Development of an integrative approach to the assessment of cognitive abilities in patients with neurodegenerative diseases of the central nervous system

Neurodegenerative disorders are serious diseases of the central neural system that predominantly affect the elderly around the world and cause severe perceptual, cognitive and motor impairments. They significantly reduce a person’s quality of life and often lead to severe and permanent disability. Individual neurodegenerative disorders are heterogeneous in their clinical manifestation and underlying physiology, although they often have overlapping signs. Therefore, the precision of diagnosis is essential for determining and monitoring specific treatment. Early diagnosis and treatment can effectively slow down or stop the progression of these diseases.

The main research tasks to be carried out during the implementation of the project are

a) to develop a set of non-invasive methods (i.e. cognitive tests) for diagnosing early symptoms of neurodegenerative diseases, and
b) to understand and identify neural correlations of visual spatial and verbal processing disorders that could be diagnostically informative in the case of neurodegenerative diseases.

An innovative methodological solution of this research is

(a) linking the MRI findings with cognitive assessment (visual spatial and verbal processes) to detect early biomarkers of neurodegenerative diseases, and
(b) a successful outcome of (a) will allow non-invasive diagnosis of early symptoms of neurodegenerative diseases using (b.1.) a set of cognitive tests of visual spatial perception and verbal processes, as well as (b.2.) measuring saccadic processes in the context of visual perceptual organisation (grouping, segmentation and shape perception).

Such an integrative approach has not yet been implemented either in Latvia or elsewhere, but could be crucial for ensuring a breakthrough in the early diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases, as it would cover and integrate most critical areas responsible for basic cognitive and perceptual functions.

The visual organisation (grouping and segmentation) stimuli have been created in cooperation with lead specialists of the field from the University of Sassari, Italy. Whereas, statistical analysis of the overall project data will be partly carried out in cooperation with the world leading experts from the University of Ferrara, Italy.

Outcomes to be achieved

Four original scientific articles in the journals included in the WoS/SCOPUS databases, participation in at least eight international scientific conferences, three datasets, successful defence of one master’s thesis and one doctoral thesis on the subject matter of the project, development of guidelines for specialists of the field for early diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases, preparation and submission of a project application to an international or national research and development project call.