortex along connectomic gradients in Alzheimer’s disease Open
The entorhinal cortex is one of the earliest sites of tau tangle deposition in Alzheimer’s disease. Existing connectome studies focus on tau propagation along direct, first-order connections between brain regions, overlooking multi-step, h…
View article: Neurological Biomarker Profiles in Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) Pilots and Aircrew
Neurological Biomarker Profiles in Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) Pilots and Aircrew Open
Background/Objectives: Military aviators can be exposed to extreme physiological stressors, including decompression stress, G-forces, as well as intermittent hypoxia and/or hyperoxia, which may contribute to neurobiological dysfunction/dam…
View article: Examining the NEUROG2 lineage and associated gene expression in human cortical organoids
Examining the NEUROG2 lineage and associated gene expression in human cortical organoids Open
Proneural genes are conserved drivers of neurogenesis across the animal kingdom. How their functions have adapted to guide human-specific neurodevelopmental features is poorly understood. Here, we mined transcriptomic data from human fetal…