A data processing methodology that is sensitive to detecting a trajectory of changed brain function (from a baseline) related to low oxygen at altitude on the side of a mountain could very likely be successful at detecting a trajectory of changed brain function related to a progression towards Alzheimer's.
I am looking for partners (private or university) to join me in a line of investigation towards doing very early detection of Alzheimer's and other age-related brain diseases.
Recently, there as been an increase in the number of publications describing research where the investigators show very promising success rates classifying the EEG of persons with Alzheimer's Dementia from matched controls. What is notable is that the groups examined are essentially persons characterized as having mid- to late-stage Alzheimer's Dementia. This means two things. First, we are getting to the point where we can have a tool that helps psychiatrists, and neuropsychologists help their patients and their patient's families figure out why the patients are having difficulties doing day-to-day activities. The second thing to note is that these investigators are only doing successful classification of mid- to late- stage Alzheimer Dementia; there are no successful investigations classifying early stage Alzheimer's Dementia from controls.(None that I have found as of this date.) The main problem is that it is next to impossible using our current behavioral and interview evaluation methods to determine who has early stage Alzheimer's dementia, or who as some kind of mild cognitive impairment, or a plethora of other things going on. Simply, we can not do a 'classification' of early stage Alzheimer's dementia.
In contrast to a classification of early stage Alzheimer's dementia, what we can do is attempt to predict who will develop mid stage or late stage Alzheimer's dementia. The idea is simple: for a given individual, we record their trajectory of brain function over time and then see if they are moving in the direction towards one of those unwanted brain function conditions.
To develop and demonstrate that such a system of prediction works would normally require a number of years as one measures the brain function (using EEG methods) of many people while they are healthy and then each year measures each person's brain function until a subset of those persons develops a classifiable dementia. (I'm generalizing now because what we are really interested in is identifying unhealthy changes in brain function, or identifying 'brain malfunction'.) There is an alternative to measuring brain function over many years that can jump-start the design and evaluation of the processing methods applied to an individual's EEG data. The trick is to measure the brain function of a large group of people while they are at their home altitude and then measure their brain function as then ascend to high altitude. We know that when persons are not properly acclimatized, altitude causes all sorts of malfunctions in brain function due to the reduce availability of oxygen at altitude. The area of the brain that is particularly susceptible to the effects of low oxygen is the hippocampus which is very important in memory. Interestingly, it is failing memory that is one of the key characteristics of Alzheimer's. Hence, a data processing methodology that is sensitive to detecting a trajectory of changed brain function (from a baseline) related to low oxygen at altitude on the side of a mountain could very likely be successful at detecting a trajectory of changed brain function related to a progression towards Alzheimer's. Hence, this analogy could be used to design a system that provides very early detection of Alzheimer's Disease.
Below is a short video clip that I put together while I was outside training for my ascent to altitude on Kilimanjaro. (The exercise if creating these clips and posting them to the web is an effort to improve my videography, editing, and extemporaneous communication skills. You should see a marked improvement over time.)
I have done quite a bit of reading on the topic of high altitude effects and injuries and it has been enough to put some fear into my bones. That said, I hear about many people (and have talked with some of them) that ascend to the summit and the descend successfully with no reported change in their ability to function in the world. My own understanding of anoxia is that is starves brain cells and even kills them depending on the severity and duration of the exposure. My colleagues recently published an article on the topic. The issues are, for a given person: (1) what oxygen levels are a problem (this is dependent on the person's activity level as physical movement descreases blood SPO2), (2) how long is too long to go without the 'home levels' of oxygen (again, this depends on many, many individual factors), (3) what recovery do we get after damaging some neurons, (4) how do we best promote recovery?
Paper: Paper: Hypobaric hypoxia impairs spatial memory in an elevation-dependent fashion
Paper: Spatial Deļ¬cits in a Virtual Water Maze in Amnesic Participants
with Hippocampal Damage
Paper: Human spatial navigation: cognitive maps, sexual dimorphism,
and neural substrates
Paper: Hyperbaric oxygen therapy improves spatial learning and
memory in a rat model of chronic traumatic brain injury
I am looking for partners (private or university) to join me in a line of investigation towards doing very early detection of Alzheimer's and other age-related brain diseases.
