Meenakshi Dagar

Interests

Teaching

Teaching medical students, residents and geriatric fellow. Advance care planning, dementia, osteoporosis.

Courses

No activities entered.

Scholarly Contributions

Journals/Publications

• Petrillo, K., Ehsani, H., Akbas, K., Dagar, M., & Toosizadeh, N. (2025). Differences in brain function entropy due to cognitive impairment: Application of functional near infrared spectroscopy measures during dual-tasking. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 211(Issue). doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2025.112558
  More info

  Screening guidelines for cognitive impairment are subjective and inconsistent, often leading to delayed diagnoses. An objective, simple method is needed. Dual-tasking, combined with brain function measurements, may provide sufficient cognitive cost to differentiate between healthy and cognitively impaired populations. It was hypothesized that low complexity (entropy) of brain activity is associated with cognitive impairment, and that dual-tasking would better differentiate between healthy and cognitively impaired groups over resting. Eighty-three participants were recruited: healthy young adults (HY; MoCA = 27.82 ± 1.63, age = 21.13 ± 2.36), cognitively normal older adults (CN; MoCA = 26.59 ± 1.92, age = 75.89 ± 6.93), and mild cognitively impaired/early-stage Alzheimer's disease older adults (MCI/AD; MoCA =18.96 ± 5.69, age = 78.62 ± 8.54). Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) measured brain activity during a rest and dual-task involving flexion and serial subtraction. The area under the curve (AUC) of multiple scale entropy outcomes was averaged by functional brain regions: dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), anterior prefrontal cortex (aPFC), front eye fields, motor, visuomotor, and primary sensory. During dual-tasking, the average AUC values across all fNIRS channels were 75.02 ± 12.51, 61.44 ± 14.60 and 42.26 ± 22.89 for HY, CN, and MCI/AD groups, respectively. During dual-tasking, differences between AUC values of CN and MCI/AD groups were significant for the average across all channels, primary sensory, aPFC, and dlPFC regions (p < 0.05). During rest, only the average across all channels was significantly different between CN and MCI/AD groups (p = 0.02). Findings suggest that dual-tasking may better screen for cognitive impairment using fNIRS compared to other task types, especially in regions associated with pathological and behavioral changes in AD.
• Obert, M., Ashoka, A., Starobinska, E., Dagar, M., Girard, N., Fuchs, D., & Bilal, J. (2021). A Case of Paraneoplastic Pemphigus with Follicular Dendritic Cell Sarcoma. American Journal of Medicine, 134(Issue 8). doi:10.1016/j.amjmed.2021.01.028
• Obert, M., Ashoka, A., Starobinska, E., Dagar, M., Girard, N., Fuchs, D., & Bilal, J. (2021). A Case of Paraneoplastic Pemphigus with Follicular Dendritic Cell Sarcoma. The American journal of medicine, 134(8), 980-982.
• Johnston, C. B., & Dagar, M. (2020). Osteoporosis in Older Adults. The Medical clinics of North America, 104(5), 873-884.
  More info

  Osteoporosis and osteoporosis-related fractures are common causes of morbidity and mortality in older adults. Healthy adults should be counseled about measures to prevent osteoporosis. Women should be screened for osteoporosis beginning at age 65. Screening for osteoporosis in men should be considered when risk factors are present. Appropriate screening intervals are controversial. Women and men with osteoporosis should be offered pharmacologic therapy. Choice of therapy should be based on safety, cost, convenience, and other patient-related factors. Bisphosphonates are a first-line therapy for many patients with osteoporosis. Other treatments for osteoporosis include denosumab, teriparatide, abaloparatide, romosozumab, and selective estrogen receptor modulators.
• Kumar, A., Dagar, M., Herman, J., Iacobuzio-Donahue, C., & Laheru, D. (2015). CNS involvement in pancreatic adenocarcinoma: a report of eight cases from the Johns Hopkins Hospital and review of literature. Journal of gastrointestinal cancer, 46(1), 5-8.
  More info

  CNS metastasis of pancreatic cancer is extremely rare, although systemic metastasis is very common. We present eight such cases with various forms of nervous system involvement.

Presentations

• Dagar, M. (2024). Mentation: Dementia, Depression, Anxiety and Delirium. Advances in Aging lecture Series - Age Friendly Health System.
• Dagar, M. (2024, May). Gynecologic Surgery in Geriatric Patients: Special Considerations
  
  . American Gynecological & Obstetrical Society.
• Heusinkveld, J., & Dagar, M. (2024, Spring).

  Gynecologic Surgery in Geriatric Patients: Special Considerations

  . American College of OBGYN.
• Dagar, M. (2022). Delirium, the Age-Friendly Health System, and the 4Ms. Advances in Aging Lecture Series.
• Dagar, M. (2022, November). Marijuana: A Friend or Foe in Older Adults. Medicine Grand Rounds.
• Dagar, M. (2021). Marijuana: A Friend or Foe in Older Adults. Advances in Aging Lecture Series.
• Dagar, M. (2019). Obesity-the growing problem. Medicine Grand Rounds.

Poster Presentations

• Dagar, M. (2023). ●     CT for C2. AGS.
• Dagar, M. (2022). ●     Prolia makes you pee – UTI Secondary to Denosumab . AZ ACP.

Case Studies

• Fuchs, D., Girard, N., Bilal, J., Ashoka, A., Starobinska, E., Dagar, M., & Obert, M. (2020. A Case of Paraneoplastic Pemphigus with Follicular Dendritic Cell Sarcoma(pp Aug;134(8):980-982. doi: 10.1016/j.amjmed.2021.01.028. Epub 2021 Feb 2).

Other Teaching Materials

• Dagar, M. (2026.

  Dementia, Depression and Delerium in Older Adults - Internal medicine residents 

  . University of Arizona.