UNIVERSITY OF BUCHAREST
FACULTY OF PHYSICS

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Conference: Bucharest University Faculty of Physics 2010 Meeting


Section: Biophysics and Medical Physics;Electricity and Magnetism


Title:
Human brain aging and dementia


Authors:
Radu Mutihac


Affiliation:
University of Bucharest, Faculty of Physics, Department of Electricity and Biophysics


E-mail
mutihac@gmail.com


Keywords:
Functional brain imaging, positron emission tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, statistical analysis.


Abstract:
In recent years, massive accumulation of knowledge about genetic, molecular, pharmacological, neurophysiological, anatomical, imaging and psychological characteristics of brain disorders has occurred. Yet experimental brain science has offered very little insight into the theoretical framework for integrating neurobiological and psychological data. The term “dementia” commonly describes the symptoms exhibited by the brain affected by specific diseases and conditions, such as the Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s, Pick’s, or vascular disease (to quote the most frequent syndromes only), and sometimes as a result of a brain stroke. Dementia is progressive, that is, the symptoms gradually get worse. Nevertheless, each person is unique and, eventually, may experience dementia in a specific fashion. There are several diseases and conditions that cause dementia, which include: Alzheimer’s disease − during the course of the disease the physicochemical structure of the brain changes, leading to the death of some brain cells; vascular disease – if the oxygen supply to the brain fails, then brain cells are likely to die causing the symptoms of vascular dementia; dementia with Lewy bodies – tiny spherical structures develop inside the nerve cells in the brain leading to the degeneration of brain tissue and affecting memory, concentration, and language skills; fronto-temporal dementia − damage is usually located in the fronto-temporal cortex affecting personality and behavior rather than memory, and so forth. Moreover, several rarer diseases may cause dementia, such as progressive supranuclear palsy, Binswanger’s disease, Korsakoff’s syndrome, HIV and AIDS, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. People with multiple sclerosis, motor neuron disease, Parkinson’s and Huntington’s disease are much likely to develop some forms of dementia. Several forms of brain disorders cannot be cured, yet research is in progress on developing drugs, vaccines, and treatments that can temporarily alleviate some of the symptoms of various types of dementia. Such drugs are known as acetylcholinesterase inhibitors. Many people fear of dementia, particularly if they think that their memory is getting worse. Becoming forgetful does not necessarily mean that dementia has had installed: memory loss can be an effect of ageing, and it can also be a sign of stress or depression. Quite rarely, dementia-like symptoms can be caused by vitamin deficiencies and/or a brain tumor. In all cases, however, it is of paramount importance to get an appropriate diagnosis in due time. Likewise, age-related conditions for which hippocampal disruption is one of the earliest signs have a severe impact on many types of cognition, but even normal, healthy aging is associated with a gradual decline in some types of memory including episodic memory and working memory. The current state-of-the-art of the ongoing research concerning the aging and neural basis of various forms of brain disorders, such as schizophrenia, epilepsy, Alzheimer`s and Parkinson`s disease, dyslexia, and so forth, is discussed and illustrated by selected functional brain imaging modalities like positron emission tomography (PET), single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and mostly by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). References Fox MD & Raichle ME (2007) Spontaneous fluctuations in brain activity observed with fMRI. Nat. Rev. Neurosci. 8:700–711. Mutihac R (2006) Sparse decomposition of brain imaging data – WT and ICA. Proc. OHBM, Florence, 2360. Mutihac R (2010) Medical Imaging. Bucharest: Publishing House of the University of Bucharest.