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Exploring language as an early behavioral marker of Alzheimer's Disease

Dec 12, 2024

3 min

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Professors from the University of Delaware and Carnegie Mellon University will use a $3.7 million RF1 grant from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) to examine language as an early behavioral marker of Alzheimer’s Disease. If successful, this research could pave the way for earlier interventions.


“Identifying these individuals as early as possible gets them into preventive treatments sooner,” said Alyssa Lanzi, assistant professor of Communications Sciences & Disorders at UD.


The study builds on pilot data gathered by Anna Saylor, a third-year doctoral student in the communication sciences and disorders doctoral program, housed in the UD's College of Health Sciences.


“We know a lot about how language develops in childhood but not much about how it changes in older adults,” Saylor said. “Our data suggest subtle language changes might signal future cognitive decline.”


To explore these changes on a larger scale, Lanzi is collaborating with MacWhinney, who founded TalkBank, open science database of language samples. Within TalkBank is DementiaBank, a shared database of multimedia interactions for studying communication in dementia. However, DementiaBank is outdated and limited in demographics, and the quality and rigor of the data need improvement.


Lanzi is seeking to change that. Her five-year study seeks 300 older adults aged 60-90 nationwide from underrepresented backgrounds or populations vulnerable to health disparities.


“Current DementiaBank data is representative of Caucasians of a higher socioeconomic status,” Lanzi said. “We must intentionally recruit people who are at the greatest risk — for example, adults who are Black, Asian, Hispanic, Latin and those living in rural areas.”


The recruitment strategy, rooted in community engagement at locations in Wilmington, Delaware, is part of the novelty of Lanzi’s grant.


“This is a feasibility study to see if our approach in Wilmington can be replicated in other states,” Lanzi said.


Lanzi has also established an advisory committee of nationwide faculty with relevant expertise on specific priority populations. Their input will tailor plans to population needs while data is collected through a central site at UD.


The Delaware Center for Cognitive Aging Research (DECCAR) also provides critical infrastructure for the study.


“This project is an example of the success of DECCAR, and our impact extends far beyond state lines,” said Lanzi, an executive committee member with DECCAR.


Participants selected for the study will participate in a comprehensive cognitive and language testing battery via telehealth, so they don’t have to travel to UD’s campus, which is novel and unique to this study.


“To study their language, they’ll see pictures and be asked to describe them and share stories from their past,” Lanzi said.


Study participants will receive a gift card for participating and feedback about their memory to share with their healthcare provider.


“Building trust and giving back are key elements of our strategy,” Lanzi said.


Lanzi is already preparing for the next phase of her research, supported by an additional $800,000 grant from the NIA. This phase will test the effects of an online treatment Lanzi developed for individuals identified as at risk.


“If we find that language is an early marker of disease, I want to take this research to the next level and develop treatments that teach strategies to enhance independence and improve the quality of life for those at risk of developing dementia,” she said.

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New Year's Resolutions: Why they fail and how we can stick to them

By now, most people have already made their New Year's resolutions and (hopefully) put them into practice. But most people — about 90% — give up on them within the first few weeks of the year. University of Delaware experts dig into the psychology behind why resolutions fail and offer a recipe for success. The timing of New Year’s resolutions also isn’t always ideal. According to Philip Gable, professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, a lack of commitment is one reason why many people fail to achieve their goals. “New Year's resolutions sometimes lack in commitment,” he said. “It's just this time of year when people feel like they should make a resolution, as opposed to other times in the year when it's less common but maybe more meaningful, like if you get a doctor's report and realize you need to change that aspect of your life.” In order to be part of the 10% of people who keep their New Year’s resolutions, Gable said to break down big goals into small, achievable steps. “I think a lot of times with goals, people will commit to a very big goal and not realize the smaller steps they need to take to achieve that goal,” Gable said. “If we have too big of a goal, we get emotionally distressed when we can't do it, or we fail because we set too big of a goal. Or maybe we couldn't think through all of the elements required to meet that really big goal. So starting small gives us something achievable, and then that gives you a platform to go to the next thing.” Naomi Sadeh, associate professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of Delaware, said that part of the reason it’s so hard to make long-term changes is that humans are wired to prioritize instant gratification over delayed rewards. In other words, when posed with an option, we tend to pick the easy choice with an immediate outcome to satisfy a need today instead of delaying gratification for a bigger reward — we splurge on items we don’t really need instead of saving money, order takeout instead of cooking a healthy meal, or binge-watch a TV show instead of going to the gym. “With impulsivity and with breaking New Year's resolutions, often it's when people tend to opt for that sooner, smaller reward over the longer, bigger reward,” Sadeh said. “The sooner reward is really tempting, even if it's not as satisfying in the long run as the longer goal or bigger goal that you had.” When people set goals, they tend to feel very motivated for a few days and falsely assume they’re committed to their goal. But as soon as that motivation wears off, they give up. “There's potentially a mismatch in the timing of your goals,” said Rob West, interim chair and professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences. “Your goals are immediate, they're conscious, they're volitional. You have those in the moment, and they can be developed and abandoned quickly. But habits take a considerable amount of time and repetition.” To connect directly with Gable, visit his profile and click on the connect button. Interviews with other researchers can be arranged by contacting UD's Media Relations department.

