MRI and Decline of Aging Aviator Performance

这项提案的目标是确定是否可以在“真实的世界”上改进与年龄相关的衰退模型。 通过将纵向脑体积变化的评估添加到模型中来完成oglycan任务。我们将收集 纵向结构MRI数据的一个子集的100+飞行员参加我们正在进行的纵向 飞行员性能研究：60名受试者，55岁或以上，将在一个 四年（Y 0，Y2，Y 4）。一半的样本将具有载脂蛋白E（APOE）α 4等位基因 (e4携带者），阿尔茨海默病的遗传风险因素。我们的主要假设是： 通过纵向MR体积测量评估的萎缩年化率可以解释 飞行模拟器性能下降率的个体差异，超出了以下解释 处理速度和工作记忆、载脂蛋白E e4携带状态和航空经验的衡量标准。我们 还将检查基线MR测量是否与纵向MR测量一样有用，目的是 每个人都更容易识别处于衰退风险中的个人。 海马和额叶的体积测量将是原发性脑梗死患者MR的预测因子。 假设，因为我们的观点是，安全驾驶飞机到其预定目的地涉及记忆， 路线和多任务处理技能。主要结果指标是飞行综合评分的下降率， 使用高度量化的涉及多任务的飞行模拟器测试。 几年来，我们一直在跟踪一组年龄较大的小型飞机飞行员的表现， 量化飞行模拟器数据清楚地显示了年龄对成绩的影响;然而， 在飞行员中表现的异质性。我们建议通过以下方式增强我们的预测器集： 增加高度量化的MR体积测量，以更好地解释功能下降的患者和方式 OCCU RS。

The goal of this proposal is to determine if one can improve models of age-related decline on a "real world" ',ognitive task by adding assessments of longitudinal brain volume changes to the model. We will collect longitudinal structural MRI data on a subset of the 100+ aviators participating in our ongoing longitudinal study of pilot performance: 60 subjects, 55 years of age or older, will be scanned three times each across a span of four years (Y0, Y2, Y4). Half of the sample will possess an Apolipoprotein E (APOE) epsilon 4 allele (e4 carriers), a genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease. Our primary hypotheses are: Annualized rate of atrophy, as assessed by longitudinal MR volumetric measures, can account for individual differences in the rate of decline in flight simulator performance, beyond that explained by measures of processing speed and working memory, APOE e4 carrier status, and aviation experience. We will also examine whether baseline MR measures are as useful as longitudinal MR measures, for the aim of ach ev ng earl er identification of individuals at risk of decline. Volumetric measures of hippocampus and frontal lobe will be the MR predictors in the primary hypothesis, as our perspective is that safely flying an airplane to its intended destination involves memory for routes and multi-tasking skills. The primary outcome measure is rate of decline in flight summary scores, using a highly quantified flight simulator test involving multi-tasking. For several years we have been following a group of older small-aircraft pilots' performance in a quantified flight simulator. Data clearly show effects of age on performance; however, there is substantial heterogeneity in performance over time among aviators. We propose to enhance our set of predictors by the addition of highly quantified MR volumetric measures to better explain in whom and how functional decline OCCU rs.