Recently, there as been an increase in the number of publications describing research where the investigators show very promising success rates classifying the EEG of persons with Alzheimer's Dementia from matched controls. What is notable is that the groups examined are essentially persons characterized as having mid- to late-stage Alzheimer's Dementia. This means two things. First, we are getting to the point where we can have a tool that helps psychiatrists, and neuropsychologists help their patients and their patient's families figure out why the patients are having difficulties doing day-to-day activities. The second thing to note is that these investigators are only doing successful classification of mid- to late- stage Alzheimer Dementia; there are no successful investigations classifying early stage Alzheimer's Dementia from controls.(None that I have found as of this date.) The main problem is that it is next to impossible using our current behavioral and interview evaluation methods to determine who has early stage Alzheimer's dementia, or who as some kind of mild cognitive impairment, or a plethora of other things going on. Simply, we can not do a 'classification' of early stage Alzheimer's dementia.
In contrast to a classification of early stage Alzheimer's dementia, what we can do is attempt to predict who will develop mid stage or late stage Alzheimer's dementia. The idea is simple: for a given individual, we record their trajectory of brain function over time and then see if they are moving in the direction towards one of those unwanted brain function conditions.
To develop and demonstrate that such a system of prediction works would normally require a number of years as one measures the brain function (using EEG methods) of many people while they are healthy and then each year measures each person's brain function until a subset of those persons develops a classifiable dementia. (I'm generalizing now because what we are really interested in is identifying unhealthy changes in brain function, or identifying 'brain malfunction'.) There is an alternative to measuring brain function over many years that can jump-start the design and evaluation of the processing methods applied to an individual's EEG data. The trick is to measure the brain function of a large group of people while they are at their home altitude and then measure their brain function as then ascend to high altitude. We know that when persons are not properly acclimatized, altitude causes all sorts of malfunctions in brain function due to the reduce availability of oxygen at altitude. The area of the brain that is particularly susceptible to the effects of low oxygen is the hippocampus which is very important in memory. Interestingly, it is failing memory that is one of the key characteristics of Alzheimer's. Hence, a data processing methodology that is sensitive to detecting a trajectory of changed brain function (from a baseline) related to low oxygen at altitude on the side of a mountain could very likely be successful at detecting a trajectory of changed brain function related to a progression towards Alzheimer's. Hence, this analogy could be used to design a system that provides very early detection of Alzheimer's Disease.
Below is a short video clip that I put together while I was outside training for my ascent to altitude on Kilimanjaro. (The exercise if creating these clips and posting them to the web is an effort to improve my videography, editing, and extemporaneous communication skills. You should see a marked improvement over time.)
I have done quite a bit of reading on the topic of high altitude effects and injuries and it has been enough to put some fear into my bones. That said, I hear about many people (and have talked with some of them) that ascend to the summit and the descend successfully with no reported change in their ability to function in the world. My own understanding of anoxia is that is starves brain cells and even kills them depending on the severity and duration of the exposure. My colleagues recently published an article on the topic. The issues are, for a given person: (1) what oxygen levels are a problem (this is dependent on the person's activity level as physical movement descreases blood SPO2), (2) how long is too long to go without the 'home levels' of oxygen (again, this depends on many, many individual factors), (3) what recovery do we get after damaging some neurons, (4) how do we best promote recovery?
Paper: Paper: Hypobaric hypoxia impairs spatial memory in an elevation-dependent fashion
with Hippocampal Damage
Paper: Human spatial navigation: cognitive maps, sexual dimorphism,
and neural substrates
Paper: Hyperbaric oxygen therapy improves spatial learning and
memory in a rat model of chronic traumatic brain injury
No comments:
Post a Comment