Yun Zhang published a paper about the role of size and characteristics of social networks that may help to prevent aging and reduce the onset of aging-related cognitive impairment. See the fulltext here: https://content.iospress.com/articles/journal-of-alzheimers-disease/jad201196

New Grant: Drs. Clouston, Vaska, and Kuan have recently received a new award to use PET to examine whether there are changes consistent with Alzheimer’s disease in the brains of WTC responders. The grant (NIH/NIA R01 AG067590) is entitled: “Burden and change in Alzheimers disease neuropathology in aging World Trade Center responders” — a short description follows:

Narrative: World Trade Center (WTC) responders were exposed to a mix of tiny dust particles as they participated in rescue and recovery efforts at the WTC in the aftermath of 9/11/2001, and a large number may have developed cognitive impairment, a symptom consistent with some neurodegenerative diseases. Given the magnitude and scale of events surrounding 9/11 and the level of exposure within a young civilian population, prior studies are insufficient to identify the etiology of neurocognitive and neuromotor symptoms evident among responders with PTSD. The proposed study will examine Beta-Amyloid and Tau burden using positron emission tomography (PET) combined with magnetic resonance neuroimaging (MRI) on a subset of individuals recruited as part of an existing NIA- funded study of cognitive aging to measure in order to determine whether there is evidence of Alzheimer’s disease in the brains of WTC responders with symptoms consistent with Alzheimer’s disease.