2022 Activities and Updates

Hannes Devos, Ph.D., DRS, is first author on a recently published article titled "EEG/ERP Evidence of Possible Hyperexcitability in Older Adult with Elevated Beta-amyloid." It appears in the February 2022 issue of Translational Neurodegeneration, a high-quality journal with an impact factor of 8.

We argue that older adults at risk of dementia exhibit neural hyperactivity compared to adults with no increased risk of dementia. However, this hyperexcitability does not lead to better performance. On the contrary, this hyperexcitability leads to more inefficient cognitive processing.

2021 Activities and Updates

With support from a grant from the Parkinson's Foundation, the lab has produced two educational videos.

The first shows practical tips and tricks for older individuals to safely enter and exit a car. The second video shows the portions of a fitness to drive assessment at the University of Kansas Medical Center.

"Assessing and Improving the Cognitive and Visual Fitness of CDL Drivers" is a study led by Shelley Bhattacharya and was submitted to the U.S. Department of Transportation's UTC Spotlight newsletter. The study aims to develop clinical tools to predict on-the-road driving safety for CDL drivers.

This information can be used by health care providers and the Department of Transportation as a framework for commercial truck drivers to improve their driving fitness and, in turn, prevent future accidents. The study is designed to help determine what tests affect fitness-to-drive and how the industry can maintain safety on the road by improving these skills - be it visual, cognitive, general health, or motor.

2020 Activities and Updates

Hannes Devos and Pedram Ahmadnezhad presented on their latest research on physiological mechanisms of task difficulty in preclinical Alzheimer's disease at the American Conference of Rehabilitation Medicine in October 2020.

Hannes Devos was elected co-chair of both the Applied Cognition in Geriatrics Task Force and the Parkinson's Disease and Related Disorders Taskforce of the American College of Rehabilitation Medicine in October 2020.

Sanghee Moon presented his postdoctoral work in a poster on developing a Virtual Reality Comprehensive Balance Assessment and Training (VR-COMBAT) for people with Parkinson's disease at the World Congress for Neurorehabilitation in September 2020.

Hannes Devos and co-authors presented the book chapter "Driving after Stroke" at the World Congress for Neurorehabilitation in September 2020.

Hannes Devos presented a poster on brain gaming for people with cognitive impairments at the World Congress for Neurorehabilitation in September 2020.

Hannes Devos was elected on the editorial board of Brain Sciences in August 2020.

Hannes Devos was promoted to Associate Professor with Tenure in July 2020.

Hannes Devos and his collaborators at the University of Georgia were awarded a pilot grant to establish driving recommendations after concussion in July 2020.

Hannes Devos was elected on the editorial board of the Archives of Rehabilitation Research and Clinical Translation in March 2020.

Melike Kahya, doctoral student in LARRS, successfully defended her dissertation and passed with honors. Her dissertation title is "Cognitive workload during dual-tasking and its relationship with falls in Parkinson's disease."

LARRS co-director Abiodun Akinwuntan was appointed chair of the Research, Discovery, and Innovation Committee within the Association of Schools Advancing Health Professions. In this role, he will lead efforts to advance, fund, and promote interprofessional research programs and collaboration between members of the association.

Above: Melike Kahya attended and presented at the American Physical Therapy Combined Sections Meeting 2020 held February 12-15 in Denver, Colo. Her poster was titled "Pupillary response to dual-task balance in Parkinson's disease: Implications for Falls."

Researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina accepted Hannes Devos, Ph.D., DRS, to attend their Training in Grantsmanship for Rehabilitation Research workshop January 7-11 in Charleston, S.C. Organized by the National Institutes of Health for rehabilitation science grants, this intensive grant-writing program brings together nationally recognized mentors to foster future success in obtaining research grant support at the national level.