|
|
Alzheimer's Association International Conference 2014
Bella Center, Copenhagen, July 12-17, 2014 |
|
|
|
Alzheimer's Association International Conference 2014
Bella Center, Copenhagen, July 12-17, 2014 |
|
|
|
|
The conference featured 5-6.000 participants, multiple parallel sessions and close to 1.500 posters in four sessions. Among the many topics, I particularly looked for AD biomarkers and cognitive reserve, because I was working on two semipopular reviews in Danish: Kognitiv reserve 1: Aldring, & Kognitiv reserve 2: Demens (Psykolog Nyt) |
Dementia
researchers: Portraits & selected publications |
External links
Alzheimer's Association |
|
AD biomarkers & cognitive reserve It has become increasingly clear, in part thanks to the development of new AD biomarkers, that the link between Alzheimer pathology (amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles) and the dementia in Alzheimer's disease is modified by many other factors. This was discussed in many sessions, including a special Imaging Consortium preconference on Saturday, July 12. Philip Scheltens gave a 10 year 'critical perspective' of 10 years of ADNI research. |
|
Philip Scheltens VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam
10 years of ADNI: A critical perspective
|
 |
| The Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) beginning in October 2004, is a ...-year research project that studies changes of cognition, function, brain structure and function, and biomarkers in elderly controls, subjects with mild cognitive impairment, and subjects with Alzheimer's disease (AD). A major goal is to determine and validate MRI, PET images, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)/blood biomarkers as predictors and outcomes for use in clinical trials of AD treatments (Weiner et al. ,2010) |
|
| Vascular pathology is one of the modifying factors. This was a topic of many presentations, including DeCarli's. |
|
|
Charles DeCarli University of California at Davis Vascular risk factors impact cognition independent of PIB PET and MRI measures of Alzheimer's disease and vascular brain injury
|
| Cognitive reserve |
|
Brain reserve and cognitive reserve have become important concepts in explaining why some people escape or delay dementia in spite of abundant amyloid or other signs of brain pathology. Aspects of this were covered both in the Saturday ADNI-preconference and a session on Tuesday, as well as several posters. Yaakov Stern has played a major role in developing the concept of cognitive reserve, and he appropriately had the second invited lecture during the Saturday session.
This slide, an illustration from Stern's seminal 1992 paper, shows SPECT images of blood perfusion in three groups of Alzheimer patients equated for dementia severity. Blue indicates perfusion deficits in temporoparietal areas, which are more severe in those with high education (top; more than high school) than in those with low ecucation (bottom; below high school) |
|
|
Yaakov Stern Columbia University, New York
Brain and cognitive reserve in the context of Alzheimer's disease: Insights from neuroimaging
|
|
| Stephanie Schultz presented data (also included in a poster) on the impact of cognitively stimulating activities on brain and cognition .... |
|
|
Stephanie Schultz University of Wisconsin, Madison Participation in cognitively-stimulating activities is associated with brain structur and cogntive function in preclinical Alzheimer's disease.
Here she is at her poster in a discussion with Yaakov Stern |
|
|
|
James Mortimer may have been the first - in a book chapter in 1988 - to suggest that high education may protect against dementia. He chaired the Tuesday session on cognitive reserve where he presented evidence from the nun study. |
|
 |
James Mortimer University of South Florida, Tampa
Brain reserve is as important as Alzheimer's and vascular pathology in determining dementia status: The nun study
|
|
|
| James Mortimer and Amy Borenstein collaborate both in private and in research |
 |
Amy Borenstein University of South Florida, Tampa
Population attributable fraction for incident dementia related to brain reserve, Alzheimer's disease and vascular disease: Brain reserve is most important
|
|
| PiB scans One of the most exciting developments in neuroimaging has been the PiB scan - a positron emission tomography (PET) method with the Pittsburg Compound B (PiB), visualizing the amount of amyloid in the brain. The image to the right was provided by Ian Law, Rigshospitalet. It shows a normal subject (top) and the typical image with amyloid in an Alzheimer patient (bottom). However, as documented in some of selected publications below, about 20% of normal elderly (i.e. ab. 70 years old) subjects also show amyloid on PiB scanning.
|
|
|
Sylvia Villeneuve University of California, Berkeley
Existing thresholds for PIB positivity are too high
|
 |
|
Alzheimers disease: Biomarkers, risk factors, & development of disease One of the leading research groups is the Mayo Clinic
Alzhemer's Disease Research Center in Rochester, Minnesota. Recent
review papers from this group, together with William Jagust from
California, may be the best introduction to the new thinking on
Alzheimers disease. The models on the relation between biomarkers and
development of AD below were modified from Jack et al. (2010). |
|
|
David Knopman |
Ronald Petersen |
|
|
William Jagust |
Clifford Jack |
| Ronald Petersen has been instrumental in developing and refining the concept of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) |
|
Ronald C. Petersen Mayo Clinic Alzheimer's Disease Research Center,
|
|
 |
David S. Knopman Mayo Clinic of Alzheimer's Disease Research Center,
|
|
|
William Jagust University of California, Berkeley
|
| Among the many exhibitions: ISFTD |
|
Bernardino Ghetti Indiana University, Indianapolis
|
 |
|
Reception - Tivoli Gardens |
|
|
 |
| 4000 delegates fed & wined |
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
