Claim: Five-minute neck scan can spot dementia 10 years earlier, say scientists
Verdict: REFUTES

Retrieved passages:
title: Neuroimaging
text: machines to cut imaging time and give higher resolution. Like PET, SPECT also can be used to differentiate different kinds of disease processes which produce dementia, and it is increasingly used for this purpose. Neuro-PET has a disadvantage of requiring the use of tracers with half-lives of at most 110 minutes, such as FDG. These must be made in a cyclotron, and are expensive or even unavailable if necessary transport times are prolonged more than a few half-lives. SPECT, however, is able to make use of tracers with much longer half-lives, such as technetium-99m, and as a result, is far

title: Dementia
text: in assessing long-standing cognitive dysfunction, since they have shown similar ability to diagnose dementia as a clinical exam and cognitive testing. The ability of SPECT to differentiate the vascular cause (i.e., multi-infarct dementia) from Alzheimer's disease dementias, appears superior to differentiation by clinical exam. Recent research has established the value of PET imaging using carbon-11 Pittsburgh Compound B as a radiotracer (PIB-PET) in predictive diagnosis of various kinds of dementia, in particular Alzheimer's disease. Studies from Australia have found PIB-PET 86% accurate in predicting which patients with mild cognitive impairment will develop Alzheimer's disease within two years. In another study,

title: Avid Radiopharmaceuticals
text: with symptoms of Alzheimer's disease detected plaque in a PET scan in areas where it was typically found in the brain. Further tests found that the scans detected plaque in patients with Alzheimer's, didn't find it in those without the diagnosis and found intermediate amounts in patients with early signs of dementia. The tests found amyloid plaque in 20% of its test patients over age 60 that had been in the normal range, but had performed worse than a control group on tests of mental acuity. In order to confirm if the dye was accurate in detecting Alzheimer's, an advisory

title: Dementia
text: many cases, the diagnosis cannot be absolutely sure except with a brain biopsy, but this is very rarely recommended (though it can be performed at autopsy). In those who are getting older, general screening for cognitive impairment using cognitive testing or early diagnosis of dementia has not been shown to improve outcomes. However, it has been shown that screening exams are useful in those people over the age of 65 with memory complaints. Normally, symptoms must be present for at least six months to support a diagnosis. Cognitive dysfunction of shorter duration is called "delirium". Delirium can be easily confused

title: Frontotemporal dementia
text: MRI scans often reveal frontal lobe and/or anterior temporal lobe atrophy but in early cases the scan may seem normal. Atrophy can be either bilateral or asymmetric. Registration of images at different points of time (e.g., one year apart) can show evidence of atrophy that otherwise (at individual time points) may be reported as normal. Many research groups have begun using techniques such as magnetic resonance spectroscopy, functional imaging and cortical thickness measurements in an attempt to offer an earlier diagnosis to the FTD patient. Fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) scans classically show frontal and/or anterior temporal hypometabolism, which helps

title: Florbetapir (18F)
text: of Alzheimer's disease detected plaque in a PET scan in areas where it was typically found in the brain. Further tests found that the scans detected plaque in patients with Alzheimer's, didn't find it in those without the diagnosis and found intermediate amounts in patients with early signs of dementia. The tests found amyloid plaque in 20% of its test patients over age 60 that had been in the normal range, but had performed worse than a control group on tests of mental acuity. In order to confirm if the dye was accurate in detecting Alzheimer's, an advisory committee at

title: Time-based prospective memory
text: known or suspected dementia. The examiner asked the patients for a personal possession, which was then placed into a drawer in full view of the patient. They were then asked to request for their possession to be returned at the end of the testing period which was between 2–3 hours. At the end of the experiment the examiner would say, "O.K. We are done with testing. Let's find Dr. X." If the patient was able to remember to request for their item, she/he earned a score of zero because no additional cues were needed. If the patient was unable to

title: Neurotechnology
text: In addition, PET scans have been found to be 93% accurate in detecting Alzheimer's disease nearly 3 years before conventional diagnosis, indicating that PET scanning is becoming more useful in both the laboratory and the clinic. Stem cell technologies are always salient both in the minds of the general public and scientists because of their large potential. Recent advances in stem cell research have allowed researchers to ethically pursue studies in nearly every facet of the body, which includes the brain. Research has shown that while most of the brain does not regenerate and is typically a very difficult environment

title: Michael I. Miller
text: one of the papers that contributed to a deeper understanding of the disorder in its earlier stages and the recommendations of the working group to revise the diagnostic criteria for Alzheimer’s disease dementia for the first time in 27 years. In 2009, the Johns Hopkins University BIOCARD project was initiated, led by Marilyn Albert, to study preclinical Alzheimer's disease. In 2014, Miller and Younes demonstrated that the original Braak staging of the earliest change associated to the entorhinal cortex in the medial temporal lobe could be demonstrated via diffeomorphometry methods in the population of clinical MRIs, and subsequently that this

title: Avid Radiopharmaceuticals
text: without the disease. In results presented in July 2010 to an international conference on Alzheimer's disease held in Hawaii, the company showed that for 34 out of the 35 hospice patients who had been scanned, the initial scan results were confirmed when pathologists counted plaque under a microscope and when a computerized scan of the plaque was performed on material from the autopsied brain. The findings will require review by the FDA to confirm its reliability as a means of diagnosing the disease. If confirmed, the technique would provide a means to reliably diagnose and monitor the progress of Alzheimer's

