Showing posts with label brain thinning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label brain thinning. Show all posts
Saturday, July 12, 2025
Mild Behavioral Impairment and Cortical Thinning: Biomarkers of Early Neurodegeneration
Saturday, June 7, 2025
Type 2 Diabetes Linked to Brain Thinning
Your competent? doctor needs to know everything about these two because this:
People with diabetes have a higher risk of stroke, and stroke can also lead to new or worsening diabetes.
Anti-Diabetic Drugs May Boost Stroke Recovery Outcomes March 2024
The latest here:
Type 2 Diabetes Linked to Brain Thinning
Summary: A new study reveals that type 2 diabetes is associated with thinning of the brain’s cortex in older adults, particularly in regions responsible for memory and cognition. Using brain scans from a diverse population sample, researchers found that poor blood sugar control may contribute to this structural brain change.
The strongest associations were seen in Hispanic participants, emphasizing the need for tailored interventions to manage diabetes and protect brain health. The findings suggest that effective diabetes treatment could play a critical role in preserving cognitive function as people age.
Key Facts:
- Brain Impact: T2DM is linked to cortical thinning in key cognitive regions.
- Glycemic Control Matters: Poor blood sugar regulation appears to drive these changes.
- Health Disparities: Effects were strongest in Hispanic participants, showing variation by ethnicity.
Source: USC
A new USC-led study has uncovered a significant link between type 2 diabetes mellitus and cortical thickness in older adults from various populations.
Researchers from the Keck School of Medicine of USC’s Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute (Stevens INI), the University of North Texas Health Science Center, and the University of Texas at Austin have just published their findings in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring.
The study highlights the potential impact of diabetes on brain structure and the importance of managing blood sugar levels to protect brain health in older age.
Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a chronic condition that affects one in ten Americans. If left uncontrolled, it can lead to serious health problems affecting the circulatory, nervous, and immune systems.
The research team found that individuals with T2DM exhibited a significantly thinner cortex, particularly in the temporal and parietal regions of the brain, which are critical for memory and cognitive function.
The researchers utilized advanced neuroimaging techniques to analyze cortical thickness and hippocampal volume in participants from the Health and Aging Brain Study-Health Disparities (HABS-HD) cohort.
The study’s diverse sample, comprising Hispanic, non-Hispanic Black, and non-Hispanic white adults, provides critical insights into how diabetes affects brain health across different populations.
The team found poor glycemic control may be a key driver of the observed association between T2DM and cortical thinning.
“Since blood sugar levels can be managed with proper treatment and lifestyle interventions, our findings highlight the potential for protecting brain health through better diabetes management,” says Amaryllis A. Tsiknia, the PhD student who led the study.
The researchers found that the association between T2DM and cortical thinning remained strong even after accounting for socioeconomic factors and common comorbidities such as hypertension, dyslipidemia, and obesity. Hispanic participants showed the strongest associations, while no significant effects were observed among non-Hispanic Black adults.
Given the rising prevalence of diabetes, particularly among minority populations, these results underscore the urgent need for targeted interventions to improve diabetes management and mitigate its neurological consequences.
“The disparities we observed by ethnic and racial group suggest that more work is needed to understand how exposures to various risk factors can work together in distinct ways across different people to determine brain health.
“Gaining this understanding is the first step in advancing personalized care that best protects the brain and cognition for each individual,” explained senior author Meredith N. Braskie, PhD, assistant professor of neurology, and a HABS-HD co-lead.
“This study and its results highlight the significant role of large-scale initiatives like HABS-HD, which is the most comprehensive study of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias in diverse communities.
“HABS-HD provides invaluable data, including interviews, functional exams, blood draws, cognitive testing, brain MRIs, and clinical lab work.
“This data can lead to significant discoveries, such as this study’s link between type 2 diabetes and cortical thickness, underscoring the importance of the large-scale and global initiatives we specialize in at the Stevens INI,” said Stevens INI director Arthur W. Toga, PhD, who also serves as the neuroimaging and informatics lead for the HABS-HD study.
The research team anticipates longitudinal studies to determine if the observed brain changes result in accelerated cognitive decline over time.
Further studies exploring the effects of diabetes medications and lifestyle interventions could aid in identifying strategies to protect brain health in individuals with diabetes.
You can receive more information about accessing HABS-HD data here.
Funding: This research was supported by the National Institutes of Health (S10OD032285) and the National Institute on Aging (R01AG054073, R01AG058533, R01AG070862, P41EB015922, U19AG078109).
Authors on the study include Amaryllis A. Tsiknia, MSc; Victoria Tennant, BA; Noelle Lee, BA; Brandon J. Hall, MSc; Raul Vintimilla, MD; Nalini Hazra, MSc; Deydeep Kothapalli, MSc; Arthur W. Toga, PhD; Sid E. O’Bryant, PhD; Rajesh Nandy, PhD; Alexandra L. Clark, PhD; Melissa Petersen, PhD; Kristine Yaffe, MD; Meredith N. Braskie, PhD.
About this neurology and diabetes research news
Author: Laura LeBlanc
Source: USC
Contact: Laura LeBlanc – USC
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Saturday, August 24, 2024
Brain Thinning Predicts Alzheimer’s 10 Years Before Symptoms
With your chances of getting dementia post stroke. YOUR DOCTOR IS RESPONSIBLE FOR PREVENTING THIS!
