Topic: dementia

Ta-Wei Guu examines whether continuous data from wearable devices can reveal aspects of older adults’ depression and dementia that conventional clinical assessments miss. The session covers behavioural patterns, sleep disruption and treatment responses measured outside clinical settings, and considers how repeated observations can track changes in health over time. Guu also presents plans for a technology-enabled longitudinal cohort to study ageing populations over months and years, discussing how the resulting patterns could inform research and clinical practice. The session includes question

Join the Aging and Health research group and the TraCeDem centre to improve fall prevention for people with mild cognitive impairment or dementia. Lead studies using Swedish longitudinal ageing cohorts and linked registers to identify risk factors and useful windows for intervention. The full-time temporary post combines independent epidemiological research with collaboration across healthcare disciplines. Apply through Varbi by 21 October 2026.

Fast periodic visual stimulation (FPVS) has emerged as a promising tool for assessing cognitive function in individuals with dementia. This technique leverages electroencephalography (EEG) to measure brain responses to rapidly presented visual stimuli, offering a non-invasive and objective method for evaluating a range of cognitive functions. Unlike traditional cognitive assessments, FPVS does not rely on behavioural responses, making it particularly suitable for individuals with cognitive impairment. In this talk I will highlight a series of studies that have demonstrated its ability to detec

Dr. Pasinetti is the Saunders Family Chair and Professor of Neurology at Icahn School of medicine at Mount Sinai, New York. His studies allowed him to develop novel therapeutic approaches through investigation of preventable risk factors including mood disorders in the promotion of resilience against neurodegenerative disorder. In his presentation Dr. Pasinetti will discuss novel concepts about the gut-brain axis in mechanisms associated to peripheral adaptive immunity as therapeutic targets to mitigate the onset and the progression of Alzheimer’s disease and other form of dementia.

Fastball is a novel, fast, passive biomarker of cognitive function, that uses cheap, scalable electroencephalography (EEG) technology. It is sensitive to early dementia; language, education, effort and anxiety independent and can be used in any setting including patients’ homes. It can capture a range of cognitive functions including semantic memory, recognition memory, attention and visual function. We have shown that Fastball is sensitive to cognitive dysfunction in Alzheimer’s disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment, with data collected in patients’ homes using low-cost portable EEG. We are n

Ingebrigt Steen Jensen discusses his experience of dementia and the personal and social consequences of the diagnosis. Conversation in Norwegian.

Cerebrovascular support is critical for healthy cognitive ageing. Reduced cerebral blood flow in ageing is caused, among other things, by hypertension, arteriosclerosis (i.e. stiffening of the arteries) and plaque formation. Arterial stiffness is predictive of cognitive decline, is a critical risk factor for cerebrovascular accidents, and has been linked to heightened risks for Alzheimer’s Disease and other forms of dementia. The elasticity of cerebral arteries is influenced by lifestyle factors, including cardiorespiratory fitness. Monica will discuss data obtained in their laboratory with ne

The US has an aging population. For the first time in US history, the number of older adults is projected to outnumber that of children by 2034. This combined with the fact that the prevalence of Alzheimer's Disease increases exponentially with age makes for a worrying combination. Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is an intermediate stage of cognitive decline between being cognitively normal and having full-blown Dementia, with every third person with MCI progressing to dementia of the Alzheimer's Type (DAT). While there is no known way to reverse symptoms once they begin, early prediction of d

In the United States, racial/ethnic inequalities in Alzheimer's disease and related dementias persist even after controlling for socioeconomic factors and physical health. These persistent and unexplained disparities suggest: (1) there are unrecognized dementia risk factors that are socially patterned and/or (2) known dementia risk factors exhibit differential impact across social groups. Pursuing these research directions with data from multiple longitudinal studies of brain and cognitive aging has revealed several challenges to the study of late-life health inequalities, highlighted evidence

Late-life cognitive impairment and dementia are heterogeneous and multifactorial conditions driven by a combination of genetic, vascular, and lifestyle-related factors. More than 75% of patients with dementia have evidence of cerebrovascular pathology at autopsy. Cerebrovascular disease lesions can be detected on structural MRI and used as biomarkers to determine the extent of cerebrovascular pathology. These biomarkers are associated with cognitive difficulties and increase the risk of dementia for the same level of neurodegenerative pathology. Given that some of the risk factors for cerebrov

