COMPUTATIONAL NEUROANATOMY OF AGING USING SHAPE ANALYSIS

描述(改编自申请者摘要)：该项目的长期目标 项目是开发数学框架和计算机 脑形态定量分析的实现 描述其受正常和病态衰老影响的方式。这个 这一方法论框架的基础是适应于 一个大脑的形态，它被视为一个模板，到 正在分析的大脑形态。这种转换将量化 正在分析的大脑的全局和局部形态特征， 相对于用作测量单位的模板。 主体间和群体间的比较是通过比较 相应的形状变换。这样做的第一个具体目标是 项目是开发和验证基于几何的形状转换 方法，利用从磁共振图像中提取的解剖特征。 特别强调了皮质沟的几何分析。 经常划分不同功能皮质之间的边界 区域，以及结构性异常，如脑室扩张和 脑萎缩，伴随着衰老和脑部疾病而发生。第二个具体问题 目的是开发和验证用于表征形状的框架 大脑结构的特性，如局部组织丢失和形状 异常，利用上面的形状变换。最后，第三个 本项目的具体目的是测试这些方法的实用性 在脑成像研究中，通过将它们应用于对衰老的纵向研究。 这里的目标是定位发生在 大脑与衰老的关系，并将这种形态变化与 同时或随后的功能和认知变化，这可能是 阿尔茨海默氏症的预测因子。

DESCRIPTION (Adapted from Applicant's Abstract): The long term goal of this project is to develop the mathematical framework and the computer implementation for quantitatively analyzing brain morphology and characterizing the way it is affected by normal and diseased aging. The basis of this methodological framework is a shape transformation that adapts the morphology of one brain, which is treated as a template, to the morphology of the brain under analysis. This transformation quantifies global and local morphological characteristics of the brain under analysis, with respect to the template which serves as a measurement unit. Inter-subject and inter-population comparisons are performed by comparing the corresponding shape transformations. The first specific aim of this project is to develop and validate a geometry-based shape transformation methodology, utilizing anatomical features extracted from MR images. Special emphasis is given to the geometric analysis of the cortical sulci often demarcating the boundaries between different functional cortical regions, and to structural irregularities, such as ventricular expansion and brain atrophy, occurring with aging and brain diseases. The second specific aim is to develop and validate a framework for characterizing shape properties of brain structures, such as local tissue loss and shape abnormalities, utilizing the shape transformation above. Finally, the third specific aim of this project is to test the utility of these methodologies in brain imaging studies, by applying them to a longitudinal study of aging. The goal here is to localize subtle morphological changes occurring in the brain with aging, and to associate such morphological changes with concurrent or subsequent functional and cognitive changes, which might be predictors of Alzheimer's disease.