Project description
Uncovering neuropsychiatric symptoms in Alzheimer’s disease
A significant proportion of individuals with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) suffer from neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) such as depression and agitation. These symptoms can appear before cognitive deficits and increase dementia risk significantly. With the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the NINFA-AD project aims to study the neural changes linked to NPS in AD. The work will focus on neurotransmitter pathways and study how specific abnormalities contribute to NPS. The research team will combine functional MRI, PET imaging and cognitive data to uncover the underlying causes of NPS. Project findings are expected to improve diagnosis and care for individuals with AD.
Objective
Depressed mood, agitation, false beliefs, lack of motivation and other alterations in behaviour, usually named with the umbrella term of neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS), are commonly observed in people with Alzheimers disease (AD). NPS are highly prevalent in people with AD (35-85%) and increase the risk of dementia by up to 10 times. The onset of NPS may even precede that of cognitive deficits and predict subsequent cognitive decline. Although not all patients experience NPS and some experience only very mild symptoms, clarifying AD aetiology is of primary importance to improve early diagnosis, provide better care and mitigate the economic burden of dementia. The neural changes associated with NPS in AD are still unclear and, consequently, wide consensus on the best treatment strategies is lacking. Since the earliest accumulation of AD pathology is observed in the nuclei involved in the production of neurotransmitters, the NINFA-AD project aims to investigate whether alterations in brain functioning influenced by abnormalities in different neurotransmitter pathways may be associated with NPS in people either with or at risk for AD. This aim will be pursued by applying an innovative interdisciplinary approach combining functional magnetic resonance with positron emission tomography imaging, fluid AD biomarkers and cognitive data. The NINFA-AD project will provide novel hypothesis-based insights on the cause of these symptoms that will lead to more efficient treatments and improvements in patients' prognosis. Moreover, the findings could be exploited to develop more informative biomarkers to be used in trials to test the mechanisms of action and effectiveness of novel interventions targeting behavioural problems in AD.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- medical and health sciences basic medicine neurology neurodegenerative diseases dementia alzheimer
- medical and health sciences basic medicine pathology
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2023-PF-01
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
43121 PARMA
Italy
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.