6 min

Saving the world, one yard at a time

University of Delaware professor Doug Tallamy has a simple mission: Encourage people to rid their property of invasive plants and replace them with native ones. One of the ways he's tackling it is through a concept called “Homegrown National Park,” a grassroots initiative he co-founded to offer a simple solution for the biodiversity crisis — the decline of a variety of animals, plants and numerous species. Tallamy, the TA Baker Professor of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Delaware, is trying to encourage everyone to do their part to protect the planet. If invasive plants (which don’t belong in an area and can ultimately harm the ecosystem by taking away essential resources from other plants) grow out of control, then an area loses its biodiversity, the ability for multiple plant and animal species to function at once and create a rich ecosystem. Invasive species are prolific. For example, many invasive plants produce berries, which some birds eat. The birds then spread those seeds around. So, once invasive plants are in an area, they’re hard to get rid of. The idea is to replace them with native plants, which have historically belonged to a region and provide critical habitat for insects, birds and other creatures. It's an uphill climb, but Tallamy persists and is trying to save the world, one yard at a time. “Everybody has a responsibility of doing things that sustain their little piece of the earth, and there are a whole bunch of things one individual can do to help in that regard,” Tallamy said. What’s not so simple, however, is getting the Earth’s 8 billion people (or, at least, anyone with property) to do this. “We are trying to change the culture so that [replacing invasive plants with native ones] becomes the norm, not the exception,” Tallamy said. “We’re not getting rid of lawns. But we don’t need 44 million acres of them. There are now so many people on the planet that natural systems are not functioning the way they need to sustain us.” A snowball effect Much of our current plant culture revolves around colorful, aesthetically pleasing ornamental plants that don’t support the local food web. When they grow out of control, a local yard or larger region loses out on biodiversity. The natural world is all connected. For example, Tallamy said, if we lose pollinators like our native bees that transport pollen between plants, then we also lose most of our plants that produce flowers and fruits. It’s a snowball effect. “If that happens, the energy flow through our terrestrial ecosystems is almost totally disrupted, which means the food webs that support our vertebrate animals, our amphibians, our reptiles, our birds and our mammals would collapse and all those animals would disappear,” Tallamy said. “Without insect decomposers, the creatures that break down dead material, mostly plants, would rot and only bacteria and fungi would endure.” “Homegrown National Park” has generated a lot of buzz for Tallamy, who received recognition for it in October by the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. The MHS awarded Tallamy with its highest honor, the George Robert White Medal of Honor, for eminent service in the field of horticulture. Conservation in action Tallamy’s quest to “change the culture” on planting can be witnessed in the fall at UD. On a warm October afternoon, he and a group of students from the Introduction to Insect and Wildlife Field Studies (ENWC 165) course trudged out to UD Wetlands to curtail some pesky invasive plants native to Asia. Equipped with clippers, loppers and handsaws, they walked behind Worrilow Hall, part of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources’ 350-acre campus, which includes the UD Wetlands, an area that was formerly a dairy cow pasture but transformed into wetlands in 2008 because pollution from the farm was reaching the local watershed. The wetlands were created because wetlands, by design, absorb nitrogen from runoff before it goes into waterways. They then release it as a gas into the atmosphere. But the UD Wetlands repeatedly deal with pesky invasive plants such as Porcelain-berry and Chinese elm. Over the years, UD students