Projects

Multimodal Approach for Early Detection of Alzheimer’s Disease
The Hispanic Community Health Study /Study of Latinos
Michigan Center for Urban African American Aging Research (MCUAAAR)

Effects of a Mind-Body Training Program on Cognition in Healthy Older Adults

Southeast Michigan Partners Against Cancer (SEMPAC) 
Neural Correlates and Modifiers of Cognitive 
Validation of Integrating Mental Health into Occupational Therapy Practice with Older Adults 
Lifespan Investigation of Family, Health and Environment (LIFHE)

Multimodal Approach for Early Detection of Alzheimer's Disease
Dr. Voyko Kavcic
Funder: Alzheimer’s Association

A grant of $122,224 from the Alzheimer’s Association to study several methods that might be effective in detecting early symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease.
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The Michigan Center for Urban African American Aging Research (MCUAAAR) promotes health research on minority elders, particularly African American elders, that will lead to the reduction and elimination of health disparities through several approaches consistent with the NIA’s 2005-2010 Strategic Plan. Exemplars of MCUAAAR’s efforts include a successful mentoring program focused on building a network of minority investigators who are committed to becoming productive scholars in the area of health and aging. Health promotion and the reduction and elimination of health disparities is only possible with the effective recruitment and retention of African American and other minority elders in health research. We will continue to build upon our productive research program in this area, and continue to reach out to seniors in the city of Detroit with the explicit purpose of building upon our developed databases of research participants. This volunteer participant pool is comprised of individuals who have agreed to be contacted to engage in health-related studies that have significance for their communities.

MCUAAAR is one of six center grants on Minority Aging Research funded by the NIA. Our particular center is a joint effort between Wayne State University and the University of Michigan and includes several departments and colleges from both institutions. To date, 30 pilot investigation studies have been completed. The center sponsors a summer conference each year to help further educate junior faculty in the research process, research methods, and grant writing.
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• In this study, we continue and expand the research program that has been conducted in our laboratory for the past 12 years. Our goals are:
• To describe the course of differential brain aging with a focus on the best-case-scenario naturalistic study of successful aging as defined by Rowe and Kahn. Our objective is to examine the closest approximation to successful physiological aging to be found in an uncontrolled human population.
• To gain insights into mechanisms of age-related differential brain shrinkage by examining changes in microstructure of the white matter and indirect indices of basal metabolism in the gray matter. We will introduce new imaging method – multi-echo Susceptibility Weighted Imaging (SWI) that will allow measurement of T2* and local field variations with better precision and resolution that by conventional gradient-recall methods.
• To evaluate the links between age-related regional brain changes (volume, diffusion and magnetization properties, and basal metabolism) and performance in three cognitive domains with known vulnerability to aging: episodic memory, executive functions, and speed of processing.
• To examine the effect of modifiers of brain and cognitive aging - the vascular risk and genetic factors (arterial blood pressure, homocysteine, C-reactive protein, vitamins of the B-group and glucose) on differential brain and cognitive aging. Because some of the women who participate in the study will be on hormone replacement therapy (HRT), we will assess the potential benefits of HRT on brain aging. The modifying role of ApoE genotype in shaping the trajectories of brain and cognitive aging will be also assessed.
• Finally, common to all listed aims is a longitudinal approach to study of biological and cognitive change. To attain that overriding goal, we plan to apply longitudinal latent-variable growth modeling techniques to the analysis of our data. We expect to clarify the distinction between precedence and coincidence in the relations among variables described by covariation.

Peter Lichtenberg, PhD, Director of IOG/MPSI; John Hannigan, PhD, Deputy Director, MPSI, Cathy Lysack, PhD, Deputy Director, IOG; Marc Kruman, PhD, Director, Center for the Study of Citizenship & Chair of History, Lisa Ficker, MA, LIFHE Project Director; Virginia Delaney-Black, MD, Associate Director, Children’s Research Center of Michigan; Bonnie Stanton, MD, Chair of Pediatrics; Teri Albrecht, PhD, Karmanos Cancer Institute

The LIFHE team interviewed 501 African Americans age 55 to 97 to understand senior activities, family relationships, attitudes, finances and health. Dr. Stewart Neufeld, a professor of mathematics and social science, oversaw questions related to finances, and Dr. Lysack contributed questions about mobility, home and environment. “Our survey was like taking a ‘snapshot’ of information about people’s lives to better understand their challenges and resources,” Dr. Ficker, LIFHE project director, says.

In urban areas, an estimated 9% of grandparents co-reside with their grandchildren but little research has been done on the quality of these relationships. Almost 80% of LIFHE interviewees had grandchildren and 77 of them lived in the same household with a grandchild or great-grandchild. A majority of grandparents in the survey shared meals with grandchildren, talked to them on the phone and visited them often. Significant numbers of grandparents also reported receiving help with household chores and with shopping from their adult grandchildren.

LIFHE’s financial results showed 50% of seniors were somewhat satisfied with their income; but 28% were not at all satisfied. Seventy percent reported lower income than before they retired and 45% had reduced money spent on extras (such as clothing or recreation) in order to make ends meet. A full 54% of people interviewed live alone and almost 20% provide caregiving services for family members, friends and neighbors.

The data collected by the LIFHE team is now available to other researchers investigating the health, finances and social engagement of older African Americans. “This will be a great resource for many types of research,” Dr. Lichtenberg explains. “Between our large Participant Resource Pool and the detailed data collected from LIFHE, we hope to empower researchers to answer pivotal questions about the urban aging experience.”
For more information visit: http://www.mpsi.wayne.edu/research/lifhe.php

http://www.mpsi.wayne.edu/research/lifhe.php
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