Judit Haász

Bio: Judit Haász is an academic researcher from Haukeland University Hospital. The author has contributed to research in topics: Medicine & Temozolomide. The author has an hindex of 7, co-authored 11 publications receiving 286 citations. Previous affiliations of Judit Haász include University of Bergen.

Interactive Visual Analysis of Heterogeneous Cohort-Study Data

Abstract: Medical cohort studies enable the study of medical hypotheses with many samples. Often, these studies acquire a large amount of heterogeneous data from many subjects. Usually, researchers study a specific data subset to confirm or reject specific hypotheses. A new approach enables the interactive visual exploration and analysis of such data, helping to generate and validate hypotheses. A data-cube-based model handles partially overlapping data subsets during the interactive visualization. This model enables seamless integration of the heterogeneous data and the linking of spatial and nonspatial views of the data. Researchers implemented this model in a prototype application and used it to analyze data acquired in a cohort study on cognitive aging. Case studies employed the prototype to study aspects of brain connectivity, demonstrating the model's potential and flexibility.

Salient measures of inhibition and switching are associated with frontal lobe gray matter volume in healthy middle-aged and older adults.

Abstract: Objective To investigate brain-behavior relationships between morphometric brain measures and salient executive function (EF) measures of inhibition and switching. Method One hundred participants (49-80 years) performed the Color Word Interference Test from the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS). Salient measures of EF components of inhibition and switching, of which the effect of more fundamental skills were regressed out, were analyzed using linear models and a conditional inference trees analysis taking intercorrelations between predictor variables (brain volumes, age, gender, and education) into account. Results The conditional inference trees analysis demonstrated a primary role of the middle frontal gyrus (MFG) in explaining variations in the salient EF measure of switching and combined inhibition/switching. Age predicted measures of inhibition. Conclusion The study highlights the importance of considering fundamental cognitive skills and the use of a statistical method taking possible complex relationships between predictor variables into account when interpreting standard EF test results. Further studies should include MRI measures representing neural networks that may relate to CWIT performance, and longitudinal studies are required to investigate any causal relationships.

Environmental enrichment strengthens corticocortical interactions and reduces amyloid-β oligomers in aged mice

Abstract: Brain aging is characterized by global changes which are thought to underlie age-related cognitive decline. These include variations in brain activity and the progressive increase in the concentration of soluble amyloid-β (Aβ) oligomers, directly impairing synaptic function and plasticity even in the absence of any neurodegenerative disorder. Considering the high social impact of the decline in brain performance associated to aging, there is an urgent need to better understand how it can be prevented or contrasted. Lifestyle components, such as social interaction, motor exercise and cognitive activity, are thought to modulate brain physiology and its susceptibility to age-related pathologies. However, the precise functional and molecular factors that respond to environmental stimuli and might mediate their protective action again pathological aging still need to be clearly identified. To address this issue, we exploited environmental enrichment (EE), a reliable model for studying the effect of experience on the brain based on the enhancement of cognitive, social and motor experience, in aged wild-type mice. We analyzed the functional consequences of EE on aged brain physiology by performing in vivo local field potential (LFP) recordings with chronic implants. In addition, we also investigated changes induced by EE on molecular markers of neural plasticity and on the levels of soluble Aβ oligomers. We report that EE induced profound changes in the activity of the primary visual and auditory cortices and in their functional interaction. At the molecular level, EE enhanced plasticity by an upward shift of the cortical excitation/inhibition balance. In addition, EE reduced brain Aβ oligomers and increased synthesis of the Aβ-degrading enzyme neprilysin. Our findings strengthen the potential of EE procedures as a non-invasive paradigm for counteracting brain aging processes.