have stymied the species from overtaking the area. “See this? This is a good guy,” said Tallamy to the students as he held up a fallen branch. “You just want to get the Porcelain-berry off of it. They’ll grow back very well. But we want to nip [the Porcelain-berry] in the bud.” Taylor Kelly, a senior wildlife ecology and conservation major who took part in the invasive species removal, said Tallamy has helped her better understand the interconnectedness of various ecosystems. “Native plants provide so much value to our local pollinators, which add value to our local birds because they feed on pollinators, seeds, fruit and trees,” Kelly said. When native plants are in their natural environment, she added, it is a beautiful thing to see. Gardening with intention Tallamy, who began his teaching career at the University of Delaware in 1982, has published numerous research papers about entomology and written three books about native plants, insects and ecosystems, with a fourth book soon to come out. Lately, much of his career has revolved around public outreach. He often lectures across the country about native plants and their ecosystem value and is regularly quoted in outlets like The New York Times, The Washington Post and Natural History Magazine. “Dr. Tallamy is a rare scientist that is able to explain his work to everyone,” said Jake Bowman, UD professor of wildlife ecology and chair of the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology. “His passion for the importance of native plants has driven a major shift in thinking.” Years ago, when Tallamy first set out to spread his messages about native plants, he anticipated a lot of pushback from horticulture enthusiasts who he thought might be resentful about being told how to choose their plants. Instead, Tallamy found that many actually embraced his ideas, including Delaware’s own Master Gardeners, a group of about 300 volunteer educators trained by UD Cooperative Extension. Among his supporters are Delaware Master Gardeners Karen Kollias, Brent Marsh and Judy Pfister, who each praised Tallamy for the impact he has had on how they garden. Kollias now “gardens with intention”— not for herself or her neighbors, but for the environment. “I was a gardener before,” she said. “Now I consider myself an ecological gardener.” After Marsh received a copy of Tallamy’s 2007 book, Bringing Nature Home, which talks about the link between native plants and native wildlife, Marsh became a Master Gardener and began planting native species in his Georgetown lawn. Today, native plants such as woodland sunflowers and oak trees adorn Marsh’s yard, and he is grateful for the value of native plants that he learned through Tallamy’s book. “Someday, maybe 20 years from now when I’m 100 years old, somebody's going to buy my house and they’re going to say, ‘Who planted all these oak trees?!’” Marsh chuckled. “Doug Tallamy changed my life.” As Tallamy has sought to simplify scientific knowledge with the general public, Pfister has utilized Tallamy’s approach to do the same. “He has a way of just making the whole thing a big circle, tying the need for a plant back to the need for a bird back to the need for a tree,” she said. Tallamy, who has been delighted by the fervor ignited by his native plants teachings, said the future of the Earth and its diverse ecosystems will in large part depend on how people treat their yards. “In the past, we asked our landscapes to do one thing, and that was, be pretty,” Tallamy said. “Now we have to ask them to do two things: be pretty and ecologically functional. That's the horticultural challenge of today.” But it’s one Tallamy believes can be achieved. Sometimes, he wishes he could speak to his 10-year-old self and tell the young boy to dig another pond for the toads to colonize. Restore. Conserve. Focus on keeping nature’s ecosystems intact, he would say. “We have to do both,” Tallamy said. “Yes, we have to conserve what’s out there, but we have to get in the mindset that we can really put a lot of it back.” Tallamy and Homegrown National Park co-founder Michelle Alfandari have created a database for people to type in their zip code and discover which native plants are best for their area.