title: History of neuroimaging
text: brain activity during various cognitive tasks. Later, a more common sort of functional imaging based on PET scans used FDG, a positron-emitting sugar-derivative which is distributed in the brain according to local metabolic activity. Unlike the short half-life of oxygen-15 (2.25 minutes), the 110 minute half-life of FDG allowed PET scans by machines physically distant from the cyclotron producing the isotope (in this case fluorine-18). Shortly after the initial development of CT, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI or MR scanning) was developed. Rather than using ionizing or X-radiation, MRI uses the variation in signals produced by protons in the body when

title: Cognitive Function Scanner
text: range of 25–75 years. The CFS aims to be culture and language independent through the use of non-verbal stimuli in all tests, except the Word Learning and Memory Test. See also Cognitive Function Scanner The Cognitive Function Scanner (CFS) originally developed by Peter Laursen, DMedSc, DPsySc, and Thomas Sams, PhD, for the Danish National Institute of Occupational Health in the early 1980s. It is a computer-aided cognitive assessment system consisting of a battery of neuropsychological tests, administered to subjects using computer screen, a dedicated keyboard and a graphics tablet as stimulus and response media, respectively. The nine tests in CFS

title: Dementia
text: problems that commonly cause confusion or disorientation in the elderly. A CT scan or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI scan) is commonly performed, although these tests do not pick up diffuse metabolic changes associated with dementia in a person that shows no gross neurological problems (such as paralysis or weakness) on neurological exam. CT or MRI may suggest normal pressure hydrocephalus, a potentially reversible cause of dementia, and can yield information relevant to other types of dementia, such as infarction (stroke) that would point at a vascular type of dementia. The functional neuroimaging modalities of SPECT and PET are more useful

title: Temporal dynamics of music and language
text: biologically active molecule, and its radioactive "dye", rises enough, the scanner can detect it. About one second elapses from when brain activity begins to when the activity is detected by the PET device. This is because it takes a certain amount of time for the dye to reach the needed concentrations can be detected. Functional magnetic resonance imaging or fMRI is a form of the traditional MRI imaging device that allows for brain activity to be observed in real time. An fMRI device works by detecting changes in neural blood flow that is associated with brain activity. fMRI devices use

title: David Ames (researcher)
text: Bachelor of Arts (BA) with a major in (Medieval) history. Australian Imaging, Biomarkers and Lifestyle Study of Ageing, started in 2006, is a study of over 1,100 people assessed over a long period of time ( > 4.5 years) to determine which biomarkers, cognitive characteristics, and health and lifestyle factors determine subsequent development of symptomatic Alzheimer’s Disease. With Australia’s ageing population, the number of people suffering from dementia is expected to rise from 245,400 (1.1% of population) in 2009 to 1.13 million (3.2% of projected population) by 2050. It is one of the fastest growing sources of major disease burden,

title: Brain positron emission tomography
text: changes in brain metabolism, which in turn causes easily detectable changes in PET scans. PET is probably most useful in early cases of certain dementias (with classic examples being Alzheimer's disease and Pick's disease) where the early damage is too diffuse and makes too little difference in brain volume and gross structure to change CT and standard MRI images enough to be able to reliably differentiate it from the "normal" range of cortical atrophy which occurs with aging (in many but not all) persons, and which does "not" cause clinical dementia. PET is also actively used for multiple sclerosis and

title: Functional magnetic resonance imaging
text: by using spin-echo pulse sequences. With these, fMRI can examine a spatial range from millimeters to centimeters, and can hence identify Brodmann areas (centimers), subcortical nuclei such as the caudate, putamen and thalamus, and hippocampal subfields such as the combined dentate gyrus/CA3, CA1, and subiculum. Temporal resolution is the smallest time period of neural activity reliably separated out by fMRI. One element deciding this is the sampling time, the TR. Below a TR of 1 or 2 seconds, however, scanning just generates sharper HDR curves, without adding much additional information (e.g. beyond what is alternatively achieved by mathematically interpolating the

title: Neuroimaging
text: all cause great changes in brain metabolism, which in turn causes easily detectable changes in PET scans. PET is probably most useful in early cases of certain dementias (with classic examples being Alzheimer's disease and Pick's disease) where the early damage is too diffuse and makes too little difference in brain volume and gross structure to change CT and standard MRI images enough to be able to reliably differentiate it from the "normal" range of cortical atrophy which occurs with aging (in many but not all) persons, and which does "not" cause clinical dementia. Single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) is

title: Florbetapir (18F)
text: disease. In results presented in July 2010, the company showed that for 34 out of the 35 hospice patients who had been scanned, the initial scan results were confirmed when pathologists counted plaque under a microscope and when a computerized scan of the plaque was performed on material from the autopsied brain. The findings required review by the FDA to confirm their reliability as a means of diagnosing the disease. Once confirmed, the technique provideed a means to reliably diagnose and monitor the progress of Alzheimer's and allowed potential pharmaceutical treatments to be evaluated. In a study published in January

title: Functional magnetic resonance spectroscopy of the brain
text: temporal resolution. With 7-tesla magnet scanners it is possible to detect around 18 different metabolites of H spectrum which is a significant improvement over less powerful magnets. Temporal resolution has increased from 7 minutes in the first fMRS studies to 5 seconds in more recent ones. In fMRS, depending on the focus of the study, either single-voxel or multi-voxel spectroscopic technique can be used. In single-voxel fMRS the selection of the volume of interest (VOI) is often done by running a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study prior to fMRS to localize the brain region activated by the task. Single-voxel