Caring for a loved one with dementia can be overwhelming and isolating. Never was that more true than during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Eileen Poiley understands that challenge well, having dedicated more than 35 years to educating caregivers at the USF Health Byrd Alzheimer’s Center. When the world stopped, she knew this important work could not.

Poiley launched the Alzheimer’s Caregivers Podcast in May 2021 to offer practical guidance to caregivers where and when they need it. As the show posts its 100^th episode this month, this resource has helped more than 7,000 unique listeners around the world with downloads from six continents.

Eileen Poiley.

“Some caregivers are at the end of their ropes, and they don’t know what to do,” Poiley said. “We help caregivers deal with the challenges from a non-medication perspective, as there are a lot of behaviors that medication can’t change.”

The podcast features 30-minute episodes on a wide range of topics affecting families dealing with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, including understanding short-term memory loss, managing the challenges of daily life, reducing safety risks, frequently asked questions and more.

Podcast producer Scott Huetteman, whose mother has Alzheimer’s disease, encouraged Eileen to create the podcast after hearing one of her presentations in person.

“There are a lot of ways to get information out, and the challenge with caregivers is that there is so much they need to know,” Huetteman said. “The podcast is a great way caregivers can listen to episodes any time of the day or night at their convenience.”

Poiley agrees that caregivers need a large volume of information, but that comprehensive books that cover a wide range of topics aren’t typically useful for caregivers. The podcast format allows them to pick the topic they need at the right moment.

Eileen Poiley.

One caregiver who has listened to all 100 episodes—several many times—said he was in a dire situation looking for help as he cared for his family member. She was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s five years before he reached out for support beyond medical care.

“I wish that I could reconstruct the morning I discovered the Institute,” said the caregiver, who asked to remain anonymous. “I had been looking through articles I had collected in a file over the previous five years, as her needs were getting well past what I could provide. Things were getting really emotionally intense for both of us.”

The Pinellas County caregiver became hopeful upon discovering the nearby virtual Alzheimer’s support programs at USF, along with the podcast series, through a Google search.

“It was like Eileen was here in the home, how she described what we were going through at the time,” said the caregiver. “She was spot on, and I could implement what I was learning and see almost immediate results.”

“My loved one and I are now both much calmer, in a better place, all because I listened to the podcasts. Eileen identified behaviors to watch for, explained them, and gave me strategies for how to respond and how to cope.”

Alzheimer’s disease is the 7^th leading cause of death in the United States, and one in three seniors dies with dementia.

To support Alzheimer’s caregiver education at USF Health, give online at usf.to/caregivers or contact Dan Minor at danielminor@usf.edu.

Story by Davina Gould, USF Foundation.

This year’s top stories highlight USF Health as an academic medical center.  Stories of patient gratitude, innovative research and development, and affirmation that the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine is truly the fastest rising medical school in the country.

Take a look at the top USF Health stories of 2022.

1. USF Health and Weill Cornell Medicine earn funding to further develop artificial intelligence that uses voice to diagnose disease. 

2. A USF Health patient had very few answers to her condition until she met with Dr. Jolan Walter.

3. Congratulations to our USF Health physicians who made the 2022 list of the country’s top doctors. 

4. The USF Health Morsani College of Medicine is on the rise faster than any medical school in the country. 

5. A USF Health psychiatry expert explains how the COVID-19 pandemic led to an increased number of patients with Social Anxiety Disorder.

6.  No medical school in the country does Match Day like the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. 

7. USF Health and Tampa General Hospital neurosurgeons are the first in Tampa Bay to offer game-changing ultrasound. 

8. USF Health was awarded $3.2 million to develop blood tests designed to detect Alzheimer’s Disease. 

9. Researchers begin to unlock how gut and oral microbiomes are linked to brain health in older adults. 

Hariom Yadav, PhD, (standing) and Shalini Jain, PhD, were recently recruited to research on the gut-brain connection (gut-brain axis) in relation to cognitive function.

10. Take a look at all of the USF Health physicians who made the Tampa Magazine list of Top Doctors in 2022. 

The University of South Florida and healthy older adult volunteers from the Sarasota area will play an increasingly crucial role in the landmark Preventing Alzheimer’s with Cognitive Training (PACT) study. This study, funded by the National Institute on Aging, part of the National Institutes of Health, examines whether computerized brain training exercises can reduce the risk of cognitive impairment and dementia such as Alzheimer’s disease. Additional funding awarded earlier this year will provide PACT study participants with an option to provide blood samples that will be used to develop tests for early detection of Alzheimer’s disease. This is the largest study of its kind to date, investigating not only how to possibly prevent dementia but also how to detect it earlier.

USF’s PACT study expansion to Sarasota will increase our expected study enrollment from 2,354 to 3,567 over the next two years. To qualify, participants must be 65 or older with no signs of cognitive impairment or dementia. There is an emphasis on the need for African-American/Black and Hispanic study volunteers. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, these populations are at the highest risk for Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.

