Singular and Comorbid Clinicopathological Correlates Among Early-Onset and
Late-OnsetPatients with Behavioral Variant Frontotemporal Dementia (bvFTD) 
   Lead Investigator:    Joseph Boscarino
   Institution      :    William James College
   E-Mail           :    joseph_boscarino@williamjames.edu
   Proposal ID      :    1379



   Proposal Description:
   This research seeks to investigate neuropsychological and neuropsychiatric        profiles between subjects with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia with singular neuropathologies (i.e., tau or TDP-43) and comorbid neuropathologies (i.e., tau or TDP-43 plus another) among early-onset (i.e., age 65 and younger) and late-onset cases (i.e., older than age 65). It is first hypothesized that subjects with bvFTD and only tau pathology will exhibit significant differences in clinical profiles relative to those with TDP-43 neuropathology, namely, bvFTD subjects with tau neuropathology are posited to display greater deficits on measures of executive functioning and greater frequencies of apathy and disinhibition than subjects with bvFTD and only TDP-43 pathology. Moreover, subjects with bvFTD, and only TDP-43             pathology, will exhibit greater frequencies of depression, delusions, and         changes in eating patterns, and greater deficits on measures of language,         including semantic fluency and confrontation naming relative to subjects with bvFTD, and only tau pathology. In addition, late-onset cases of bvFTD are posited to be driven by the increased presence of co-occurring neuropathology alongside primarily-contributing FTLD neuropathology, and it is postulated that these cases will likely demonstrate greater global cognitive dysfunction across neuropsychological measures.