How artificial intelligence is being used to research Alzheimer’s disease
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Some researchers in Columbia studying Alzheimer's disease are using artificial intelligence to help identify the "most important factors."
There are several risk factors and warning signs to watch out for with Alzheimer's disease.
"The NextGen facility is looking at personalized medicine, looking at the dramatic changes in medicine in Columbia," said former U.S. senator Roy Blunt.
Blunt says he believes the next generation of personalized medicine is about understanding the human genome and human genetics. He says he believes the NextGen Precision Health Building is on its way to finding out the individual differences in people that cause each person to respond to medication in the way they do.
Professor Ai-Ling Lin of the University of Missouri School of Medicine conducts Alzheimer's research at the Roy Blunt NextGen Precision Health Building. She says they're using AI to help find what types of imaging biomarkers play a significant role in each stage of Alzheimer's. They're looking into which markers play a bigger role in the early or advanced stages of the disease.
"A lot of people think about whether it's amyloid-beta plaques or tau tangles or brain metabolism, those are important factors but which one is the most important over others in different stages?" Lin said. "We're using a model called random forest. It can tell you the importance [and] give you the ranking of [the] importance of each marker image and marker."
Lin said researchers found amyloid-beta and tau tangles only play an important role in the early stages of dementia when the symptoms are still mild. She went on to say that if people pay attention to their overall health on a daily basis, it can lower the chances of developing the worst Alzheimer's symptoms.
"If you pay attention to your overall health, metabolism, your gut microbiome and your blood pressure, glucose level [and] insulin level, you will have a really good chance [of] getting away from [a] very severe stage of dementia," Lin said.
Lin said there is currently a clinical trial taking place at the NextGen Precision Health Building. She says there may be another trial in the future that deals with nutritional health and how it impacts dementia.
"We have a very strong nutritional program at Mizzou and we already found prebiotics can promote the growth of beneficial bacteria in the gut system," Lin said.
Join ABC 17 News at the Jefferson City Walk to End Alzheimer's on Oct. 15 at Memorial Park. Last year, the Jefferson City Walk broke its record and raised nearly $134,000. This year, the walk has a goal of raising $140,000.