Dysregulation of protein synthesis both globally and locally in neurons and astrocytes is a key feature of neurodegenerative diseases. Aberrant signalling through the Unfolded Protein Response (UPR) and related Integrated Stress Response (ISR) have become major targets for neuroprotection in these disorders. In addition, other homeostatic mechanisms and stress responses, including the cold shock response, appear to regulate local translation and RNA splicing to control synapse maintenance and regeneration and can also be targeted therapeutically for neuroprotection. We have defined the role of

Age-associated dementias are neuropathologically characterized by the identification of hallmark intracellular and extracellular deposition of proteins, i.e., hyperphosphorylated-tau, amyloid-β, and α-synuclein, or cerebrovascular lesions. The neuropathological assessment and staging of these pathologies allows for a diagnosis of a distinct disease, e.g., amyloid-β plaques and hyperphosphorylated tau pathology in Alzheimer's disease. Neuropathological assessment in large scale cohorts, such as the UK’s Brains for Dementia Research (BDR) programme, has made it increasingly clear that the ageing

Despite the importance of early diagnosis of dementia for prognosis and personalised interventions, we still lack robust tools for predicting individual progression to dementia. We propose a trajectory modelling approach that mines multimodal data from patients at early dementia stages to derive individualised prognostic scores of cognitive decline Our approach has potential to facilitate effective stratification of individuals based on prognostic disease trajectories, reducing patient misclassification with important implications for clinical practice.

Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s are devastating conditions with poorly understood mechanisms and no cure. Yet, a striking feature of these conditions is the characteristic pattern of invasion throughout the brain, leading to well-codified disease stages associated with various cognitive deficits and pathologies. How can we use mathematical modelling to gain insight into this process and, doing so, gain understanding about how the brain works? In this talk, I will show that by linking new mathematical theories to recent progress in imaging, we can unravel some of t

Constipation is a common but not a universal feature in early PD, suggesting that gut involvement is heterogeneous and may be part of a distinct PD subtype with prognostic implications. We analysed data from the Parkinson’s Incidence Cohorts Collaboration, composed of incident community-based cohorts of PD patients assessed longitudinally over 8 years. Constipation was assessed with the MDS-UPDRS constipation item or a comparable categorical scale. Primary PD outcomes of interest were dementia, postural instability and death. PD patients were stratified according to constipation severity at di

An imbalance in lipid metabolism in neurodegeneration is still poorly understood. Phospholipids (PLs) have multifactorial participation in vascular dementia as Alzheimer, post-stroke dementia, CADASIL between others. Which include the hyperactivation of phospholipases, mitochondrial stress, peroxisomal dysfunction and irregular fatty acid composition triggering proinflammation in a very early stage of cognitive impairment. The reestablishment of physiological conditions of cholesterol, sphingolipids, phospholipids and others are an interesting therapeutic target to reduce the progression of AD

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia, and its health and socioeconomic burdens are of major concern. Presently, a definite diagnosis of AD is established by examining brain tissue after death. These examinations focus on two major pathological hallmarks of AD in the brain: (i) amyloid plaques consisting of aggregated amyloid beta (Aβ) peptides and (ii) neurofibrillary tangles made of abnormally phosphorylated tau protein. In living individuals, AD diagnosis relies on two main approaches: (i) brain imaging of tau tangles and Aβ plaques using a technique called positron

This presentation will include a brief resume of research in older populations led from Cambridge that have informed current clinical understanding and policy regarding services and prevention for and of dementia. These population studies have more recently been ‘re-purposed’ with enthusiasm from participants into a trial platform, and this also has enabled ongoing follow-up by telephone during the COVID pandemic. Although there are no formal outputs from these latter developments general impressions will be shared.

Dementia is of global interest because of the rapid increase in both the number of individuals affected and the population at risk. It is essential that the risk factors be carefully delineated for the formulation of preventive strategies. Epigenetics refers to external modifications that turn genes "on" or "off”, and cross-cultural studies of migrant populations provide information on the interplay of environmental factors on genetic predisposition. The Indianapolis-Ibadan Dementia Study compared the prevalence, incidence and risk factors of dementia in African Americans and Yoruba to tease o

Considering the difficulty in finding a reversible cure for dementia, research and clinical focus have shifted towards modifiable risk factors for cognitive decline, with sleep disturbances gaining attention especially in older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Given the significant impact of sleep disturbances on cognitive decline in MCI, this study explores the relationship between psychological factors, including depression, anxiety, and stress, and insomnia among older adults with MCI. 145 Greek older adults were recruited from an outpatient memory clinic in Athens. The sample m