by Kathy D. Wright

Memphis, TN – Early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease has been shown to reduce cost and improve patient outcomes, but current diagnostic approaches can be invasive and costly. A recent study, published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, has found a novel way to identify a high potential for developing Alzheimer’s disease before symptoms occur. Ray Romano, PhD, RN, completed the research as part of his PhD in the Nursing Science Program at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) College of Graduate Health Sciences.

The five-year, $3.13 million grant will deploy social-assistive robots at Ohio Living Westminster-Thurber and Chapel Hill Community in Canal Fulton near Canton for an eight-week trial. The study is aimed at curbing loneliness and apathy in older adults, especially for those with dementia.

Kathy Wright saw the ravages of Alzheimer's disease and hypertension when she served as a caregiver for her father, who dealt with those devastating illnesses. In her role as an assistant professor in the College of Nursing, she also knows these health problems hit the African American community particularly hard.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Todd Monroe, PhD, RN-BC, FNAP, FGSA, FAAN, associate professor at The Ohio State University College of Nursing, will help lead a multi-site five-year, $5 million grant project awarded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Institute on Aging (NIA) to advance research focused on patients with Alzheimer’s disease and cancer and their sensitivity to pain.

The National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Aging (NIH/NIA) has awarded a five-year, $3.3 million R01 grant to fund the study titled, “Sex Differences in Pain Reports and Brain Activation in Older Adults with Alzheimer’s Disease.” The grant was awarded to Todd Monroe, PhD, RN-BC, FNAP, FGSA, FAAN, (PI) associate professor in The Ohio State University College of Nursing.

Loren Wold, PhD, FAHA, FCVS, associate professor and director of biomedical research at The Ohio State University College of Nursing has been awarded a $3.89 million grant from the National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Aging (NIH/NIA) for his study entitled “Mechanisms of exposure-induced tissue functional and pathological changes in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s Disease.” This study will be performed in collaboration with Colin Combs, department chair for biomedical sciences a