Browsing by Author "Woo, Ellen"

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    Associations between Cortical Thickness and Metamemory in Alzheimer’s Disease
    (Springer, 2022) Duran, Tugce; Woo, Ellen; Otero, Diana; Risacher, Shannon L.; Stage, Eddie; Sanjay, Apoorva B.; Nho, Kwangsik; West, John D.; Phillips, Meredith L.; Goukasian, Naira; Hwang, Kristy S.; Apostolova, Liana G.; Neurology, School of Medicine
    Metacognitive deficits affect Alzheimer's disease (AD) patient safety and increase caregiver burden. The brain areas that support metacognition are not well understood. 112 participants from the Imaging and Genetic Biomarkers for AD (ImaGene) study underwent comprehensive cognitive testing and brain magnetic resonance imaging. A performance-prediction paradigm was used to evaluate metacognitive abilities for California Verbal Learning Test-II learning (CVLT-II 1-5) and delayed recall (CVLT-II DR); Visual Reproduction-I immediate recall (VR-I Copy) and Visual Reproduction-II delayed recall (VR-II DR); Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Copy (Rey-O Copy) and delayed recall (Rey-O DR). Vertex-wise multivariable regression of cortical thickness was performed using metacognitive scores as predictors while controlling for age, sex, education, and intracranial volume. Subjects who overestimated CVLT-II DR in prediction showed cortical atrophy, most pronounced in the bilateral temporal and left greater than right (L > R) frontal cortices. Overestimation of CVLT-II 1-5 prediction and DR performance in postdiction showed L > R associations with medial, inferior and lateral temporal and left posterior cingulate cortical atrophy. Overconfident prediction of VR-I Copy performance was associated with right greater than left medial, inferior and lateral temporal, lateral parietal, anterior and posterior cingulate and lateral frontal cortical atrophy. Underestimation of Rey-O Copy performance in prediction was associated with atrophy localizing to the temporal and cingulate areas, and in postdiction, with diffuse cortical atrophy. Impaired metacognition was associated to cortical atrophy. Our results indicate that poor insight into one's cognitive abilities is a pervasive neurodegenerative feature associated with AD across the cognitive spectrum.
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    Cognitive Correlates of Hippocampal Atrophy and Ventricular Enlargement in Adults with or without Mild Cognitive Impairment
    (Karger, 2019-08-13) Goukasian, Naira; Porat, Shai; Blanken, Anna; Avila, David; Zlatev, Dimitar; Hurtz, Sona; Hwang, Kristy S.; Pierce, Jonathan; Joshi, Shantanu H.; Woo, Ellen; Apostolova, Liana G.; Neurology, School of Medicine
    We analyzed structural magnetic resonance imaging data from 58 cognitively normal and 101 mild cognitive impairment subjects. We used a general linear regression model to study the association between cognitive performance with hippocampal atrophy and ventricular enlargement using the radial distance method. Bilateral hippocampal atrophy was associated with baseline and longitudinal memory performance. Left hippocampal atrophy predicted longitudinal decline in visuospatial function. The multidomain ventricular analysis did not reveal any significant predictors.
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    The Functional Ability of MCI and Alzheimer’s Patients Predicts Caregiver Burden
    (Hogrefe, 2019-03) Lara-Ruiz, Jose; Kauzor, Kaitlyn; Gonzales, Katie; Nakhala, Marina; Banuelos, Dayana; Woo, Ellen; Apostolova, Liana G.; Razani, Jill; Neurology, School of Medicine
    Research shows that caregivers of dementia patients experience burden and psychological distress, but it is unclear whether or not caregivers of individuals with cognitive impairments that do not meet a diagnosis for dementia also experience similar burdens and psychological problems. Sixty patients and their caregivers participated in this study designed to examine caregiver burden. The patients completed activities-of-daily-living tasks and several neuropsychological tests assessing memory, abstract reasoning, and language. Caregivers completed self-report measures assessing caregiver burden and psychological distress. Results revealed that the caregivers of patients with mild Alzheimer’s disease (mAD) reported greater physical burden and feelings of missing out on life compared to individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) caregivers. The mAD caregivers indicated greater depression and anxiety relative to MCI caregivers. Stepwise regression found that patient neuropsychological scores were worse predictors of caregiver burden than patients’ daily functioning. The conclusions of this study suggest that (1) caregivers of mAD are likely to experience more severe types of burden and psychological distress relative to caregivers of MCI patients, and that (2) patients’ daily functional abilities better predict caregivers’ burden and psychological distress than patients’ neuropsychological functioning. Study findings suggest that caregivers of those in the early stages of dementia, even in persons not yet meeting a diagnosis, experience psychological symptoms and burden, and that these caregivers’ experiences can be best predicted by the patients daily functional ability than by patients’ neuropsychological test scores.