“We are excited for the opportunity to launch PACT in Sarasota. We are seeking another 1,213 healthy older adults to volunteer for this important study. We are grateful for the 2,354 volunteers in the Tampa Bay region and beyond who have already joined our fight against Alzheimer’s disease by enrolling in PACT. The scientific contributions made possible by our PACT volunteers have the potential to positively impact our lives and the lives of future generations,” said Brianne Stanback, PhD, research assistant professor in the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine and director of Community Engagement for PACT.

Those interested in the study may participate at USF Sarasota-Manatee, Tampa, or St. Petersburg campuses or at Reliance Medical in Lakeland or Winter Haven. Participants may also join the study at University of Florida in Gainesville or Jacksonville, University of North Florida, Clemson University in Seneca or Greenville, SC, or Duke University in Durham, NC.

PACT participants will be asked to initially come to two in-person study visits. They will then complete 45 computerized training exercises in their own home or they may choose to complete activities at a study site. Participants will be asked to return about three years later for a third study visit.

More information is available at the PACT study website, pactstudy.org, or by calling (941) 500-4447.

The PACT study is supported by the National Institute on Aging, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), grant number R01AG070349. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Gopal Thinakaran, PhD, in his research lab at USF Health Byrd Alzheimer’s Center.

More than 6 million Americans live with Alzheimer’s disease, and by 2050, this number is projected to rise to nearly 13 million and cost the nation more than $1 trillion.

Can anything be done to slow, or even stop, this dreaded condition? A group of USF Health researchers is taking a step closer with new research on a critical Alzheimer’s risk factor. Their work has been published by a major peer-reviewed science journal, Molecular Neurodegeneration.

The paper’s authors are part of the Thinakaran Lab, at USF Health’s Byrd Alzheimer and Research Institute. They are investigating mechanisms that may exacerbate the onset of Alzheimer’s, specifically a protein called Bridging Integrator 1, or BIN1, a critical component of inflammation. Understanding BIN1 has been a challenge because it appears in different forms.

“Brain inflammation is a big problem,’’ said Gopal Thinakaran, PhD, CEO of the Byrd Center and professor of molecular medicine at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. “While studying its role in different brain cells, we suspected that BIN1 might have an essential function in the brain’s immune cells, called microglia. How it influences Alzheimer’s is a fine point … it’s an important piece of the puzzle.’’

The USF Health team said BIN1 is a significant genetic risk factor for late-onset Alzheimer’s disease. BIN1 is known to regulate membrane dynamics in a range of crucial cellular processes. Although the expression of BIN1 in the brain has been characterized in detail, information regarding microglial BIN1 expression is limited. Until now, BIN1 protein expression and its role in microglia, a cell type most relevant to Alzheimer’s disease, have not been examined in depth.

The research article is titled “BIN1 is a key regulator of proinflammatory and neurodegeneration‑related activation in microglia.’’ The work is the product of a fruitful collaboration between the Thinakaran Lab at USF and the Rangaraju Lab at University of Emory. Its USF authors include Ari Sudwarts, Moorthi Ponnusamy, Shuai Wang, Mitchell Hansen, David Beaulieu‑Abdelahad, Xiaolin Zhang, Lisa Collier, Charles Szekeres, and Dr. Thinakaran.

Microglia monitor for unusual molecules in the brain generated during infection or neuronal damage. Upon detection of any hazard, microglial shape and activity get transformed from a “surveillance” to an “activated” mode, as they become competent to dispose of dead or damaged cells and unwanted proteins that clutter the brain. This brain immune response is the primary task of microglia.

Until recently, brain inflammation and the immune response of microglia were believed to be secondary to the death of neurons, which kick-start Alzheimer’s. However, studies have established that some genes specific to microglia pose the highest risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease by interfering with microglia’s activities. The USF study shows that BIN1’s involvement in disease risk may also center around its role in supporting microglial health and the brain’s immune responses.

The main message from this study is that by regulating the brain’s immune responses, BIN1 may play a crucial role in promoting microglial cell progression from the surveillance to activated microglia. In its study, the team used laboratory stains in mice. Without BIN1, microglia could not mount an appropriate response to the inflammatory challenge and remained closer to a “resting’’ state. “This means that the BIN1 function is vital for microglia to conduct surveillance in the brain for problems and be poised to mount an effective inflammatory response to tissue damage or noxious stimuli generated during brain diseases,’’ the report states.

The team is continuing its research to ask whether BIN1 may act as a risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease by changing “normal’’ brain inflammation to uncontrolled activation often found under pathological conditions.

Alzheimer’s is a specific brain disease that progressively and irreversibly destroys memory and thinking skills. Age is the biggest risk factor for the disease. Eventually, Alzheimer’s disease takes away the ability to carry out even the simplest tasks, according to the Alzheimer’s Association, a global voluntary health organization dedicated to Alzheimer’s care, support and research.

The vast majority of people who develop Alzheimer’s dementia are age 65 or older. Experts believe this late-onset Alzheimer’s, like other common chronic diseases, develops as a result of multiple factors rather than a single cause. Exceptions are cases of Alzheimer’s related to uncommon genetic changes that greatly increase risk.

However, the relatively recent discovery that Alzheimer’s begins 20 years or more before the onset of symptoms helps explain why it has been difficult to prevent and treat Alzheimer’s effectively, the association said.

