0000000000862211
AUTHOR
Alexander Kurz
showing 3 related works from this author
Gaussian Mixture Models and Model Selection for [18F] Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography Classification in Alzheimer’s Disease
2015
We present a method to discover discriminative brain metabolism patterns in [18F] fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (PET) scans, facilitating the clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. In the work, the term "pattern" stands for a certain brain region that characterizes a target group of patients and can be used for a classification as well as interpretation purposes. Thus, it can be understood as a so-called "region of interest (ROI)". In the literature, an ROI is often found by a given brain atlas that defines a number of brain regions, which corresponds to an anatomical approach. The present work introduces a semi-data-driven approach that is based on learning the charac…
A53T-Alpha-Synuclein Overexpression Impairs Dopamine Signaling and Striatal Synaptic Plasticity in Old Mice
2010
BACKGROUND: Parkinson's disease (PD), the second most frequent neurodegenerative disorder at old age, can be caused by elevated expression or the A53T missense mutation of the presynaptic protein alpha-synuclein (SNCA). PD is characterized pathologically by the preferential vulnerability of the dopaminergic nigrostriatal projection neurons. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Here, we used two mouse lines overexpressing human A53T-SNCA and studied striatal dysfunction in the absence of neurodegeneration to understand early disease mechanisms. To characterize the progression, we employed young adult as well as old mice. Analysis of striatal neurotransmitter content demonstrated that dopamine (DA…
Limited agreement between biomarkers of neuronal injury at different stages of Alzheimer's disease
2013
Abstract New diagnostic criteria for Alzheimer's disease (AD) treat different biomarkers of neuronal injury as equivalent. Here, we quantified the degree of agreement between hippocampal volume on structural magnetic resonance imaging, regional glucose metabolism on positron emission tomography, and levels of phosphorylated tau in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in 585 subjects from all phases of the AD Neuroimaging Initiative. The overall chance-corrected agreement was poor (Cohen κ, 0.24–0.34), in accord with a high rate of conflicting findings (26%–41%). Neither diagnosis nor APOE e4 status significantly influenced the distribution of agreement between the biomarkers. The degree of agreement t…