Degree Date

8-2019

Document Type

Dissertation - Public Access

Degree Name

Psy.D. Doctor of Clinical Psychology

Academic Discipline

Clinical Psychology - Florida School of Professional Psychology

First Advisor

Elizabeth Lane Ph.D

Second Advisor

Eric Rosen Ph.D.

Abstract

Abstract The following study examines aging veterans that experience a TBI while in service and

compares to older veteran without a history of TBI. The objective is to look at cognitive profile later in life for military veterans with moderate to severe TBI different and compared to older veterans with no history of TBI. Is there a difference in tau accumulations on neuroimaging in military veterans with moderate to severe TBI compared to older veterans without a history of TBI? What is the relationship between the cognitive profile and tau imaging correlates for military veterans with moderate to severe TBI later in life? There were 39 participants in the TBI group and 65 participants in the non-TBI group that participated in neuropsychological testing. Out of the above participants 8 in the TBI group and 19 in the non-TBI group participated inPET 18F-AV1451 imaging to compare Braak regions. The Mann-Whitney U test was used for analysis of neuropsychological tests (Clock score, BNT, TMT-A, & TMT-B). T-test was used for analysis of neuropsychological test category fluency animals and one-way ANOVA was used for the analysis of Auditory Verbal Learning test. Additionally, Mann-Whitney U test was used for the analysis of PET imaging: BRAAK regions 1-2, 3-4, and 5-6. The results suggest no statistically significant differences between TBI and non-TBI groups in neuropsychological tests and Braak regions (all p’s > .05). However, there was a trend noticed with TBI group having higher levels of tau in all Braak regions. Ultimately, this study showed that the TBI group and non-TBI did not differ in neuropsychological performance and tau accumulation in BRAAK regions.

Comments

Data collection and sharing for this project was funded by the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) (National Institutes of Health Grant U01 AG024904) and DOD ADNI (Department of Defense award number W81XWH-12-2-0012). ADNI is funded by the National Institute on Aging, the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering,and through generous contributions from the following: AbbVie, Alzheimer’s Association; Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation; Araclon Biotech; BioClinica, Inc.; Biogen; Bristol- Myers Squibb Company; CereSpir, Inc.; Cogstate; Eisai Inc.; Elan Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Eli Lilly and Company; EuroImmun; F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd and its affiliated company Genentech, Inc.; Fujirebio; GE Healthcare; IXICO Ltd.; Janssen Alzheimer Immunotherapy Research & Development, LLC.; Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development LLC.; Lumosity; Lundbeck; Merck & Co., Inc.; Meso Scale Diagnostics, LLC.; NeuroRx Research; Neurotrack Technologies; Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation; Pfizer Inc.; Piramal Imaging; Servier; Takeda Pharmaceutical Company; and Transition Therapeutics. The Canadian Institutes of Health Research is providing funds to support ADNI clinical sites in Canada. Private sector contributions are facilitated by the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (www.fnih.org). The grantee organization is the Northern California Institute for Research and Education, and the study is coordinated by the Alzheimer’s Therapeutic Research Institute at theUniversity of Southern California. ADNI data are disseminated by the Laboratory for Neuro Imaging at the University of Southern California.

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