Technology transfer

“Transcranial Doppler Ultrasound (TCD) Core of The Albert Einstein Study (AES)

Program Project in Aging” This NIA-funded study has been completed this year and its competitive renewal is currently under review. The study has had several major publications, showing impaired cerebral flow velocities on TCD with aging process, association of increased cerebral blood flow pulsatility with impaired cognition and with global and regional structural and functional white matter integrity on MRI.

- “Oral Infections, Carotid Atherosclerosis and Stroke (INVEST)” This NIH-funded study with Columbia University has been completed this year and its competitive renewal is currently under review. This study has several major publications showing that chronic periodontal disease and related inflammation are associated with increased risk of subclinical and clinical atherosclerosis, vascular cognitive decline and dementia.

- “Hispanic Community Health Study - Study of Latinos (HCHS-SOL)” at the Miami Field

Center (Dr. Rundek is a study investigator, mentor, and stroke adjudicator). The

HCHS/SOL (NIH contract) is a multi-center epidemiologic study designed to determine the role of acculturation in disease prevalence and to identify health risk factors in

Hispanics/Latinos. The stroke adjudicators have created an adjudication protocol with definitions of stroke types and ischemic stroke subtypes and Manual of Operations on the process and details on data collection needed to extract from the clinical charts.

About 200 events were adjudicated so far.

- “OneFlorida Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC)” This is a collaborative NIA project between the University of Florida (Dr. Todd Golde, Contact PI), Mt. Sinai

Medical Center in Miami Beach (Dr. Ranjan Duara, PI), University of Miami (Dr.

Loewenstein, PI), Florida International University and Florida Atlantic University. The

UM Clinical site investigators include Dr. Rundek (she is also a Co-Director of Research

Education Core AlzSTARS), and Dr. Sun. The overall goal of the 1FL ADRC is to advance the understanding of Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementia, especially in underrepresented minority groups. Work on this project this year included preparation of a complex IRB and on the clinical, multi-modal neuroimaging MRI and

PET imaging, biomarkers and cognitive protocols.

• Dr. Sacco leads several large collaborative research programs:

- “The Northern Manhattan Study (NOMAS)” - The longitudinal study, Risk Factors for

Stroke and Cognitive Decline in a Tri-Ethnic Region, is currently in its 5th cycle and has achieved 28 years of continuous NIH funding. The study aims overall are to understand the relationship of novel and traditional vascular risk factors of stroke to cognitive decline, MCI, and dementia among whites, blacks and Hispanics living in the same community. a. In the final year of cycle 5, Dr. Sacco and his vast team has conducted ongoing annual follow-up calls, a standardized neuropsychological battery, and the NOMAS Dementia Adjudication process on the MRI cohort. To determine the risk and vascular contributors to dementia in the multiethnic, population-based MRI