ADMdx will present the results of machine learning classification of different Alzheimer’s disease variants and non Alzheimer’s dementias using three different modalities:  structural MRI, glucose metabolism using FDG PET, and early timeframes of amyloid PET scans.  This work was conducted in collaboration with researchers from the Memory and Aging Center of the University of California, San Francisco. The research will be presented orally on July 25th at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Chicago.

ADMdx will present the results of machine learning classification of brain images from impaired and unimpaired boxers, and their differentiation from Alzheimer’s disease images, at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference on July 22, 2018. This work was conducted in collaboration with Dr. Charles Bernick and other researchers at the Cleveland Clinic, using structural MRI scans from fighters acquired through the Professional Fighters Brain Health Study.

ADMdx has been awarded a Small Business Innovation Research grant from the National Institutes of Aging, focused on the prediction of tau burden in the brain using MRI scans and machine learning.  PET tracers for tau have made it possible to measure abnormal tau accumulation, one of the hallmark pathologies of Alzheimer’s disease.  Using tau PET scans and structural MRI scans from the same patients, ADMdx will explore the ability to use structural MRI, a broadly available imaging technology, to predict the presence and distribution of abnormal tau.

The results of our collaborative work led by Dr. Lisa Mosconi at Weill Cornell Medical School have been published in the April issue of the journal Neurology. Findings showed that lower adherence to a Mediterranean diet was associated with progressive abnormalities in glucose metabolism (measured using FDG PET imaging) and in amyloid (measured using amyloid PET imaging). These data support further investigation of dietary interventions for protection against brain aging and AD.

Our collaborative work led by Dr. Lisa Mosconi of Weill Cornell Medical College has been published in the March issue of the British Medical Journal, titled “Lifestyle and vascular risk effects on MRI-based biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease: a cross-sectional study of middle-aged adults from the broader New York City area”.  In this study, brain image analysis showed that a Mediterranean diet and insulin sensitivity explained reductions in the thickness of gray matter in key brain regions for Alzheimer’s disease. This work has important implications for the role of life style factors, particularly diet, in Alzheimer’s disease risk.