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Hearing and Donuts (Brain and Bagels) Seminar
December 10, 2021 @ 8:30 am - 9:30 am
Presenter: Ozioma Okonkwo, PhD, Professor of Medicine, UW Madison
Topic: Building Resilience to Alzheimer’s Disease: A Case for Lifestyle Modifications
Advancing age and the apolipoprotein E gene (APOE4) are the two biggest risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Even so, there is now ample evidence that some individuals are relatively spared from cognitive decline and AD biomarker changes despite their advanced age or APOE4 carriage. Furthermore, the relationship between AD pathology and cognitive function is imperfect. Some individuals continue to exhibit intact cognition despite harboring substantial AD biomarker changes. Together, these findings underscore the existence of factors that confer resilience to (i) the effects of age and APOE4 on AD biomarkers and cognitive trajectory, and (ii) the impact of AD pathology on cognitive course. In this presentation, we will discuss data demonstrating the contributions that life choices make to one’s resilience to AD.
References:
Stemming the Alzheimer tsunami: introduction to the special issue on reserve and resilience in Alzheimer’s disease.
Okonkwo OC, Vemuri P.Brain Imaging Behav. 2017 Apr;11(2):301-303.
Dissecting phenotypic traits linked to human resilience to Alzheimer’s pathology.
Perez-Nievas BG, Stein TD, Tai HC, Dols-Icardo O, Scotton TC, Barroeta-Espar I, Fernandez-Carballo L, de Munain EL, Perez J, Marquie M, Serrano-Pozo A, Frosch MP, Lowe V, Parisi JE, Petersen RC, Ikonomovic MD, López OL, Klunk W, Hyman BT, Gómez-Isla T. Brain. 2013 Aug;136(Pt 8):2510-26.