New computational models determine the type of dementia

A computer science engineer at the University of Texas at Arlington will advance and integrate powerful deep learning methods and tools to identify the types of dementia associated with Alzheimer's disease, which in turn may help the medical community better treat these diseases
.

Dajiang Zhu, assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, will lead a five-year, $2.
86 million project
supported by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS).
Professor Dajiang Zhu will collaborate with researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Georgia to focus on developing deep learning models
for ADRD analysis.

As the two most common types of dementia, Alzheimer's disease and dementia with Lewy bodies (LBD) account for 65% to 85% of dementia patients nationwide, or about 7.
5 million people
.

Professor Dajiang Zhu said there was an important difference
in identifying whether a patient had Alzheimer's or LBD.
These differences can greatly affect the type of
treatment prescribed to them.
However, the differentiation between Alzheimer's disease and LBD is challenging because both are mixed pathological and clinical symptoms
.

"In this project, we will discover, define, and represent gyralnets of individuals—a computational model that integrates deep learning methods and neuroimaging markers—to describe Alzheimer's disease/LDD-related abnormalities in individual patients," Zhu said
.

He added that the project will eventually collect, map and analyze large-scale brain data
for real-world clinical use.

"Ultimately, we want to describe and summarize the deep relationships within the brain that will lead to improved predictive power between Alzheimer's disease and LBD, and we believe that with better treatment for these patients, identifying specific diseases earlier can lead to better outcomes
.
"

"It makes a lot of
sense to collect all the data that can be accumulated and use it to help society and people with these diseases.
" "It represents the whole point
of university research.
"