5 min

Health for the holidays: Expert provides tips for keeping diets in tact

'Tis the season for meals with friends and family and sneaking in snacks before New Year's resolutions put the fun to a halt. Indeed, the holidays are a time for celebration, but they can also make it challenging to maintain balance in our lives. Sharon Collison, licensed registered dietitian and instructor of clinical nutrition at the University of Delaware, says dietary substitutes, meal routines and comfortable clothing are key to savoring the season without going overboard. Collison, a board-certified specialist in obesity and weight management who provides medical nutrition therapy in the Nutrition Clinic in UD's College of Health Sciences, offered practical tips to help holiday revelers stay on the beam. How can folks enjoy their favorite holiday foods without overindulging? Don't skip meals on the day of the holiday. If you're overly hungry when the holiday meal is served, it will be harder to keep portions controlled. Also, make choices. Decide what foods at the meal are most appealing to you and eat a moderate portion (such as a cup). For example, if the meal has mashed potatoes and a sweet potato casserole, decide which one is most appealing to you and enjoy. Try to be more mindful about choices, eat slowly, and make sure you are aware of how much you are eating. Check-in with yourself throughout the meal and pay attention to fullness signals. How can we maintain a positive body image during the season of indulgence? Wear clothes that make you feel the most confident AND comfortable. Avoid clothing that is too tight, making you feel even more uncomfortable after eating. Also, make physical activity a priority during the holiday season. Several studies support the benefit of physical activity on body image independent of the effect on body weight. Will dessert kill diets, or is it all about balance? Absolutely not! Diets are the problem, not dessert. I recommend eating dessert while paying attention to portions and eating mindfully. Not allowing yourself dessert or depriving yourself can backfire and lead to extreme dieting and overindulging, which is more harmful to your well-being. What are some tips for moderating alcohol consumption at holiday parties? Alternate alcoholic beverages with a glass of water or flavored seltzer. This will help you stay hydrated, too. What are some festive non-alcoholic drink options for celebrations? Flavored seltzer with added orange slices and fresh cranberries. How do we stay active during the colder holiday months? Bundle up in layers and go for a walk/hike. Purchase inexpensive exercise equipment, such as a stationary bike, to exercise without going outside or to a gym. Set a daily step goal and reach it at home by walking and talking on the phone with family or friends, dancing, and cleaning. How can we handle food guilt or pressure to eat during family meals? Depending on your situation and family dynamics, consider talking to your family about perceived pressure to eat. Think about how you want to eat at holiday gatherings and tell your family you may eat differently than you did in the past. Ask them not to comment or draw attention and allow you to do what is best for you. Try to avoid extremes in eating; neither extreme works in the long run. Being too restrictive doesn't allow you to enjoy food. Food is meant to be enjoyed. Allow yourself to enjoy special foods over the holidays. Pay attention to both extremes so that you're not under eating or overeating. If you are still struggling with guilt or feel you are unable to avoid these extremes, consider working with a Registered Dietitian and psychotherapist who have the training to help you. How can we make healthy eating choices while traveling for the holidays? Consider packing some foods to give you more options. For example, bring everything you need to continue your breakfast routine. Plan ideas for lunches that you know help you feel your best. Since breakfast and lunch are closer to your regular routine, give yourself more flexibility with your dinner meal. Also, don’t be afraid to plan and research restaurants with options you feel good about. Lastly, set a goal to ensure each meal/snack includes a serving of fruit or vegetables, which will help you consume smaller portions of higher-calorie foods. How can we return to a balanced diet after a season of treats and large meals? If you avoid the extreme of eating much more than usual at holiday meals, you will much more easily be able to return to your regular food intake patterns. But try not to look at the holiday season as a time to avoid setting limits on food intake. Make choices where you want to eat more than you might otherwise eat, but make these choices mindfully, and try not to view any meal as an unlimited buffet. What small steps can we take to set healthy goals for the new year? Avoid the common goal of starting a diet on January 1 or 2. Instead, start increasing physical activity during the holiday season. Focus on what to add to your diet rather than what to avoid; try setting a goal to ensure that each meal/snack includes vegetables and/or fruit, get two servings of whole grains/day, or eat a plant-based meal once/day or three meals/week. What are some healthy swaps for traditional holiday dishes? The American Heart Association (AHA) has great heart-healthy holiday recipes. But here are some easy ways to modify your own recipes: • Use fat-free half-and-half in place of heavy cream or regular half-and-half • Use Truvia brown sugar baking blend instead of brown sugar (Tip: Reduce the portion of Truvia baking blend to half the amount of sugar.) • Substitute white whole wheat flour for white flour in baking recipes; this will increase dietary fiber without changing the texture of the baked good that would occur if substituted with whole wheat flour. • Use 1/2 full eggs + 1/2 liquid egg white to reduce calories/fat/cholesterol in any recipe (1/8 cup liquid egg/egg white = 1 egg). • Use applesauce instead of 1/2 of the oil in a recipe to reduce fat content and calories. • Use fat-free plain Greek yogurt in place of sour cream. • It's important that food tastes good and is enjoyed; too many modifications can take the enjoyment out of a favorite food. If any of these modifications change the taste/texture of the recipe too much, consider replacing half of the ingredients as suggested and still include half of the original ingredient (sour cream, oil, sugar, etc.) to reduce overall calories/fat/sugar.

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