New Approaches to Dementia Heterogeneity.

Study schedule:
At the start of the study:
-You will do cognitive tests.
-You will answer questions about your family history and health status.
-You will have a medical exam.
-You will give a blood sample.
-You may give a spinal fluid sample.
-You may have a brain scan (described below).
-During the study, you will repeat the study-start activities once a year.
-The study activities will require one or two visits to the study center each year.

In addition:
-You will consider whether to participate in other research studies for which you may qualify.
-You will consider whether to donate your brain to science after your death.
-The study will end after about ten years.

Study activities may include:
-Doing cognitive tests and answering questions about your family history and health status. This may be in the form of interview-style conversations, paper-and pencil questionnaires, computer tests, and/or other activities.
-Having a medical exam.
-Having a sample of blood drawn from your arm vein, using a needle.
-Having a sample of spinal fluid drawn from your lower back (spine), using a needle. This is also known as a lumbar puncture or a spinal tap.
-Having a brain scan (described below).
-Considering whether to participate in other research studies.
-Considering whether to donate your brain to science after your death.

Treatment or experiment details:
-The brain scan is an MRI. For this, you will lie inside the scanning machine for about an hour while it takes a 3D image of your brain.
-There is no experiment or treatment being tested in this study.
-The study is interested in the ways that brain function changes over time in various forms of dementia.

Additional details:
-There is no cost for participating in the study. Free parking will be provided for study visits.

-Visits take place at UCSF’s Memory and Aging Center at the Mission Bay campus. In response to COVID-19, some parts of the study may be done remotely via Telehealth.

Eligibility:

· You are 18 or older

· You have a ‘study partner’—a family member, friend, or caregiver—who sees you often and would be willing to help you with study activities, go with you on study visits, and answer questions about you

· You either:

o Have mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer’s, or another form of dementia including behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD), primary progressive aphasia (PPA), semantic variant PPA (svPPA), FTD with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (FTD-ALS), corticobasal degeneration (CBD), Creutzfeldt- Jakob disease (CJD), dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), or another rapidly progressive dementia.

o Are healthy and have normal cognition

You may not be eligible for this study if

· The results on your study-start testing are outside of the ranges allowed by the study

· You have a neurological, medical, or psychiatric condition, including brain infection, history of stroke, history of head injury, seizures, brain abnormalities, fluid in the brain, multiple sclerosis, multisystem atrophy, vitamin deficiency, advanced syphilis, HIV infection, heart disease, kidney disease, liver disease, lung disease, thyroid disease, cancer, anxiety, or dependence on drugs or alcohol

· You cannot have an MRI, for example because of metal in your body