An automatic Alzheimer’s disease classifier based on spontaneous spoken English

2022 ◽  
Vol 72 ◽  
pp. 101298
Author(s):  
Flavio Bertini ◽  
Davide Allevi ◽  
Gianluca Lutero ◽  
Laura Calzà ◽  
Danilo Montesi
2019 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colleen M. Kelley ◽  
Larry L. Jacoby

Abstract Cognitive control constrains retrieval processing and so restricts what comes to mind as input to the attribution system. We review evidence that older adults, patients with Alzheimer's disease, and people with traumatic brain injury exert less cognitive control during retrieval, and so are susceptible to memory misattributions in the form of dramatic levels of false remembering.


Author(s):  
J. Metuzals ◽  
D. F. Clapin ◽  
V. Montpetit

Information on the conformation of paired helical filaments (PHF) and the neurofilamentous (NF) network is essential for an understanding of the mechanisms involved in the formation of the primary lesions of Alzheimer's disease (AD): tangles and plaques. The structural and chemical relationships between the NF and the PHF have to be clarified in order to discover the etiological factors of this disease. We are investigating by stereo electron microscopic and biochemical techniques frontal lobe biopsies from patients with AD and squid giant axon preparations. The helical nature of the lesion in AD is related to pathological alterations of basic properties of the nervous system due to the helical symmetry that exists at all hierarchic structural levels in the normal brain. Because of this helical symmetry of NF protein assemblies and PHF, the employment of structure reconstruction techniques to determine the conformation, particularly the handedness of these structures, is most promising. Figs. 1-3 are frontal lobe biopsies.


Author(s):  
Mark Ellisman ◽  
Maryann Martone ◽  
Gabriel Soto ◽  
Eleizer Masliah ◽  
David Hessler ◽  
...  

Structurally-oriented biologists examine cells, tissues, organelles and macromolecules in order to gain insight into cellular and molecular physiology by relating structure to function. The understanding of these structures can be greatly enhanced by the use of techniques for the visualization and quantitative analysis of three-dimensional structure. Three projects from current research activities will be presented in order to illustrate both the present capabilities of computer aided techniques as well as their limitations and future possibilities.The first project concerns the three-dimensional reconstruction of the neuritic plaques found in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease. We have developed a software package “Synu” for investigation of 3D data sets which has been used in conjunction with laser confocal light microscopy to study the structure of the neuritic plaque. Tissue sections of autopsy samples from patients with Alzheimer's disease were double-labeled for tau, a cytoskeletal marker for abnormal neurites, and synaptophysin, a marker of presynaptic terminals.


Author(s):  
D.F. Clapin ◽  
V.J.A. Montpetit

Alzheimer's disease is characterized by the accumulation of abnormal filamentous proteins. The most important of these are amyloid fibrils and paired helical filaments (PHF). PHF are located intraneuronally forming bundles called neurofibrillary tangles. The designation of these structures as "tangles" is appropriate at the light microscopic level. However, localized domains within individual tangles appear to demonstrate a regular spacing which may indicate a liquid crystalline phase. The purpose of this paper is to present a statistical geometric analysis of PHF packing.


Author(s):  
V.J.A. Montpetit ◽  
S. Dancea ◽  
S.W. French ◽  
D.F. Clapin

A continuing problem in Alzheimer research is the lack of a suitable animal model for the disease. The absence of neurofibrillary tangles of paired helical filaments is the most critical difference in the processes by which the central nervous system ages in most species other than man. However, restricting consideration to single phenomena, one may identify animal models for specific aspects of Alzheimer's disease. Abnormal fibers resembling PHF have been observed in dorsal root ganglia (DRG) neurons of rats in a study of chronic ethanol intoxication and spontaneously in aged rats. We present in this report evidence that PHF-like filaments occur in ethanol-treated rats of young age. In control animals lesions similar in some respects to our observations of cytoskeletal pathology in pyridoxine induced neurotoxicity were observed.Male Wistar BR rats (Charles River Labs) weighing 350 to 400 g, were implanted with a single gastrostomy cannula and infused with a liquid diet containing 30% of total calories as fat plus ethanol or isocaloric dextrose.