And they should be measuring your cortical thickness to see the protocols that are needed to restore back to normal thickness! If your doctor doesn't have those protocols; you don't have a functioning stroke doctor!
1. A documented 33% dementia chance post-stroke from an Australian study? May 2012.
2. Then this study came out and seems to have a range from 17-66%. December 2013.`
3. A 20% chance in this research. July 2013.
4. Dementia Risk Doubled in Patients Following Stroke September 2018
The latest here:
Brain Thinning Predicts Alzheimer’s 10 Years Before Symptoms
Summary: Researchers identified cortical gray matter thinning as a potential early biomarker for dementia. In a study involving 1,500 participants from diverse backgrounds, thinner cortical gray matter was linked to a higher risk of developing dementia 5 to 10 years before symptoms appeared.
This finding suggests that measuring gray matter thickness via MRI could be key in early dementia detection and intervention. The research highlights the importance of early diagnosis in managing and possibly slowing the progression of dementia.
Key Facts:
- Cortical gray matter thinning is a promising biomarker for identifying individuals at high risk of dementia 5 to 10 years before symptoms manifest.
- The study’s findings were consistent across diverse racial and ethnic groups, enhancing the biomarker’s potential applicability.
- This discovery opens new avenues for early intervention, lifestyle modifications, and the development of targeted therapeutics for dementia.
Source: UT San Antonio
A ribbon of brain tissue called cortical gray matter grows thinner in people who go on to develop dementia, and this appears to be an accurate biomarker of the disease five to 10 years before symptoms appear, researchers from The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (also called UT Health San Antonio) reported.
The researchers, working with colleagues from The University of California, Davis, and Boston University, conducted an MRI brain imaging study published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association.
They studied 1,000 Massachusetts participants in the Framingham Heart Study and 500 people from a California cohort. The California volunteers included 44% representation of Black and Hispanic participants, whereas the Massachusetts cohort was predominantly non-Hispanic white. Both cohorts were 70 to 74 years of age on average at the time of MRI studies.
“The big interest in this paper is that, if we can replicate it in additional samples, cortical gray matter thickness will be a marker we can use to identify people at high risk of dementia,” said study lead author Claudia Satizabal, PhD, of UT Health San Antonio’s Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer’s and Neurodegenerative Diseases.
“By detecting the disease early, we are in a better time window for therapeutic interventions and lifestyle modifications, and to do better tracking of brain health to decrease individuals’ progression to dementia.”
Repeating the Framingham findings in the more-diverse California cohort “gives us confidence that our results are robust,” Satizabal said.
Sifting MRIs for a pattern
While dementias can affect different brain regions, Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia impact the cortex, and Alzheimer’s is the most common type of dementia.
The study compared participants with and without dementia at the time of MRI. “We went back and examined the brain MRIs done 10 years earlier, and then we mixed them up to see if we could discern a pattern that reliably distinguished those who later developed dementia from those who did not,” said co-author Sudha Seshadri, MD, director of the Glenn Biggs Institute at UT Health San Antonio and senior investigator with the Framingham Heart Study.
“This kind of study is only possible when you have longitudinal follow-up over many years as we did at Framingham and as we are building in San Antonio,” Seshadri said. “The people who had the research MRI scans while they were well and kept coming back to be studied are the selfless heroes who make such valuable discoveries, such prediction tools possible.”
The results were consistent across populations. Thicker ribbons correlated with better outcomes and thinner ribbons with worse, in general. “Although more studies are needed to validate this biomarker, we’re off to a good start,” Satizabal said. “The relationship between thinning and dementia risk behaved the same way in different races and ethnic groups.”
Applications
Clinical trial researchers could use the thinning biomarker to minimize cost by selecting participants who haven’t yet developed any disease but are on track for it, Seshadri said. They would be at greatest need to try investigational medications, she said.
The biomarker would also be useful to develop and evaluate therapeutics, Seshadri noted.
Future directions
Satizabal said the team plans to explore risk factors that may be related to the thinning. These include cardiovascular risk factors, diet, genetics and exposure to environmental pollutants, she said.
“We looked at APOE4, which is a main genetic factor related to dementia, and it was not related to gray matter thickness at all,” Satizabal said. “We think this is good, because if thickness is not genetically determined, then there are modifiable factors such as diet and exercise that can influence it.”
Derived in clinical MRIs
Could the MRI gray matter biomarker be used widely someday?
“A high proportion of people going to the neurologist get their MRI done, so this thickness value might be something that a neuroradiologist derives,” Seshadri said. “A person’s gray matter thickness might be analyzed as a percentile of the thickness of healthy people for that age.”
Acknowledgments
National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Aging funding for Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centers (ADRCs) at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio; The University of California, Davis; and Boston University School of Medicine supported this study.
About this Alzheimer’s disease research news
Author: Steven Lee
Source: UT San Antonio
Contact: Steven Lee – UT San Antonio
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Open access.
“A novel neuroimaging signature for ADRD risk stratification in the community” by Claudia Satizabal et al. Alzheimer’s & Dementia
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