Story by Kurt Loft.

Tampa FL (June 8, 2022) – The University of South Florida received $3.2 million from the National Institute on Aging to investigate if Alzheimer’s disease can be detected early through simple blood tests.

The new funding dovetails with a $44.4 million, five-year NIH grant awarded to USF last year testing whether computerized braining training can reduce dementia risk in older adults. Called the Preventing Alzheimer’s with Cognitive Training (PACT) study, it is the largest primary prevention trial to date designed to rigorously test the effectiveness of computer-based training to protect against MCI and dementias.

Participants enrolling in the PACT study can also enroll in the study investigating whether a simple blood test can detect dementia. The PACT study will work with the National Centralized Repository for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias to analyze blood samples collected from study participants.

“We need another 2000 healthy older adults to volunteer for the PACT study. We are very grateful to the 1800 volunteers from Tampa Bay who have already joined our fight against Alzheimer’s disease by enrolling in PACT.” said principal investigator Jerri Edwards, PhD, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral neurosciences in the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. “Participants will now not only be contributing to our work on how to possibly prevent dementia, but also advancing efforts to develop blood tests for early detection of the disease.”

Jerri Edwards, PhD, professor of psychiatry and behavioral neurosciences at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, is USF site principal investigator for the PACT study.

Currently, diagnosing dementia such as Alzheimer’s disease requires expensive PET scans or invasive cerebrospinal fluid samples. This new study will contribute to research working toward developing simple blood tests to improve existing methods.

Launched last year, the PACT study continues to recruit participants, seeking healthy older adults to volunteer for the landmark study examining whether computerized brain training exercises can reduce the risk of cognitive impairment and dementia such as Alzheimer’s disease. PACT study volunteers should be age 65 or older with no signs of cognitive impairment or dementia. Those accepted into the study will participate in initial testing at a PACT location at the USF Tampa or St. Petersburg campuses or at Reliance Medical in Lakeland. The PACT study is also being conducted by partner sites at Clemson University, University of Florida, University of North Florida, and Duke University.

The USF PACT study concentrates on the effectiveness of computerized programs, or brain games, for preventing dementia such as Alzheimer’s disease. These computerized training exercises are designed to potentially enhance mental quickness and visual attention. At the end of the trial, the scientists will examine the blood samples from willing participants and determine which specific blood-based biomarkers predict Alzheimer’s disease, the severity of the disease, and/or responsiveness to treatment.

The PACT study is supported by the National Institute on Aging, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), grant number R01AG070349. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

More information is available at the PACT study website, pactstudy.org, or by calling 813-974-6703.

Researchers will focus on tau pathology in a mouse model to elucidate underlying causes.

Delirium is a serious form of mental impairment affecting 11 to 42 percent of elderly inpatients, particularly those hospitalized with infections, admitted to intensive care, or requiring surgery. The condition, marked by sudden-onset confusion and incoherence, is often underdiagnosed and can lead to devastating long-term health consequences.

Now, researchers at the University of South Florida have been awarded a five-year, $3.48 million grant from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) to investigate the observation that older adults who experience delirium while hospitalized can have higher risk afterwards of developing dementia.  They will also attempt to explain why the condition accelerates decline in patients who already have dementia.

The award titled “Influence of systemic immune inflammation upon the tauopathy phenotype in mouse models” will focus on tao pathology in a mouse model. Tau is one of the proteins that accumulates in Alzheimer’s brain tissue and is thought to cause the death of neurons. The grant was in response to a specific request from NIA for proposals forged by interdisciplinary investigative teams to address this question.

“The ultimate goal of this project is to identify the factors associated with general illness that impact Alzheimer’s pathology in the brain and block the influence of those factors on tau pathology, thus decreasing the risk or progression of dementia in individuals who develop general illnesses.” said principal investigator David Morgan, PhD, CEO of the USF Health Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute.

Dr. David Morgan.

“It is testimony to the breadth of expertise at USF that we were able to assemble this team of experts to tackle this very complex problem and compete successfully with other universities.”

Joining Dr. Morgan on the study are co-investigators from the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine and the USF College of Pharmacy: Paula Bickford, PhD, professor at the USF Center of Excellence for Aging and Brain Repair; Chuanhai Cao, PhD, associate professor of pharmaceutical science; Marcia Gordon, PhD, professor of molecular pharmacology and physiology; Daniel Lee, PhD, assistant professor of pharmaceutical science; Kevin Nash, PhD, assistant professor of molecular pharmacology and physiology; Maj-Linda Selenica, PhD, assistant professor of pharmaceutical science; and Ken Ugen, PhD, professor of molecular medicine.

This investigative team combines expertise in Alzheimer’s disease, aging brain function, innate immunity and adaptive immunology to unravel the mechanisms by which general illness can increase risk and progression of dementia.

The researchers suspect that hospitalization and immune activation may feed back onto the brain to speed up Alzheimer’s pathology, Dr. Morgan said. “However, like all epidemiology, it could be reverse causality.  That is, those with existing Alzheimer’s pathology may be more prone to delirium with major infectious illness.  The studies we do in mice will help determine what the direction is.”