News

Pitt Psychiatry Research Published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia

Pitt Psychiatry Research Published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia

Pitt Psychiatry investigators have recently published studies in Alzheimer's & Dementia. Below is a summary of recent original research on neural factors underlying cognitive and depressive symptoms in late life, sleep and rest–activity rhythms across...

19 people were honored at Pitt’s Postdoctoral Research Symposium

19 people were honored at Pitt’s Postdoctoral Research Symposium

On April 14, the University of Pittsburgh held its 18th annual Postdoctoral Research Symposium, hosted by the Office of Academic Career Development for the schools of the health sciences. Postdocs presented 115 posters at the event, and 11 of them took home $500...

News about Dr. Pascoal’s participation in WTD

News about Dr. Pascoal’s participation in WTD

El neurólogo brasileño afincado en Pensilvania Tharick Pascoal es uno de los ochenta peregrinos que, procedentes de 26 países diferentes, participan desde este lunes en la segunda edición de Walking the Talk for Dementia. Una iniciativa que define como...

The HEAD Study – Pascoal Laboratory, University of Pittsburgh

The HEAD Study – Pascoal Laboratory, University of Pittsburgh

Researchers around the world are collaborating in the largest head-to-head tau PET dataset and harmonization effort ever undertaken. The findings could lead to significant advances in the diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer's Disease. Drs. Tharick Pascoal (University...

Over the Span of AD, Roles of Astrocytes and Microglia Change

Over the Span of AD, Roles of Astrocytes and Microglia Change

As neuronal supporters and immune surveyors, astrocytes and microglia are no mere bystanders to the neuronal mayhem that unfolds in Alzheimer’s disease. At the AD/PD meeting, held March 5-9 in Lisbon, scientists presented new twists on the relative contributions of...

Investing in Hope

Investing in Hope

One day a week, when he’s not conducting research on Alzheimer’s disease in his Oakland lab, Dr. Tharick Pascoal treats patients at the memory clinic at UPMC. Sometimes what he observes is startling – a man who was fairly coherent six months ago staring back at him...

Brain Inflammation May Trigger Alzheimer’s-Linked Anger, Anxiety

Brain Inflammation May Trigger Alzheimer’s-Linked Anger, Anxiety

Alzheimer’s patients are notoriously irritable, agitated and anxious – and researchers now think they know why. Brain inflammation appears to influence the mood problems of Alzheimer’s patients, rather than traditional markers of the disease like amyloid beta or tau...

Advancing Against Alzheimer’s

Advancing Against Alzheimer’s

Two older adults check in at the hospital to undergo brain scans. Their results are remarkably similar. Both show an accumulation of amyloid plaques—proteins that clog the spaces between neurons and serve as a telltale sign of Alzheimer’s disease. But, as time...

Finding a Biomarker for Alzheimer’s Disease

Finding a Biomarker for Alzheimer’s Disease

In this UPMC Physician Journal feature, meet Tharick Pascoal, MD, PhD, neurologist and associate professor of Neurology and Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, as he and his team conduct research to find a biomarker based on tau proteins in...

Best Life: Researchers link ADHD, alzheimers

Best Life: Researchers link ADHD, alzheimers

More than 6.5 million people are living with Alzheimer’s in the United States. More than six million children have attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder or ADHD. One is usually diagnosed later in life, and the other is diagnosed earlier, but could the two actually...

Exploring a Connection Between ADHD and Alzheimer’s

Exploring a Connection Between ADHD and Alzheimer’s

New research has shed light on the connection between attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and Alzheimer’s, two neurological conditions that manifest in very different ways.  One study showed that people who are genetically predisposed to ADHD may be...

Brain Cell Biomarker for Preclinical Alzheimer Disease Identified

Brain Cell Biomarker for Preclinical Alzheimer Disease Identified

Astrocytes, cells that are involved in the brain’s support system, might play an important role in the progression of Alzheimer disease, according to results from 1016 participants with and without amyloid-β pathology who were all cognitively unimpaired....

Pitt study could open opportunity for earlier Alzheimer’s detection

Pitt study could open opportunity for earlier Alzheimer’s detection

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- A study by the University of Pittsburgh claims to have found an earlier detection for people who may have Alzheimer's, and it used a test many of us routinely take.   Blood tests were used to see if someone could develop the disease or not....

Alzheimer’s blood test edges closer as key brain cell identified

Alzheimer’s blood test edges closer as key brain cell identified

A blood test that can detect people at early risk of Alzheimer’s is a step closer after scientists implicated a key brain cell in the development of the disease. As well as providing the basis for a test, their work points to a resolution of one of the persistent...

Genetic risk of ADHD may boost odds of Alzheimer’s in old age

Genetic risk of ADHD may boost odds of Alzheimer’s in old age

Having a genetic predisposition to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, is associated with cognitive decline and may predict Alzheimer's disease in old age, early research released Thursday suggests. Recent large studies have hinted at a link between...

Study Challenges Dogma Behind Alzheimer’s Disease Drug Trials

Study Challenges Dogma Behind Alzheimer’s Disease Drug Trials

PITTSBURGH - Contrary to early studies, brain levels of enzymes that regulate DNA-folding drop as Alzheimer’s disease progresses, neuroscientists from the University of Pittsburgh, McGill University and Harvard University reported today...

Is Inflammation In The Brain Causing Alzheimer’s Disease?

Is Inflammation In The Brain Causing Alzheimer’s Disease?

The brain of a person with Alzheimer’s disease has a few hallmark traits. First, a buildup of plaques made of proteins called amyloid beta. Second, are tangles of another protein, called tau, within individual neurons. A third major indicator is inflammation. While...

Brain Tissue Inflammation Drives Alzheimer’s Disease

Brain Tissue Inflammation Drives Alzheimer’s Disease

PITTSBURGH – Neuroinflammation is the key driver of the spread of pathologically misfolded proteins in the brain and causes cognitive impairment in patients with Alzheimer’s disease, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of...

Pitt Psychiatry Hosts a Tremendous Research “Half” Day

Pitt Psychiatry Hosts a Tremendous Research “Half” Day

On June 9, 2021, the Department of Psychiatry held its 2nd virtual Research Day, featuring presentations on health equity research, a speed dat(a)ing session, a keynote address, and honors and awards.  The event was billed as a Research “Half” Day, as we hope and...