Role and Mechanism of Hearing Impairment in Cognitive Decline and Dementia

摘要 Jennifer A.Deal是流行病学家和老年病学家，在该部门担任助理科学家 约翰霍普金斯大学彭博医学院流行病学教授，并被任命为 约翰霍普金斯大学医学院耳鼻咽喉头颈外科。她在寻找一个 导师职业发展奖，以填补她目前培训中的知识空白，以便她的研究可以 成功地在认知老化、听力学、耳鼻喉科、流行病学和认知学的不同领域架起了桥梁 神经科学，以改善老年人的健康。 培训提案的主要组成部分包括正式和非正式的综合五年计划 指导神经影像数据的获取、处理和分析(结构MRI和PIB PET) 大规模的基于人群的研究。PI还将增强有关收集和分析的当前知识 在流行病学研究中的听力数据，并在临床和病理生理学方面进行额外的培训 听力受损。培训计划包括授课课程和研讨会，临床观察， 并由一支成熟和多样化的专家团队指导研究。短期职业目标包括 通过出版物和演示文稿完成和传播高质量的指导性研究 从获奖期的第四年开始申请独立的R01资金。长期职业生涯 目标是成为老龄化、认知功能减退和痴呆症领域的独立研究员， 听力障碍方面的专业知识。 拟议研究的具体目标是量化HI事件痴呆的独立关联 在三项特征良好的前瞻性观察研究中，随着特定领域认知能力的下降， 研究HI与脑体积随时间的变化(两者均与阿尔茨海默病相关区域)的关系 疾病和听觉处理)，并量化血管因素在HI发展中的作用。 完成拟议的目标将阐明听力障碍在痴呆症和 领域特异性认知功能下降，为未来的临床研究提供了可能的靶点，具有潜在的 为预防老年人的这些不良后果提供信息。

ABSTRACT Jennifer A. Deal is an epidemiologist and gerontologist, with a position as Assistant Scientist in the Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Medicine and a secondary appointment in the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. She seeks a mentored career development award to fill knowledge gaps in her current training so that her research can successfully bridge the diverse fields of cognitive aging, audiology, otolaryngology, epidemiology and cognitive neuroscience in order to improve the health of older adults. The primary component of the training proposal includes a comprehensive five-year plan of formal and informal instruction in the acquisition, processing and analysis of neuroimaging data (structural MRI and PiB PET) in large population-based studies. The PI will also augment current knowledge about the collection and analysis of hearing data in epidemiologic studies with additional training in the clinical aspects and pathophysiology of hearing impairment. The training program consists of didactic coursework and seminars, clinic observations, and mentored research by an established and diverse team of experts. Short-term career goals include completion and dissemination of high-quality mentored research through publications and presentations and application for independent R01 funding beginning in the fourth year of the award period. Long-term career goals are to be an independent investigator in the area of aging and cognitive decline and dementia, with expertise in hearing impairment. The specific aims of the proposed research are to quantify the independent association of HI incident dementia and with domain-specific cognitive decline in three well-characterized prospective observational studies, to investigate the relationship of HI with changes in brain volume over time (both in regions related to Alzheimer's disease and to auditory processing), and to quantify the role of vascular factors in the development of HI. Completion of the proposed aims will elucidate the role and mechanism of hearing impairment in dementia and domain-specific cognitive decline, providing possible targets for future clinical research with the potential to inform efforts to prevent these adverse outcomes in older adults.