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Early stages of neurodegenerative diseases and their diagnosis using experimental cognitive tests with a specific focus on spatial cognition
Laczó, Martina ; Laczó, Jan (advisor) ; Telenský, Petr (referee) ; Hocko Fajnerová, Iveta (referee)
Early stages of neurodegenerative diseases and their diagnosis using experimental cognitive tests with a specific focus on spatial navigation Abstract This dissertation thesis is focused on early and differential diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) using experimental cognitive tests. AD starts as a preclinical stage, progresses to the mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and eventually to the dementia stage. It is crucial to diagnose AD very early to slow down its progression. However, the use of specific AD biomarkers, such as amyloid and tau positron emission tomography and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers, is very limited. Experimental spatial navigation and spatial pattern separation tests, unlike conventional cognitive tests, may have a strong diagnostic potential as they depend on brain regions affected early in AD. The first study in a virtual environment showed preference for word-centered navigation in cognitively normal older adults, while participants with early AD preferred body- centered strategy to compensate for neurodegeneration. Using a virtual navigation test, the second study showed different profiles of navigation impairment in MCI participants with AD and other (i.e., non-AD) etiologies and demonstrated that navigation assessment differentiated AD from non-AD participants. Various...
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Advanced neuroimaging methods and their use in evaluation of structural changes of the brain and their cognitive correlates in early diagnosis of neurodegenerative disorders
Lerch, Ondřej ; Hort, Jakub (advisor) ; Rusina, Robert (referee) ; Dušek, Petr (referee)
Advanced neuroimaging methods and their use in evaluation of structural changes of the brain and their cognitive correlates in early diagnosis of neurodegenerative disorders Abstract Neurodegenerative diseases are a heterogeneous group of diseases characterized by the loss of specific neuronal populations caused by the deposition of pathologically altered proteins into the brain tissue. The structural corelate of these pathological changes is a brain atrophy. The most common neurodegenerative disease is Alzheimer's disease (AN). The cholinergic deficit, caused by atrophy of the basal telencephalon (BF), and atrophy of the medial temporal lobe (MTL) are among the hallmarks of AN. Recent advances in imaging methods and image processing techniques have made it possible to measure atrophy at the level of substructures. The aim of this dissertation was to evaluate the potential utility of imaging methods in the assessment of structural changes and their cognitive correlates in the early diagnosis of neurodegeneration, in particular to evaluate the utility of segmentation of the BF nuclei and MTL substructures in the early and differential diagnosis of AN, their mutual relationships and cognitive correlates. We confirmed that differences in atrophy of individual BF and MTL substructures may be utilized in the...
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