Background: Emerging evidence suggests that Pain Interference (PI) and certain chronic pain conditions, including Osteoarthritis (OA) may be associated with risk for Alzheimer's disease and Related Dementias (ADRD). However, research exploring the relation of OA and PI to ADRD remains sparse. Objective: To assess the association of OA and PI to ADRD using cross-sectional data from a representative sample of USA adults aged 65 years. Design: Retrospective cross-sectional. Study sample: Older adults (age 65 years) drawn from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS, 2009e2015). Methods: OA was identified using both medical conditions files and participant responses to arthritisspecific queries. ADRD was ascertained using the medical conditions files. PI was defined as reported frequent PI with normal activities (PIA). OA and PIA were categorized as a composite variable: 1) OA with PIA; 2) OA without PIA; 3) No OA with PIA; and 4) No OA and no PIA (reference group). Adjusted associations of OA and PIA to ADRD were assessed using logistic regression and adjusted for biological, demographic, socioeconomic , lifestyle, and health conditions. Results: Overall, 27.1% had OA, of whom 47.6 % reported PIA vs 31.1% of those without OA; 2.8% had diagnosed ADRD. Adults with PIA either with or without OA had significantly higher odds of ADRD relative to those without OA or PIA (Adjusted odd ratios (AOR's) ¼ 1.37, 95%CI e 1.01, 1.86 (p ¼ 0.04) and 1.44, 95%CI e 1.13, 1.82 (p ¼ 0.003), respectively). Conclusion: PIA in both the presence and absence of OA remained significantly and positively associated with ADRD after adjustment for multiple confounders.

35m x 35m x 39m, corpus callosum (CC) and cortical thicknesses were measured. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) was performed using TR/TE 2500ms/ 27ms, slice thickness 500mm, in-plane resolution 59mm x 59mm, 10 slices, 64 gradient directions and one b value per direction. Fractional anisotropy (FA) was calculated from CC, dorsal and ventral blades of dentate gyrus molecular layer (dDGML and vDGML) in the dorsal hippocampus, and dentate gyrus polymorphic layer (DGP). Results: Cortical thickness measured at the level of association cortex was 32% smaller in the floxPS1/PS2ko/cre mouse brains. Reduced cortical thickness probably represents fewer neurons in the cre mice. Thickness of CC also was reduced in these mice by 43%. DTI-measured FA in CC was lower by 46%. Thinner CC together with lower FA reflects axonal abnormalities in cre mice. FA in dDGML was significantly higher in cre mice compared to control mice, which suggests increased dendritic density based on our previous findings. There was no difference between the two groups of mice in FA measured in vDGML and DGP. Conclusions: High resolution MR imaging reveals neuronal, axonal and dendritic alterations in mice with PS1 and PS2 deletions from the adult forebrain.Background: Cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) is a major cause of intracerebral hemorrhage in the elderly and is a frequent coexisting pathology in p ersons with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Like in AD, the apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotype is a known risk factor for CAA-related hemorrhages, and lobar microbleeds are a diagnostic hallmark of CAA. Within CAA patients, microbleeds tend to cluster and typically occur in the occipital lobe. Microbleeds also frequently occur in asymptomatic persons, suggesting that underlying CAA is present in these persons as well. To support this hypothesis, we investigated, in the general population, whether incident microbleeds occur in close proximity to prevalent microbleeds and whether APOE genotype affects spatial distribution of microbleeds. Methods: In 292 participants from a population-based study, all with microbleeds, we manually labeled all microbleeds on baseline and follow-up MR-scans. To analyze proximity, we calculated the distance between each incident microbleed and the nearest prevalent microbleed within and between persons. To analyze lobar distribution, we performed automated lobar brain segmentation on all labeled images. Subsequently, we investigated the proximity and lobar distribution of microbleeds in strata of APOE genotypes. Results: Incident and prevalent microbleeds occurred in significantly closer proximity within persons than between persons (19.0 6 18.0mm versus 61.2 6 28.2mm; p < 0.001). Proximity was influenced by APOE genotype. Compared to persons with APOE e3e3, incident microbleeds occurred, on average, 1 6.2 mm (95% CI for difference 9.1-23.3, p<0.001) and 23.3 mm (95% CI for difference 17.4-29.2, p<0.0001) closer to prevalent microbleeds in APOE e2 carriers and APOE e4 allele carriers, respectively. As expected, lobar microbleeds in the ...

During the COVID-19 pandemic, an increase in poor mental health among Asian Indians was observed in the United States. However, the leading predictors of poor mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic in Asian Indians remained unknown. A cross-sectional online survey was administered to self-identified Asian Indians aged 18 and older (N = 289). Survey collected information on demographic and socio-economic characteristics and the COVID-19 burden. Two novel machine learning techniques-eXtreme Gradient Boosting and Shapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) were used to identify the leading predictors and explain their associations with poor mental health. A majority of the study participants were female (65.1%), below 50 years of age (73.3%), and had income ≥ $75,000 (81.0%). The six leading predictors of poor mental health among Asian Indians were sleep disturbance, age, general health, income, wearing a mask, and self-reported discrimination. SHAP plots indicated that higher age, wearing a mask, and maintaining social distancing all the time were negatively associated with poor mental health while having sleep disturbance and imputed income levels were positively associated with poor mental health. The model performance metrics indicated high accuracy (0.77), precision (0.78), F1 score (0.77), recall (0.77), and AUROC (0.87). Nearly one in two adults reported poor mental health, and one in five reported sleep disturbance. Findings from our study suggest a paradoxical relationship between income and poor mental health; further studies are needed to confirm our study findings. Sleep disturbance and perceived discrimination can be targeted through tailored intervention to reduce the risk of poor mental health in Asian Indians.

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