BRACE - Raising money for research into dementia

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BRACE in Wales - a first!

The BRACE Trustees have approved funding for a new project led by Dr Andrea Tales, whose name is already familiar to BRACE supporters.

Dr Tales is based at the University of Bristol, in Clifton. However, her new line of research involves cooperation with CUBRIC (Cardiff University Brain Research and Imaging Centre), making this project BRACE's first venture into Wales.

CUBRIC's highly sophisticated equipment will allow a new and innovative approach to measuring what happens in the human brain and how this differs in dementia patients.

Dementia is traditionally characterised and diagnosed in relation to abnormalities in memory and cognition, but these tests alone can lack the sensitivity and specificity necessary for very early diagnosis. It is important therefore to determine whether dementia (and its different types, notably Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia) can be characterised by abnormalities in other brain functions.

Emerging evidence (including that from previous work by Dr Tales and colleagues at Bristol and Cardiff Universities) indicates that Alzheimer's disease can be characterised by a significant disruption of visual attention. In the new BRACE study, Dr Tales and Cardiff colleagues will use two state-of the-art neuroimaging techniques available at Cardiff University's imaging centre (CUBRIC) – namely magnetoencephalography and magnetic resonance imaging – to study the functional and structural correlates of disease-related changes in visual attention.

This will lead to a greater understanding of the extent and nature of the brain’s structural abnormality and dysfunction in Alzheimer's disease and vascular cognitive impairment. It is anticipated that this will generate new tests of early disease markers and improve understanding of some of the underlying causes of the signs and symptoms of these common clinical disorders.

The project will cost about £165,000 over two years.

The photograph above shows, from left: Dr Andrea Tales (University of Bristol, Mrs Eda Tales (Andrea’s mother, helping to demonstrate the equipment), Professor Derek Jones, MRI Director (CUBRIC, Professor Krish Singh, MEG Director (CUBRIC)