2014 ◽  
Vol 56 ◽  
pp. 99-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Allsop ◽  
Jennifer Mayes

One of the hallmarks of AD (Alzheimer's disease) is the formation of senile plaques in the brain, which contain fibrils composed of Aβ (amyloid β-peptide). According to the ‘amyloid cascade’ hypothesis, the aggregation of Aβ initiates a sequence of events leading to the formation of neurofibrillary tangles, neurodegeneration, and on to the main symptom of dementia. However, emphasis has now shifted away from fibrillar forms of Aβ and towards smaller and more soluble ‘oligomers’ as the main culprit in AD. The present chapter commences with a brief introduction to the disease and its current treatment, and then focuses on the formation of Aβ from the APP (amyloid precursor protein), the genetics of early-onset AD, which has provided strong support for the amyloid cascade hypothesis, and then on the development of new drugs aimed at reducing the load of cerebral Aβ, which is still the main hope for providing a more effective treatment for AD in the future.


2002 ◽  
Vol 38 ◽  
pp. 37-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janelle Nunan ◽  
David H Small

The proteolytic processing of the amyloid-beta protein precursor plays a key role in the development of Alzheimer's disease. Cleavage of the amyloid-beta protein precursor may occur via two pathways, both of which involve the action of proteases called secretases. One pathway, involving beta- and gamma-secretase, liberates amyloid-beta protein, a protein associated with the neurodegeneration seen in Alzheimer's disease. The alternative pathway, involving alpha-secretase, precludes amyloid-beta protein formation. In this review, we describe the progress that has been made in identifying the secretases and their potential as therapeutic targets in the treatment or prevention of Alzheimer's disease.


2003 ◽  
Vol 70 ◽  
pp. 213-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerald Koelsch ◽  
Robert T. Turner ◽  
Lin Hong ◽  
Arun K. Ghosh ◽  
Jordan Tang

Mempasin 2, a ϐ-secretase, is the membrane-anchored aspartic protease that initiates the cleavage of amyloid precursor protein leading to the production of ϐ-amyloid and the onset of Alzheimer's disease. Thus memapsin 2 is a major therapeutic target for the development of inhibitor drugs for the disease. Many biochemical tools, such as the specificity and crystal structure, have been established and have led to the design of potent and relatively small transition-state inhibitors. Although developing a clinically viable mempasin 2 inhibitor remains challenging, progress to date renders hope that memapsin 2 inhibitors may ultimately be useful for therapeutic reduction of ϐ-amyloid.


Author(s):  
Eun Jin Paek ◽  
Si On Yoon

Purpose Speakers adjust referential expressions to the listeners' knowledge while communicating, a phenomenon called “audience design.” While individuals with Alzheimer's disease (AD) show difficulties in discourse production, it is unclear whether they exhibit preserved partner-specific audience design. The current study examined if individuals with AD demonstrate partner-specific audience design skills. Method Ten adults with mild-to-moderate AD and 12 healthy older adults performed a referential communication task with two experimenters (E1 and E2). At first, E1 and participants completed an image-sorting task, allowing them to establish shared labels. Then, during testing, both experimenters were present in the room, and participants described images to either E1 or E2 (randomly alternating). Analyses focused on the number of words participants used to describe each image and whether they reused shared labels. Results During testing, participants in both groups produced shorter descriptions when describing familiar images versus new images, demonstrating their ability to learn novel knowledge. When they described familiar images, healthy older adults modified their expressions depending on the current partner's knowledge, producing shorter expressions and more established labels for the knowledgeable partner (E1) versus the naïve partner (E2), but individuals with AD were less likely to do so. Conclusions The current study revealed that both individuals with AD and the control participants were able to acquire novel knowledge, but individuals with AD tended not to flexibly adjust expressions depending on the partner's knowledge state. Conversational inefficiency and difficulties observed in AD may, in part, stem from disrupted audience design skills.


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