An MRI method providing one parameter (TBLβ: trabecular-bone-lacunarity-parameter-β) that is sensitive to trabecular bone architecture (TBA) changes with aging and osteoporosis is under study as a new tool in the early diagnosis of bone fragility fracture. A cross-sectional and prospective observational study (LOTO: Lacunarity Of Trabecular bone in Osteoporosis) on over-50s women, at risk for bone fragility fracture, was designed to validate the method. From the baseline data, we observed that in women with prevalent vertebral fractures (VF+), TBA was differently characterized by TBLβ when osteoporosis treatment is considered.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Osteoporotic fractures are a major cause of morbidity in the elderly. Menopausal women represent the population with the highest risk of early osteoporosis onset, often accompanied by vertebral fractures (VF). Bone mineral density (BMD) is commonly assessed by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) for osteoporosis diagnosis; however, BMD alone does not represent a significant predictor of fracture risk.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIncreasing evidence implicates mitochondrial dysfunction in the etiology of Parkinson's disease (PD). Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations are considered a possible cause and this mechanism might be shared with the aging process and with other age-related neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease (AD). We have recently proposed a computerized method for mutated mtDNA characterization able to discriminate between AD and aging.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlzheimer's disease (AD) represents one major health concern for our growing elderly population. It accounts for increasing impairment of cognitive capacity followed by loss of executive function in late stage. AD pathogenesis is multifaceted and difficult to pinpoint, and understanding AD etiology will be critical to effectively diagnose and treat the disease.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIEEE Trans Inf Technol Biomed
July 2006
We develop a method of magnetic resonance (MR) image analysis able to provide parameter(s) sensitive to bone microarchitecture changes in aging, and to osteoporosis onset and progression. The method has been built taking into account fractal properties of many anatomic and physiologic structures. Fractal lacunarity analysis has been used to determine relevant parameter(s) to differentiate among three types of trabecular bone structure (healthy young, healthy perimenopausal, and osteoporotic patients) from lumbar vertebra MR images.
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