IMAGING, METHODOLOGY AND STATISTICS CORE

成像、方法学和统计学(IMS)核心将整合和协调3个方案项目中神经成像和统计学资源的有效和一致的利用，方法是提供标准方法和工作人员支持，便于研究人员访问。IMS核心将作为数据采集、处理和评估以及开发新的分析和软件的技术核心。通过这种方式，IMS核心将成为每个项目的组成部分，并支持开始解决PIB在对照组、轻度认知障碍和阿尔茨海默病(AD)患者以及帕金森氏病痴呆症(PDD)和路易体痴呆症(DLB)患者大脑中纤维淀粉样蛋白的PET成像检测中的一般实用性、敏感性和特异性问题的研究。 IMS核心的中心目标是：1)应用定量神经成像方法来测量AD疾病谱中的淀粉样蛋白结合、大脑代谢率和海马体/脑形态计量学；2)横断面比较AD疾病谱以及PDD和DLB中的淀粉样蛋白结合、代谢率和脑结构；3)确定神经成像测量的时间和空间特征以及与同一受试者组中认知表现的关系。本申请中描述的计划项目研究代表了首次在淀粉样蛋白成像示踪剂上进行的此类完全定量的临床评估。该核心将通过执行检查群体识别(例如，统计分类)的分析，通过应用统计建模来探索神经成像测量和疾病严重程度测量(例如，MMSE)之间的关系，以及涉及“痴呆症转化”的问题，对跨AD疾病谱以及PDD和DLB的PIB PET的实用性进行仔细的评估。IMS的核心活动将在横断面和纵向的基础上进一步验证PIB PET成像的临床应用。

The Imaging, Methodology and Statistics (IMS) core will integrate and coordinate efficient and consistent utilization of neuroimaging and statistics resources across the 3 program projects by providing standard methods and staff support that will be readily accessible to investigators. The IMS core will serve as a technical core for data acquisition, processing, and evaluation and for the development of novel analyses and software. In this manner, the IMS core will be an integral component of each project and support research that begins to address issues of the general utility, sensitivity, and specificity of PIB in the PET imaging detection of fibrillar amyloid in the brain of controls and in patients with mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease (AD) and also in Parkinson's disease dementia (PDD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). The central aims of the IMS cores are to: 1) apply quantitative neuroimaging methods to measure amyloid binding, cerebral metabolic rate, and hippocampal/brain morphometry across the AD disease spectrum; 2) compare amyloid binding, metabolic rate, and brain structure cross-sectionally across the AD disease spectrum and in PDD and DLB; 3) determine temporal and spatial characteristics of the neuroimaging measures across time and relative to cognitive performance in the same subject groups. The program project research described in this application represents the first fully quantitative clinical evaluation of this kind performed on any amyloid imaging tracer. The core will perform a careful evaluation of the utility of PIB PET across the AD disease spectrum and in PDD and DLB by performing analyses that examine group identification (e.g., statistical classification), by applying statistical modeling to explore relationships among neuroimaging measures and measures of disease severity (e.g., MMSE) and questions involving "dementia conversion". The IMS core activities will further validate PIB PET imaging for clinical application on a cross-sectional and longitudinal basis.