2000 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
The real dynamics of mental function in the brain -A pilot study for the hypothesis of working memory by using the spectropic topography-.
| Project/Area Number |
11680391
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Intelligent informatics
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| Research Institution | Ehime University |
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Principal Investigator |
KOMORI Kenjiro Ehime University School of Medicine, assistant professor, 医学部, 助手 (30294789)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
TANABE Hirotaka Ehime University School of Medicine, professor, 医学部, 教授 (90171818)
IKEDA Manabu Ehime University School of Medicine, assistant professor, 医学部・附属病院, 助手 (60284395)
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| Project Period (FY) |
1999 – 2000
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| Keywords | frontal lobe function / fronto-temporal lobar degeneration / fronto-temporal dementia / semantic dementia / Alzheimer's disease / hemokinetics / SPECT / severity evaluation |
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| Research Abstract |
Degradation of higher brain functions is reflected in patients' behavior. We investigated the two types of degenerative dementia, one is fronto-temporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), which is a representative of the anterior type of dementia, and the other is Alzheimer's disease (AD), which is a representative of the posterior type of dementia. In this study we tried to solve the functional enigmas of frontal lobe in which working memory is mainly mediated. In cases of fronto-temporal dementia with principle involvement of the frontal lobe, clinical data revealed preservation of procedural skills and other implicit memory, while in cases of semantic dementia with principle involvement of the temporal lobes, procedural skills were preserved, but priming that underlies semantic system was impaired. 'Going my way' behavior is one of the most prominent symptoms of FTLD.This behavior can be interpreted as a loss of control of the frontal lobe over the limbic system. We proposed appropriate utilization of this behavior for the care of patients with FTLD.
In 90 AD patients, we assessed hemokinetics associated with changes in severity of dementia using Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale (ADAS), which can assess precise cognitive dysfunction in AD.The results revealed the following mechanism for blood flow kinetics associated with changed severity : In an early stage of AD, blood flow in the medial temporal cortex is impaired, and the temporoparietal regions are gradually involved. While the medial temporal impairment of blood flow reaches a plateau, temporoparietal blood flow continues to be impaired well into a severe stage, at which point blood flow impairment in the frontal region is initiated.
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