The Sydney Memory and Ageing Study (MAS), is one of Australia’s largest and longest running studies of ageing and cognitive health. MAS began in 2005 with the aims of investigating rates and predictors of healthy cognitive ageing, mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia in older Australians. Over the last 14 years, MAS has collected biomarker, genetic/epigenomic, neuroimaging, cognitive, proteomics/lipidomics, health, and lifestyle data to determine what factors are associated with cognitively normal ageing and progression to MCI or dementia.
Projects
CHeBA Longitudinal Studies
The original study, Sydney Memory and Ageing Study (MAS), ran for 14 years and is one of Australia’s largest and longest running studies of ageing and cognitive health. Over 200 publications using MAS data have appeared in a large range of respected national and international journals.
Despite the rapid ageing of our population there have been only a few population-based studies of centenarians and near-centenarians internationally, and none in Australia. The study of exceptionally long lived individuals will shed light on the determinants of successful aging, both environmental and genetic. It will also help us understand the health care requirements of this group and enable us to plan accordingly.
The Older Australian Twins Study is a longitudinal study investigating healthy brain ageing in older twins (65+ years). Healthy ageing is characterised by low levels of disability, high cognitive and functional capacity, and an active engagement in life. The most important ingredient of healthy ageing is a healthy brain, bereft of age-related diseases and dysfunction. Brain ageing and brain diseases are determined by multiple genetic factors that interact with environmental influences. Since identical twins share 100% of their genetic code, whereas non-identical twins share half their genetic information, detailed comparisons of these two groups has the potential to discover new genes involved in cognitive decline or resilience.
Maintain Your Brain is a randomised controlled trial of multiple online interventions designed to target modifiable risk factors for dementia in general and AD in particular. Risk factors to be addressed are physical inactivity, cognitive inactivity, depression/anxiety, overweight and obesity, and poor dietary habits. Up to four intervention modules (physical activity, nutrition, brain training, and peace of mind) will be administered based on individual risk profiles. All activities and assessments will be conducted on a computer with internet access via the Maintain Your Brain eHealth platform.
All CHeBA Projects
This project aims to develop novel imaging biomarkers of early cerebrovascular alterations in VCI, and examine how they relate to brain vascular lesions, cognition (including dementia), blood biomarkers of vascular disease, and vascular risk factors.
Diagnosis and prediction of MCI and AD using pattern recognition and data-mining methods. Early and accurate diagnosis and prediction of MCI and AD is essential for developing new treatments which may prevent AD, or slow its progression. However, this is particularly challenging due to the subtlety of brain changes at the very early stages of the disease.
Most complex traits, such as blood protein levels and memory performance, have a genetic component and many genes are thought to be involved. In genome-wide association studies, known as GWAS, we test whether millions of genetic variants are associated with a measure of interest, such as blood protein levels. These studies are undertaken within CHeBA, with other national and international studies and in collaboration with international consortia.
Anthocyanins are compounds found naturally in fruits and vegetables that provide the deep-red and purple-blue colour. They have strong antioxidant abilities which may protect the cells of the body from damage. The purpose of this study is to identify if a high intake of anthocyanins through either diet/dietary advice or supplementation for 6 months can sustainably delay or prevent memory loss progression in people at high risk for dementia.
MCI represents a transitional state in which individuals show impairment of cognitive function, but retain relatively intact global cognition. We explored the different grey matter change patterns of normal ageing and MCI.
A hallmark feature of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is an accumulation of amyloid plaques in the brain, which typically starts many years before symptoms are observed. We used amyloid PET brain scans to investigate this plaque build-up in pairs of twins at risk of developing AD. The data is currently undergoing analysis to calculate the heritability of these plaques - that is, to determine to what degree genes play a role. We are also investigating potentially modifiable environmental factors that may be contributing to the build-up of plaques and the associated changes in memory and thinking.
The MetMemory Study is a placebo-controlled study aiming to slow cognitive decline, using a safe medication used to treat diabetes and metabolic conditions.This research collaboration between CHeBA and the Garvan Institute, funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council, is recruiting volunteers for a 3-year study examining the effects of metformin on cognition, brain anatomy and early signs of dementia.
The cortical folding process begins very early, starting from 10 weeks of foetal life. Therefore, alterations in cortical development can provide us with important clues about the resulting morphology. Such morphological changes in the brain are associated with ageing, and this is possibly related to the thinning of the gyri, due to reduction in gyral grey matter and white matter. Sulcal widening is commonly used by radiologists as a measure of cortical atrophy in the clinical setting.
Description
Blood is not only a repository for a variety of disease biomarkers, but its constituents can also reflect the status of the body as it ages, responds to lifestyle and environmental impacts such as nutrition, exercise and education, and reflects changes within the body such as response to disease. While current blood-based assays of specific markers such as Aβ peptides have been disappointing, there is a wealth of as yet untapped information in blood which holds promise to:
CogSCAN is the first independent, systematic evaluation of four prominent and widely used computerised cognitive assessment instruments in healthy older adults and in people with mild cognitive impairment and dementia.
Australian society is increasingly multicultural, with 1 in 5 adults aged over 65 years from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. Despite this, limited research has been conducted investigating the suitability, user-friendliness, and acceptability of computer-administered cognitive assessments for older culturally and linguistically diverse Australians.