Browsing by Author "Franzmeier, Nicolai"

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    Pattern and implications of neurological examination findings in autosomal dominant Alzheimer disease
    (Wiley, 2023) Vöglein, Jonathan; Franzmeier, Nicolai; Morris, John C.; Dieterich, Marianne; McDade, Eric; Simons, Mikael; Preische, Oliver; Hofmann, Anna; Hassenstab, Jason; Benzinger, Tammie L.; Fagan, Anne; Noble, James M.; Berman, Sarah B.; Graff-Radford, Neill R.; Ghetti, Bernardino; Farlow, Martin R.; Chhatwal, Jasmeer P.; Salloway, Stephen; Xiong, Chengjie; Karch, Celeste M.; Cairns, Nigel; Perrin, Richard J.; Day, Gregory; Martins, Ralph; Sanchez-Valle, Raquel; Mori, Hiroshi; Shimada, Hiroyuki; Ikeuchi, Takeshi; Suzuki, Kazushi; Schofield, Peter R.; Masters, Colin L.; Goate, Alison; Buckles, Virginia; Fox, Nick C.; Chrem, Patricio; Allegri, Ricardo; Ringman, John M.; Yakushev, Igor; Laske, Christoph; Jucker, Mathias; Höglinger, Günter; Bateman, Randall J.; Danek, Adrian; Levin, Johannes; Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network; Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, School of Medicine
    Introduction: As knowledge about neurological examination findings in autosomal dominant Alzheimer disease (ADAD) is incomplete, we aimed to determine the frequency and significance of neurological examination findings in ADAD. Methods: Frequencies of neurological examination findings were compared between symptomatic mutation carriers and non mutation carriers from the Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network (DIAN) to define AD neurological examination findings. AD neurological examination findings were analyzed regarding frequency, association with and predictive value regarding cognitive decline, and association with brain atrophy in symptomatic mutation carriers. Results: AD neurological examination findings included abnormal deep tendon reflexes, gait disturbance, pathological cranial nerve examination findings, tremor, abnormal finger to nose and heel to shin testing, and compromised motor strength. The frequency of AD neurological examination findings was 65.1%. Cross-sectionally, mutation carriers with AD neurological examination findings showed a more than two-fold faster cognitive decline and had greater parieto-temporal atrophy, including hippocampal atrophy. Longitudinally, AD neurological examination findings predicted a significantly greater decline over time. Discussion: ADAD features a distinct pattern of neurological examination findings that is useful to estimate prognosis and may inform clinical care and therapeutic trial designs.
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    Segregation of functional networks is associated with cognitive resilience in Alzheimer's disease
    (Oxford University Press, 2021) Ewers, Michael; Luan, Ying; Frontzkowski, Lukas; Neitzel, Julia; Rubinski, Anna; Dichgans, Martin; Hassenstab, Jason; Gordon, Brian A.; Chhatwal, Jasmeer P.; Levin, Johannes; Schofield, Peter; Benzinger, Tammie L.S; Morris, John C.; Goate, Alison; Karch, Celeste M.; Fagan, Anne M.; McDade, Eric; Allegri, Ricardo; Berman, Sarah; Chui, Helena; Cruchaga, Carlos; Farlow, Marty; Graff-Radford, Neill; Jucker, Mathias; Lee, Jae-Hong; Martins, Ralph N.; Mori, Hiroshi; Perrin, Richard; Xiong, Chengjie; Rossor, Martin; Fox, Nick C.; O’Connor, Antoinette; Salloway, Stephen; Danek, Adrian; Buerger, Katharina; Bateman, Randall J.; Habeck, Christian; Stern, Yaakov; Franzmeier, Nicolai; Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative; Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network; Neurology, School of Medicine
    Cognitive resilience is an important modulating factor of cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease, but the functional brain mechanisms that support cognitive resilience remain elusive. Given previous findings in normal ageing, we tested the hypothesis that higher segregation of the brain's connectome into distinct functional networks represents a functional mechanism underlying cognitive resilience in Alzheimer's disease. Using resting-state functional MRI, we assessed both resting-state functional MRI global system segregation, i.e. the balance of between-network to within-network connectivity, and the alternate index of modularity Q as predictors of cognitive resilience. We performed all analyses in two independent samples for validation: (i) 108 individuals with autosomal dominantly inherited Alzheimer's disease and 71 non-carrier controls; and (ii) 156 amyloid-PET-positive subjects across the spectrum of sporadic Alzheimer's disease and 184 amyloid-negative controls. In the autosomal dominant Alzheimer's disease sample, disease severity was assessed by estimated years from symptom onset. In the sporadic Alzheimer's sample, disease stage was assessed by temporal lobe tau-PET (i.e. composite across Braak stage I and III regions). In both samples, we tested whether the effect of disease severity on cognition was attenuated at higher levels of functional network segregation. For autosomal dominant Alzheimer's disease, we found higher functional MRI-assessed system segregation to be associated with an attenuated effect of estimated years from symptom onset on global cognition (P = 0.007). Similarly, for patients with sporadic Alzheimer's disease, higher functional MRI-assessed system segregation was associated with less decrement in global cognition (P = 0.001) and episodic memory (P = 0.004) per unit increase of temporal lobe tau-PET. Confirmatory analyses using the alternate index of modularity Q revealed consistent results. In conclusion, higher segregation of functional connections into distinct large-scale networks supports cognitive resilience in Alzheimer's disease.